15 questions about my fics

[aragarna]

Snagged from veleda_k and sheenianni. I have a tough week ahead, so, shoot.

Give me the titles of one or more fics I've written, and the numbers you want me to answer for it.
You can find my masterlist here, and the list of Fatherhood Chronicles here.

1: What inspired you to write the fic this way?
2: What scene did you first put down?
3: What's your favorite line of narration?
4: What's your favorite line of dialogue?
5: What part was hardest to write?
6: What makes this fic special or different from all your other fics?
7: Where did the title come from?
8: Did any real people or events inspire any part of it?
9: Were there any alternate versions of this fic?
10: Why did you choose this pairing for this particular story?
11: What do you like best about this fic?
12: What do you like least about this fic?
13: What music did you listen to, if any, to get in the mood for writing this story? Or if you didn't listen to anything, what do you think readers should listen to to accompany us while reading?
14: Is there anything you wanted readers to learn from reading this fic?
15: What did you learn from writing this fic?

Comments

[pipilj.livejournal.com]

How abt hush little baby? 8 and 5

[aragarna.livejournal.com]

Hush Little Baby

5: What part was hardest to write?

I think the hardest part was to figure out what the characters would more likely do in a situation like this. So, the hardest was the plot. It wasn't necessarily one plot point, but more, at each step, figuring out if an action made sense.


8: Did any real people or events inspire any part of it?

Nothing real, no, but it was vaguely inspired by an episode of Person of Interest where John is locked up in a refrigerated truck with a baby by mobster. I liked this image of a John holding the baby to keep him warm and I thought it would be nice to have Peter and Theo (it was after S5, so we didn't know Peter and El would be parents). So I tried to find a less violent setting as White Collar rarely deals with cruel mobsters, and I tried to find a possible reason for Peter and Theo to be stuck together. From there I built all the story around this idea.

[pipilj.livejournal.com]

Loved the episide to bits. Showed a softer side to john

[nieseryjna.livejournal.com]

"Spring" :)
Numbers 9 and 15 yay

[aragarna.livejournal.com]

Spring

9: Were there any alternate versions of this fic?

No, not really. I just wanted to do something fluffly with Neal and Sara

15: What did you learn from writing this fic?

That I could write Neal and Sara! ;)

[nywcgirl]

nr. 1 for The Beat that My Heart Skipped

[aragarna.livejournal.com]

The Beat That My Heart Skipped

1: What inspired you to write the fic this way?

Now, that is a very interesting question.
The idea came from that image from Agent of Shield where Tim has blood on his face and seems desperate. He looked Peter-y enough (in suit and all) and it was so powerful and moving that I felt the urge to write something about it.
Peter is a strong guy, he wouldn't cry unless something big was happening. But me, being me, I couldn't kill anyone for real, could I? Especially not someone that Peter would love that much. But maybe I could find a way to have him believe (for a short time! 15 minutes max, I'm not that cruel) that Neal was dead.

So, hum, let's put some context here. S6 of White Collar had just started. Everything was well in Collarland, and I thought that having Peter thinking Neal was dead for 15 minutes was HUGE. Seriously, just writing it was poignant. So I started writing it. I was halfway through it went the S6 finale happened. And suddenly it felt just horrible to write something like this.

But I was also a little mad at Neal, and hum... I thought maybe he deserved to know what it felt like. That's when I added the second part where Neal also fears that Peter is dead... I thought it was only fair... ;)

[sheenianni.livejournal.com]

Heee, this is fun :D

Who's the Princess now? - 14,15

A Simple Twist of Fate - 4,9

[aragarna.livejournal.com]

Who's the Princess Now?

14: Is there anything you wanted readers to learn from reading this fic?

I don't really want the readers to *learn* anything. I just was in a vaguely mocking mood I guess and I was making fun (in a friendly way) of all those recurrent h/c tropes (and ironically throwing some h/c in it...)

15: What did you learn from writing this fic?

That sometimes it's the most silly and easy to write fics (Took me about 30 minutes to write it) that are the most successful. I think it's still my record of comments on LJ (granted, back then the fandom was bigger).


A Simple Twist of Faith

4: What's your favorite line of dialogue?

I don't know. I don't really look at my fics in term of "I like this" "I don't like that". I'd say that I'm rather happy with my Neal-Mozzie dialogues. When you get the right inspiration, it's always fun to write Mozzie's voice.

9: Were there any alternate versions of this fic?

This is probably the kind of fic that I brainstormed for some time, but I didn't write anything that I discarded. Though when I first started, I didn't mean to write flashbacks. It just appeared to be necessary as I started writing.

[treonb.livejournal.com]

The Empty House - 11 & 12

[aragarna.livejournal.com]

The Empty House

11: What do you like best about this fic?

It was nice to try to explore June and Peter's relationship. We rarely see them interact on the show. And it was a nice change from my predominant Peter-Neal and Peter/El fics.

12: What do you like least about this fic?

Nothing. I don't know. I'm not overly critical of my own work. I tend to write stuff I like. And even tough there might be some fics better than others, I still usually feel satisfy enough with them in the end. So there are no fics I wrote that I don't like. And this one does hold up pretty well I think.

[leesa_perrie]

They don’t teach it at Quantico (Fatherhood Chronicles), #2 and #4

[aragarna.livejournal.com]

The Don't Teach it as Quantico

2: What scene did you first put down?

I tend to write in order. Especially so for short fics, so the first scene I wrote is the first one. But I do brainstorm a lot before starting writing. And a fic idea very often start with an image, a scene. And it's not necessarily the first one. I usually "see" something and build the fic around it.
Though for that fic in particular, I think it was more the idea of Peter learning to be a dad. I had written a couple fluffly fics of Peter being all love for baby Neal, and I wanted to write a fic where we see him struggling a little - kinda making the transition between awkward Peter from the show and super Dad Peter which we know he'll be eventually. And I know lots of Peter points to Peter's awkwardness with kids, but he's actually not that bad and he doesn't hate them. Take Samantha, in 3x02, he actually initiates the discussion. He takes her in his arms when he rescues her... And then, there's the obvious paternal instinct with Neal. So it actually makes sense that Peter would make an awesome dad.

Ok, we're off track a little, are we? What was the question again?

4: What's your favorite line of dialogue?

I don't know. That one maybe:

“I see your face, Agent Burke. You have to learn this too, because you won’t escape your diaper duty any longer.”

[leesa_perrie]

Sequential scene writing is the sensible option, which is why I always tended to write out of order, not being a very sensible person!! :D

And no, he's a little awkward with kids, but not terrible with them. And the girl in 'Bad Judgment' certainly hit him in a soft spot, for him to reopen the investigation! :)

That line is awesome! Ah, poor Peter! :D :D

[aragarna.livejournal.com]

Yes, Peter seems to like kids. He just doesn't know how to behave with them.

(and I just realize I wrote "Peter points to Peter" /o\ That was obviously "people points to Peter"... See, that's my poor Peter-conditioned (or traumatized) fingers. I tend to write Peter each time I want to type people or person...)

Also, Peter's awkwardness in this fic is totally inspired by mine... ;)

[elrhiarhodan]

How about 1, 4 and 14 for One Constant Many Variables

[aragarna.livejournal.com]

One Constant in Many Variables


1: What inspired you to write the fic this way?

That one had been on my mind for ages. I think originally I wanted to have Peter explore what his life could have been if things had been different.

I thought about making it in different forms. Originally I was trying to think of something more supernatural. Peter jumping from one parallel world to another, and discovering what his life was in those other worlds where things were different for a reason or another. That was the idea for a long time but I couldn't settle on a good plot (I'm not a big fan of supernatural stuff). Then I thought about dreams and finally coma-dreaming. But I didn't feel like inflicting anything so serious to Peter so I conveniently picked up the canon events. :)

Also originally, it wasn't necessarily only from his choices (At the time, I really wanted him to have a daughter, mainly because I found those 3x02 promo stills soooo adorable!), but in the end, I thought it was more interesting to have it only based on Peter's choices.


4: What's your favorite line of dialogue?

That's always a tough question. I think I like the bits of Elizabeth talking to Peter while he's still in a coma. It's only as I was writing them that I thought it would be cool if somehow it was related to the dreams they were introducing. Like what El was saying was influencing Peter's thoughts

14: Is there anything you wanted readers to learn from reading this fic?

Not sure what that question is suppose to mean. It's not like I want to teach my readers anything. But I wanted to show how all the choices Peter made brought him where he is.

Also, it has to be said that, as the title implies, it was originally supposed to be a Peter/El fic. But Neal kept finding his way into it...

I struggled quite a lot to write it, but I do like the end result. Even if it's shorter than I anticipated (I think the main issue is that it ended up being basically a series of AUs, and AUs don't inspire me).

[cookiegirl]

30 Seconds of Eternity, 1 and 15 :)

[aragarna.livejournal.com]

30 Seconds of Eternity


1: What inspired you to write the fic this way?

I... Can't remember. I guess it occured to me that those few seconds must have been quite the roller coaster for Peter, so I tried to translate that.

15: What did you learn from writing this fic?

That concept doesn't always look as good on paper that they do in your head. (Wasn't sure how to translate the ticking of time)

(sorry for the edits)

[cookiegirl]

I thought it looked good on paper :D It's always interesting to read a fic that does things a little differently!

[aragarna.livejournal.com]

Well, thank you! Glad you liked it! :)

[reve-silencieux.livejournal.com]

Your list is too long. (that's a good thing!) But man, did I have a hard time picking.

A Hole in the Heart - 1,5,9

[aragarna.livejournal.com]

Heee the one where we discussed how terrible it'd be for Peter if Neal died? ;)

A Hole in the Heart


1: What inspired you to write the fic this way?

It's the screencapture that inspired the fic. I saw the picture and imagined the scene. I guess I just wrote it the way I "saw" it in my head. At first the present, then adding bits of what happened. But I liked simply staying in the immediate present. Also, I love writing those one shots where I'm in the head of a character. And I have no problem not going in too much details about how we got there. That's not really what interested me here. The case in itself doesn't matter. What matters is Peter's reaction to a tragic event.


5: What part was hardest to write?

ALL THE ANGST
There's so much angst in those 1k... And, I do like angst - because it's only a translation of how deep their feelings and fears are - but I hate tormenting my boys too much.
I think in those scenes, what I like less is writing the physical pain for the one that got hurt. I usually skip it as much as I can. Here it was Peter's point of view, so I didn't have to write too much of it, luckily.

9: Were there any alternate versions of this fic?

No. It's one of those stories that formed as I wrote. I didn't overthought that one.
And no, I NEVER thought of an alternate ending where Neal would really die.



PS: And I'm on fire, my list is sure not gonna shrink anytime soon... ;)