fandomsecrets | [ SECRET POST #2433 ]

I ask as someone who's virtually never written and shared fanfic. For the last several months I've considered doing so (after years of saying its not for me, though i do read it). But i get cold feet every time.

For those of you who write, fanfiction or original fiction, how old were you? What was your first fic? (You don't have to answer/share it if you don't want to.)
how often do you write?
Do you browse anon/kink memes for prompts that piqué your interest or do you have enough plot bunnies of your own?
Do you prefer writing longer or shorter works?
Do you like to concentrate on one fandom for a while as far as writing goes, or do you jump between a few?
...Or are you like me, who can come up with ideas but don't have the cajones to actually write?

Do you read a lot of fic for the fandom you're currently writing in, or try to keep it to a minimum?

Re: BONUS QUESTION

(Anonymous) - 2013-08-31 20:19 (UTC) - Expand

Re: BONUS QUESTION

tabaqui - 2013-08-31 23:49 (UTC) - Expand

I was writing it in my head when I was wee, but I think i first srote it out on paper or computer when I was...14? lordy I think it was LotR fic, I wasn't a Legolass though so there's that saving grace

I write in spurts. Not at all for months, then five ficlets at a time

I don't browse for prompts, I wish there were more gen prompt memes though

shorter man, my plotting abilities and attention span don't last that long

I jump around, gets stale otherwise
;p
and yes, I have loads of ideas I never inflict upon the world

I've only been active in fandom for about 8 years, so I got a later start in writing than a lot of people. I started by reading and commenting on a ton of fic in one particular fandom. It was a secret santa fic exchange that got me writing because I really wanted to contribute something. I then dipped my toe in a couple other fandoms. I haven't written anything more than 5,000 words yet and I haven't had the motivation to write in awhile, but the ideas are still there and they scream at me to write them down.

I consider myself lucky in that I already had several friends in the fandom I started writing in who were really supportive and welcoming of my efforts. I'm not the greatest writer, but with every fic I write, I get better.

I do browse kink memes for ideas and I've also asked for prompts.

As easy way to start, I think, is either through comment fic or an anon meme if you're not ready to claim it as yours.

I hope that this was in any way helpful.

Re: How did you start writing fic?

(Anonymous) - 2013-08-31 21:02 (UTC) - Expand

I started when I was.. ten, maybe? It was for a Disney Channel show.

I mostly go by my own plot bunnies, but I browse memes sometimes.

I tend to do shorter works, but I'm trying to branch out.

I jump between a few fandoms at a time.

I go through phases where I come up with lots of ideas with no actual writing getting done, but I always break out of it sooner or later. You just need to find what works for you. Is it writer's block or is there something specific holding you back?

OP

(Anonymous) - 2013-08-31 21:45 (UTC) - Expand

Re: OP

(Anonymous) - 2013-08-31 22:01 (UTC) - Expand

Re: OP

(Anonymous) - 2013-08-31 22:31 (UTC) - Expand

Re: OP

(Anonymous) - 2013-08-31 22:50 (UTC) - Expand

when i was 11, 12 i started coming up with different plot points for shows i was watching. overactive imagination/boredom and all that, i guess. i didn't know what fanfiction was or that it was something other people did so i didn't really mention it or share my work. never wrote more than a few drabbles or scenes or whatever back then. i was about the same age when i started writing an original piece but it was really awful. never finished it, moved on to a different original piece that i did finish (also awful tho).

i used to write a lot, primarily when i was in class and had a difficult time paying attention. once college started my writing slowed down a lot. i still don't write much anymore. i wish i did but i find it hard to concentrate on writing when i'm not in a classroom/workplace setting.

i don't normally check kink memes or anything for inspiration but a lot of media i've been exposed to has influenced my writing over the years. recently i've been trying to flesh out the plot for a story i'm really trying to churn out but it's been difficult.

all of my stuff is longer, maybe novel size. almost all of it is unfinished. i've only finished two stories and one of them was to be part of a quadrilogy. i tend to edit a shitton and rewrite some stories completely but have some sort of internal aversion to completing works.

i've only written one serious fanfiction (which, sooprise, unfinished) so i can't really answer that question.

I think I was 12 or 13 when I stumbled across my first fanfic. It was in the Inuyasha fandom. I just started reading it, not realizing it was fanfic and not canon. Luckily, it was G-rated, and I figured out about half-way through it that it wasn't canon, but I loved the idea of writing stories for shows. It was all in good fun.

I got into writing my own shortly after that. Mostly crappy self-insert fics that didn't challenge canon pairings, but once I moved fandoms - from Inuyasha to Yu-gi-oh! - that quickly changed and my friends all got me into slash.

I used to write a ton when I was in high school, and unfortunately, I think my depression had a lot to do with that. But yeah, I posted up everything I wrote, which were mostly my own plotbunnies. I did get into kink memes with the Bleach fandom, but I only wrote a couple fills. I always got a lot of positive comments, which is why I kept putting it out there - it made me feel good about something I was doing.

Now, I don't write a whole lot, and my fandoms are limited. I keep trying to build up original stories, but none of them really seem to work. In the meantime, I write short fics/scenes for my partner's original story, but I don't post them anywhere. I've been trying to get back into fanfic, but the fandom I'm in is sort of pissing me off and it's coloring what I want to write, which sucks :/

My favourite TV series had no sodding fandom whatsoever, so I started to write. End of story.

Other fandoms came along the same way, tbh. I would just go online, see no fic, sigh, say 'well as per fucking usual' and go write some. That's why I do not participate in bigger fandoms. They already have fic, and I can enjoy it without writing it. I'm sad, me.

I like writing both short and long works; the big ones require more energy, but I like doing epic things like planning the plotlines, making illustrations, structuring the fictive world et c.

I normally write for multiple fandoms at the same time. Makes no difference for me.

For original Kindergarten, for fanfic back in my tweens in Naruto with self-insert stuff and little ficlets. I even had a multichapter fic that I wrote 30k for before dropping it.

A couple of years ago I used to maintain a solid number of fics a year, like once a month. Now, school and stuff has made me too busy/I lost some of that mojo.

I used to browse memes for ideas but I also had a list of plot bunnies for each of my fandoms.

I prefer writing shorter works. The longest fic I ever completed was 25k, most of the time my ideas are usually for short pieces that I can actually finish.

I concentrate on whatever fandom I'm in at the moment.

If you're not brave enough, you can post a request on an anon/kink meme and then fill it out yourself.

OP

(Anonymous) - 2013-08-31 22:00 (UTC) - Expand

I think I was 9? I might've written a couple things before that but I can't remember and I know I really got when I was 9.

I had a Yugioh/Pokemon/Banjo Kazooie crossover (the puzzles/paintings in Grunty's castle led to different canons) and then a Sailor Moon fanfic with the "Far Outer" senshi, I actually still have that one in a book somewhere. Those are the very first two I can remember. First fic ever published on the web was a Inuyasha horror/parody where they enter a haunted house and get killed off one by one... never got past the second death.

As for fic I write now, I tend to get epic AU or Peggy Sue fic ideas, like what would happen in Avatar if Lu Ten never died and Uncle Iroh completed his siege of Ba Sing Se and was never passed over for Fire Lord Iroh and Ursa was never banished since that whole thing never happened and so on and so forth.

And I will take these things and plot them out, like 10k word outline of exactly what happens in what scene where. And then I will write the first one or two chapters... before losing the initial passion and stopping. About once a month, I'm like "man I have this whole thing written, all I have to do is 'write' write it" but I never do. D:

The only non-oneshot fic I've ever finished is a Doctor Who 10/11 run-in. I've got three WIPs stalled in the 15k range from Avatar, Labyrinth, and POTO fandoms respectively. I've got another idea I really want to start for Korra, but the practical side of me has managed to keep it at bay since I know I should work on/finish on of the other ones instead.

I think part of the problem is that I have original stuff I want to write too, and I know I really ought to work on that instead. But fanfic offers that immediate sense of accomplishment and feedback that's hard to kick.

First/Second Ever Fanfic Pictures!

othellia - 2013-08-31 22:11 (UTC) - Expand

OP

(Anonymous) - 2013-08-31 22:57 (UTC) - Expand

Re: OP

othellia - 2013-09-01 00:01 (UTC) - Expand

Re: First/Second Ever Fanfic Pictures!

vethica - 2013-09-01 02:35 (UTC) - Expand

My sister got into fandom and started reccing me fics, and the have-a-go atmosphere encouraged me to try writing some of my own ideas even though I'd never thought of myself as 'a writer'. Then I just kept going. I was 17 - late starter, lol.

I tend to write in fits and starts, usually putting a lot of time into it for a month or so then fizzling out and not writing for a while. Especially this year, I've been very busy with job/qualifications stuff and not written much. I like writing fanfics but there's more important things in my life.

I've mostly been in smaller fandoms that either don't have memes, or have less active memes, but I've had some kink meme funtiems here and there.

I prefer shorter works - I'm not very good with constructing longer stories. But my upper limit's ramped up gradually as time's gone on; I may still think 'short story' by default but the longest thing I've finished was 35k.

I jump between fandoms and never really say a firm goodbye to anything, but there's usually something that's the main focus.

I read fics in fits and starts too; I'll have like a week-long fic binge and then not read fic for a while after. So sometimes I keep up reading fics for the fandoms I'm writing in, other times not so much.

I "wrote" my first story when I was four. Okay, so mostly, it was an ongoing comic strip, but I could tell you everything going on in the story. That was nearly fifty years ago. I can't think when I wasn't telling stories, one way or another. I didn't even know about fanfic until I was in college, though, when I found Doctor Who fandom.

I published my first fic online when I was 22. :) It was in Star Trek, and full of the sort of silly tropes that are common in that fandom.

I try to write everyday, but I don't finish many things. As a result, I don't do WIPs, because I would just leave people frustrated. Plus, I prefer to send things to my beta in one chunk.

I have both kink meme inspired ideas and my own ideas. I also like the trope/kink/cliche/hurtcomfort bingo cards. If you want to spark a writing urge, I'd suggest trying a bingo card.

I prefer longer works, and most of the stories I finish end up between 8000 and 50000 words.

I'm a one fandom kind of girl. I've tried bouncing fandoms, but then my characterization gets completely shot and I have to stay with just one.

I had written privately for awhile--lots of melodramatic fics in my notebooks from ages 13-16--but I only began sharing online around age 17, after years of reading in Hey Arnold and just discovering HP. It was quickly after I created a Livejournal, and making a bunch of Hey Arnold LJ friends helped get me going, eager to share things and keep the fandom alive.

Short pieces have always been easier. Drabbles, flashfic, poems. Long fic stresses me out, but I do sometimes attempt to realize longfic ideas (it rarely ends well, lots of regrets). I much prefer going non-anonymous, and find it more satisfying to immerse myself in one fandom at a time.

are you like me, who can come up with ideas but don't have the cajones to actually write?

Sure. Ideas are a constant, daily thing for me. But a few of them, I do actually attempt to write, and if I manage to complete some of them, I feel pretty good about it, whether I post them or not.

I wish you the best, anon! It feels good to create things and I hope you find a way to share some of your stories, whatever route you take.

I have a wet dream about a show or movie I've seen, or a book I've read, and then I write the sex scene down and construct the plot that would make the scene viable. Usually. Can become 70 or 20 000 words.

Started the moment I had a dream like this that forced me to write it. Participating in fandom isn't necessary for me, just a bonus.

When I was 13 in 1993, I just wrote stuff on notebook paper and never showed it to anybody. I didn't realize it was fanfiction at all until I discovered the internet and saw other people wrote stories about the things I wrote stories about.

Luckily I got all the crappy childish writing out of my system BEFORE I got the internet, because I'm sure the mean comments I might've gotten on my early works would've killed my desire to write fanfics altogether.

OP

(Anonymous) - 2013-08-31 22:10 (UTC) - Expand

Just sit down to write whatever scene you imagine

it doesn't have to be a complete thing

it doesn't have to be good

just write

worry about quality and structure later

the biggest hurdle is to get the words flowing out first, every day, in good quantity

Re: How did you start writing fic?

(Anonymous) - 2013-08-31 23:09 (UTC) - Expand

Re: How did you start writing fic?

(Anonymous) - 2013-09-01 02:10 (UTC) - Expand

No one was writing the hard porn I wanted, so I wrote it myself...

...and for a couple of other fandoms no-one was exploring the friendships and dynamics I wanted to read...so I wrote it myself

/every single fic under a different anon name.

This is me. Part one of that trilogy was my first fic, and I wrote it in 2009, so I was 35. I started writing original stuff when I was about twelve. I write at least one word every day, lol. Sometimes I get really lazy and surly about it and don't get much done. My first fic actually started out as a prompt I left on a kink meme but decided to do myself, and then I wrote the second part while waiting for the series to end so I could see what I had to work with for my big otp fixit. I have no love for Lost beyond my otp and am more focused on original work these days, but I'll probably write a short Hannibal one in a bit because I've recently flipped my lid over Hannibal. My other big love is Supernatural, but I'm happy with canon and don't feel like there's anything I need to explore on my own, like with Lost, or a very particular kind of ~~porn~~ scene in a certain setting that I want to read, like with Hannibal. Short stories can be way harder than long ones, and it's nice to be able to stretch out and include every little observation and idea you have for a pairing or whatever over a nice novel-length piece, but I don't know, I prefer whichever length works for any given story. It can be hard to predict. I thought my whole trilogy thing was going to be about 20k when I started. XD

Somewhere in my late twenties, I developed a massive phobia about sharing my writing with anyone, so finally posting that first fic was really traumatic and a little nauseating, lol. I thought writing fic wasn't for me, either, and was in fact a huge snob about it for a long time, but the idea wouldn't leave me alone and I had a lot of encouragement from a friend. It's so worth just sucking it up and doing it, especially if you're thinking about writing a rarepair or some other thing that doesn't get much fic. At its height, there were maybe four of us writing Ben/Locke. Nobody else has done longfic for them, either, and my readers are still around after a year with no update. I get the best comments. :')

I've never written. I've had some good ideas (at least I think they are) but since writing's never been a hobby of mine and I don't know anyone who writes fiction, I didn't really know how to go about it. I don't go to kink or anon memes...

Man, my need to write (fic or original) is primordial. Like, when I was little and into jurassic park I had an archeologist character that went on adventures and stuff. Then when I got into Harry Potter I had a couple of fan characters and wrote their adventures in a Pochacco journal, and felt very fancy because it was hardcover. By that time I was reading fic in the Harrypotter.com forums, but had no idea what it was called. It was another fandom that introduced me to the concept proper, and then the rest is history.

But the first fic that I think was good, and that I wrote with a conscious effort to challenge myself and put myself out there as a serious writer was posted in 2009. I was about 18, I think. That was also the time I started writing original fic.

I have enough plot-bunnies on my own, but the one kink meme experience I had was fucking great. I'm kinda sad I lost interest in writing for the fandom shortly after, because there were so many interesting prompts. On that same vein, I tend to juggle fics for different fandoms at the same time, as long as my interest is still there.

I wrote a story in sixth grade about a unicorn who met Bilbo Baggins. I think that was my first fanfic. :) Basically...i just always wrote stories, and i really wanted to have one of 'my' characters meet a character from a book i loved. Writing is something i've always done - my sister and i used to put on plays that we wrote, when we were both around eight/ten.

I have plenty enough plot bunnies of my own (stares forlornly at WIP folder).

I don't really have a preference - the story kind of dictates its own length.

I mostly write in one fandom at a time, but when i was writing Harry Potter, i got into Buffy and did both at the same time for a while, then just was doing Buffy, then got into Angel and Firefly and wrote all three at once, then slowly shifted to Supernatural with the occasional Buffy/Firefly thing thrown in.

It takes no cajones to write. Just write! It takes 'em to *post*. So write your heart out, anon - eventually you might just post one! :)

Re: How did you start writing fic?

(Anonymous) - 2013-09-01 01:32 (UTC) - Expand

Re: How did you start writing fic?

tabaqui - 2013-09-01 01:38 (UTC) - Expand

Re: How did you start writing fic?

(Anonymous) - 2013-09-01 01:48 (UTC) - Expand

When I was in 6th grade, I loved the Raffles stories and wanted more. The library had a copy of The Return of A.J. Raffles by Graham Greene, and since I knew Greene was a real author, I thought that writing stories using someone else's characters was something writers could do. (Raffles/Bunny, my forever OTP)

First drafts are always longhand, I edit as I type. This makes me a slower writer than most and I tend to write shorter stories. My wip may end up over 10,000 words, which is really long for me.

If you post the fandoms you're into, people might be able to give you some more specific advice.

I've been writing in one form or another since I was four. My Mom still has my first "novel" that I wrote and illustrated.

I started writing fanfic when I was about 11 years old. It was a "Secret Garden" sequel. It was terrible, but at least the Internet wasn't a thing that normal people could access. So I wrote in notebooks.

Nowadays, I try to write a little every day if I can. Or sometimes it ends up I don't have a chance for a few days, then I go on a bender for a day or two making up for lost time.

Plot bunnies? It really depends. Usually when I first get interested in a fandom, I have more than enough ideas of my own. If I need inspiration, though, I do browse prompt lists/fests/kink memes.

I always intend to write shorter works. Then they turn into epics before my eyes.

I tend to run in fandom streaks, usually spending a year or two in a fandom before either finding a new one or cycling back to an old one.

Bonus question: I start out reading tons of fic when I enter/re-enter a fandom, but the more engrossed I get in my stories, the less I read, whittling things down to a handful of favorites that continue to inspire me.

I hope someday you have the courage to start trying to write. You won't be perfect. But if you're passionate and willing to tell your internal editor to shut up eventually, you'll do fine.

1.) For those of you who write, fanfiction or original fiction, how old were you? What was your first fic? (You don't have to answer/share it if you don't want to.)

Secondary school. Early secondary school. My English teacher pulled out a notebook and instructed us to write a one-paragraph story that must tie-in to the previous paragraphs. It soon dovetailed into the class bullies hogging the book and writing the worst story I've ever seen, but that was the starting point for me, with everything else considered.

2.) how often do you write?

Depends on the plot bunnies. Sometimes once a week, sometimes once a year

3.) Do you browse anon/kink memes for prompts that piqué your interest or do you have enough plot bunnies of your own?

I usually have enough ideas to go on my own, but sometimes (rarely) I do visit the kink memes for the fun of it.

4.)Do you prefer writing longer or shorter works?

Shorter works, but I wanna see if I can break that...

5a.)Do you like to concentrate on one fandom for a while as far as writing goes, or do you jump between a few?

That depends of which fandom I'm currently in, but in general I usually write stuff regardless of where the source came from.

.5b) ...Or are you like me, who can come up with ideas but don't have the cajones to actually write?

I'm... kinda like this? On one hand, I have a BOATLOAD of story ideas that I rely want to write, but they are just too damn convoluted to make any sort of sense...

(Example: an opera that was attended by many characters from many canons (like, from Mass Effect to Madoka Magika) was suddenly interrupted by a body crashing through the glass ceiling (it was Dreamworks' Jack Frost. He dies.)

Who murdered him? Also, are Garrus and Mami shooting/ sparring buddies?)

...And at other times I get simple ideas that I can write on instead. It depends.