As some of you know, I am leading a fanfiction seminar sort of thing at the Sailor Moon convention
What would you like to learn about, if your were taking such a seminar from me? What kind of things do you think I should talk about? What would be helpful for me in explaining how I do what I do, or what questions I should answer/talk about?
Anyone who submits me a 100 word plus answer to these quandary is going to be entered to win a free quick ficlet of your choice! I’ll draw the winner(s) on the 6th.
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I’M LATE GETTING TO THIS BECAUSE OF LIFE BUT I WANTED TO BE SURE TO RESPOND.
The biggest things that I’d love to see you talk about, were I attending, are the things that are more on the artful side. Specifically, I’d say language and theme are big ones. I think (though this is only my opinion) plot and structure talks are a dime a dozen, and while there are cool ways to do it, I think ultimately the take aways are the same no matter who gives the talk. You have more unique strong points, and that’s why I love your fic to pieces and what I would want to hear you talk about.
For language, I’d love to hear about how you develop character voices, and how even for character voices that are less inherently artful on their own (say, Haruka or Tracer as compared to Michiru or even Angela, from what I’ve read), you keep a flow and you find ways to express things beautifully while maintaining their style. Similarly, I’d want to hear about your process for working out phrasing, whether beautiful lines come to you as you write or if they’re part of editing, or if they take time to tease out, etc.
Theme is a HUGE thing I’d love to hear about, because it’s something I don’t see as strongly in fanfic most of the time. I’m always impressed by your titles, and I know that comes down to the fact that you have such stunning themes and motifs that lend themselves to title choices. I think people think of theme as something that’s only applicable for sweeping epics or philosophical novels, but you manage to work it in even your shorter pieces, and I think it would be amazing to hear about how that happens. Does it rise out of your original idea naturally? When you start writing, do you pick out certain motifs you want to work in? Are your themes or motifs what drives the rest of the idea?
I don’t know if this is helpful, but I hope it is!
SittingOverHereDreaming 