30 Days Of Fan Fiction: Day 13

[vilakins]

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?

I prefer to stay with canon unless I'm writing an AU, but anyway I assume that fanon is merely adding to canon so I can pick and choose what I want to use (like Vila being a vegetarian: yes, Avon loving ice cream: yes, Avon being allergic to half the substances in the universe: no). I do also like to create my own fanon like Vila's mother Jandy and Soolin's sister Ilka.

I'm not sure if writing has ever changed my opinion of a fandom, but I can certainly interpret what's on the screen or page in different ways. I've had a lot of fun in b7friday doing that.

Rest of the questions

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

[executrix]

Mind you, that'd depend on the Federation having some mechanism for educating the more talented of the Lower Orders, and they very possibly would rather leave them in the Lower Orders and shoot them or ship them to Ursa Prime or Cygnus Alpha if they cause too much trouble.

I think that the only main character's grade assignment to be stated specifically is Vila's Delta (...and HE says he bought it...) and the only other one I can remember is Coser's Beta grade. Servalan calls Jenna "a high-grade citizen". However, I have NO trouble believing that Blake is an Alpha even though it's not on the record.

Fans tend to be simply ga-ga about My Former Client--and the multiple allergies are just part of the Glamorous Suffering portfolio. However, if he were a RL dinner guest I can easily imagine him claiming all sorts of allergies just to make you work harder.

[vilakins]

And he'd expect gourmet cooking at that.

Ah. So the allergies are a milder version of the Avon-torture I've come across. Kathy Hintze used to do the same to Vila. I admit to some hurt/comfort, nothing irreparable, myself.

[corvuscornix]

he'd expect gourmet cooking

Isn’t that the same fanonical trope, essentially? :-) After all, I don’t think he ever shows a single “canon” inclination for luxury living during the entire series - unless ice-cream is a black-market luxury goods in the future, of course... Buying himself safety, or the notion of being “untouchable”, are the only official reasons he gives for his desire for money, as far as I’m aware.

[vilakins]

OK, its one I decided on myself like Vila loving cheesy toast. It started as a joke and I liked it. Avon just likes living--and dressing--well, possibly because he's a Beta and compensating. :-D

[corvuscornix]

The idea that anyone (including himself) could find Avon's dress sense "classy" amuses me greatly. xD

[vilakins]

Ah but he thinks it's dressing well! And maybe it is in that future; there are some pretty bad costumes on guest characters. :-)

[corvuscornix]

True, they all dress pretty outrageously at one point or another. I suspect Avon just seems the weirdest since his ridiculous outfits clash so badly with that otherwise reserved personality and attempts at a dignified manner. :-)

[executrix]

Basically, he got into trouble in the first place by trying to nick enough money to support Anna in the style she was accustomed, but I don't think he would puritanically decline to sit on the posh furniture or would insist on eating scarce rations in the servants' quarters himself...and it's possible that he wanted the money from Gambit just for Silas Marner-style miserly gloating, but I really think he wanted to be able to spend it!

[vilakins]

I totally agree! Yes, money is power if you have enough of it, but he'd enjoy the finer things in life. Blake OTOH despite growing up with them wouldn't be that interested.

[corvuscornix]

Ah, but the fine thing about spending money is that you can choose what to spend it on, according to what your idea of luxury living is. The guy's a geek. Going by what the "canon" tells us about his interests, there seems to be far more evidence that he'd invest in all those fancy computer components he'd always wanted, rather than suddenly developing a taste for gourmet food that he's never visibly displayed before.

Not saying I think he couldn't or shouldn't be read like that if it makes sense to you. Just challenging the cliché that it is something that necessarily follows when someone expresses an interest (not terribly original at that) in getting rich.

[corvuscornix]

I’ve been thinking quite a bit of these things recently, having got caught up in the background-scenes of a fic of my own (unlikely to be finished, but still), and to me it makes sense that each grade would receive education on a kind of general need to know level, according to the tasks that persons of their class are expected to perform in the Federation society. Assuming that the Alpha grades don’t get to do all the more complex jobs (which seems unlikely), that means that at least the Beta grades would have the chance of a higher (if likely censored) education. In Avon’s case specifically, I suspect that his scientific curiosity in combination with his hacker skills probably could have given him an extensive "education" as well, quite regardless of whether he was meant to have it or not.

Actually, it is on record that Blake is an Alpha grade – or at least that Vila believes that he is:

(From Shadow)

CALLY: Blake has led a sheltered life!?
VILA: Look, he was an Alpha grade on Earth. A highly privileged group, the Alphas. Wouldn't last five minutes among the Delta service grades where I grew up.

...But I agree with you that he would really fit the part, regardless – certainly much more than Avon does.

[executrix]

Thanks, I forgot that one!

*I* think that Avon started wearing leather trousers when he realized that Blake never pulls his trousers up at the knees and Avon can't stop himself from trying to save the crease on his own trousers unless they're leather.

I just think of the Alphas as being aristocrats--they're in charge of everything, but nobody actually thinks they have a brain cell among the pack of them. And they look down on science even if they're smart enough to understand it. And the last thing the Federation is, is a meritocracy. They're perfectly chuffed to have hidebound, ignorant, stupid people in charge of everything.

[corvuscornix]

I could subscribe to that*. But then, all the more reason to (carefully) educate the ones who actually do the real work.

*Well, to the aristocrat part anyway. Not necessarily to the leather trousers bit. ;-)