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hd_writersThis month's ![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-community.gif)
hd_writers interview is with the very prolific ![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
alisanne, author of The Spy Who Loved the Boy Who Lived not to mention MANY MORE wonderful drabbles, ficlets, and fanfics spanning several pairings!
I hope you enjoy reading about Alisanne's writing methods! If you have additional questions, she will gladly answer them in the comments!
Approximately how many stories would you say you've written for fandom? Original work? I...honestly have no idea. Do drabbles count as stories? If so, maybe a few thousand? If not...prolly several hundred, possibly two thousand or more.
I tried my hand at original work years ago and, well, that was lost when my computer at the time went kaput. I never recreated it. I was in the world-building phase anyway, so...
How long on average are your stories? Do you prefer to write shorter fics or longer? Why? Well again, that depends on whether drabbles count. I write several drabbles a week and I also write for fests. In fests I'd say my average fic length is 5 to 9K, although for Snarry fests and some H/D stories I tend to be in the 10 to 15K range.
Writing both long and short has things to recommend them, actually. Writing shorter means instant gratification and I think drabbling has helped my overall writing, has made me more succinct. Writing longer works allows me to expand ideas that I may not be able to explore very thoroughly in drabbles, although, interestingly enough, I often have entire thorough and complicated back-stories in my head for drabbles.
Where do you find your inspiration? Everywhere! Driving to work, walking in my neighborhood, choir practice, church (I’m serious), TV, music, going out with friends... Anything can spark an idea.
What's the first thing you do when an idea comes to you? I ponder it for a while to see if I think it will go anywhere. If it’s persistent, I write it down and a story is born.
Do you have to be in the zone to write or is it more about consistency and discipline? It’s all of those things, actually. I try to write every day and most of the time I succeed. Being in ‘the zone’ definitely helps, though. There’s nothing better than having a story flow out of you and onto the page. To be open to that, however, I find being in the practice of writing daily really helps facilitate that.
How many fics do you typically work on at a time? Heh. I usually write at least a drabble a day in addition to having two or three fest fics and other projects that I’m contemplating at any one time.
How do you like to work? Quiet? Music? Where? I always have the TV on in the background. Usually it’s HGTV or Food Network.
Do you have a writing schedule or routine? Every day? Certain time of day? Certain number of words? Number of minutes? When I’m in a fest I will often outline a general plot, try to estimate how many words I think it will take to tell the story, then figure out how many words a day I need to write to make that happen. I tend to be rather...disciplined that way, so if I know I have to write 500 words a night on a story it helps me plan my time. I write after work unless I have a late meeting or something. I don’t have a set number of minutes that I write for, but I have been known to word war with friends in chat, and that is really helpful for jumpstarting a recalcitrant muse.
What are your writing habits? My habits? Hm. Not sure I have any, really. Other than trying to write something every day.
Do you force yourself to write even when you don't want to? Yes. And although it doesn’t always work, it usually does.
Do you keep a handwritten journal? No. I did years ago, but my handwriting has deteriorated over the years, lol. It’s better if I stick to typing.
Do you plan or outline your stories in any way? Can you describe your process? For longer stories I may do a brief outline, but most of the time I just write and see where it takes me. That does mean that I have to go back and redo things that no longer work with what I write later on, however. And thank goodness for betas who catch the inevitable errors that writing method creates. *g* I also tend to write scenes in order, so it takes a lot for me to skip around from scene to scene, although that sometimes becomes necessary to get the story back on track.
What motivates you to keep writing? Deadlines. :) And the need to finish telling the story. Sometimes the characters are loud and demanding, and it’s easier to get them to shut up by finishing. *g*
How do you stay excited about your writing? Most of the time it’s because I’m trying to respond to a challenge. I write a lot of drabbles and I love them because they are small, bite-sized creations that keep things fresh for me. And, well, I love fixing things in canon that I think are wrong.
How do you stay focused while working on longer fics? Deadlines, definitely. I’ve written one long, multi-chaptered story that I posted in installments, and what kept me motivated for that was to not disappoint the readers.
Do you find deadlines stressful or helpful? Oh they definitely help me. I am way more efficient when under a deadline than when I’m not.
What is your biggest challenge in writing and how do you overcome it? The actual writing itself. The hardest bit is just sitting down and doing it.
Do you have a system for organizing your story ideas and notes? A what? *shifty eyes* People do that? I mean I organize my stories once they’re written so I can find them again, and I do have a huge document into which I throw ideas I think I may use someday (I really should go through that sometime) but that’s about it.
Do you write in a linear form, from beginning to end, or do you jump around as the muse strikes? Oh I’m pretty linear. I rarely jump around unless I think of a fabulous line to use later that I have to jot down and save, or when I occasionally finish a story and decide to change the opening. But for the most part I write from beginning to end.
Do you have your story planned from start to finish or do you just start writing and let the rest work itself out? I totally make it up as I go along. And whatever ‘plot’ I may have come up with often changes as I write. My writing is pretty fluid.
What are your tips to overcoming writer's block/slump? I chat just about every day with people in Yahoo Instant Messenger, so if I’m in a slump I bat around ideas with them. Another very handy technique is ‘word war’, in which several of us, usually also in YIM, get together and have a competition to see who can write the more words in a 20 minute period, You’d be surprised at how motivating it is when you’re competing. ;)
What do you do if you lose interest in a fic? Especially if you are writing for a deadline? I show what I have to my beta or members of my writing group and usually one of them will have an idea that motivates me. If it’s truly hopeless I’ll set it aside and write something else. Pretty much as soon as I get engrossed in another project my muse will start giving me idea for the original story I was working on because she’s just contrary like that. ;)
What sources or websites do you find helpful for writing tips and information? I always have the HP Lexicon up. I often use thesaurus.com, Google, and an English to Latin translation site as well.
Do you share your writing process along the way with a support group of friends, betas or cheerleaders? Definitely. And I’d be nothing without them.
Have you ever co-written a story with someone? Yes, I’ve co-written with several people.celandineb, lilyeyes and my beta, sevfan.
What's it like to co-write? A lot of fun, actually. The way I’ve done it has been to write back and forth alternating chunks of story and it’s great seeing what the other person comes up with when you send your bit of the story.
How does your process differ when co-writing? There’s less pressure on me to be responsible for the entire thing. I find that two minds are much better than one for writing the way out of corners. ;)
How do you split the workload? Who does what? How I’ve always done it is just write a chunk and send it to the other person and then they generally send back a similarly sized chunk. We usually decide on a loose ‘plot’ ahead of time but the specifics we work out as we write. It’s always been a blast.
Is one person's style more prevalent, or does it depend on the character, plot etc? I don’t think so. I like to think that when I’ve co-written the styles have meshed pretty seamlessly. What I find helps with that is having both people go through and add or subtract words (particularly in dialogue) in the story. That tends to even things out.
How have you evolved as a writer over time? Oh I think so. I believe serial drabbling had helped me to be very careful about word choices, which is a good thing. My strengths remain the same I think (snappy dialogue and humor) and I’ll never be particularly descriptive, but I think my stuff overall is improving.
What is your favorite fic you've written and why is it your favorite? Oh boy, this may be the toughest question yet! Since this is forhd_writers I’m guessing you want my favorite H/D fic? Um... At the moment I would say it’s a toss up between From the Great Beyond and Immovable Unspeakable meets Irresistible Hit Wizard, although my first (and longest H/D multi-chaptered fic, The Spy Who Loved the Boy Who Lived will always have a special place in my heart.
Thanksalisanne for sharing with us!
hd_writers interview is with the very prolific alisanne, author of The Spy Who Loved the Boy Who Lived not to mention MANY MORE wonderful drabbles, ficlets, and fanfics spanning several pairings!I hope you enjoy reading about Alisanne's writing methods! If you have additional questions, she will gladly answer them in the comments!
Approximately how many stories would you say you've written for fandom? Original work? I...honestly have no idea. Do drabbles count as stories? If so, maybe a few thousand? If not...prolly several hundred, possibly two thousand or more.
I tried my hand at original work years ago and, well, that was lost when my computer at the time went kaput. I never recreated it. I was in the world-building phase anyway, so...
How long on average are your stories? Do you prefer to write shorter fics or longer? Why? Well again, that depends on whether drabbles count. I write several drabbles a week and I also write for fests. In fests I'd say my average fic length is 5 to 9K, although for Snarry fests and some H/D stories I tend to be in the 10 to 15K range.
Writing both long and short has things to recommend them, actually. Writing shorter means instant gratification and I think drabbling has helped my overall writing, has made me more succinct. Writing longer works allows me to expand ideas that I may not be able to explore very thoroughly in drabbles, although, interestingly enough, I often have entire thorough and complicated back-stories in my head for drabbles.
Where do you find your inspiration? Everywhere! Driving to work, walking in my neighborhood, choir practice, church (I’m serious), TV, music, going out with friends... Anything can spark an idea.
What's the first thing you do when an idea comes to you? I ponder it for a while to see if I think it will go anywhere. If it’s persistent, I write it down and a story is born.
Do you have to be in the zone to write or is it more about consistency and discipline? It’s all of those things, actually. I try to write every day and most of the time I succeed. Being in ‘the zone’ definitely helps, though. There’s nothing better than having a story flow out of you and onto the page. To be open to that, however, I find being in the practice of writing daily really helps facilitate that.
How many fics do you typically work on at a time? Heh. I usually write at least a drabble a day in addition to having two or three fest fics and other projects that I’m contemplating at any one time.
How do you like to work? Quiet? Music? Where? I always have the TV on in the background. Usually it’s HGTV or Food Network.
Do you have a writing schedule or routine? Every day? Certain time of day? Certain number of words? Number of minutes? When I’m in a fest I will often outline a general plot, try to estimate how many words I think it will take to tell the story, then figure out how many words a day I need to write to make that happen. I tend to be rather...disciplined that way, so if I know I have to write 500 words a night on a story it helps me plan my time. I write after work unless I have a late meeting or something. I don’t have a set number of minutes that I write for, but I have been known to word war with friends in chat, and that is really helpful for jumpstarting a recalcitrant muse.
What are your writing habits? My habits? Hm. Not sure I have any, really. Other than trying to write something every day.
Do you force yourself to write even when you don't want to? Yes. And although it doesn’t always work, it usually does.
Do you keep a handwritten journal? No. I did years ago, but my handwriting has deteriorated over the years, lol. It’s better if I stick to typing.
Do you plan or outline your stories in any way? Can you describe your process? For longer stories I may do a brief outline, but most of the time I just write and see where it takes me. That does mean that I have to go back and redo things that no longer work with what I write later on, however. And thank goodness for betas who catch the inevitable errors that writing method creates. *g* I also tend to write scenes in order, so it takes a lot for me to skip around from scene to scene, although that sometimes becomes necessary to get the story back on track.
What motivates you to keep writing? Deadlines. :) And the need to finish telling the story. Sometimes the characters are loud and demanding, and it’s easier to get them to shut up by finishing. *g*
How do you stay excited about your writing? Most of the time it’s because I’m trying to respond to a challenge. I write a lot of drabbles and I love them because they are small, bite-sized creations that keep things fresh for me. And, well, I love fixing things in canon that I think are wrong.
How do you stay focused while working on longer fics? Deadlines, definitely. I’ve written one long, multi-chaptered story that I posted in installments, and what kept me motivated for that was to not disappoint the readers.
Do you find deadlines stressful or helpful? Oh they definitely help me. I am way more efficient when under a deadline than when I’m not.
What is your biggest challenge in writing and how do you overcome it? The actual writing itself. The hardest bit is just sitting down and doing it.
Do you have a system for organizing your story ideas and notes? A what? *shifty eyes* People do that? I mean I organize my stories once they’re written so I can find them again, and I do have a huge document into which I throw ideas I think I may use someday (I really should go through that sometime) but that’s about it.
Do you write in a linear form, from beginning to end, or do you jump around as the muse strikes? Oh I’m pretty linear. I rarely jump around unless I think of a fabulous line to use later that I have to jot down and save, or when I occasionally finish a story and decide to change the opening. But for the most part I write from beginning to end.
Do you have your story planned from start to finish or do you just start writing and let the rest work itself out? I totally make it up as I go along. And whatever ‘plot’ I may have come up with often changes as I write. My writing is pretty fluid.
What are your tips to overcoming writer's block/slump? I chat just about every day with people in Yahoo Instant Messenger, so if I’m in a slump I bat around ideas with them. Another very handy technique is ‘word war’, in which several of us, usually also in YIM, get together and have a competition to see who can write the more words in a 20 minute period, You’d be surprised at how motivating it is when you’re competing. ;)
What do you do if you lose interest in a fic? Especially if you are writing for a deadline? I show what I have to my beta or members of my writing group and usually one of them will have an idea that motivates me. If it’s truly hopeless I’ll set it aside and write something else. Pretty much as soon as I get engrossed in another project my muse will start giving me idea for the original story I was working on because she’s just contrary like that. ;)
What sources or websites do you find helpful for writing tips and information? I always have the HP Lexicon up. I often use thesaurus.com, Google, and an English to Latin translation site as well.
Do you share your writing process along the way with a support group of friends, betas or cheerleaders? Definitely. And I’d be nothing without them.
Have you ever co-written a story with someone? Yes, I’ve co-written with several people.
celandineb, lilyeyes and my beta, sevfan.What's it like to co-write? A lot of fun, actually. The way I’ve done it has been to write back and forth alternating chunks of story and it’s great seeing what the other person comes up with when you send your bit of the story.
How does your process differ when co-writing? There’s less pressure on me to be responsible for the entire thing. I find that two minds are much better than one for writing the way out of corners. ;)
How do you split the workload? Who does what? How I’ve always done it is just write a chunk and send it to the other person and then they generally send back a similarly sized chunk. We usually decide on a loose ‘plot’ ahead of time but the specifics we work out as we write. It’s always been a blast.
Is one person's style more prevalent, or does it depend on the character, plot etc? I don’t think so. I like to think that when I’ve co-written the styles have meshed pretty seamlessly. What I find helps with that is having both people go through and add or subtract words (particularly in dialogue) in the story. That tends to even things out.
How have you evolved as a writer over time? Oh I think so. I believe serial drabbling had helped me to be very careful about word choices, which is a good thing. My strengths remain the same I think (snappy dialogue and humor) and I’ll never be particularly descriptive, but I think my stuff overall is improving.
What is your favorite fic you've written and why is it your favorite? Oh boy, this may be the toughest question yet! Since this is for
hd_writers I’m guessing you want my favorite H/D fic? Um... At the moment I would say it’s a toss up between From the Great Beyond and Immovable Unspeakable meets Irresistible Hit Wizard, although my first (and longest H/D multi-chaptered fic, The Spy Who Loved the Boy Who Lived will always have a special place in my heart. Thanks
alisanne for sharing with us!
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Fascinatin', this.
Date: 2012-03-06 03:21 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2012-03-06 11:41 pm (UTC)