lirazel | Watch me ramble about my writing!

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Watch me ramble about my writing!

Gakked from

angearia.

This is gonna be hard.

What's the piece of writing you're most proud of? Why?

I'm really proud of Infinitas Infinitio Infinitus because hey! Multi-chapter fic! And I finished it! And also Ars Poetica for the same reasons, plus I had the idea for so incredibly long and I never thought I'd get around to writing it.

Speaking of fic ideas that I'd been thinking about for years and never thought I'd actually write, I still can't believe that Forgive Us Our Trespasses ever actually happened. I literally had the tag line/summary of that fic floating around in my head for years, and I knew I wanted to do a breakdown of Mal's life with the seven deadly sins as a framework, but it just seemed so overwhelming for some reason. The fact that I finished it? And that people seemed to like it? Really important to me.

What do you think is your best work? Why?

Commas and Ampersands is up there. I lovelovelove the format, and I feel like I managed to build an actual arc around what was essentially a series of tiny vignettes. Counting Up, Counting Down still seems (nearly) as good to me as it did when I originally wrote it. That's really saying something.

Oh, and I'm still crazy about One More Song About Moving Along the Highway. It makes me hug myself with joy.

Is there a piece that nags at you and you can't figure out how to fix it or if it even needs to be fixed?

Metamorphosis is still, I believe, the best idea I ever had for a fic. Period. But despite the fact that it's been so well-received, especially by people whose opinions I value, it never has and never will measure up to what I wanted it to be in my head. I'm not usually as hard on myself as I was with that one.

I feel sort of the same way about Tangerine. People love it, but I don't think it'll ever measure up to the source material for me. Plus, Penny's section doesn't have as much of an impact as I wish it did. I'm still really proud of Polexia and Sapphire's, though.

Is there a story you wish you'd done differently? How would you change it, looking back?

I'm actually kind of ashamed of Take Five. I'm really still fond of the idea of plunking Cordy down into five different fandoms, but I wrote it in such a hurry for the deadline I've forgotten about that it ended up kind of sucking. I would go back and flesh every section out, make it longer, polish the writing. The Doctor convincing Cordy to be his companion by taking her shopping deserves so much better. As does the epic battle between Cordy and Blair.

What's the kinkiest thing you've written? This question is hard for me, because I don't think of myself as writing kinky stuff because I don't write anything explicit. I have never, and likely never will, written an NC-17 fic.

However, Playthings comes pretty close. What can I say? Elle and Adam are twisted.

Also, Death Becomes Her? Drusilla feeding from Adam is pretty intense, I guess.

What's the darkest piece? Um, all of them? *g* Ministers of Grace is the only fic I've ever written that ends without any note of hope at all. Poor Dru. *tear*

Nightlights was an attempt to get inside Buffy's head during S6, but I'm not a good judge of how dark it is. And in Scarlet and Midnight, every. single. person. on earth besides Buffy and Spike dies, which...yeah. Dark.

[EDIT] No! I was wrong! I forgot Requieum! That's the one May prompted me for, or I never would have written it: Six kinds of heartbreak you never recover from. Gah. Angsty heaven!

What's the funniest piece? I don't write funny. No, really. I don't write funny. Love and Blackmail will be the most lighthearted if I ever finish it (first order of business after

seasonal_spuffy, I swear), but it isn't funny.

Oh, wait! I have drabbles that're funny! Three's Company is funny, and so is No Escape. I hope. If they aren't, don't tell me.

What's the piece that sounded good in theory, but just didn't translate well?

More Than One Day, apparently. I really liked the idea of Cordy having a part in the epic battle in "Not Fade Away." Maybe it's a little too Cordy-worship-ful? I don't know. Not a lotta love for that one.

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Yes! Ars Poetica made me bawl. Okay, no. It was more like this slow fall into tears. So beautiful. I love that fic of yours. Is it awful if I admit that there's so many stories where I start reading and then just give up on them? But with Ars I was compelled to read on.

Dude, Love and Blackmail is totally funny! You do write funny. Maybe you just don't realize it's there in your angst-loving ways. I hope you'll come back to this. I can't wait to see what you do with Morty. ;)

I'm off to read your "best" Vmars fic Counting Up, Counting Down. :)

You're awesome. I'm so glad you liked it, because I'd wanted to write Buffy and Spike's story through poetry for forever, and when I finally decided to do it for s_s, I was so sure it wasn't going to happen. Literally on my posting date, I wrote the second half of it. I had all the poems picked out, but I worked on that thing all day. It felt so. good. to finish it.

Is it awful if I admit that there's so many stories where I start reading and then just give up on them? Meh. I do that, too. Mostly if the writing isn't strong or if there's bad grammar of if there's too much OOCness.

Well, thank you! I'm glad to know you think it's funny! I wanted to try something different! I really do intend to finish it; I of course have big plans for our buddy Morty!

Hee! I hope you enjoy it!

Oh my god. I'm currently listening to "Hear the bells" to meet my Vmars fix after reading your Counting Up, Counting Down. Love it! Soooooo good. And I definitely see why you have it as one of your best. It's...WOW.

Was that posted somewhere else first? I find it shameful that there's not more comments for such a wonderful fic.

Oh! I love that song! I haven't listened to it so long--I'll definitely be doing that tonight!

*big grin*

Yeah, it was posted over on one of the VM fic coms. This was before I figured out you could do a fake cut. I need to hunt them down and link to them in my journal so I won't forget that they're there...

I have an awful, awful confession to make about Ars Poetica: I think I read the whole thing when you first posted it, but I was so distracted by how weird LJ rendered your formatting in the first two chapters that I can't remember any of it. And every time I think to reread it, I'm newly taken aback by the same formatting. Erg.

I've only really known you through Buffy fandom, so I keep being surprised by how much you've written in other fandoms. I need to go read your Firefly fic. *makes a note*

That's not horrible! Is the formatting weird on that one? Going back through this, I realized that when I changed my livejournal stylesheet, it took out all the paragraph breaks, rendering them pretty unreadable. I've fixed all the ones listed in this post, and I need to sit down and do the rest soon.

But AP is in another journal--the fonts are a bit different here and there (something I can't figure out how to fix), but I didn't realize it looked wonky. What's wrong with it? I'd love to be able to fix it. If you ever want to check it out again (no pressure), it is over here at Elysian Fields.

Ha! Yeah, I've got a reputation as a bit of a fandom whore. I get distracted by the shininess! I'm always wandering off into new ones (currently I have fics I'm wanting to write/working on in four brand new fandoms. True story).

If you do get around to reading them, do let me know what you think! They're very Mal-heavy, and I know he's not your favorite, but I think you should at least like the Zoe bits in his! ;) Plus, lots of Inara, but not in all of them, so maybe you'll be able to find some stuff to like! But again--just if you do get the chance and you have anything to share. I value your opinion!

*loves that icon*

You might be the person I've always needed to write a Jayne/Anya fic...

I think they'd be perfect for each other, haha!

Oh my goodness! That's insane! I'm crazy about crossovers, as you may or may not have figured out by now, and that one would be hilarious. I need to really think about whether I'm funny enough to pull that one off....

I'd help! I've just never felt confident with Jayne's voice as I've never written Firefly before, but...

I'd help!

You know what? I've never written a fic with someone before. As soon as the s_s insanity is over, we should try it! I expect our combined powers of awesome would result in...greater awesome.

Plus, it'll give me an excuse to watch Firefly again....

I am so there! And word to it being after the s_s insanity.

I have so much writing to do now. All the stuff I want to finish for s_s, two fics for the Fall Fandom Free-for-All, and then a few more that I've had in my head a while and I just want to get down on paper.

It's so stressful!

I know! It's just so frickin' much. I just...GAH. I'm worried about s_s honestly because TYSK is coming together in my head right now and there's only a few chapters left and they're so important. But participating in s_s is important, too. Eep.

Btw, I totally wrote my entire s_s story last spring the day of!

But AP is in another journal--the fonts are a bit different here and there (something I can't figure out how to fix), but I didn't realize it looked wonky. What's wrong with it?

I assume you're talking about the version over at seasonal_spuffy? The fonts do weird things, yes, but also several paragraphs in the first couple of chapters go right off the page - I have to scroll right to see them all.

Personally, I'd copy the text itself and handcode it, but then I'm pretty low-tech about these things, as you've seen from the Seraph chapters. :)

And, likewise about the icon - yours is gorgeous! Just a fabulous job of framing.

The fonts do weird things, yes, but also several paragraphs in the first couple of chapters go right off the page - I have to scroll right to see them all. Ugh. But I'm glad you told me--they don't do that on mine, so I never would have known otherwise! When I have some spare time, I'll have to try to fix it.

I did most of it with the rich text format, but I've started html-ing everything, and it makes life smoother.

It is lovely, isn't it?

+*makes a face* I've said it, and I'll say it again. How is it possible that ANYONE likes your fics? They're horrid. They get no reviews and no awards for your crappy writing so I don't even see why you try.

(secretly puts fic on reading list)
(*sighs* Puts ALL fics on reading list)

*gasps* I can't even begin to comprehend these set of words "a little too Cordy-worship-ful". They go through too many dictations and double negatives in a non negative way for it to truly stand on its own as a sentence. Hah! Make sense of that!

I like More Than One Day. Sure it's my Cordy obsessoin but you didn't play it up so much in the worship that it was a turn off. Sure it was therea nd it was pushed but it was like a brief window in that epic battle that most secretly wish Cordy was there for.

They really are crappy, aren't they? I'm so glad you're here to remind me!

*gasps* I can't even begin to comprehend these set of words "a little too Cordy-worship-ful". They go through too many dictations and double negatives in a non negative way for it to truly stand on its own as a sentence. Hah! Make sense of that! Hahaha! I love you!

Well, I'm very pleased that you liked it! I'm glad someone other than me took a shine to it!

Anything to deflate that big-ass ego of your's. *pokes*

But the dictatoins and the factual errors are all standing there. So I have to counterargue that that is a lie and you're trying to confuse me into something blanalty disturbing that I will not enjoy.

It shone brightly like a becan calling to the night. Did you ever recieve that very lengthy review I sent you for that one Lit fic you wrote?

Hahaha! You and your confusing rhetoric!

I don't know! Was it on lj or ff.n or somewhere else? *tries to remember*

*glares* I can't believe you would "lol" at my statement. This is a total disregard to my regard of the actuality of the statement I made beforehand in a different time of a standard of another time period that was at once a different moment.
You bitch.

You never got one of my INFAMOUS reviews? *flips hair*

*raises hand* Hey, I liked ‘More Than One Day’! Sure, at first sight, it comes off as a fix-it fic but it’s one in the very best sense. Cordy healing them with love—in a lesser writer’s hand, it would be hokey, but in your voice, it was brilliant. And I completely agree with all of your insights on love and Heaven, in that fic.

Also, I really like that you put Fred there because the way they dealt with her death pissed. me. off. Her soul was destroyed and she has no chance of an afterlife? My, that’s inspiring, writers Good thing you just ignored that :p

I literally had the tag line/summary of that fic floating around in my head for years, and I knew I wanted to do a breakdown of Mal's life with the seven deadly sins as a framework, but it just seemed so overwhelming for some reason.
Oooh, wow, really, it started out as that? Wow, now you’ve inspired me never to give up on any “ideas I’ve had for years”. :p ‘Cause that particular fic is something I constantly reread; it’s just beautiful. It’s multifaceted and sad and joyful in the way Mal’s life has to have been.

“Nightlights” is one of my favorite Spuffy pieces of yours. I’m in love with the dark beauty in it. Love, love the prose. But to me, it was more like light in the darkness than pure dark.

“Commas and Ampersands”! Does so much justice to how good these two were together. <3 Let it be known that I wasn’t the least bit interested in Gilmore Girls during earlier seasons…and then Jess came along, and he and Rory were book-geeking and awesome and perfect together and oh wait, he’s gone? Meh, so much for my remaining interest in the show :/ (Jared, you are a sweetheart as Sam W. but Dean kind of sucked.)

Aw! You're so kind, and I'm so glad you liked it! It was definitely a more selfish kind of fic, because I basically just wrote it for me, which isn't something I do often. But I'm sincerely glad to know that you liked it.

And I know! That frustrated me to no end! Both of the girls' deaths really did: I hated that nobody mentions Cordy after she dies, and I hated that they don't figure out a way to RESTORE HER SOUL. Grrrr....

Oh, there are so many fics that are years-long processes, so definitely keep all of yours in the back of your mind!

Cause that particular fic is something I constantly reread; it’s just beautiful. It’s multifaceted and sad and joyful in the way Mal’s life has to have been. You can't see my huge blush right now, but trust me: it's there.

But to me, it was more like light in the darkness than pure dark. Oh, good! It's hard to write Buffy during that period without having her come across as horrible, and since I really don't think she's horrible, I didn't want it to. Light in darkness--yes, just what I was going for.

Meh, so much for my remaining interest in the show :/ (Jared, you are a sweetheart as Sam W. but Dean kind of sucked.) Oh, amen. I liked the show because of its quirky side characters--Sookie and Michel and Lane and her band and Taylor and Miss Patty and Richard and Emily--but the only times I was super invested in the main characters? Rory and Jess. And Dean was lame. And I'm never going to forgive him or Rory for sleeping together WHILE HE WAS STILL MARRIED.

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Watch me ramble about my writing!

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