The most common tropes encountered while writing and how you handle them
I don't really know, to be honest. Generally I just write what I want to write about and don't worry too much about whether or not it's a trope, at least not when it comes to fanfiction. Mostly I just try to avoid being too cliché, but just about everything has been done before and a lot of it done to death, so I suppose I take the "Simpsons did it" approach and just write what I want to write regardless of tropes.
Hours spent reading vs writing vs reading/writing about writing (research, writing meta, etc)
I've had to read a lot lately, most of it academic essays and such. Between college work and writing, I don't really have the energy to read much else so I just focus on writing as frequently as I can. I'm very much in favour of the trial and error process of creative writing. The best way to improve is to write, have people read it and then tell you what they liked and what they thought sucked about it.
Favourite subjects when writing (both consciously and subconsciously) vs the subjects you want to be interested in writing
Same as tropes, I don't really know. Writing romance is something I have a feeling I'd struggle with. I both like and dislike writing comedic scenes, like because they're fun for me and dislike because I spend the entire time shitting a brick about whether or not its actually funny.
Stories/ scenes you struggled the most with, and why
The first chapter of a crossover fic I've been working on. I wrote it at a snail's pace, it was the first thing I'd written in years. The first scene required a lot of emphasis on small sensory details - the character's waking up from being comatose (that's a Trope, right?) and basically re-experiencing his physical senses for the first time, so he had to pay attention to stuff that he otherwise wouldn't.
Thoughts on self insert (imagining yourself (too much) in your character's place): Do you do it? Consciously? Sub-consciously?
I don't mind self-inserts if they're done well. I'm much the same as Dawnbreaker in that there's bits and pieces of my personality in certain characters and they hold certain flaws or perspectives that I share but I try to avoid inserting myself into a story as, truth be told, I'm not all that interesting a character.
Thoughts on feedback. What kind do you want, what kind do you leave, what kind do you useful, what kind do you find useless
When I was younger, I feared feedback because like a lot of people I took any remark upon something that I did very personally. I copped the feck on after I got a bit older, feedback on college essays helped me get over myself. Now I just want honest feedback, even if that means being brutal about how bad something was. I wholeheartedly embrace having my writing ripped apart and scrutinised piece by piece. If there's something that's shit in my fic, I want people to point it out so I can try my best to avoid it in future.
I also really do appreciate positive feedback, it's cool to know someone enjoyed something you've written. I like it best when it comes with constructive criticisms though.
Drabbles, do you do them, and do you benefit from them? If so, what?
I've done drabbles, they sucked. But they are useful for shaking off the rust or writer's block.
Do you outline carefully, or do you jump straight into it?
I have an idea and usually some sort of rough notion of a conclusion. A bit like writing an essay and having a thesis that you're working toward. I like to have an idea of where I'm going to end up, but as for how I get there I just write and see what happens. Life's a big ol' trip from birth to death, beginning to end, A to B. But you can do whatever the feck ye want in between, that's pretty much how I write. (I'm pretty sure I read that life crap somewhere, just can't remember where)
What wip/ work in progress do you currently have in store, how long have they been there and if you're having problems with some of them, why
Working on a multi-chapter crossover/AU between FFXIII and the Lords of Shadow universe. Been working on this slowly since Christmas whilst writing short fics on the side. Pacing it is a big worry of mine as I've never written a multi-chapter fic before. For now I'm just going to focus on getting it written and weeding out the crap later, during the summer, when I'll inevitable be unemployed and have a lot of time on my hands.