I'll let you choose the fic but 14 and 15 please!
FOR THE FANFICTION ASK MEME – Well, my “baby” and the behemoth in my repertoire is the epic Yu-Gi-Oh!/Azureshipping fic What Doesn’t Kill You, so I’ll do that.
14: Is there anything you wanted readers to learn from reading this fic?
At first, no. I think I started the story because I loved the interaction I saw between Téa and Seto atop Pegasus Castle in Duelist Kingdom. For some reason I really dig Strong Female Characters, and if they help an anti-hero get over his brooding? So much the better.
At the time, there was definitely fic for this ‘ship on Fanfiction.net, and I think the first one I read was by Geniusgirl, the Original. I loved it so much that even if I was into Revolutionshipping (Yami no Yuugi x Anzu) or Peachshipping (Yuugi x Anzu) at first, I quickly “jumped ship” and have been happily captaining my own Azureship ever since.
I started this fic just during my senior year of high school, I believe. It was a dramatic time in my life, but a lot of things were inspiring to me. I think I sketched out most of the ideas for the story while working at a local movie theatre! So I picked up on themes like “you can overcome any obstacle if you believe in yourself/tap into your resources/lean on others to support you.” Those are the kind of messages I heard Téa sharing, and they were what I needed to hear, too.
There’s the expression, “what doesn’t kill you makes you stronger,” and I definitely believe that, even now. You can go through HELL, but if you come out of it without becoming problematic, then you’ve grown. I say “without becoming problematic,” because you can still be traumatized and figure things out (heal) later on down the line. That is 100% okay! You can even make more mistakes as you figure things out, but if you’re focused on growing, learning, and becoming better, those mistakes CAN and SHOULD be forgiven.
15: What did you learn from writing this fic?
For one thing, I’m definitely not a “pantser,” or the type of writer that writes by the seat of their pants. I am a methodical, over-the-top planner. I knew early on that the fic was going to be 36 chapters. I even knew many of the scenes that would appear throughout the story. But did I know what those scenes would look like in prose form? HELL NO. That’s why it’s taken me so long to write the fic. Seriously, I’ve graduated college, gotten a Master’s, moved several times, gone from having a boyfriend to a fiancé to a husband, and started my own business (or two). I will finish this fic before I die, I swear it.
To that end, I’ve recently discovered that I just can’t give into my editorial self. There’s a time and a place to nitpick, to rediscover details I embedded so carefully in past chapters, and to check that they sync up with my current plans. That time is NOT when I am trying to write a new chapter. I just have to write and not worry about little details. That’s actually the wonder of fanfic: you can almost always revise the chapter contents, sometimes within minutes of posting it!
That being said, I do still appreciate betas looking over my work, checking for little things that I miss, whether it’s overuse of adverbs or incorrectly using an em-dash. Or confusing aspects of a story. Or “telling” instead of “showing.” Fic for me is fun, and I don’t know if I have nearly as many ideas for “original fic” as I do fanfic. I prefer to play in somebody else’s sandbox, even if it means I’ll never make a dime from all my hard work. So I wouldn’t say fic writing is “practice” for going “pro,” but I very much welcome constructive criticism, because I do want to grow as a writer. And honestly, if you look at the earlier chapters of What Doesn’t Kill You compared to the more recent ones? I hope you can see that I HAVE GROWN. At least, I think I have.
I don’t know, why don’t you comment and tell me what you think? 😉
