fanfic meme #17 and 18

[jebbypal]

 17 – Titles – Are they the bane of your existence, or the easiest part of the fic? Also, if you do chaptered fic, do you give each chapter a title, or not?

The bane of my existence. Sometimes, they just show up. Other times, I’ll have something written (though maybe not complete) and will be itching to post it, but won’t have anything decent to name it. Chaptered fic….it depends. For certain fics, yes, but sometimes no.

18 – Where do you get the most inspiration for your fics (aka "bunnies") from?

Now or in the past? In the bad old days of 2000-2007 when I still just watched TV over an antennae and got Netflix by a DVD? Back then, I didn’t have a DVR so I was judicious about what I recorded on VCR during the season run. And so there was always commercials. As annoying as they are to me (and oh the fights I have with my parents when I mute commercials when I visit them), those 30-90 second intervals always give me time to daydream. What was Mal thinking in the scene that just cut off? Why did Mozzie lie to Neal about that?

And then there was always the attack plot bunnies that would appear just as I was closing my eyes for sleep. *glares at River*

Now? Every once in a while one will just occur to me, usually as I’m in an airport or something. But again, my frog muse has been in hibernation for years, so I’ve also been asking people to throw bunnies to try to get him to wake up.

Comments

[st_aurafina]

Titles! *shakes fist* Almost as bad for me as summaries! I keep a file of likely titles but it's rare that I use it, for some reason I need the title to come organically while I'm writing the fic. Usually from music I'm listening to.

[wendelah1]

Titles used to be harder; now they're the least of my problems with writing.

I've only written two chaptered stories. For "Bewitched, Bothered and Bewildered," just for fun, I gave each chapter the title of a different song by Rogers and Hart. Very corny but it suited the genre and the fic, I think.

My best fic ideas come from canon, meaning I derive inspiration from their screw-ups. With TXF, that came with practically every episode. The better a show is written, the harder it is for me to write fic for it. The Americans is a great TV show but except for a couple of fill-ins and some future fic for Yuletide, I've never had a single idea. I feel the same way now about The Expanse and The Magicians, and even Fringe when I was writing fic for it. The world-building is so rich already.