I'm writing my first work in the Transformers fandom thanks to your inspiring works! Most notably Leaking Spark. It's going to be Soundwave/Reader, and I've admittedly already yoinked a couple of headcanons from your writing (IE, Laserbeak being a girl and Soundwave being an Absolute Disaster).
Do you listen to any music or podcasts when writing?
Do you have any tips for writing Cybertronians?
What is your strategy for writing reader-inserts?
Thank you for the hard work you've done feeding all the hungry Soundwave fangirls! I look forward to reading more of your works in the future! <3
Do you listen to any music or podcasts when writing?
Usually music, though sometimes i do better in the silence and throw on noise cancelling earbuds to help. All depends on the story scene I'm writing and my own mood. If I'm really locked into a scene, i want silence. Birdsong in the background and my kitties quiet steps are plenty backdrop noise.
If my mind is too busy to easily focus, then music helps ground me.
For music, i often find instrumental versions of songs that inspire me for a particular character or scene vibe. Lyrics sometimes distract me because then i want to stop and sing along 😂
I have also thrown the source material in writing from up to play in the background while i write.
2. Do you have any tips for writing Cybertronians?
Get as much real life experience as you (safely) can with other species and with machinery. Everything is information you can use to bring an idea to life; what does it feel like for a human hand to grab hold of a piston bar that's got sandy grit gumming up the surface, versus the impossibly smooth feeling of glass or metal that's got a fresh protective wax or oil coating protecting it? What do light sprinkling of raindrops look like falling down a dusty window, leaving tracks in it, versus a downpour on a clean car? How does it affect the lighting of the space they are in?
I try to think of something to invoke all the senses. Touch, taste, scent, sight, sound, and for many of my characters, Instinct and Intuition.
What do different kinds of oils and fluids smell like? How does this type of engine sound compared to that van over there? What does it sound like to be inside a well built car over a gravel road, versus a rusty one ton van? I love the idea that some Cybertronians are better insulated against sound transfer than others.
All these tiny details around you in the real world, you can collect and use like puzzle pieces and building blocks to create something completely new.
Interacting with and learning to better understand other species in our own world, helps us conceptualize what it may be like to do so with an extraterrestrial species; at the very least, it helps inform an author about the human side to such interactions.
I think one of the best exercises is trying to get into someone else's head through their perspective. What's important to them, that might not be to you? What problems might they encounter that we would never have to even consider, like the weight of their frames falling through floors we think are Very Strong?
What things do we take for granted that they dont... And visa versa?
Writing is a series of asking questions and choosing the most sensible answers to tell the story we're interested in. You could take a scene any direction, but looking at all conceived possible outcomes that come in reaction to X event happening, which do you want to read and write about?
3. What is your strategy for writing reader-inserts?
I'm a fraud, there is (almost) no strategy. 😂 Depends on the book honestly. Usually though, i do exactly what many people say not to do and write shameless self inserts i have heavily edited to make them into their own unique person, but i can still so easily project onto them. I write because i enjoy it, and i publish because i enjoy sharing what i enjoy. At the end of the day, i think the best story is one the author got some kind of positive benefit from the experience of writing, and the audience gets an opportunity to expand their own headspace and knowledge in some fashion.
That said, some things I've learned along the way and have since started including in my published stories;
I keep track of Mandatory Details and am strict about being Intentionally Vague for non mandatory details
Example: hair color isn't important unless i say, need to distinguish a person from others by it in a scene, or i need light to reflect of a particular shade of hair to cause a colored reflection on nearby metal for something else to happen.
Butterfly has a set appearance in Leaking Spark because that book wasn't originally going to be published. Later chapters avoid physical appearance as much as possible, and where able, i stick to implication that should inspire a meta reader's imagination, without leaving them feeling like they're lacking crucial info.
Bob has no set appearance at all aside from having a limp with a cane, being old and kindly, and he's got keen eyes, and sometimes i describe his clothes. But i don't mention his skin tone or the color of his eyes. Originally, because he was supposed to be a one scene and done NPC like character. But he became a regular instead, but since i haven't committed those details to his intro, i am purposefully not filling them in after the fact, so i avoid yanking someone out of immersion by suddenly changing a detail they had already cemented in their mind. If you don't write it in, the audience will fill the void usually on reflex.
For a reader insert, i like to purposely imagine very different looking people in any given scene and then try to find the most similar things between them to focus on describing. For example, i used to struggle with describing embarrassment and blushes. Not everyone has skin light enough to show a color change, so writing that detail for a reader insert immediately loses a significant portion of the reader base. I learned to write the *sensation* or visual *body language* of a blush-- heat rising, blood flowing to the face, stiff posture, these are all details that can be applied to any human.
Breast size is really common I've noticed to commit as a detail in a reader insert advertised as being, well, a truly self insert... And not everyone has Big Boobs. Not everyone has tiny ones, either. I'm practically flat chested, so it's really jarring to read a scene where there's any focus on the chest in most stories. I keep that entire concept in mind when i write, and try to accommodate.
Sometimes though it's important for a character to have specific attributes; butterfly though I've changed over to very vague physical descriptions, still has to have certain level of athletic fitness in her physical body because of her specific lifestyle, backstory, and what she does for a hobby (she's a dancer :D hasn't come up yet in the book much but SOOOON EEEEE).
I guess I'm saying; decide what details you want to commit to, and what ones you don't need for the story to function. Keep a bullet point list if needed for easy reference as your stories get longer and longer... It can be hard to keep track of all the little details xD
Also, people tend to write what they know. Don't be afraid to bring a bit of yourself into the story, because that's going to make the characters immensely more relatable and believable than only blindly trying to write a headspace truly entirely alien to you. If you find yourself floundering, try shifting to writing something more familiar... Maybe a character who is actively learning and growing, so they can naturally learn in the story as you yourself learn as an author. For example, when i wrote a blacksmith elf years ago, i started with a total novice. I did not know enough about the subject to be able to accurately describe it in written description. She learned more as i myself was learning and researching. In time, i became familiar enough with the subject and had enough hands on experience in real life that it gives me lot more confidence in describing the details of a forging scene happening in a book.
Your life experiences matter, and are your greatest tool for reverse engineering how to describe such a thing in writing.
I'm so so glad to hear you've been inspired to write, wishing you all of the artistic muse fun!
