nubreed73
replied to your post “For “new ask game for writers”: 4, 9, 30, 44, 50, 53 :D”

I neeeeeed that Whitechapel crossover OMG *grabbyhands*

psst. would you like a snippet?

“This Lieutenant McGraw,” Chandler muses, “it looks as though he was never properly drummed out of the service. An Admiral Hennessey seems to have blocked all efforts at seeing him declared dead or missing. Wherever he was, the Navy would have owed him quite a lot of back pay if he’d turned up.”

At his side, James hums in agreement.

“Hennessey,” James muses. “Haven’t I heard that name before?”

For “new ask game for writers”: 4, 9, 30, 44, 50, 53 :D

30 I’ve already answered here:

http://flintsredhair.tumblr.com/post/171831455277/30-and-54-please

4. Do you have writing habits or rituals?

Not really, other than that I generally need silence to write unless I’m coming from a place of really, really strong emotion.

9. Least favorite trope to write.

Hmm. Not sure I have one, tbh! I don’t do A/B/O fic at all though, so I guess that one would probably qualify. I’m perfectly happy to let others headcanon it or write it in peace, it’s just not my jam.

44. Best piece of feedback you’ve ever gotten.

The one person who told me that I had made them think about a topic in a way that their history books never had. That is the highest compliment that any writer can receive – that their work made someone reexamine a subject and think “I never thought of it that way before.”

50. Weirdest story idea you’ve ever had.

hmmm. well, there’s the Whitechapel crossover story that I’ve got planned eventually – that might count. Basically the idea is that reincarnated Thomas as Chandler ends up investigating his own disappearance as part of a murder case.

53. What does writing mean to you?

It’s something I do to work through my emotions. It’s a thing that’s let me meet so many wonderful people, some of whom I legitimately trust more than my own family. It’s a thing that got me through some really rough times, and just something I enjoy doing because if I didn’t I think I might go mad. It’s the way that I go about trying to make the world better, really, because I like to think that sometimes something I’ve written makes someone’s day brighter, or makes someone think about something in a new way and then go out and maybe do something good they might not have done otherwise.

30 and 54 please!

30. Favorite line you’ve ever written.

Ooh. Um…

This one:

“This is not about us ! This is not about you!” The words burst out of her, her voice raised. She has been trained not to do this. She has learned, over and over again, but now, here, she is shouting, her anger and pain too much to be confined. “There are people out there now living in slavery – men and women and children who will be separated from their families not by my war but by men of your race who see them as property! Husbands and wives, brothers, and sisters, and grandmothers who will never know freedom because men like you would rather put your own comfort above their lives! You would put my life – my safety above theirs and that is not my role to play!”

It’s not exactly one line, but it’s arguably the easiest paragraph I’ve ever written and one where Madi just – took over and wrote herself. It’s also really, really important, story-wise and just in general.

54. Any writing advice you want to share?

Yes. Little things are so, so important. If you want someone to really feel a scene, to be there in their heads, you’ve got to give them anchor points – you’ve got to tell them if a character’s hands are clammy, or if there’s a lantern in the corner that’s making a creak sound with every roll of a ship, or if there’s just total silence other than some sound you want them to hear as if they were in the room with the characters. Don’t just say what’s happening in a scene – describe the little things the way you see them in your head and the way you hear them.