Discussion You Know You're a Fan Fiction Writer When...

When you mention your fanfiction on another totally unrelated forum-The Long Hair Community.

 

You're manning your booth at CVI, while watching the Jedi Training Academy adjacent to it, and you start to wonder... Perhaps you could make that whole thing work... Perhaps there was a hidden Jedi Academy on some world in the Outer Rim, and the Empire had just located it... But, they sent two incompetent stormtroopers. However, Vader knew that those troopers were incompetent, so he goes along, as he wishes to destroy this last remaining bit of the Jedi Order himself. Though, due to their seclusion, those younglings proved to be more than a match for even the Empire...

 

.... When you post stories all over the internet and learn that some sites have changed owners and procedures, and you break your head learning all over again how to update anyway.

 

... you're watching reruns of old cartoon shows and start plotting on how you can cross them with Star Wars.


Actually guilty of that today while watching Disney's Gargoyles. Darth Sidious vs Lord Oberon! King Arthur mistakens a Jedi for Merlin. Lexington toying with a lightsaber. Xanatos' Robot Clan vs Stormtroopers! Who shoots straighter? MacBeth says "When 900 years old you reach, look as good you definitely will not." to Yoda. Heh.

 

When you always push pause or walk out of the room because you need time to think about how you'd continue the story before seeing what really happens.

Note: This annoys people who are watching TV with you. It annoys them a lot. (Even if you try to leave as quietly as possible.)

 

When even the slightest thing you like will make you want to start a new fic. Seriously...I only have one complete fanfic because of this.

 

I am so guilty of that right now. I am doing my best to continue my Dooku fics while resisting that Gargoyles Macbeth bunny nipping at my heels.

 

I have that problem, too, but it's not with every single thing that I like. Thankfully, the scope of my fics and plot bunnies stay relatively confined to SW, but I do tend to be subject to plotting one story, then dropping it for another, then dropping that for a different one, then dropping that one for the first one, only to drop that for something completely different...

Commitment? What's that?

 

When you're watching ANH with your brother, he mentions something (in this case it was 'what if Owen killed the stormtroopers and got away with Beru and the burned bodies that you see are actually the stormtrooper's bodies') and you hit him and yell: 'DON'T GIVE ME ANY MORE PLOT BUNNIES - THEY ARE ALREADY TAKING OVER MY BRAIN!'

 

When... you're driving around town and a bunny leaps out of no where and forces you to pull over at the nearest parking lot or pray you hit a long red light so you can jot the idea down.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

Random lines of music, random songs, random dialogue from a completely different genre, etc. can get me thinking of new ideas. Sometimes these ideas are incorporated into what I’m already working on, but sometimes they make me want to write a new fic. I'm up to like a bagillion fic ideas right now, so that can be difficult.

 

What usually does it for me are comics, images, scenes, and movies. My plot bunnies are spawned from a more visual medium, but every now and then, a good audio drama can get them going.

 

-When you end up doing your graduation project on something fanfic related

-When you'd rather write fanfics than pay attention in your Math and Science classes

-When plot bunnies attack you without warning

 

...When finding out about the Disney-Lucasfilm buyout, your thoughts immediately go to how it's going to affect fanfiction, particularly your fanfiction.

 

When your dreams (nightmares?) involve things like self-insert characters, plotholes, and OOC romantic relationships.

 

This is me, minus the plotholes.

All of my dreams are plot bunnies, and it is the absolute worst. I hate writing self insert FF, and my dreams nag me to do it.

 

I dream about self-insert style things all the time

Good thing I'm too strong-willed to let myself write them.

 

You're constantly getting attacked by plot bunnies.

You have at least 3 pencils and one notebook with you at all times.

You get inspiration from the strangest of places- from the TV to something random said while half paying attention/half daydreaming about Star Wars during a boring class.

 

I'm lucky if my dreams have plots. For the most part, they don't. If they do, it's so disjointed that I can't make it work. And even the interesting ones don't always have plots. A few nights ago, I dreamt of some weird Mass Effect-style show that was full of slapstick, and ended with a number of political characters sitting around a table and a CGI Spock-wannabe putting an ashtray on the table and directing another character to spit out his gum. :/

Anywho...

...When writing the Dear Diary entries, you wonder how you can incorporate aspects of your daily life into the story.

 

. . . when you buy picture books as characterization references for extremely minor OCs.

At least, that's what I'm going to say if people ask me about it. I am not trying to relive my childhood. Really.

BTW, I've thought about doing a Dear Diary challenge using my own daily life, GFFA-ized but otherwise unchanged. It would probably go down in the annals of fanfic history as the Most Boring Fic Ever.

 

when you buy picture books as characterization references for extremely minor OCs.
^ I'll admit to being guilty of that.

When you see a reference to a trope, a la TV Tropes, and your first thought is "oh I've seen that one in [insert fanfic here]".

Most of my dreams have plots, to a point. Just enough that you can tell it would be a really awesome fic--but then there's that crucial plot point that is never explicitly mentioned.

 

You could probably name a million fanfics (or, more reasonably, at least 50) off the top of your head and what each of them were about.

You use the word 'angst' to describe regular novels.

When you're writing, you're in your own little world and nothing can get your attention.

 

This fits me so perfectly

 

Me too. I was really into writing this one fic about Elan Sel'Sabagno during class and I fell out of my chair when the bell rang.

 

That's why I don't write fics during class.