reader discretion implored

After conveniently coming across this nifty not-so-little questionnaire—courtesy of maevedarcy and through vriddy via my Network grapevine—I figured that I might as well keep up all this fidgety momentum by taking yet another excuse to talk about myself apropos of nothing else…

…That was before said momentum spiraled into yet more angst on morality, though, as per my perhaps biggest bummer of a post yet. However, I’ve since emotionally stabilized somewhat and still find such excuses appealing…

…So, here we are!

1. Which one of your fics is your pride and joy?

Well, amongst what I’ve published as of now, that’d have to be Hexatious—hands down. It so far has the most hits and bookmarks out of all my fics at the moment¹, thanks in no small part to the contest it…admittedly failed to even place in, albeit while still getting some effusive if not at least a little obligatory commentary from its judges (and even an absolutely not obligatory offhand rec as such, as of recently)!

I’ll shout out my ArcheType series with a collectively honorable mention, though; in putting it together I set out for something to act as a proper ‘debut’ for my AO3 profile—as well as something of a primer for a broader initiative therein—and ended up with a kaleidoscopic sampling of my creative influences and inspirations besides, that I can look back on fondly for the little it’s aged even now…

…Speaking of:

2. What are your top three most commonly used tags on AO3?

For the moment and likely far beyond—assuming we’re talking about solely “Additional Tags”—those would be as follows:

1. Flash Fic
2. Prompt Fic
3. A six-way tie between:
   • Dragon-type Pokemon
   • Fairy-type Pokemon
   • Ghost-type Pokemon
   • Fighting-type Pokemon
   • Dark-type Pokemon
   • Psychic-type Pokemon

Don’t get it twisted; this weird-looking list doesn’t speak to any (especially) eclectic variety that’d drown out any other tags—or (that much of) a propensity for prompt fills, for that matter—as a matter of fact, most of first place and the entirety of third is taken up by the aforementioned ArcheType across its eighteen separate entries…

…That being said, what I would say the above reflects is an attitude adjustment across my many years of consuming—and in turn, creating—media, which I’d in turn say that said series marks the last cognitively dissonant remnants of². Without going too far into a tangent as to where I stand now (since I already have one messy diatribe on that to wince a little at), I’ll just be blunt: I won’t be tagging any of my fic on AO3 going forward, beyond a universal “Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings” and strictly ‘meta’ information that I find appropriate (whatever fandoms they’re foremost part of in my mind-palace, any events or whatnot they’re written in service of, the empirical elements of their structure/length/formatting besides, etc.); the only reason I haven’t taken back the fair few ‘content’ tags I’ve already affixed, even, is that I feel such would be disingenuous for archival’s sake.³

I’ll thus also be skipping a couple of these questions, on a similar note—and answering a couple others in what most would possibly find the most annoying ways possible. Moving on!

3. What’s something you learned while researching a fic?

My most recent work in progress to hit the manuscript phase has so far led me down a fair few zoological rabbit holes—not that I mind at all, really (nor do I really need the excuse). As for a few highlights in turn:

• We English-speakers apparently have pretty much no clue why we call hellbenders…well, hellbenders; other monikers, on another note, run the gamut from ‘leverian water newt’ to ‘lasagna lizard’.
• The canine tusks characteristic to (esp. male) water deer are held loosely enough in their sockets to be swiveled forward and backward as needed. Also there’s a thriving British population of the indigenously Chinese subspecies because why not?
• The black-backed jackal is currently clocked as one of the most basal canid species alive at the moment…for whatever that’s worth.

4. Is there a character or ship you’d love to write for, but haven’t yet?

Alright, this is where the annoyance starts—you see, since (as per the aforementioned diatribe) I’d rather commit authorial suicide than risk flattening audience insight, such obviously precludes me from (publicly) making claims as to what characters I have or haven’t put into my works proper…

…What I can do instead, though, is mention those I haven’t had much in mind for the time being—of which, the conceits of Kyurem as per the Pokémon franchise have sparked many a thought that I feel I’ve yet to truly make good on. Similarly so as of late is…

…Well, something I might better make mention of later.

5. What makes a fic ‘successful’ in your opinion?

While so long as a work of mine musters at least a single kudos or earnest comment⁴ in its name, it’s technically achieved my overarching goal of reaching someone (as far as I can reasonably assume)…I’ll admit that even this much doesn’t sate me for more than a few weeks at most—if I manage as much, that is. In practice so far, chalking up a double-digit kudos count and/or scantly connecting with an especially kindred sentiment is instead what it’s taken for me to not feel bitter at all about a particular fic’s performance.

As for a similar dichotomy…

6. What makes you happiest? New fic comments, kudos, bookmarks, user subscribers, story subscribers, or Tumblr asks?

On one hand, inherently speaking, what I crave most is any kind of commentary—even a keysmash or single emoji is something more for me to digest than a simple kudos, if only marginally. On the other hand, pragmatically speaking, I hold bookmarks and subscriptions in a lot higher regard—the latter as an indication for potential further vindication, and (public instances of) the former as a way of on-AO3 outreach off of which I can leech.

All that being said, it’s indeed a pipedream of mine to see a publicly commentated—and profusely tagged—recommendatory bookmark strutting one of my works around sometime.

7. Does anyone you know in real life know you write fanfiction?

Only a couple of acquaintances, at this point⁵—and to only one of the two have I actually shown my AO3 account(, etc.). Since I’d rather keep the stuff I put out on the internet in general as free of potential financial(, etc.) consequence to myself as possible, to be frank, my paranoia will probably keep that paradigm for a while yet.

8. Did you do anything special to celebrate finishing a fic?

Most I ever remember doing is ordering a pizza on the week I published ArcheType’s last three entries—and thus fully realized what I considered my magnum opus for a good while. Apart from that, though, I usually just slot some sighs of relief into my routine.

Perhaps such a standard will change, though, if/when I push through to see a bigger project’s end…

9. What’s a story you’d love to write but haven’t even started yet?

To finally follow up as per that last part of my answer to question four, let me preface with the shining⁶ that I’ve taken to two other species of Pokémon—or rather, the more specific strains that yet take shape in my psyche:

• More recently, the Mythical Diancie has impressed upon me to ponder through an especially motific lens—one made manifest so far through a few of my one-shots in part; a compounding caprice first catalyzed in the crystalline, then further refracted by forces sought toward a fickle serendipity…thus has coalesced contemplations that I’m still fond to carry forward.
• For far longer has the Legendary Necrozma fascinated me so, akin to the aforementioned Kyurem as a fellow angst-ridden archwyrm—albeit, in perhaps a particularly peculiar sense than that of official authorial intent; a demotion of its supposed divinity in accordance with an already deconstructive lens, and reflections therein on what such being could still become…hence have I thought on potential tales to thread together.

With all of the above word salad in mind, “eldritch mahō shōjo existential dysphoria” even more so in mine—to the point I’d call the idea a painfully load-bearing pin, for as conflicted as I feel about my broader Pokéfic efforts besides.

10. Do you ever prep your fics with outlines or warmups before you start writing, or do you just dive right in?

The more time I spend sitting on a given muse, the more time it’s afforded to swell and spiral—which is to say that I fail to think of a fic that I haven’t forethought at least a little. By that very same token, though, those same preconceptions variably wrinkle amidst actually writing a manuscript; I suppose ‘plantsing’, then, would be the simplest way to put my process in sum.

11. How many times do you usually revise your fic/chapter before posting?

As per the above, I have a chronic inability to commit to an earnestly ‘rough’ draft—I can’t just ‘turn my brain off’ over any stretch of writing I have even a sliver of investment in; even this very sentence was like pulling teeth to finish up for the first time. That being said, for pieces of prose(, etc.) that I’m especially invested in (e.g. most anything in my AO3 portfolio), I go further still to at least give them second or even third passes proper…if not fourths, albeit usually in post at that point.

14. What is your favorite fic to get comments/messages on?

As you’d probably expect at this point, I don’t get feedback all that frequently in the first place—so in practice, I don’t really have much room to discriminate…

…In theory, though, I figure I’d especially appreciate more eyes across that ArcheType thingy I’ve been bringing up—mostly because I feel it’s most representative of myself as an author (even if to an almost undermining extent, and keeping in mind the left turn I’ve been taking as of late). Though as a bonus, it’d also be nice to have more commentary on it that isn’t transactional first and foremost.

15. What fic took you the longest to write?

While I don’t keep track of actual time spent in active service of a project—it’d get real depressing real fast if I did, I think—what I can say (and have already) is that a good six months spanned the mustering of my most recent release, BaKemono…which comes out to a whopping one thousand and thirty words.

In my defense, I did work on other stuff in the meantime.

(But still.)

Welp—this, too, took a while longer than I expected to work out (not helped by what I’ve been working through as well, as aforementioned). In any case, I hope it’s all considerable enough to chew on! Now, if you’ll excuse me, I’ve got a zine app and a promo op to go anxiously await the results of…

…Oh, and other stuff to write, of course.

¹ and has thus surpassed the oldest fic on my account as far as those specific metrics↩
² as far as I can say, anyway↩
³ Your worms, sir.↩
⁴ and I do mean “earnest”; whether scathing or praising, foremost to me is the fact that my art made an impression either way↩
⁵ which is to say that there are quite a few people to which I’ve mentioned as much over the years—but not many I count on even remembering my name or face as of now↩
⁶ pun intended↩