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

When you are scribbling frantically in the hospital cafeteria 20 minutes before your shift starts, because you thought of a great scene on the bus....and you get ink all over your hands...

 

. . . you spend hours browsing clothing websites to find the perfect dress or tux to wear to a virtual awards ceremony.

 

...the first three things you do when you get home from work are: take a shower, check for updates, and get dressed...in that order.

 

When you're moving to another dorm, and you put all your writing materials - including notebooks, printouts, computer disks, sketchbooks with character drawings, and little scraps of paper that have notes scribbled on them - into a small cardboard box that you chose simply because it already had the word "FRAGILE" emblazoned on it.


Jade When I moved one of the first things that got moved to the car so it wouldn't get lost was my big fanfic folder Didn't want the chore of explaining that it wasn't junk that needed to go in the back of the truck so I took it out the night before to make sure it got to our destination I also put my Jedi Costume in it's own separate container My father found it and he just kind of laughed at me ..


Boy so many of these apply to me it's insane lol.

 

Abby the first three things you do when you get home from work are: take a shower, check for updates, and get dressed...in that order.
LOL.

Nope, for me it's check updates, take shower, and get dressed.

 

I know, in the summer I find myself checking for updates and doing replies before I ever shower or eat.

I'm also glad to know I'm not the only schizto one with their characters. I just had an IM conversation with my beta *in character* as Obi-Wan to try to conversationally work through an investigation he's doing in the story

And now 'he' is writing the mission report for reference

-sj loves kevin spacey

 

You will space out in the middle of a conversation because of an idea for a fic.

- when you've got your OC and canon names programed into your Word dictionary so they don't pop up w/ a red line under them.

I'm guilty of those.

 

When you have to take your computer in the shop for repairs, and they wipe your hard drive clean without you knowing, and when you do find out you scream at the guy: Where the hell are my story files?

 

...when you're watching "Aida" with your friend/fellow fan fic writer and you both have to stuff your fists in your mouths because the lead of the show is acting exactly like your OC

...when later in the show you have to stuff your fist in your mouth- again- because one of the songs would fit almost perfectly in your fic.

...when your post-show conversation with your friend focusses about 50% on the way in which it related to your fic and how songs could be changed to fit perfectly.


Found myself guilty of all three of these last night. My friend's parents were very confused.

 

When you're watching Bridge on the River Kwai and you start to think "Alec's character is so 'General Kenobi in this " ... and then you realise Alec would hate you for thinking this and you feel really bad.

-sj loves kevin spacey

 

...you're watching Bridge on the River Kwai you realize that William Holden would have made a great Han Solo.

 

Just found this thread, and had to read it twice - I was convinced somebody who knew me very well had posted my little weirdnesses here

I'm approaching 40 years of age now, and have loved to write since I was about 10 or so. That was when I found out two things: I enjoyed it thoroughly, and I was quite good at it, so it became my second hobby after reading (been doing that since before I started school)

The bits about having tons of notes very irrelevant to school and work is almost frightening - it's been ages since I could remember how much paper I've used for writing stuff that just came popping into my brain for no apparent reason. And said stuff will never go away until I write it down either, so I have to write, just to make my brain shut up for at least three seconds...

You also know you're a (fan fiction) writer if you learn to type without looking at the keyboard just to be able to see your story coherently and not in the little pieces you get if you have your eyes on the keyboard (maybe not correct English, it's not my main language) I wanted to learn to use a typewriter because my handwriting looks like an explosion in a spaghetti factory and I really want to be able to read it after two days.

I don't know if anyone else have noticed this, but I have used touch typing since I was about 13 and my speed is almost at professional secretary level. But I still hate the fact that I can't get my fingers to move faster, it's so much stuff that wants to be written! So far I have about 20 megabytes with text files stored on my pc, but I think I could have managed at least three times as much if I was able to type faster.

*sigh* So many stories to read and write, so little time....

 

You also know you're a (fan fiction) writer if you learn to type without looking at the keyboard just to be able to see your story coherently and not in the little pieces you get if you have your eyes on the keyboard

So very true! I learned to type without looking at the keys before ever having to take one of those "keyboarding" classes in school...needless to say, I'm still faster than everyone I know at typing, and I don't even have my fingers in the right places

~Abby~

 

I don't know about you guys, but I learned to type fast with my fingers on the right keys so I wouldn't take 6 hours to just type up a 10 page paper . . . never mind write it.

Writing stories and fanfic helped me type faster. Right now I type about 70 or so wpm. Not that fast but fast enough for me.

Jae

 

I learned how to type properly because I used to roleplay in a chat where there was some kind of time limit on responding to somebody's attack. As I didn't wish my lovely character to die, I learned how to type awfully fast (way later than I should have, at age 12).

 

I don't know about you guys, but I learned to type fast with my fingers on the right keys so I wouldn't take 6 hours to just type up a 10 page paper

Well, the right fingers may not be on the right keys, but I get those papers typed up PDQ anyway

~Abby~

 

*sighs* Both my handwriting and typing is abysmal, so for me it's a lose-lose situation. Which may be why most of my stories never leave my head.

 

Smuggler_Shidakis - you'd be amazed how much faster your fingers type when you post a story and get feedback! It's the best encouragement to speedy typing

~Abby~

 

?When your sister sends you some pictures from her trip in Egypt, and you instantly think, ?Oh, that?ll be a good scene for <insert story name> when <insert character name> is on Tatooine.? -- Guilty...as of this morning.

((Solent))

 

This might have been mentioned before... but maybe not.

Stop whatever you are doing to hear a song that fits your character(s) perfectly! I sooo do this way to often and write down the title(s)/artist(s) to surf later on to get the lyrics to add at the beginning of the next chapter or for future chapters! (Guilty as charged for my Lin/Mena and Dooku/Qui/Jocasta stories hehehehe)

Soooo many songs out there that are theme songs to OCs and Canon PCs!

And that typing/writing faster for fics... yep I am SOOO guilty of that! Amazing how much quicker one's thoughts and actions are when doing something they extremely like!

 

You know you're a fanfic writer when...

You've taken a break from fanfic to work on oyur orginal story, but still cruise fanfic boards and jot down fanfic-bunnies in your notebook.

You've actually built and destributed MS-Word .dic files for other writers to use fir their fics.

As for the feedback thing: I know that writers must write for themselves first and foremost (I've been trapped with a original-character from my first original novel that I freaking ahte with a passion for 3 years now and people won't let me let him die), but writers can not exsist in a vaccum. We need that feedback and attention that we get from our readers. We need to know we're telling a story that is worth telling and that people, negative, good, and indifferent, are reading it and tkaing something away from it.

 

*grins* I'm addicted to feedback. I beg my readers on FF.N for reviews shamelessly.

...When you go to dictionary.com searching for the 'perfect' word to describe a character's sentimental moment.

Just did that today

 

...you're watching Olympic boxing, and the announcer says, "Great shot by the Thai fighter"...but what you heard was, "Great shot by the TIE fighter!"

~Abby~

 

When your kids walk into the computer room and see you banging your head on the desk and just walk away quietly. They know that you're having problems with your story and know better than to disturb you.

You know you're a loving mom when you give up some of your computer time so that your daughter can work on her OWN fan fiction story.

When your hubby rolls his eyes as he listens to you and your daughter discuss the plot of the story you're working on together and you hear him pray for one day without hearing the words "STAR WARS!" and you know his prayer will not answered!

 

Soooo many songs out there that are theme songs to OCs and Canon PCs

I have 2 tapes filled with various fan fic related songs