The Fanfic Meme
Feb. 27th, 2008 05:45 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
dreamflowerFrom ![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
claudia603 and several others on my flist. This was interesting...
1. How about a brief introduction?
I’m known on LJ asdreamflower02, my author name is Dreamflower, in the SCA (Society for Creative Anachronism) I am Lady AElfwina, and my family knows me as Barbara. I’m 55 years old, and have been a LotR fan for over 40 years. You might say that JRRT himself is responsible for my marriage of nearly 32 years, as it was a discussion of LotR that brought my husband and I together.
I got involved in online fandom at usenet (rec.arts.books.tolkien/alt.fan.tolkien), and then discovered fanfic and LJ. I post my stories mostly at Stories of Arda and on my LJ. My first story was posted in March of 2004.
I write hobbit-centric gen-fic, and enjoy it very much.
2. What got you into fan fiction (and/or adopting muses)?
I’d been *reading* fan fic for about 4 or 5 months, when I came across a fic called “The Prodigal Took” by Lulleny. I was inspired by it to write a follow-up, and when I emailed Lulleny, she was gracious enough to encourage me to write it, she beta’d it, and encouraged me to find an archive to post it.
3. What kind of fan fiction do you write?
Hobbit-fic, gen, are the main common denominators, but I dabble in all sorts of POVs, angst, humor, fluff, pre-, post-, and during Quest, poetry, drabbles and novel-length. I don’t write smut or slash.
What I enjoy most is exploring the friendships between Frodo, Merry, Pippin and Sam. But I also love to write Bilbo, and OCs or Minor Canon Characters, such as Fredegar or Paladin.
4. Do you write for the same pairings/characters?
I’m not a ‘shipper, and I’m not “pairing oriented”. I like to write canon couples, and my one “romance” was a Pippin/Diamond fic, with a good deal of Merry/Estella thrown in for good measure (“It Takes a Took“). While I’ll write occasional romantic scenes between canon couples or OCs, the “romance” is usually a side-plot, and not the main point of the story.
5. What is your most popular fic and why do you think people like it so?
I *think* it might be “A New Reckoning” which was my longest fic, but it also might be “Miss Dora Baggins’ Book of Manners”; I got great responses for both of those. But I don’t really know if they are my “most” popular.
If it’s “A New Reckoning”, it may be because of the interaction between the Men and Hobbits, and the way I show the Shire recovering from the Troubles during the Ring War.
And I think the humor of “Miss Dora” appeals to people, as well as the whole idea of a hobbit ettiquette book.
6. Forget other people, what is the fanfic you've written that you're most proud of?
Well, I’m not really “proud” of the fics that I think of as my best ones, because most of those seemed to just come to me like a gift, and I don’t really feel there was any effort in them.
But I suppose the thing I am proud of is my poem “The Smallest Hands”. I *did* struggle quite a lot with that, and yet it still came out the way I wanted it to.
7. Do you find writing easy? Hard? What aspects do you struggle with?
Yes. LOL!
Sometimes it’s quite easy. I will wake up with a story almost completely whole, there in my head, ready to simply transcribe. My first fic was like that, as were a few others. But other times I find it a struggle just to keep going.
Usually, the beginning of a story is very easy, and so is the end. It’s filling in the middle that makes me want to tear my hair out! Short stories, ficlets, vignettes and drabbles seldom give me a problem--but chaptered stories will sometimes stall on me, or take such an unexpected turn that I have to rethink everything that comes after.
8. Write a few sentences of your favorite pairing or character.
Hmm...well, all hobbits are my favorites...let's see...
Here's a little snippet from a new WIP, set in my Eucatastrophe-AU, in which Frodo did not stay in the Undying Lands. This is when he's 83, and he's in Gondor, accompanied by young Faramir Took, as well as Merry's son and two of Sam's sons...
Frodo stood with the rest of the audience, applauding the musician, who now took his bow. The music had been truly amazing. Frodo had never heard its like before.
"Uncle Frodo--"
Frodo glanced over at his young cousin, the face so very much like his father Pippin, except for the dark curls--every bit as dark as his own once had been. In that respect, young Faramir took after his mother.
"Yes, Fam?"
"Wouldn't Papa have loved this? He'd be up there right now, trying to get that musician to show him how it works…"
Blue eyes met green with the gleam of the same idea, and two hobbits far from home grinned at one another.
9. Are there any fan fiction trends/clichés you hate?
Merry and Pippin being immature and stupid. Frodo being wimpy. Sam being too subservient. Hobbits acting like children, or being treated that way by characters who should know better.
OOT--too much angst, or too much slapstick.
AUs that have no foothold in canon--I don’t care how far from it they stray, they need to have *some* grounding in canon in one way or the other, or they might as well be original fic.
10. Are you guilty of any of the trends you hate?
I hope not.
11. What was the first fandom you wrote for? Do you still write for it?
LotR; yes, it is my OTF--One True Fandom. I’ve only written one fic outside it, unless you want to count a few fics set in The Hobbit--but I think of The Hobbit as part of LotR fandom.
12. Name your OTPs and explain what it is about them you love to write.
Don’t have any OTPs except for the ones in canon. I do enjoy writing Sam/Rose, Merry/Estella and Pippin/Diamond because I love hobbit families.
13. What would you call your writing style?
Rather basic. I try to use good grammar, avoid anachronisms and Americanisms when possible, and keep it from clashing with JRRTs own style too badly. When I write Bilbo, I try to come as close as I can to his style in The Hobbit.
I tend to use multiple POVs, and there are some things I love to describe, such as hobbit food, hobbit homes, hobbit genealogy, etc. I wish I had the sort of lush descriptive style I admire, but I’m seldom that inspired.
14. Do you read other people's fan fiction? If so, what do you find yourself reading the most?
I love to read fic even more than to write it. If enough people were writing enough hobbit-fic, I wouldn’t have time to write any.
If it’s got hobbits, and it’s not smut, I’ll read it. If the smut’s only R, I might read it. I generally will *not* read NC-17, though I can skip certain parts, if the author is someone that I trust. I also have certain authors who write non-hobbits well enough that I can also enjoy their fic, in spite of the lack of hobbits.
15. Name one thing you'd love to write but have been too afraid or too shy to do.
I don’t know, really, that there’s anything I’d be too shy or afraid to write that I actually *want* to write. There are some things I haven’t written because I know darn well I wouldn’t be any *good* at writing them.
16. Do you feel uncomfortable taking criticism? Or worse, do you have the dreaded bloated ego?
No, I welcome criticism if it’s warranted. If it’s about my interpretation of the characters, however, expect an argument--you would have to persuade me that I’m wrong before I’d make a change. But I won’t get offended as long as you don’t make it personal.
I hope my ego’s not bloated. I’m not important enough for that. I’m playing in the Professor’s sandbox, with his characters and his world, and anything good that I do is to his credit, not mine.
17. When you write, is there anything that helps?
I need some uninterrupted time. I usually listen to music, though I can write fine without it.
18. What inspires you?
Oh my! Dreams, bunnies from friends, challenges and story starters, songs, bits from canon that need to have gaps filled or explanations…all sorts of things. Sometimes an image will come to me, needing to be described.
19. Lastly, how would you sum up your fan fiction experiences and you as a writer?
I enjoy creativity--I do all sorts of arts and crafts. But none of that is or has been, as creatively fulfilling to me as the last few years of writing fanfic. Middle-earth and the Shire is such a vast place to explore, full of rich characters whom I want to know better. The whole experience of fanfic has been amazing, and I hope I keep doing it for the rest of my life.
.
20. Tag some friends, because they'll hate you for it.
I don’t want anyone to hate me, but if anyone on my flist hasn’t done it yet, I’d love to see what you have to say about these questions.
claudia603 and several others on my flist. This was interesting...1. How about a brief introduction?
I’m known on LJ as
dreamflower02, my author name is Dreamflower, in the SCA (Society for Creative Anachronism) I am Lady AElfwina, and my family knows me as Barbara. I’m 55 years old, and have been a LotR fan for over 40 years. You might say that JRRT himself is responsible for my marriage of nearly 32 years, as it was a discussion of LotR that brought my husband and I together. I got involved in online fandom at usenet (rec.arts.books.tolkien/alt.fan.tolkien), and then discovered fanfic and LJ. I post my stories mostly at Stories of Arda and on my LJ. My first story was posted in March of 2004.
I write hobbit-centric gen-fic, and enjoy it very much.
2. What got you into fan fiction (and/or adopting muses)?
I’d been *reading* fan fic for about 4 or 5 months, when I came across a fic called “The Prodigal Took” by Lulleny. I was inspired by it to write a follow-up, and when I emailed Lulleny, she was gracious enough to encourage me to write it, she beta’d it, and encouraged me to find an archive to post it.
3. What kind of fan fiction do you write?
Hobbit-fic, gen, are the main common denominators, but I dabble in all sorts of POVs, angst, humor, fluff, pre-, post-, and during Quest, poetry, drabbles and novel-length. I don’t write smut or slash.
What I enjoy most is exploring the friendships between Frodo, Merry, Pippin and Sam. But I also love to write Bilbo, and OCs or Minor Canon Characters, such as Fredegar or Paladin.
4. Do you write for the same pairings/characters?
I’m not a ‘shipper, and I’m not “pairing oriented”. I like to write canon couples, and my one “romance” was a Pippin/Diamond fic, with a good deal of Merry/Estella thrown in for good measure (“It Takes a Took“). While I’ll write occasional romantic scenes between canon couples or OCs, the “romance” is usually a side-plot, and not the main point of the story.
5. What is your most popular fic and why do you think people like it so?
I *think* it might be “A New Reckoning” which was my longest fic, but it also might be “Miss Dora Baggins’ Book of Manners”; I got great responses for both of those. But I don’t really know if they are my “most” popular.
If it’s “A New Reckoning”, it may be because of the interaction between the Men and Hobbits, and the way I show the Shire recovering from the Troubles during the Ring War.
And I think the humor of “Miss Dora” appeals to people, as well as the whole idea of a hobbit ettiquette book.
6. Forget other people, what is the fanfic you've written that you're most proud of?
Well, I’m not really “proud” of the fics that I think of as my best ones, because most of those seemed to just come to me like a gift, and I don’t really feel there was any effort in them.
But I suppose the thing I am proud of is my poem “The Smallest Hands”. I *did* struggle quite a lot with that, and yet it still came out the way I wanted it to.
7. Do you find writing easy? Hard? What aspects do you struggle with?
Yes. LOL!
Sometimes it’s quite easy. I will wake up with a story almost completely whole, there in my head, ready to simply transcribe. My first fic was like that, as were a few others. But other times I find it a struggle just to keep going.
Usually, the beginning of a story is very easy, and so is the end. It’s filling in the middle that makes me want to tear my hair out! Short stories, ficlets, vignettes and drabbles seldom give me a problem--but chaptered stories will sometimes stall on me, or take such an unexpected turn that I have to rethink everything that comes after.
8. Write a few sentences of your favorite pairing or character.
Hmm...well, all hobbits are my favorites...let's see...
Here's a little snippet from a new WIP, set in my Eucatastrophe-AU, in which Frodo did not stay in the Undying Lands. This is when he's 83, and he's in Gondor, accompanied by young Faramir Took, as well as Merry's son and two of Sam's sons...
Frodo stood with the rest of the audience, applauding the musician, who now took his bow. The music had been truly amazing. Frodo had never heard its like before.
"Uncle Frodo--"
Frodo glanced over at his young cousin, the face so very much like his father Pippin, except for the dark curls--every bit as dark as his own once had been. In that respect, young Faramir took after his mother.
"Yes, Fam?"
"Wouldn't Papa have loved this? He'd be up there right now, trying to get that musician to show him how it works…"
Blue eyes met green with the gleam of the same idea, and two hobbits far from home grinned at one another.
9. Are there any fan fiction trends/clichés you hate?
Merry and Pippin being immature and stupid. Frodo being wimpy. Sam being too subservient. Hobbits acting like children, or being treated that way by characters who should know better.
OOT--too much angst, or too much slapstick.
AUs that have no foothold in canon--I don’t care how far from it they stray, they need to have *some* grounding in canon in one way or the other, or they might as well be original fic.
10. Are you guilty of any of the trends you hate?
I hope not.
11. What was the first fandom you wrote for? Do you still write for it?
LotR; yes, it is my OTF--One True Fandom. I’ve only written one fic outside it, unless you want to count a few fics set in The Hobbit--but I think of The Hobbit as part of LotR fandom.
12. Name your OTPs and explain what it is about them you love to write.
Don’t have any OTPs except for the ones in canon. I do enjoy writing Sam/Rose, Merry/Estella and Pippin/Diamond because I love hobbit families.
13. What would you call your writing style?
Rather basic. I try to use good grammar, avoid anachronisms and Americanisms when possible, and keep it from clashing with JRRTs own style too badly. When I write Bilbo, I try to come as close as I can to his style in The Hobbit.
I tend to use multiple POVs, and there are some things I love to describe, such as hobbit food, hobbit homes, hobbit genealogy, etc. I wish I had the sort of lush descriptive style I admire, but I’m seldom that inspired.
14. Do you read other people's fan fiction? If so, what do you find yourself reading the most?
I love to read fic even more than to write it. If enough people were writing enough hobbit-fic, I wouldn’t have time to write any.
If it’s got hobbits, and it’s not smut, I’ll read it. If the smut’s only R, I might read it. I generally will *not* read NC-17, though I can skip certain parts, if the author is someone that I trust. I also have certain authors who write non-hobbits well enough that I can also enjoy their fic, in spite of the lack of hobbits.
15. Name one thing you'd love to write but have been too afraid or too shy to do.
I don’t know, really, that there’s anything I’d be too shy or afraid to write that I actually *want* to write. There are some things I haven’t written because I know darn well I wouldn’t be any *good* at writing them.
16. Do you feel uncomfortable taking criticism? Or worse, do you have the dreaded bloated ego?
No, I welcome criticism if it’s warranted. If it’s about my interpretation of the characters, however, expect an argument--you would have to persuade me that I’m wrong before I’d make a change. But I won’t get offended as long as you don’t make it personal.
I hope my ego’s not bloated. I’m not important enough for that. I’m playing in the Professor’s sandbox, with his characters and his world, and anything good that I do is to his credit, not mine.
17. When you write, is there anything that helps?
I need some uninterrupted time. I usually listen to music, though I can write fine without it.
18. What inspires you?
Oh my! Dreams, bunnies from friends, challenges and story starters, songs, bits from canon that need to have gaps filled or explanations…all sorts of things. Sometimes an image will come to me, needing to be described.
19. Lastly, how would you sum up your fan fiction experiences and you as a writer?
I enjoy creativity--I do all sorts of arts and crafts. But none of that is or has been, as creatively fulfilling to me as the last few years of writing fanfic. Middle-earth and the Shire is such a vast place to explore, full of rich characters whom I want to know better. The whole experience of fanfic has been amazing, and I hope I keep doing it for the rest of my life.
.
20. Tag some friends, because they'll hate you for it.
I don’t want anyone to hate me, but if anyone on my flist hasn’t done it yet, I’d love to see what you have to say about these questions.
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Date: 2008-02-27 11:59 pm (UTC)My, this is fun!
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Date: 2008-02-28 04:10 am (UTC)And Pippin and bagpipes--that's where "Lamentation" came from--a very mournful bagpipe solo I heard, I just got this image of a silhouette of Pippin, standing on a riverbank in the fog, playing his bagpipes...
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Date: 2008-02-28 12:19 am (UTC)I adore reading the answers to these! It's great getting a peak into other people's writing/fandom minds!
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Date: 2008-02-28 04:11 am (UTC)It was a lot of fun doing and thinking about! Thanks for starting this...
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Date: 2008-02-28 12:30 am (UTC)My best friend and I first met about 30 years ago when he saw me reading The Sil and came over to ask me what it was about.
Great to learn more about you! :)
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Date: 2008-02-28 04:13 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-02-28 01:10 am (UTC)Gosh... I know what you mean! I am in the middle of a WIP that stalled last year. I haven't managed a chapter since last... April? And yet I really want to finish it. I don't like not finishing a fic (particularly a multi-chaptered one.
Merry and Pippin being immature and stupid. Frodo being wimpy. Sam being too subservient.
Yes! Yes! I also dislike it when Merry and Pippin are treated as being exactly the same -- comic relief, or paint-by-numbers sidekicks. Mind you, I see more of that in the movies than I do here in LJ-land!
I enjoyed reading your post! :)
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Date: 2008-02-28 04:20 am (UTC)Thing is, people are influenced for those things by movie-verse, but it's not, not really. Yes, Merry and Pippin *were* treated as comic relief in most of the first one, and much of the second one, but they were never anything like as bad as some people portray them in fic. JRRT's Pippin was generous, clever,young, innocent, and impulsive; PJ's Pippin was clueless, obssessed with food,young, innocent,and impulsive; he was not crass, rude, thoughtless or stupid in either book- or movie-verse, but you'd never know that from certain fics you read.
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Date: 2008-02-28 01:12 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-02-28 04:22 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-02-28 01:48 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-02-28 04:22 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-02-28 05:31 am (UTC)Merry and Pippin being immature and stupid. Frodo being wimpy. Sam being too subservient. Hobbits acting like children, or being treated that way by characters who should know better.
Very true, these are some of my pet peeves as well. Frodo-the-wimp does not sound like a description of "one of the finest hobbits in the Shire".
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Date: 2008-02-28 01:29 pm (UTC)No, wimpy Frodo is not canon, not even by movie-verse standards, much less book-verse! But some people want to coddle him so much that they won't allow him any dignity. You can comfort him *without* infantilizing him.
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Date: 2008-02-28 06:22 am (UTC)You do write so many stories with varied characters---and do well at all of them. I admire that about you.
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Date: 2008-02-28 01:37 pm (UTC)I just enjoy hobbits so much. And while I love our four lads the most, I like finding out about their friends and loved ones as well. It's fun to explore that way.
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Date: 2008-02-29 06:02 am (UTC)I really do miss my book!Merry. I know Frodo is very different, too, but I suppose I can overlook many of those differences since I do love the way Elijah played him. But Merry---movie!Merry lacks much of the gentility and wisdom I see in book Merry.
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Date: 2008-02-29 02:17 pm (UTC)You are quite right about the gentility and wisdom of book Merry. Those two words are perfect for him.
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Date: 2008-02-28 09:10 am (UTC)So true!!!
Awww... love how you and your husband met :)
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Date: 2008-02-28 01:48 pm (UTC)Yes; we had one class together my senior year of college, but it was a large one, and I'd never actually met him. Unknown to me, I had apparently caught *his* eye, but I didn't know that until much, much later. But one day, I saw him in the Student Union. He was carrying his copy of FotR, and I had my copy of RotK, and we struck up a conversation about the books. Then he asked me out for our first date--to a bookstore.
I still think loving the same books is a very good guide to compatability.
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Date: 2008-02-28 05:38 pm (UTC)*ponders carying LotR books around everywhere*
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Date: 2008-02-28 02:44 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-02-29 02:22 pm (UTC)I'd love to see you do this meme.
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Date: 2008-02-29 05:02 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-02-29 06:30 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-02-29 06:45 pm (UTC)