Fic Questions Meme: Answers

[john_amend_all]

romanajo123 asked about The Rags of Time:

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

I'd originally planned to write the fic entirely in epistolary form: reports from investigators, the transcript of Alison's interrogation, Lily's diary, Zoë's last video message and so forth. But I found Alison's first scene really needed a third-person narrator, to explain details of the future world. Thus I ended up with two main narrative voices: Lily's diary for the 'past' storyline, and me narrating the 'present' one. The only remaining fragment of that original intention is Zoë's note.

2. What scene did you first put down?

The conversation where Zoë addresses the Doctor as 'Doctor'. Though I actually wrote it, or its ancestor, with the intention of using it in a completely different fic. That fic never got written, but I kept the scene for future use. In fact, there are several scenes like that; the title's quite appropriate for a fic that's something of a patchwork.

3. What's your favorite line of narration?

I think this counts as a line of narration, though in-universe it's from Lily's diary:

Quite apart from asking me to bring a trowel; I'm nearly sure there isn't any such thing as extreme gardening.

4. What's your favorite line of dialogue?

"I like complicated. And don't worry if it's a long story: time isn't a problem." She smiled, but there was a touch of steel in it. "If thieves can't be honest with each other what's the world coming to?"

5. What part was hardest to write?

I had to force myself to do Zoë's last transmission; somehow, typing 'by the time you receive this, I will almost certainly be dead' felt like tempting fate.

6. What makes this fic special or different from all your other fics?

It's the longest fic I've written (according to Hugo Award rules, it's novel-length, where the preceding three Holiday Jobs were novella-length). But other than that, it's another Zoë-fixit and I can hardly claim there's anything unique about me writing one of those.

11. What do you like best about this fic?

Being a simple soul, I'm rather amused by calling two chapters 'Deceives the Eye' and 'The Quickness of the Hand' in that order. And by the all-too-few scenes with Tish Lamont, the preeminent prestidigitator of the Solar System.

liadtbunny asked about Genius and Geniality:

11. What do you like best about this fic?

Well, I'm very fond of the title (which I'd used previously for the ficlet this fic was expanded from). And the entire Victoria-Zoë dynamic.

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?

I don't usually listen to music while writing, and wouldn't presume to tell readers what they should listen to. However I will recommend, on general principles, Mozart's Concerto for Flute, Harp and Orchestra K.299.

thisbluespirit asked about Skirmish:

3. What's your favorite line of narration?

It's got to be the punchline: After all, that sort of adventure wasn't likely to happen to her again.

6. What makes this fic special or different from all your other fics?

The obvious answer is that it's a fic I'd rather not have had the necessity of writing, given that it only exists because of Elisabeth Sladen's death. But that doesn't actually make it different from all my other fics, since it shares that quality with The Way We Spy.

I suppose there is one respect in which it is unique: it's the only fic I've written that's a fixit for Sarah Jane's (ambiguous) death in Hong Kong in the New Adventures. Thanks to the Time War, the timeline gets rewritten and she misses the chance to go there in the first place.

11. What do you like best about this fic?

I think the fact that I managed to set up a particular mood — Sarah Jane alone, with the Universe against her — and keep to it.

Comments

[liadt]

Thanks for answering! I usually listen to whatever's in the stereo when reading (I'm a bad reader;p).

[john_amend_all]

I don't think that makes you a bad reader. Though it could get a bit confusing if you're reading a songfic and listening to a completely different song.