30 Days Of Fan Fiction: Day 6

[vilakins]

6 – When you write, do you prefer writing male or female characters?

I prefer writing characters who interest me. In fanfic that's usually turned out to be the men, possibly because the writers concentrate more on male characters or allow them more interesting personalities and freedom of action. Many of my favourite characters are male, sure, but there are women in there too. Characters are usually favourites because they're alien or non-human in other ways (like Data or Seven of Nine) or the kind of person who interests me (and Susan Ivanova was one). I don't always feel like writing about them though; that subset's much smaller.

In my (mostly unwritten) original fiction however, I definitely go for females as main characters, but placed in a future (near or far) world in which talent and ability count, not one's gender. I can only think of one potential novel that has a male as main character (and he's a clone).

Rest of the questions

7 – Have you ever had a fic change your opinion of a character?

8 – Do you write OCs? And if so, what do you do to make certain they're not Mary Sues, and if not, explain your thoughts on OCs.

9 – For each of the fandoms from day two, what are your three favourite pairings to write?

10 – Have you ever gone outside your comfort zone and written a pairing you liked, but found you couldn't write, or a pairing you didn't like, and found you could?

11 – Do you prefer certain genres of fic when you're writing? What kind do you tend to write most?

12 – Have you ever attempted an "adaptation" fic of a favourite book or movie but set in a different fandom?

13 – Do you prefer canon or fanon when you write? Has writing fanfic for a fandom changed the way you see some or even all of the original source material?

14 – Ratings: how high are you comfortable with going? Have you ever written higher? If you're comfortable with NC-17, have you ever been shocked by finding that the story you're writing is G-rated instead?

15 – What do you feel it most important to warn for, and what's the strangest thing you've warned for in a fic?

16 – Summaries: do you like them or hate them? How do you come up with them, if you use them?

17 – Titles: are they the bane of your existence, or the easiest part of the fic? Also, if you do chaptered fic, do you give each chapter a title, or not?

18 – Where do you get the most inspiration or ideas for your fics?

19 – When you have plot ideas, do you sit down and start writing right away, or do you write down the idea for further use?

20 – Do you ever get ideas from other people's stories or art in the same fandom?

21 – Have you ever written a sequel to a fic you wrote, and if so, why? If not, how do you feel about sequels?

22 – Have you ever participated in a fest, ficathon, 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?

23 – When you post, where do you post to? Just your journal? Just an archive? Your own personal site?

24 – 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?

25 – Do you listen to music while you write? Do you make playlists to get into a certain "mood" to write your fic? Do you need noise in general? Or do you need it completely quiet?

26 – What is the oddest (or most fun) thing you've had to research for a fic?

27 – Where is your favourite place to write, and do you write by hand or on the computer?

28 – Have you ever collaborated with anyone else, whether writing together, or having an artist work on a piece about your fic?

29 – What is your current project or projects?

30 – Do you have a favourite fic you've written? What makes it your favourite? And don't forget to give us a link!

Comments

[corvuscornix]

To my great shame, I often find female characters a lot more difficult to write than male ones - at least when it comes to characters that aren't leading ones. I do have several leading female characters that I feel comfortable with in my (likewise mostly unwritten) original fiction, including narrators, but the male leads still outnumber them, and definitely so when it comes to supporting characters. I really wish it wasn't so. :P

[vilakins]

I generally go for 50-50 in original fic with the spotlight on a female. When writing OCs, I also try for 50-50 and an ethnic mix, but I admit it's the guys who get the big roles in fanfic. For some reason Soolin's done well, I suspect because she's very similar to Avon, but more on her in a later question.

[corvuscornix]

For some of my stories I've toyed with the idea of simply switching all the (already established) characters into the opposite sex, just to prove to my stupid, biased brain that it is not a defining aspect of personality (which I do want to believe, after all) and that the story would work just as well that way around. However I have such difficulties getting anything written at all that in the end I tend to go for the path of least resistance anyway. And I suppose But it would be an interesting experiment.

[vilakins]

I have actually read stories in which people have done that! I remember it was Kerri and Viola in one. :-) I didn't like them that much though because people often bring gender stereotypes into it and I like my characters (canon or original) to be individuals free of that.

I did rather like one in which Vila was changed, but only physically (by falling in a pond). It was still him in there, very disconcerted. As was Avon who found that he was attracted because of Vila's similarity to Anna (soft brown hair and eyes, pointed eyebrows). He got changed back in the end, helped by Avon.

[corvuscornix]

Aw, I don't think I've come across that one. :-)

But I was thinking more on the lines of trying to get rid of the (unconscious) gender stereotypes by switching the characters' sex after the story is finished - basically running the writing software's "find and replace" function on the personal pronouns etc. And then trying it out on some unsuspecting reader to see if they accept the characters that way. (Though it would be rather obvious in fanfiction of course.)

Unless the story deals specifically with gender issues (and mine rarely do) I think it should be possible, and perhaps a way of tricking my brain into writing all characters simply as people, regardless of sex. Because that's what they are, after all. I think it should be possible to have a female Vila or Avon (i.e. born female) without having to change their mannerisms or interests or the subjects that they like to talk about - and still make them come across as "real" and believable characters. At least I hope that's the case.

[vilakins]

That's an interesting idea! I know I could do that with my OCs and most of the characters in my original (unwritten) fic. I think it would be a lot harder with fanfic because we see them the way they were on screen.

However the appeal of Soolin to me if that she's very like Avon in her logic, coolness, and reserve. You're right; they're people regardless of gender. That's how I see people in general anyway.

[corvuscornix]

I would like to believe that it's the way I see people too (and I'm pretty sure it is for people I know well), but seeing this problem crop up in my writing has had me wondering. Mostly though I think it's because when I grew up, I felt very strongly that I could not identify as a "normal" female (as based on the ones surrounding me.) At a certain point, pretty much all of the girls of my age just seemed to be trying their hardest to become those actual gender stereotypes - it was all clothes and boys and make-up and intrigue - and I just couldn't understand them any longer. Since I didn't understand them (and, perhaps more damning, since I found them so unutterably boring), I suspect this is what still causes my brain to freeze up when I feel required to write a "normal/average" female character - it's like trying to write a character whose internal motivations you cannot understand, and cannot identify with. Even though I should know better.

It's true, Soolin is a bit like a female Avon. Only cooler. (Though admittedly, at that point the old Avon is falling apart, so she would be.) And she's a lot better at knowing when to shut up (in a good way). X-)

[vilakins]

I totally agree with you. When I was a kid I used to tell other children I didn't know (like when I was on holiday) that I was a boy because I much preferred boys' games. My parents were quite used to it. They were actually very good; they bought me the toys I wanted, and those were either boys' one or not gender specific (like art supplies).

Since I've worked in computers I've mainly worked with guys and got on really well with them. Only at one place I couldn't find anything in common with them because they only wanted to talk about girls and cars and I was interested in neither. But then I also have no interest in clothes, shoes, babies, celebs, or pairings or whatever.

That said, most of my geeky friends here on LJ are women so this is the place to find people I get on with who are also female. :-)

[corvuscornix]

Heh, I don't think I ever tried to pass myself off as a boy, but then I mostly got to do what I wanted anyway. I played with both boys and girls - and with both boys' and girls' toys - and if nobody wanted to do the things I liked, then I simply did them on my own. I spent a lot of my childhood alone like that, and then even more so in my early teens as everyone got more "boring" as they grew older, but I never felt lonely. My parents were excellent about it too, never trying to steer me in one direction or the other or ever making me feel like I was different in any negative sense.

Sometimes I wish I could get that obliviousness back. *sigh*

I regret not realising the potential of the internet sooner. LJ certainly is a great place to meet your own kind. But better late than never! :-)

[vilakins]

Absolutely! I hope we always have it. (There are two big undersea cables here and I worry about them.)

[kerravonsen]

I did rather like one in which Vila was changed, but only physically (by falling in a pond). It was still him in there, very disconcerted. As was Avon who found that he was attracted because of Vila's similarity to Anna (soft brown hair and eyes, pointed eyebrows). He got changed back in the end, helped by Avon.

That sounds interesting - is it on the net? URL?

[vilakins]

It could be. I have no way of finding it because I don't remember the title.