The Phial Cabinet

Day 30 – Do you have a favourite fic you've written? What makes it your favourite?

Rainbow (MFU) and Covenant (HP). They’re the fics where I did the best overall job. There might be others of my fics that have, say, a bit that I like best overall, or dialogue I like best, but these were, I think, best quality overall, where I came closest to the story in my head.

Day 29 – What is your current project or projects?
None; the muse has deserted me. :-)

Day 28 – Have you ever collaborated with anyone else, whether writing together, or having an artist work on a piece about your fic?
No. I don’t see how it’s possible! In fact, once I polled some people in HP about how they collaborated because I simply can’t imagine it working (even though it clearly does – many collaborations are just fantastic). I can’t imagine writing a story with someone else and either enjoying the process or having it come out well, even though I’ve seen that it can happen. Fascinates me.

A couple of artists have done art for my stories (Lizardspots did a sort of comic strip, trekkiegrrl and yael created single scenes), not in collaboration but just because they felt like it. It's very cool to see how other people interpret scenes, and how close they sometimes come to what I was seeing in my head. I don't know if that's coincidence or simply that I described it effectively - you really can't know - but it's very cool to see how others visualize my words.

Day 27 – Where is your favourite place to write, and do you write by hand or on the computer?
At my desk; I write on the computer most of the time, sometimes by hand. I’m very picky about type of pen or pencil and quality of paper.

Day 26 – What is the oddest (or funniest) thing you've had to research for a fic?
Nothing funny or odd; the closest to “odd” (as in out of my own “ordinary”) might’ve been the geographical research I did for “Rainbow” and “Half Truths” or the laser research for “Anything.”

Day 25 – Music – Do you listen to music while you write? Do you make play-lists to get into a certain "mood" to write your fic? Do you need noise in general? Or do you need it completely quiet?
Sometimes. Sometimes I have particular music (generally a classical piece) that emotionally fuels a particular fic. Otherwise I prefer quiet.

Day 23 – When you post, where do you post to? Just your journal? Just an archive? Your own personal site?
My LJ, any easy archive that I know about. If it’s work, I won’t do it (like if I have to jump through hoops to join or whatever). I love self-loading archives.


Day 24 – Beta'ing – How many betas do you like to use to make sure there aren't any major flaws in your fic? Do you have a Beta horror story or dream story?
I don’t use betas. :-) I heartily approve the concept, but am comfortable with presenting my work as is, warts and all. I very much enjoy creating something that’s wholly mine.

Day 22 – Have you ever participated in a fest or a Big Bang? If so, write about your favourite experience in relation to one. If not, are there any you've thought about doing? And if not, why not?
Yes. My best experience was with the Snarry Games in 2007. I wrote one of my best-ever stories for that and got a very nice response (then again, I pretty much have always gotten a very nice response to my stuff). In general I don’t do fests because I don’t write well to deadline or under other people’s prompts or direction (I’ve skipped fests because they required a beta – I object on principle there), but on the rare occasion a prompt really strikes me, I do it.

Day 21 – Sequels – Have you ever written a sequel to a fic you wrote, and if so, why, and if not, how do you feel about sequels?
Yes. If my “muse” says there’s more to the story, I write it. It’s never a conscious, logical decision. The sequel just comes to me. I’m neutral about the concept of sequels.

Day 20 –Do you ever get bunnied from other people's stories or art in the same fandom?
Yes. Not exactly plot bunnies, usually. More like scene bunnies. For instance, a writer might’ve written a scene where character A is fed up and quits to go to a mountain cabin; I might like that scene and want to write something like that. Or two characters might discuss a topic that grabs me, but I don’t actually like the direction the author goes and want to do it my way.