#crestofenlightenment

Hi there!  This is such a great question!  I’m not sure if I’m qualified to answer, but happily, I think I know the name for what you’re describing, so I can point you to some resources :D

I think you’re asking about avoiding the passive voice.  Generally, the more “active” your prose is, the more clear and direct your sentences become!

Passive:  The hamburger was eaten by Koromon.

Active:  Koromon ate the hamburger.

It’s been years since I’ve had a proper English class, but basically, you’re avoiding unnecessary insertion of direct objects.  Here’s a quick explanation, but if you google “avoiding the passive voice” or “passive and active voice,” you’ll find lots of help!

The passive voice isn’t, you know...  An evil no-no.  It’s especially useful when the actor isn’t known, or when a writer wants/needs to be vague.  But it can make prose clunky, bulky, and even unclear if you’re not careful.

Also, for good flow, it’s recommended to vary sentence length/structure.

Hi P! Thanks for the ask <3

16. What fanfic tropes do you avoid writing for?

Hmm hmm I don't know about fanfic specific tropes, but I try to avoid miscommunication as the main source of conflict, unless that's the specific area a character needs to grow in. I try to avoid idiot plots , too- unless the characters actually are idiots, or too stubborn to do the reasonable thing, lol!

In general, I also prefer for conflict to be internally caused, not externally. A digimon battle would be external conflict. Taichi being unable to evolve Agumon after the Skullgreymon incident would be internal conflict, a problem stemming from something going on within Taichi. However, external conflict isn't at all a bad thing; it would be weird if the characters never had anything going on in their worlds, lol! Also, it's easy for one to lead to the other, but I like to dig in to the internal part.

26. Are titles for your stories easy to come up with? 

Story names are really fun! It's sort of like an elevator pitch, right? Capture the essence of a story in as few words as possible. I generally write my main themes down and then make... I guess people call it a word cloud? Each theme or idea has a bunch of lines coming off it, with words related to the interior one. I draw from that for my names.

Voices, I think, is one of my best fic names. The fic is a year-long exercise in creating voices for characters, with each Chosen writing a single journal entry per week in real time. The title is... exactly what the fic is, without being too on-the-nose or gimmicky. Seeking Resonance is another good one, because that's exactly the goal every character was seeking, and it tied into the music names for each chapter.

I guess... I wouldn't say it's easy, but when it's fun, it can feel easy, even if it wasn't, lol!

40. What area of writing do you want to improve in?

Every area, naturally, in time! But I find a few things to be the most challenging right now: pacing, exposition management, finding the appropriate level of subtlety (not too in-your-face, not too vague), hitting the desired emotional note.

Oh yeah, I remember this idea (lol!!!!)!

So the concept is to follow each Chosen through a typical day during 2028, ie, the year of the epilogue.  There would be 12 chapters, all following a single Chosen through the same day.  So like, maybe Iori would be in a courtroom, Hikari would be in the classroom, Yamato might be on a space station or something, etc etc.

It would be epilogue compliant, so only the canon couples (Sorato, Kenyako) would be featured.  The other Chosen would be married to OCs or maybe divorced/single at the time, but with whatever kids they are shown with in the epilogue.  (There’s actual a lot of leeway with an epilogue canon compliant story- maybe some Chosen had kids, but didn’t marry, maybe some divorced, maybe some Chosen got together after the epilogue, etc).

It would be a lot of work to dream up what all the spouses/significant others might be like, and to give names and personalities to all the kiddos, though.  I’d also have to spend a chunk of time figuring out who is doing what, and if there is any overlap (ie, does Ken show up during the trial Iori is working to present evidence?  Does Taichi grab a beer with Sora after work or visit Hikari?  Does Yamato cry in the space station because HAVE YOU SEEN THESE PICTURES OF HIS CHILDREN?!).

It’s a bit like After August, with a chapter per Chosen.  Assuming roughly 5k words per chapter with 12 chapters, that would be a roughly 60k word fic.  But if I have to describe that many characters and give you a sense of the families, I’m betting it would be longer.  It’s a big project, so I’d have to approach with caution xD

If you’re interested in some of my epilogue ideas, here are some head canon posts: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6

What a great question!

Oh, gosh...  Well, I don’t know if it’s because I wrote it most recently, but what jumps to mind is Eimi struggling to accept and forgive Ken towards the end of the fic.  I think that Eimi being so cautious and guarded is both... a really good and a really bad quality, simultaneously.  Although, of course, what matters is learning flexibility, moderation, and when to reevaluate and change perspective.  And that was a difficult lesson for her!  At the same time, I wanted to be clear that she was never “being stubborn” just for the hell of it, you know?  She had real concerns...  And that’s what makes it even harder!

My understanding is that readers tend to like the Adventure part the best!  But I wrote that a looooong time ago, in 2012-2014 ish.  I definitely remember struggling with the “show, don’t tell” concept back then.  Ah!  But of course, I’m not trying to knock on what people like xD  I guess I just can’t help feeling self-conscious about my older writing.