dbskyler

Last answer to the writing meme! Thanks for bearing with me; it was a lot less overwhelming to answer these one at a time.

lost_spook asked me #5 from the writing meme:

5. If you wrote a sequel to It Doesn't Go 'Ding' When There's Stuff, what would it be about?

Hmmm. Well, I would have a hard time writing a sequel with Frobisher in it because I don't really know his character -- certainly not well enough to sustain more than a brief appearance. So I'd have to go in a different direction, and instead write the Tenth Doctor in a series of vignettes where he tries to discover Zygons with his non-dinging Zygon detector. And of course, since he's terrible at it, he would fail miserably every time. He would go after more non-Zygon rabbits, and non-Zygon chickens, and there'd have to be a non-Zygon horse in there, and I'd probably throw in non-Zygon Jack Harkness just for fun. At the end he would give up, and then I'd have Zygon-Queen-Elizabeth show up to try to snog him to death with those venom sacs in her tongue, at which point someone would have to rescue him. It would probably be Frobisher, who was initially disguised as another Zygon.

Continuing to answer the writing meme questions one at a time.

john_amend_all asked me #17 from the writing meme:

17. Do you have any discarded scenes/storylines/projects?

LOL, oh my yes. And that doesn't even count my WIPs, which I sincerely hope are not actually discarded. I have discarded prompts, and discarded snippets, and discarded plot ideas, and as for discarded scenes, I write them all the time. I also write discarded dialogue, and discarded sentences. It's part of my writing process -- I write, and then I discard, and then I write some more. If I'm lucky, then what I keep has more words in it than what I discarded, and I make progress on the fic.

Since I keep what I discarded as it sometimes makes it way back into the fic, I have plenty of examples handy. So here, have some of what I discarded from The Spotter's Guide to the Doctor:

( cut for length )

Continuing to answer the writing meme questions one at a time.

lost_spook asked me #19 from the writing meme:

19. Any fandom tropes you can't resist?

Sadly, when it comes to writing, the answer is a very strong no. I am quite capable of resisting writing all the tropes, and indeed all the fic, all the time, sigh.

Also, I don't tend to be inspired by tropes. Part of it is no doubt because I'm not much of a shipper, as a lot of tropes are shipping-based, or things like "pair these two characters up and see what happens!" When I pair two characters together in my head, nothing interesting ever happens. The fic always has to be about something else in addition to their romantic relationship, assuming they even have a romantic relationship in the fic, which chances are, if I've written it, they don't. This sadly came to a ridiculous head when I was asked to write about Rani and Clyde's budding romance for Yuletide, and still had to make the fic be ultimately about something else.

Arrgh, I sometimes feel I am such an awkward writer. I don't mind reading tropes when others write them -- in fact, some of them I enjoy a great deal. But while I still don't know where exactly my muse lives, I can say for sure that it's not on TVtropes.org. (Although not all tropes are shipping-based, and probably now someone will come along and point out all the tropes that lurk in my fanfic that I didn't consciously put in or even fully realize were there.)

Continuing to answer the writing meme questions one at a time.

ghost2 asked me #7 from the writing meme:

7. Care to share a favorite crack fic?

I'm not entirely certain, but given that this is a writing meme, I assume the question is about my favorite out of the crack fics that I've written. Anyway, it would be very difficult to name an overall favorite crack fic, because crack is high on my list of favorite genres, and I've read a lot of it, and my definition of "favorite" can shift quite a bit depending on which fandom(s) I've been consuming recently, what my current mood is, what I had for dinner, etc. It's likewise very difficult to name my favorite out of the crack fics that I've written, and honestly, if you come back and ask me this again in a few months I might change my answer, but as of right now, my current favorite crack fic out of what I've written is:

(drumroll) . . .

From the Desk of [Insert Mad Scientist Name Here]

I like how it turned out, and although it has a "fandom" attached to it (this Tumblr post), it's really original fiction written to a prompt. It is, by far, the best piece of original fiction I have ever written -- certainly the funniest, anyway -- and it has actually given me thoughts about trying to write more humorous original fiction, and possibly even trying to get that humorous original fiction published somewhere. Although I would have to come up with a funny prompt of my own, and not put in a bunch of saxophone links next time.

Continuing to answer the writing meme questions one at a time.

john_amend_all asked me #22 from the writing meme:

22. A secondary (or underrated) character you want to see more of in fic?

Why yes, yes there is. Gita! I want all the Gita Chandra fic, all the time. I have asked for her twice for Yuletide, and received her four times, and I've received her for Fandom Stocking, I've written her myself, and MORE, MORE, I WANT MORE. I don't know exactly what it is about her, but I love her to death, and she hardly ever appears in fic. Let's face it, Sarah Jane Adventures is a small fandom, and Gita is a minor character in that small fandom. But if you go to Teaspoon and filter on Gita Chandra, you will see 16 fics tagged with her, and of those 16:

3 were written by me
2 were written for me
1 was prompted by me
1 was betaed by me

So, either that's a very sad testament to a character-fandom-of-one, or I'm doing my part. :)

As for other characters, well, I never object to more Sarah Jane fic, and she sadly isn't written as often as she used to be. I also really like reading fic with the TARDIS as a character, and would love to see more of that.

I've decided to answer the writing meme questions one at a time, since it's less overwhelming that way -- more fun for me to write up, and hopefully more fun for others to read, too. Here we go with the first one!

lost_spook asked me #14 from the writing meme:

14. Is there a fic you wish someone else would write (or finish) for you?

I would love to have someone finish my WIPs if they could finish them perfectly, and make them come out exactly the way I want them to come out. But since no one else can look into my head, no, I don't want anyone else finishing my fic for me, not even the ones that have been languishing away for years. Instead I will keep holding out hope that I will eventually get them to come out exactly the way I want them to come out, or, well, with an ending of some sort, anyway.

But this question reminds me of

dw_straybunnies, a comm which has sadly gone by the wayside, but which was very useful for throwing out fic ideas that you knew you would never get around to writing, or just wanted to see someone else tackle. Looking at my list of un-started fic ideas, I do have a couple that I should post over there, under the assumption that there are a few other people around who are still watching that comm.

But as for what I really wish someone else would write, I'm still waiting for the full tale of the Doctor learning he's the Master's half-human brother, descended from Rassilon, rightful inheritor of the Sash, with Borusa as his grandfather and a weathered Kansas Time Lord farmer as his and the Master's father, with Nazis. Although

jjpor made an amazing attempt that was beautifully written and not even crack!fic. But he hasn't finished it (yet), and anyway, can you ever have too many Eighth-Doctor-related-to-Rassilon-and-the-Master-through-a-weathered-Kansas-farmer-Time-Lord fics, with Nazis?

There's an interesting writing meme going around! You can find my fic at Teaspoon and AO3,

Give me a number or two and I'll try to answer the question.

1. How did you come up with the title to [insert fic]?
2. Any of your stories inspired by personal experience?
3. What character do you identify with most?
4. Is there a song or a playlist to associate with [insert fic]?
5. If you wrote a sequel to [insert fic], what would it be about?
6. Care to share a favorite hurt/comfort fic?
7. Care to share a favorite crack fic?
8. How would you describe your style?
9. Do you have a guilty pleasure in fic (reading or writing)?
10. Write or describe an alternative ending to [insert fic].
11. What's the angstiest idea you've ever come up with?
12. What's the weirdest AU you've ever come up with?
13. Got any premises on the back burner that you'd care to share?
14. Is there a fic you wish someone else would write (or finish) for you?
15. How do you begin a story--with the plot, or the characters?
16. Are you what George R. R. Martin would call an "architect" or a "gardener"? (How much do you plan in advance, versus letting the story unfold as you go?)
17. Do you have any discarded scenes/storylines/projects?
18. Are there any writers (fanfic or otherwise) you consider an influence?
19. Any fandom tropes you can't resist?
20. Any fandom tropes you can't stand?
21. A pairing you might like to write for, but haven't tried yet.
22. A secondary (or underrated) character you want to see more of in fic?
23. Do you like more general prompts, or more specific ones?
24. A character you enjoy making suffer.
25. A character you want to protect.
26. Major character death--do you ever write/read it? Is there a character whose death you can't tolerate?

Here are my answers to the writing meme:

( cut for length )

This writing meme has been going around, and since I've been having fun reading other people's answers, I thought I'd give it a shot.

Ask me [one or more of these] questions about writing:

1. Which is your favorite of the fics you've written for X fandom?
2. Favorite piece overall?
3. Which was the hardest to write, in terms of plot?
4. Which has the most "you" in it, however you'd define that?
5. What is an image/set of images that you're particularly proud of?
6. Idea that you always wanted to write but could never make work?
7. Least favorite plot point/chapter/moment?
8. Favorite plot point/chapter/moment?
9. Favorite character to write?
10. Favorite line or lines of dialogue that you've written
11. If I'm showing off just one of your pieces to someone, which one should it be?
12. What WIPs do you have going now? Are you excited about them?
13. Are there any things that might have happened in any of your stories, but you changed them at the last minute? (So-and-so dies, they don't actually kiss, main character has long extended ballet-based dream sequence, etc.)
14. Would you want to write canon for any of your fandoms (like be hired by showrunner to do an episode)? Which one?
15. Does font matter to you when you're writing a draft?
16. 3 favorite comments ever received on fanfic.
17. Any mean comments? How'd you deal with it? Who laid the smackdown?
18. If you could go back and revise one of your older stories, which would it be?
19. Do you make up scenes at work/on the bus/at the gym? Who are the characters that pop up the most? Do you write them down?
20. Go nuts, and talk about writing.

Here's my belated answer to the following meme:

Comment to this post and tell me if you want to play, and I will list seven things I want you to talk about. They might make sense or they might be totally random. Then post that list, with your commentary, to your journal. Other people can get lists from you, and the meme merrily perpetuates itself.

persiflage_1 gave me the following things to talk about: Sarah Jane Smith, adventures in fanvidding, Sontarans, movies, books, ears, travel.

( and here we go! )

I had an absolutely dismal year for writing, and I wondered if I should even bother with the meme this year, but I decided to do it in the hope that 2012 will be tons better in comparison. Speaking of comparisons, you might want to also check out what I wrote for this meme last year and the year before.

And now, here's what I wrote in 2011:

( meme )

I've seen this meme around before, but it's making the rounds again (most recently by

justice_turtle and

eponymous_rose). Also, I've never done it, so I figure it's about time! So, here we go:

1. Open up your music player. Hit shuffle.
2. Record the first few lines of the first thirty songs that come up that do not give away the name of the song. Skip instrumentals, but don't skip the embarrassing ones.
3. Make hapless LJ denizens guess the song names and artists. Google is cheating. For musical songs, the name of the musical is acceptable in place of the artist.
4. Least hapless LJ denizen wins admiration. That's right, just like a lobbyist in budget season, the points don't matter.

I found it interesting that despite hitting "shuffle," I got songs from the same album more than once. Also, as you can see, I have some musicals in my music player. Not to mention some operettas. (And yes, that's a hint. *g*)

If any songs remain un-guessed, I'll add lyrics to them until a) someone gets it or b) it becomes clear that no one else on the internet shares my taste in music.

( lyrics here )

In honor of All Hallow's Eve, I'm inviting trick-or-treaters to my 'door.' Comment "trick-or-treat" to this post and...well, you know the drill. Treats can be anything that strikes my fancy (pics of fave actors or pairings, one sentence fics, graphics, a few words why I'm glad to have you on my flist, etc. etc.). The more "houses" to visit the more fun it'll be, so go ahead, open your journal and help spread the fun!

Happy Halloween weekend, everyone!

curuchamion recently posted for a meme where you're supposed to list 100 awesome female characters from your various fandoms. I wondered if I could come up with 50 awesome female characters just from Doctor Who, Sarah Jane Adventures, and Torchwood. And guess what -- I could! The list includes companions, one-off guest characters, friends, and villains. They all have one thing in common: they're female, and for one reason or another, they're awesome.

(FYI, I didn't include the TARDIS, and I also didn't include characters who are based on real-world awesome women because I thought that might be cheating -- sorry, Reinette!)

So here, presented in a completely random order (because I randomized the list -- yes, I am geeky that way), is part 1 of the list: 25 awesome female characters in the Whoniverse. I will post the second list of 25 soon.

ETA: The list includes female characters from throughout DW, SJA and TW, along with reasons for their awesomeness, so there are some spoilers. No Doctor Who S6 spoilers, though.

( long list is long )
And that's it for part 1! Stay tuned for the second half, coming soon.

As I think my entire flist knows by now, if you go to this site and enter adjectives, adverbs, nouns, etc., it will generate short ficlets for you (incorrectly labeled "drabbles"). The results range from bizarre to absolutely hysterical (sometimes both).

Since everyone else has been playing around with it, I had to give it a try. And of course, I had to put in the Doctor and Sarah.

( Here's what I got back )

Current Location: my Mad Libs childhood

As I did this last year, I thought it would be interesting to do it again. Let's see what I wrote in 2010!

( meme! )

Crossposts: http://dbskyler.livejournal.com/90961.html

So the DVD commentary meme has been going around again, and as I confess that I've always been curious to try it, I'm giving it a shot:

Pick a paragraph (or any passage less than 500 words) from any fanfic I've written, and comment to this post with that selection. I will then give you a DVD commentary on that snippet: what I was thinking when I wrote it, why I wrote it in the first place, what's going on in the characters' heads, why I chose certain words, what this moment means in the context of the rest of the fic, lots of awful puns, and anything else that you'd expect to find on a DVD commentary track.

Well, I don't know about puns -- I'm not so good with those -- but I'm always up for rambling about my own writing, so lay it on me! However, since it's always more fun to find out more about how your writing is viewed than to hear someone waffle on about their own writing, here's my extra twist:

Alternatively (or in addition), provide me with a paragraph or short passage from your OWN writing -- something you know for sure that I've read (i.e., I left you a review on it) -- and I will give you a reader commentary: what I was thinking when I read it, what I think is going on in the characters' heads, what strikes me about the words you chose, what that moment means to me in the context of the rest of the fic, and anything else you wouldn't expect to find on a DVD commentary track.

I'm not sure how this will all work out, but let's find out, shall we? Have at it!

Current Mood: mellow

In my arbitrarily chosen day 4 for the meme, it's: favorite male character

I have trouble choosing favorites (one of the reasons I didn't try for all 30 days of this meme), but while thinking about this question, one particular character did come to mind. This character fills me with childhood nostalgia, and brings a smile to my face whenever I think of him.

( And no, it's not the Doctor, although of course I love him to death too )

Today I will answer the question that I have arbitrarily defined as Day 3 on my heavily abridged version of the "30 Days of Television" meme.

Day 3: A show that should never have been cancelled

My answer: Battlestar Galactica, the 1978 version.

Yes, that's right, the 1978 version. Want to know why?

( I'm so glad you asked )

Writing meme answer #5

Writing meme answer #17

Writing meme answer # 19

Writing meme answer #7

Writing meme answer #22

Writing meme answer #14

Writing meme

Writing meme answers

Writing meme

7 things meme

end of the year writing meme

music lyrics meme

Trick-or-treat meme!

50 awesome female characters in the Whoniverse, part 1

jumping on the drabble-matic bandwagon

end-of-the-year writing meme

DVD commentary meme -- with an extra twist!

5 Days of Television Meme: Heavily Abridged Version, Day 4

5 Days of Television Meme: Heavily Abridged Version, Day 4

5 Days of Television Meme: Heavily Abridged Version, Day 3

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