1. What’s your personal favourite thing you wrote this year?

I think my favourite thing is actually a poem I wrote but didn’t post publicly, because I was worried about the person it’s about finding it as it’s not so flattering to them. Much as I want to share it, I’m not sure I will post it anywhere while they’re still alive. It’s probably good exactly because it’s so personal. As far as fanfic goes though, there’s a few I’m especially fond of (mostly fluff - I actually wrote a decent amount of fluff this year somehow?) but my absolute fave would be my first proper Westhallen fic “it’s the little things.”

6. What’s your favourite piece of dialogue you wrote this year?

My fics are usually fairly dialogue light so there’s not loads to choose from, but I think this pun is my fav:

“This isn't the kind of heatwave I enjoy,” Len says with a semi-serious huff.  (which is from a Coldwestallen oneshot here) Questions here.

8 and 25 I already answered with other asks, but for the rest...

14. At what point in writing do you come up with a title?

Because I am a plotter, and tend to know what’s happening far in advance, a lot of the time I have one from the start and it usually doesn’t change. Occasionally I have a working title and change when it’s mostly complete. Often I use song lyrics because I like the phrasing. It’s rare, but sometimes I don’t have a title until posting and then get stumped on what to call a fic (summaries are usually what I struggle with).

20. Tell us the meta about your writing that you really want to ramble to people about (symbolism you’ve included, character or relationship development that you love, hidden references, callbacks or clues for future scenes?)

Ahh, my mind goes blank... Um, if I write AU’s I love writing in canon details as easter eggs or canon details with a twist if possible, but I can’t think of specifics right now. As far as symbolism goes, mine usually crops up fairly organically when I work on a theme in a fic, related to my poetry background where that is important. I think I generally love to be able to rework and make larger the themes from canon, callbacks to small mentions for a character that canon might forget. Characterisation is very important to me, so if there’s something in canon that seems weird for a character I would tend to try to find the Watsonian/in-universe explanation and explore that through fic and make it part of their character development even if the show handwaves it away. I feel a special kind of satisfaction at figuring out that kind of thing, making it make sense to me at least but hopefully also to any readers.

As far as leaving clues for future, that’s not been relevant so far in any fics but I do have 1 fic in progress (One Way Or Another) that’s more plotty where certain things will work like that (comments early on work into the setup of several later plot points) and that does excite me to be able to do, though I may worry what if I am making it too obvious. But I totally look forward to seeing with that WIP whether anyone sees any of it coming. Also have a plan there for a fortune cookie phrase for each chapter, for an in fic reason, and I want each of those to hint at a coming event and I’ll be interested to see if that entertains or annoys people. Questions here.

8. Is what you like to write the same as what you like to read?

Yes and no! Yes, because I do like to read things similar to what I write, but also no, because I definitely like to read much more widely, including things I know I could never write.

9. Are you more of a drabble or a longfic kind of writer? Pantser or plotter? Do you wish you were the other?

I used to be more of drabble writer about a decade ago but thesedays I struggle to keep things short enough. I still try drabbles from time to time but usually end up double drabbles or triple drabbles instead lol.

I’m definitely a longfic kind of writer now, but more one-shots. I love the idea of multichaptered, have a few on the go, but I struggle with update schedules as sometimes I won’t be able to write for ages. So, if I have any say in the matter I tend to aim for 5-20k oneshots.

I am definitely a plotter. By the time I start writing a fic in earnest (as opposed to recording any odd scenes that come to me out of order) I will always have a general idea of what will happen and where the fic starts, the loose idea of a middle and an overarching end. Often I’ll have a lot of the intervening plot points/scenes worked out too and then it becomes the task of how do I join it all up/pace it well.

10. How would you describe your writing process?

This ended up being a long-ass answer I don’t know if anyone wants, but here it is. I have 3 basic stages. 

1) Brainstorming: Writing down notes, ideas, maybe a little dialogue if a particular scene is better formed in my head already. Maybe making a moodboard or fanmix too - something about picking out images or needing a theme for a song’s focus helps solidify the idea better in my head. It’s usually here where I hash out the themes I want to grapple with for the story and what I consider the emotional beats, how the characters will feel at different stages of the story.

2) Bulk writing: Actually fleshing out all those notes, kinda like connect the dots with words once I get the ideas all in order. This is the hard slog I tend to find, even when I am enthused for the story, because you have to put the hard time into it. I write at about 1k/hour on a good day but most writing days aren’t as good as that, more like 500 words/hour. Random tidbit, for every 1k of notes, I find that translates to actual prose around 3-5k which is handy for my predicting word counts. Even if I don’t get a scene to exactly where I want yet here, I’ll have a barebones version and give myself permission to not have it be perfect yet, to be finished later. For the ones I already had barebones, with dialogue, then I’d figure out where to add in extra stuff for movement, body language, or sensory details.

3) Rewrites/editing: I probably spend the most time on this stage because, a) I prefer to let my writing sit for a while, to get a fresh perspective from myself, and b) it takes time to find a beta/get it betaread. I really do prefer to get something betaread if I can, though I often find it hard to sit with the criticism, however constructive. I tend to reread a lot, trying to look out for any way to add to details that make it more grounded/more emotive, ensuring my vocabulary is varied and minimising unintentional repetition. I try to do a few passes to shorten my sentences too. Between my rereads and looking over again with new beta comments, I probably go over a typical fic up to a dozen times.

Questions here.

1. Tell us about your current project(s) – what’s it about, how’s progress, what do you love most about it?

I’ve actually not written for ages because the muses are fickle, but the last substantial fic idea I wrote down was a Snowbarrisco AU where Barry was working with Thawne, not realising how awful he was. The real Barry dies as part of one of Thawne’s experiments, but most of his consciousness ends up downloaded into a very realistic (and totally illegal) android, BARI. Gideon (who is a lot more independent than either Barry or Thawne realise) eventually sends BARI away - to the little known STAR Labs - to protect him from Thawne’s machinations/abuse. I’ve got the main plot mostly figured out but not all the emotional beats to it or the ending. What I love most about it is the idea of Barry’s humanity shining through, that BARI could be more than what a cold analysis of his programming would suggest. 25. What part of writing is the most fun? I think for me, it’s when you find just the right turn of phrase. My writing tends towards poetic at times (because I started out writing poetry). I know more poetic phrasing isn’t everyone’s cup of tea, but it really pleases me to find a description that flows a certain way, even if that’s not gonna ring true with every reader. Questions here.