come and pour yourself on me

[pensnest]

Further on the FandomgiftBox Challenge: a thoughtful Anon has posted a thread inviting people to share their contributions, which I have done. It's nice to be able to see what else has been created, so it's worth a browse!

I discover to my delight that I had two Georgette Heyer fics written for me - AO3 unaccountably failed to let me know - which are here:
Delightful to See You Again and Blissfully Happy, by DesertVixen.

Such a pity not to have had the full FGB experience. I wonder what happened.

*

A fandom meme, snitched from minoanmiss

1. From one to five stars, how would you rate your writing? (No downplaying yourself!)
2. Why do you write fanfiction?
3. What do you think makes your writing stand out from other works?
4. Are there any writers that inspire you?
5. What’s the fic you’re most proud of?
6. What element of writing do you find comes easily?
7. What element of writing do you struggle with most?
8. Which character(s) do you find easiest to write?
9. Which character(s) do you find most difficult to write?
10. What’s your favorite genre to write for?
11. Who or what do you find yourself writing about most?
12. Tell us about a WIP you’re excited about.
13. First fandom you ever wrote for?
14. What’s your favorite fandom to write for?
15. What’s the weirdest fandom you’ve ever written for?
16. Any guilty pleasure trope(s)?
17. A trope you’ll never, ever write for.
18. Wildest fic you’ve ever written?
19. Do you prefer canon-compliant, AUs, or something in-between?
20. Gen fic or shippy stuff?
21. Favorite pairing to write for? (platonic or romantic!)
22. Do you listen to anything while you write?
23. Do you prefer prompts and challenges, or completely independent ideas?
24. One-shots or multi-chaptered works?
25. Have you ever daydreamed about side adventures/spin-offs from your fic? Tell us about them!
26. Is there anything you’ve wanted to write, but you’ve been too scared to try?
27. What’s the nicest comment you’ve ever received?
28. How well do you handle criticism when it comes to your writing?
29. Have you ever gone outside of your comfort zone for a fic? How did it turn out?
30. Tooth-rotting fluff or merciless angst?
31. Do you have any OCs? Tell us about them!
32. Summarize a random fic of yours in 10 words or less
(NB There has been an answer for this, but if you'd like another, pick a title! pensnest.co.uk will take you to all my fic)
33. Is there anything you wish your audience knew about your writing or writing process?
34. Copy and paste an excerpt you’re particularly fond of.
35. Ramble about any fic-related thing you want!

So, pick a number. Or two. Or more!

Comments

[kingstoken]

Thank you for letting us know about the fandom giftbox thread, I posted a link to my icon masterlist there, so hopefully more people will see it.

[pensnest]

I'm so glad somebody thought to do this. Part of the fun of participating in a challenge is that people get to discover new creators, and creators find new readers/viewers.

[yarnofariadne]

3, 5, and 22!

[pensnest]

3. What do you think makes your writing stand out from other works?
I can spell! No, that's mean, there are lots of competent people out there who write well. I don't know, really. I don't have that knack for incorporating comedy which I so love in other people's writing, though I do find that much of my fic has that light sense of irony in it. Perhaps there is a sense of Englishness that comes through whether I mean it to or not - I have been writing in American fandoms since 2005 but I *still* miss things.

Honestly, I'm not sure if it does stand out from other works or not!

5. What’s the fic you’re most proud of?
Probably Dragon Country, as it was the first one that sprang to mind. I did quite a bit of worldbuilding, and I continue to be very happy with the result.

22. Do you listen to anything while you write?
Not really. If I'm actually writing, I don't need the distraction of music. I'm not sure that I'm even inspired by songs, these days, though I used to get a lot of het romance ideas that spun themselves out of songs.

Thanks for playing!

[turps]

That's such a good idea for a thread. I loved taking part in fandom stocking and thought this would be the same, so to end this way was disappointing. I do hope the mod is okay, though.

How about number 25 and 17.

[pensnest]

I wonder if we'll ever find out what happened to the mod. I mean, it's possible they just flaked, but these days there are plenty of other possibilities. I hope we find out.

25. Have you ever daydreamed about side adventures/spin-offs from your fic? Tell us about them!
I found myself 'fanficcing' Dragon Country, and realised that hey, that's not fanfic, I'm the author, I can just write the sequel! So I did.

Once in a while I've produced a sequel to something else I've written (Warm Oil and an Innocent Smile, for instance), but mostly the thoughts I've had about a story tend to end up *in* the story.


17. A trope you’ll never, ever write for.
Well, first let me object to the form of this question, which makes no sense. Harrumph.

Honestly, though, I'm no longer really sure what a trope is! Is A/B/O a trope? Because if it is, there's no way I'm writing that. Otherwise... I expect there are some, but I dunno.

[spikedluv]

Thanks for the link to that thread!

[pensnest]

I'm so pleased it's there.

[stonepicnicking_okapi]

19 and 27

[pensnest]

19. Do you prefer canon-compliant, AUs, or something in-between?
Yes! Okay, with my Trek fic I prefer canon-compliant. If someone tells me a story read like an episode, I'm pleased. Or, perhaps, an episode too naughty to be broadcast. I never had any interest in writing them in AUs, though I did stretch the canon somewhat for the sillier stories, like The Educated Pig. (Hey, it coulda been in season one, no problem!)

With popslash, I started out close to canon. *thinks back to Merchandising* Well, close-ish. One of the things I liked about popslash - coming into it as I did with so much fic already written - was the incredible freedom of the RPF canon. We know life as struggling/successful/millionaire popstarss *works*. So we can play. I liked canon-based but with a lot of scope for added crack, whether that meant body-swap, MPREG, turning into animals, etc. Not that everything I loved to read, or wrote, was cracky, but it became pretty normal for me.

In later years, with no fresh Nsync canon of significance, and not much Backstreet that I like the look of, AUs are the way to go. I've written things more recently that I'd never have thought of when I was still exploring the fairly fresh popslash canon, and come to enjoy putting the boys into different worlds.

27. What’s the nicest comment you’ve ever received?
Oh, I honestly don't know! I've had so many lovely comments, most particularly for my Secret Santa stories (of which I wrote twenty!), but I can't pick a favourite. And I have been writing popslash for fifteen years and more, so.... nah. Though on reflection, "in my mind, this is totally how it happened" was very satisfying. About this story.

Thanks for playing!

[stonepicnicking_okapi]

All very interesting! I think I do understand some fandoms one wants to be closer to canon and others not so much. Interesting that you have such a long history in popslash and I have just started a month ago.

[pensnest]

Oddly, I had never heard of Nsync until I was introduced to popslash, and had vaguely assumed the Backstreet Boys made a much more raucous kind of music than it turned out they do. Your popslash is BTS, yes? I hope you get as much joy from that fandom as I've had from mine, which has been enormous.

[stonepicnicking_okapi]

Yes, BTS. I am surprised that it has caught my attention, but that's life, no? I did have a friend in undergraduate studies who was a NKOTB fan and another who was very into George Micheal and I just had a conversation yesterday with my cashier (I go to the same cashier every Wednesday at the supermarket) who is going to her 31st Hall & Oats concert this weekend. Music fandoms are interesting, but I am very, very late to having one.

[pensnest]

Oddly, I don't think I'd describe Nsync/BSB popslash as a music fandom, exactly. It feels as if there's a difference. (I suspect quite a lot of the popslashers didn't particularly like the music - there was much enthusiasm for the MyChem/PatD etc kind of bandom, which came with music they actually did like. Me, I like pop.) It was certainly my first RPF fandom - as a Trek fan, One Did Not Write About The Actors, not back then. And I didn't want to, I was interested in the characters.

Coming into popslash late, I found a kind of palimpsest of characterisation waiting for me. There was canon, of course, lots of interviews, videos and concert videos, lots of appearances, and the fanon was obviously based on it but infinitely flexible. And there was such freedom with the kinds of stories that could be written - in ST:TNG, the cracky notions had to be justified with technobabble (just like they did in the show); in popslash, I could have someone be turned into a teddybear, I could do a body-hop-swap, I could write a sentient(-ish) lava lamp, etc, it was all fine. (Opinions vary on the lava lamp, to be fair.) 'Canon-based' varied from 'they are popstars' to something incredibly specific about a particular moment in a TV appearance, via everything in between. The canon being based in actual reality made it so freeing, whereas the fictional canon of TNG set boundaries.

I don't know how much BTS fandom there is, maybe there's already a good range of fic, but maybe you're going to be one of those setting the fanon—exciting, but oddly scary.

[stonepicnicking_okapi]

That's interesting. Yes, my first RPF fandom. My main fandom is Sherlock Holmes, so, fictional, very old and lots and lots of adaptations. Canon is 60 stories and 4 novels. Some case fic and some dropping case bits in to make it canon-ish, but very open to AUs. Your lava lamp would've been fine. I've written Holmes and Watson as lizards.

But I understand what you mean about Star Trek (science fiction-based, outer space-based canon. Case fic would be our equivalent but it is not the most common type of fic overall.

The songs are important to me, though. I wouldn't be in the fandom if I didn't find their songs very catchy.

Frankly, I haven't found a lot of BTS fic I like (yet). There are a lot of reader inserts and prevalence of some AUs that aren't my cup of tea (Mafia AU, animal hybrids). And some of it, I hate to say, is just poorly written and formatted. I suspect it is because the fandom skews young. I will be posting my first fics in the fandom next month for Kinktober and my bias' birthday so we'll see the reaction! I am curious, to be honest. I've had a lot of different experiences in fandom so if it's bad or *crickets* I won't feel too bad.

[author_by_night]

2, 15 and 30!

[pensnest]

2. Why do you write fanfiction?
Initially, because the canon provided me with characters and a world I wanted to tell stories about. (Data, ST:TNG) I watched the show in large gulps (borrowed VHS tapes from a friend) and just found that there were more stories in my head, mostly about Data — and the 'future' in which ST:TNG is set was overall a very pleasant place, too. Then, when I was introduced to popslash, for several weeks my 'canon' was 'all the fanfic'(!), and I wanted more and found myself thinking it up. So, more characters I wanted to tell stories about.

Also, because of the tremendous encouragement that comes from being part of a community of people who love the same thing, and are always hungry for more stories. Popslash was *brilliant* for that. I really love getting comments on my stories, and being part of an active fandom regularly gave me a big hit of joy; even as late as 2017 we still had our Secret Santa, which guaranteed a few comments.

It saddens me rather that fic fandom is so very fragmented now. At least, MCU is still a biggie, and of course there are others, but there are so many media sources out there now that many fandoms are really tiny. For me, the community's delight in fresh fic has always been a big part of why I write.

15. What’s the weirdest fandom you’ve ever written for?
Uh... hmm. I'm tempted to say, popslash! There is so much scope! But I don't think I've really been involved with what I'd call a weird fandom (though popslash does broaden one's horizons). In terms of fandom in general, maybe 'The Archers', long-running BBC Radio 4 series, which has (or at any rate, had) its own site run by the BBC and fanfic there was encouraged. It was somehow a different animal from 'fannish' fic. Comedy was very welcome, but I don't recall that there was ever slash, even when there was a canon gay couple, and I don't think the site allowed Adult stories either.

I've written a couple of weird pairings, including probably the first non-Cramp Lava Lamp pairing, and Old Spice Guy/John Barrowman (though in truth Cole Porter wrote most of that one) and Winnie the Pooh/Legolas.

30. Tooth-rotting fluff or merciless angst?
Oh, I'd much rather have the fluff than the angst! I mean, I like a bit of woe, but enough is enough. I'm not really into extremes either way - I like my fluff with a dash of reality, and I like my angst to remember that these are supposed to be reasonably intelligent adults, and not to be too relentless with the WOE.

[author_by_night]

Also, because of the tremendous encouragement that comes from being part of a community of people who love the same thing, and are always hungry for more stories.

Yeah, that's a huge part of it!

I hadn't realized MCU actually has a lot of small mini fandoms. I guess I'd assumed it would all be one big fandom? But that makes a lot of sense. If you don't care about Loki (*barely knows who Loki is*), then you're not going to be in that fandom. I guess. I know very little about MCU, sorry, if I just said something hilariously wrong. :P

its own site run by the BBC and fanfic there was encouraged. It was somehow a different animal from 'fannish' fic. Comedy was very welcome, but I don't recall that there was ever slash, even when there was a canon gay couple, and I don't think the site allowed Adult stories either.


Yeah, fandoms on Official Websites can be a bit of a bummer because you are limited. Also, I've been on a few where the site kept getting rid of the forums and recreating them, so you lost conversations. I don't think they understood why people went on said forums.

I agree that I like a balance. I'm with you, I can read angst as long as it's not relentless with woe. Although I've also seen the flip side, where responses of the other characters are almost TOO toned down. And I'm saying this as someone who doesn't cry at funerals, so. I'm usually very numb at first, and sometimes it's months before I have a good ugly cry. But there's ways to write it so that it's clear what's going on, as opposed to making it seem like the characters just aren't all that affected.


Generally speaking, I also like the balance. I recently wrote a fic with some angst, but I tried to throw in as much comic relief as I could.

[pensnest]

The MCU universe has so many options that it reminds me of heyday popslash, in a way. With five members of Nsync (plus 5 more in Backstreet, and occasionally others, like Britney, and even, inexplicably, Eminem) and so many stories being produced, a fan had the luxury of only reading the JuC stories, or whatever. With MCU there are a lot of pairings that don't interest me at all (eg Steve Rogers/Tony Stark), so I suppose the fandom is fragmented by pairing(s) of choice. I don't consider myself "in" that fandom because I've never written for it, but I do read it sometimes.

I think The Archers fanfic had a *lot* more male devotees than I have ever seen in 'our' fandom.

As regards the balance, yes! Also, I prefer my characters to behave like grown-ups. Relentless communication issues where two people are pretty much determined to misunderstand one another really annoy me - a bit of miscommunication, fine, but don't be children about it! And the kind of fluff where the young men get all giggly over things that remind me of stuff I did when I was thirteen.... nope.

[dine]

what about # 29?

I'm off to read the Heyer fics - I generally adore her writing and enjoying it when folks play in that sandbox

[pensnest]

29. Have you ever gone outside of your comfort zone for a fic? How did it turn out?

Hmmm. I'm not sure. I suspect my comfort zone has changed, too....

My first slash story (Data/Q) was quite a challenge because it was mostly sex, once I could get them to stop *talking*. Then early in my popslash days I had a go at some (probably quite mild) kink, but I don't really get the mindset there—one of the things I enjoy about *reading* BDSM stories is when I can be shown the inside of someone else's head. I think the story worked, its remix (by me) probably less so, but, eh. Much later, Dragon Country has a rape scene which was hard to write, but I think works. In fact, that scene was the one from which the story grew.

But I don't think I very often go outside my comfort zone. My fic tends to accord well with my comfortable, middle-class, mostly contented life, I guess.

[frausorge]

Ooh, how about 10 & 23, if you are so inclined?

[pensnest]

10. What’s your favorite genre to write for?

Well, I love crack, by which I mean 'a fantastical premise played out logically', and which usually though not always is written for light comedy. I wrote a lot of those in my early popslash days!

More generally, and particularly more recently, plotty stories without too much angst. They seem to be what I want to write. Is that a genre?

23. Do you prefer prompts and challenges, or completely independent ideas?
Yes?

Back in my Trek-writing days, I used to think up a story and write it, and that was fine. But I wasn't the kind of prolific that really made a name for myself on the alt.startrek newsgroups. I'm happy with what I wrote back then, but there wasn't that much of it.

When I joined popslash (2005, so, post-peak), there were a lot of challenges around of all kinds. It was amazing. The community really encouraged people to write, because there was still a hunger for Moar Stories!

When I look through my popslash output, it is far easier to count the fics that were *not* written for some kind of challenge or exterior prompt, than those that were. I must have produced around fifty stories for the fic_requests comm alone! Then there were DWNOGA and MTYG (20), and sky_pie, and Remix, and so many others. I've had specific prompts which I thought I could never write, and found that I managed to produce something I was very proud of (most particularly 'for this world to be unbroken' for MTYG 2009, with a prompt of 'post-apocalyptic vampires and romance'). Sometimes a challenge simply sets a deadline for a fic, but that does concentrate the mind wonderfully too. I like deadlines.

Nowadays the popslash boys still live in my head, but there aren't prompts and challenges any more, and my fic output is very considerably diminished. So I'd have to say I prefer promts/challenges!

[sperrywink]

Thanks for the link. I didn't play in giftbox this time around, but would be into seeing whatall people produced.

How about:

32 and 4!

Meant to also say that I loved your "zombie" story and found it both scary and funny! SO you can do funny, definitely.

[pensnest]

I'm rather sad the challenge didn't work out properly, as I think I'd have produced more if there had been more reminders and a frenzy of giftbox stuffing! Ah well.

32. Summarize a random fic of yours in 10 words or less
If you wanna do this one, pic a title! My fics are reasonably found here: pensnest.co.uk

Hmm. You were supposed to pick a title! (Oh wait, that was only in my head!) But here are three:

a) Blank verse and sparkly dancing boys combine.

b) Dragon pets and an assassination attempt by a vengeful Lou.

c) Chris procrastinates and zombies burgeon in the streets.

Do you recognise them?

4. Are there any writers that inspire you?
In terms of fanfic writers, probably not, though there have been many I've thoroughly enjoyed reading, many I'd like to be as good as at comedy and emotion, and some I've been a bit intimidated by (see my post on SeSa 2006). I'd like to be able to write like Lois McMaster Bujold, I think. I know I learned to love polysyllables through reading Georgette Heyer, and if I could find that same ironic touch that Jane Austen has, I'd be very, very happy.

[sperrywink]

Well, the zombies one, but I don't actually remember fic titles so, I couldn't tell you the name of it. *g*