Hello.
Welcome to the first entrant to our blog series - Ska (aka The One with the Fascination with Jared Harris)
Please see their answers below:
1. How did you get started in fanfiction?
My intro to fanfiction was probably the influx of LOTR and SW prequel trilogy crackfic in the early '00s -- my sisters were both big SF/fantasy readers and probably more in touch with the serious storytelling side of fanfiction at that time, but I was obsessed with the Sith Academy series (http://www.siubhan.com/sithacademy/) and the late great Bag Enders series by Lady Alyssa and Random Dent. Neither of which were remotely age-appropriate, but they were a definite plunge in the more, uh, transformative side of transformative works fandom. My earliest fics were attempts at comedy in the same vein, alongside very serious emotional wallowing.
2. What are your fandom(s) and why do you like/love/hate them?
I write for a lot of small fandoms, which are great in some ways -- there's a real excitement in making a connection with another fan of something rare, but also a lot of heartbreak when you have to hustle to find someone willing to discuss your canon. I also write fic for Shakespeare's histories and tragedies (lots of intense interpersonal relationships and possibilities for canon-divergent ficcing) and for AMC's The Terror (...ditto, but also, inventive gore and historical class issues out the wazoo).
3. What is the most easiest/hardest part about writing?
The easiest part of the writing process for me is probably the research -- I love tracking down academic sources and other relevant media to build up a story's sense of place, even if it never ends up in the actual fic itself. (One random research snippet that ended up in an incongruous fic has come back to haunt me lately -- I did a bunch of Franklin expedition and scurvy research for my 2001: A Space Odyssey fanfic "Aubade", and now I'm in a Franklin expedition-centric fandom where all that scurvy research is getting a workout.) The hardest part is definitely structure and plotting -- I have a ton of respect for writers who have the stamina to actually end their longfic in a satisfying way, because I sure don't.
4. Who are your inspirations?
Academic writers, public historians like the folks that run PrisonHistory.org and Digital Panopticon (https://www.digitalpanopticon.org/), indie perfumers like Sixteen92 9https://sixteen92.com/) and Seance Perfumes (https://seanceperfumes.com/), and historical collections like the Wellcome Collection (https://wellcomecollection.org/), the Mütter Museum (http://muttermuseum.org/), and the Burns Archive(https://www.burnsarchive.com/).
5. Ever fantasized about your work being made in a movie? If so, who are the actors that would be in the film?
I'm lucky to write in a lot of theater fandoms where different actors and different interpretations are there to pick and choose from, but I'd be lying if I said I didn't fancast my Early Modern drama fic with whatever actors I'm crazy about at that particular moment in time. (Jared Harris as Richard II, Jared Harris as Henry IV, Jared Harris as Faustus… basically, Jared Harris: call me.) I also like to fancast characters' unseen relatives.
6. Your favourite line you have written?
"Either there was a real Caleb, or there wasn't. His whole life has been just a string of averages and lowest common denominators and convenient angles — of course he's an orphan and of course he's not at home in his body, he looks at himself in the mirror and sees someone sad and sympathetic, more like Ava than Nathan, her ally. Nathan set him up in his own camp without even asking. A little less strong, a little less smart."
("strange loop", Ex Machina 2015 https://archiveofourown.org/works/5505644)
...okay so this is a whole damn paragraph, but if I had to pick one line, the second-to-last describes the core of all the relationships in this film to me.
7. Any advice for aspiring writers?
Find the thing that you can really get hyped to write about -- whether that's found families, body horror, complicated space politics, domestic fluff, fixing all the ways the last season of your show screwed up, your favorite character getting beaten up and suffering (wo)manfully -- and then write that, even if it's counter to the prevailing norms in the fandom you're in. This sounds like it should be intuitive, but it can be weirdly hard. It's a lot easier to stay motivated when you're letting yourself write just the good parts (whatever those parts are for you) instead of slogging through a project that might be serious and worthy but that you don't enjoy. Nothing is going to be every single possible reader's cup of tea, but it doesn't have to be, and it's a lot easier to write something where you know you're at least making yourself happy than to write something that might have a built-in audience but where you yourself are miserable and uninspired. Tl;dr follow your bliss -- the odds are very good that someone out there would be thrilled to read the exact thing you want to write.
8. Where can we find you on social media? Where can we find your work?
My fic is hosted on AO3 (https://archiveofourown.org/users/skazka) but you can find my book recs and baffling life output on Dreamwidth. (http://skazka.dreamwidth.org)
9. Tell us about yourself?
I've been writing fic for maybe fifteen years, but in terms of fic that another person might want to actually read, it's been [mumblemumble] years. I love small fandoms, historical horror, vampires, and sad priests.
10. If you could nominate someone else to take this survey, who would it be?
I'd love to nominate Scioscribe.
11. Your favourite authors?
A few of my favorite fic authors are Cygnes, Scioscribe, and Lilliburlero. (But I have way too many, small fandoms are great for that.) For pro fiction writers, I love Hilary Mantel, Pat Barker, and M. R. James.
____________________________________________________________
Please see her work below at the following sites:
A03 - https://archiveofourown.org/users/skazka
Dreamwidth - http://skazka.dreamwidth.org/
Welcome to the first entrant to our blog series - Ska (aka The One with the Fascination with Jared Harris)
Please see their answers below:
1. How did you get started in fanfiction?
My intro to fanfiction was probably the influx of LOTR and SW prequel trilogy crackfic in the early '00s -- my sisters were both big SF/fantasy readers and probably more in touch with the serious storytelling side of fanfiction at that time, but I was obsessed with the Sith Academy series (http://www.siubhan.com/sithacademy/) and the late great Bag Enders series by Lady Alyssa and Random Dent. Neither of which were remotely age-appropriate, but they were a definite plunge in the more, uh, transformative side of transformative works fandom. My earliest fics were attempts at comedy in the same vein, alongside very serious emotional wallowing.
2. What are your fandom(s) and why do you like/love/hate them?
I write for a lot of small fandoms, which are great in some ways -- there's a real excitement in making a connection with another fan of something rare, but also a lot of heartbreak when you have to hustle to find someone willing to discuss your canon. I also write fic for Shakespeare's histories and tragedies (lots of intense interpersonal relationships and possibilities for canon-divergent ficcing) and for AMC's The Terror (...ditto, but also, inventive gore and historical class issues out the wazoo).
3. What is the most easiest/hardest part about writing?
The easiest part of the writing process for me is probably the research -- I love tracking down academic sources and other relevant media to build up a story's sense of place, even if it never ends up in the actual fic itself. (One random research snippet that ended up in an incongruous fic has come back to haunt me lately -- I did a bunch of Franklin expedition and scurvy research for my 2001: A Space Odyssey fanfic "Aubade", and now I'm in a Franklin expedition-centric fandom where all that scurvy research is getting a workout.) The hardest part is definitely structure and plotting -- I have a ton of respect for writers who have the stamina to actually end their longfic in a satisfying way, because I sure don't.
4. Who are your inspirations?
Academic writers, public historians like the folks that run PrisonHistory.org and Digital Panopticon (https://www.digitalpanopticon.org/), indie perfumers like Sixteen92 9https://sixteen92.com/) and Seance Perfumes (https://seanceperfumes.com/), and historical collections like the Wellcome Collection (https://wellcomecollection.org/), the Mütter Museum (http://muttermuseum.org/), and the Burns Archive(https://www.burnsarchive.com/).
5. Ever fantasized about your work being made in a movie? If so, who are the actors that would be in the film?
I'm lucky to write in a lot of theater fandoms where different actors and different interpretations are there to pick and choose from, but I'd be lying if I said I didn't fancast my Early Modern drama fic with whatever actors I'm crazy about at that particular moment in time. (Jared Harris as Richard II, Jared Harris as Henry IV, Jared Harris as Faustus… basically, Jared Harris: call me.) I also like to fancast characters' unseen relatives.
6. Your favourite line you have written?
"Either there was a real Caleb, or there wasn't. His whole life has been just a string of averages and lowest common denominators and convenient angles — of course he's an orphan and of course he's not at home in his body, he looks at himself in the mirror and sees someone sad and sympathetic, more like Ava than Nathan, her ally. Nathan set him up in his own camp without even asking. A little less strong, a little less smart."
("strange loop", Ex Machina 2015 https://archiveofourown.org/works/5505644)
...okay so this is a whole damn paragraph, but if I had to pick one line, the second-to-last describes the core of all the relationships in this film to me.
7. Any advice for aspiring writers?
Find the thing that you can really get hyped to write about -- whether that's found families, body horror, complicated space politics, domestic fluff, fixing all the ways the last season of your show screwed up, your favorite character getting beaten up and suffering (wo)manfully -- and then write that, even if it's counter to the prevailing norms in the fandom you're in. This sounds like it should be intuitive, but it can be weirdly hard. It's a lot easier to stay motivated when you're letting yourself write just the good parts (whatever those parts are for you) instead of slogging through a project that might be serious and worthy but that you don't enjoy. Nothing is going to be every single possible reader's cup of tea, but it doesn't have to be, and it's a lot easier to write something where you know you're at least making yourself happy than to write something that might have a built-in audience but where you yourself are miserable and uninspired. Tl;dr follow your bliss -- the odds are very good that someone out there would be thrilled to read the exact thing you want to write.
8. Where can we find you on social media? Where can we find your work?
My fic is hosted on AO3 (https://archiveofourown.org/users/skazka) but you can find my book recs and baffling life output on Dreamwidth. (http://skazka.dreamwidth.org)
9. Tell us about yourself?
I've been writing fic for maybe fifteen years, but in terms of fic that another person might want to actually read, it's been [mumblemumble] years. I love small fandoms, historical horror, vampires, and sad priests.
10. If you could nominate someone else to take this survey, who would it be?
I'd love to nominate Scioscribe.
11. Your favourite authors?
A few of my favorite fic authors are Cygnes, Scioscribe, and Lilliburlero. (But I have way too many, small fandoms are great for that.) For pro fiction writers, I love Hilary Mantel, Pat Barker, and M. R. James.
____________________________________________________________
Please see her work below at the following sites:
A03 - https://archiveofourown.org/users/skazka
Dreamwidth - http://skazka.dreamwidth.org/
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