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

The ever-expanding research. It must be rationed or the writing will never be done. But when you do not do the research, later you will find out that what you did was all wrong. Possibly no one will notice. Doesn't matter. You'll always know.

*whimper*

 

That's what revisions are for. Trust me, it might not be as difficult as it first seems to fix a story to account for new information.

 

Oh, there will always be revisions... lots and lots and lots...

 

When you get inspired to add onto another fanfics writer's work with a sequel with permission of course

 

...when you are doing research for a fanfic online and you start thinking, "Damn, I hope the NSA doesn't show up on my doorstep asking me why I Googled 'How to break into a safe, biological/Chemical bombs, and how to hide evidence from CSI investigators'."

 

There does seem to be a huge overlap between "things necessary for fiction research" and "things that make you sound like an aspiring supervillain."

 

*LOLspew*

UGH, YES. Especially frunnoying (that's frustrating and annoying together) when you realize that a big chunk of that research turns out to be unnecessary because you're going to cut or revise that part. *headdesk* I started a bookmark folder on my browser for future-tech and medical research articles along with Wookieepedia pages, links to thread posts here, insights from Tumblr and SW essays on other sites, other fanfics, etc., and it's now turned into the warehouse at the end of Raiders of the Lost Ark.

 

Let's see, what's currently on my shelf? Body Trauma: A Writer's Guide to Wounds and Injuries, Forensics: A Guide for Writers, and On Writing Horror. I've read all three in public and their subtitles are tiny, so it can be a bit unnerving when the quiet nerd with the Arkham Asylum Inmate t-shirt is sitting in some lonely corner reading books with titles like BODY TRAUMA and FORENSICS.

Writing notes while reading those certainly doesn't help my case.

 

I have a Forensic book that I nicknamed, "The Big Book of Dead People".

 

I just need to add Grey's Anatomy to my library and I'd be set.

 

...you buy a coke because it had the name of your favorite OC on it.

 

Or your favorite SW actor.

<_< >_>

*scurries away*

 

...when you constantly fret over how you'll find time to write and prepare for classes, write lecture notes, grade papers, etc. Being a first time teacher and fic writer is harrrrrd!

 

True, but I rarely think of Luke as Mark Hamill. To me Luke Skywalker is the gorgeous guy that is too hot to be a widower...and in my mind he doesn't exactly look like Mark Hamill anymore. Luke Skywalker aged better.

I have had people commenting on my OC mentioning Mark and Luke in the Bible and if I meant it that way...which is not the reason. Or they thought I named him after Mark Hamill, which is also not true.

In the story Mara thad mentioned he was her biggest mark...meaning assassination target. Being a clone he had no name and therefore decided he wanted to be Mara's Mark. I know that is corny.

 

I'd forgotten about that. Maybe corny, but it's a cute corny.

 

Oh, I know, I know, I was just joshing. That was actually directed at ME instead of you, lol, but I phrased it in second-person narrative in keeping with the title of this thread. Yeah, it kinda messes up the humor...

The funny thing is, I don't actually consider Luke to be gorgeous at any age for his character - cute when young, sure. Decent and distinguished when older. But not [Zoolander] really really ridiculously good-looking [/Zoolander]. And I dig that. I like the idea of a hero who isn't traditionally handsome, but a bit more average-looking - it's his personality and character arc that make him awesome for me.

An actor is never exactly the same as any of their characters, otherwise it wouldn't be called acting, but now that SW has been around for all these years, and we know about the other casting possibilities that Lucas tossed around back then, I can't even imagine anyone else having played the character of Luke Skywalker and made him so endearing and enduring. Somehow Mark was perfect for it. Yep, he's gotten old just like everybody else does eventually (and, um, gah, the Scruff is strong with this one now, LOL). But I'm really glad that he was the one picked for the role, and I love what he did to define Luke. In that way, the two are separate for me as well, yet...not.

But I digress. Excuse me, my fangirl is showing.

 

...when you decide to draft up the most bare-bones of a character for the sake of joining a roleplay, but now you're considering writing up vignettes for that character to better flesh it out.

I recently joined a Tumblr RP, as one of the blogs I'm following is an RP blog (all my RP posts go on my junk blog), so I quickly threw together a character based on a single sketch. Now I've since completed my Speedy Hypno Breeding Program and named the offspring after the character. Since the character is so underdeveloped with only the most basic of a personality, I'm considering writing a few vignettes to flesh it out.

 

...you try to find some Earth-based gaming reference to describe a given situation and, having failed to do so after a cursory search of Wikipedia, spend several minutes thinking up a semi-original game to serve as a crude metaphor. In this case, combining five-card draw poker with sabacc to form a card game I like to call shavit.

 

...you see a weird guy with a tail and spikes at Castlefest in Lisse (the Netherlands) and are thinking about what kind of species he can be

 

Heh, reminds me of the people I see at the Faerie Festival.

YKYAFFWW...

...you start talking about fanfics with your niece in an attempt to get her into writing fanfics so you two can write fanfics together and bounce ideas off one another.

 

YKYAFFWW...

...typos are just another opportunity to help craft character names.

 

^^^This^^^

 

Sometimes having a job in data entry is really worthwhile.

No kidding, I've filled a bunch of sticky notes with names by now.

 

I had a job in data entry once. They decided they didn't like me.