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That depends. If it's just the idea for the story I have in my head, I lte it mull around until I actually start getting ideas for the words. Sometimes, though, I'll get an idea, and I'll get a screne in my head, or snippets of dialogie, and then I start writing immediately. Sometimes, I'll get the words before I even know what the story's about, and then I write that scene, then try and plot the story before threading further.
2. Word processed or handwritten?
Either. Both. I generally write on computer at home and at work, and print out a copy so i know where I was and can write longhand on the train or wherever.
3. Do you write fic in a fandom because you're wanting to write fic in that fandom? Or do you start with a general theme or idea you want to explore, and then select the characters and fandom that best suits to explore the concept?
The first. I get bunnies because of the fandom and the characters. I almost never really conciously work with "themes", I just get "what if" ideas about the characters. Sometimes I'll later realise there is a theme, but it always starts out as about the characters.
4. Do you talk about the story as it unfolds, or do you keep it tightly held to your chest until it's finished?
I talk. Usually, I'll grab someone on AIM and blather to them, because that's the only way I can get plots and character motivation straight in my head.
5. Do you write out large chunks of the story and then go back to edit it, or do you write small sections and polish them one by one?
I usually don't edit until I'm completely done with the story, because otherwise I'll just keep editing and not actually write.
6. Do you have to have a title before you can begin to write? Or do you chose your title afterwards?
Yes! Dear god, yes. I hate not having a good title from early on, because I know that'll mean I'll pick a stupid "working" title, and that title will nine times out of ten end up the actual title, and I'll hate it. I hardly ever come up with good titles, but I try to make up for it with the summaries.
7. How much research, if any, are you likely to indulge in before beginning a story?
Depends on the subject. Most of my stories don't require much research outside of knowing the canon of the fandom, but for things like my IRA!U2 AU, I've been known to do a fuck of a lot of research.
8. What is your writing strength, and what is your weakness? How does knowing your greatest strength and weakness affect how you plan your story/ the direction the story takes?
Strengths: witty dialogue, and the occasional litgeeky flow -- and by that I mean things like Polar, where I like the phrasings and stuff. Weaknesses: plot, making the characters stop talking.
It doesn't really affect how I plan my writing, because I don't avoid my weaknesses or emphasise my strengths. I write plot a lot these days, and I've not done that much dialogue in my most recent stories. Of course, Evitar is more than making up for that, but you know.
9. Do you write to music? If so, how much does the music you are listening to affect the mood of your story?
Any time I'm not at work, yes, I write to music. It doesn't really affect the mood of my story, though, it's just a background noise I need.
10. Do you try to incorporate quotes, snippets of song lyrics, poems, etc. at the beginning of your story? If so, why? How do you choose them?
Sometimes, yes. Usually, it'll be because a particular quote latched onto my brain while I was writing the story. With Sin, I was writing Sloth and got Ballad of a Thin Man lodged in my head, and then I started coming up with Dylan-quotes for the other parts, and the rest, as they say, etc. Then it occured to me to put definitions of the sins in each chapter, too. There's also a few stories that were inspired by a quote from an interview or something, and for those, I quoted the relevant part.
11. If you are about to write a story about a character or pairing that you have never done before, and are not particularly familiar with other stories written in the same vein, would you avoid stories written about this pairing until your story was complete, or read everything you could find to see how other handled the idea?
Um. Ummmmmm. Um? I have no clue, to be honest. See, every time I've started writing a new pairing or whatever, it's usually because I've written a whole lot of stories for that pairing, or because it's so fucking blatant and no one else has written it so now I have to. When i start seeing a pairing, my first instinct is to go out and scrounge for stories; I don't usually get actual bunnies until after that. So yeah.
12. Do you have a muse? Is it an evil muse? Or are you museless?
Yes. His name is Breckin, and he's a pain. I hate him. A lot.
13. Who is the first person you are likely to show your story to? Is there someone whose opinion means more to you than anyone else?
Um. Depends on the fandom, and on the story. Usually, there'll be one person I've blabbed to about the story for the entire time I was writing it, and who've encouraged and hassled me into writing it, which usually lands them the job of beta. I pick my betas depending on fandom and style of the story. For Sin, it was Beth, who'd been encouraging it for four months; for Kodachrome, it was Katie, who loves Timbertrick; for Polar, it was Silvia, whose style I was trying to emulate.
14. If there is a character that you particularly dislike, do you try to write a story about that character? If so, how does your dislike affect characterization? Do your feelings about the character change after you have written about them?
Hm. See, the only character I can really remember completely disliking is Percy, and I haven't, as of yet, written Percyfic. (That is, if you don't count the two O/P drabbles I wrote for Fleur.) I have a vague desire to write Percyfic, though, but then, I don't really dislike him, I just fear him, and I fear for him, and this is digressing into an essay on Melle's Percy Issues, so I'll just shut up now.
15. What are you doing answering this not-survey when you should be writing fic!? Shoo!
Um. I'm trying, all right? Shut up.
My five most recent stories and my babbling about them:
Sin (26 March 2002)
Which is about action and reaction, and about consequenses. As soon as I came up with the various characters and who and what they were, I know exactly how it was going to end, because it couldn't end any other way. Which, incidentally, was why I was pretty baffled when one reviewer at ff.net wanted a sequel. Um. There were eight protagonists. In the end, one of them is dead and two, possibly three of the others are in solitary. Sequel? What sequel? How would I sequel this? Anyway.
Kodachrome (8 April 2002) Which was really an excuse to have the boys have witty snappy dialogue, and for Chris to teach Justin maths. And also, pretty!singer!Joey!
Polar (3 August 2002) AKA: Melle Tries To Be Silvia. Experimental foray into writing for style rather than content. All about opposites and symbolism and litgeekiness.
Dibs (14 September 2002) In which I work out some of my Twins!theories, and write snappy dialogue once again.
War!Marcus/Lee drabbles (October 2002) And we're back to the litgeekiness. The first line of Requiem is still one of these lines I really, really like.
So, what does all this say about me? Um. I write all over the place? Hee.
Also, why am I listening to Christmas Carols? Damn you, Lumos Nox!