How has fanfiction ruined your life? ( Humorous)

Had this thought the other day while reading a memo at work. About half of these have at least one typo or grammar error. This one had both.

After having read it, instead of digesting what the memo had actually said, my thought was: "Who beta read this thing?"

Then I laughed at myself for being a fanfiction nerd.

I have noticed over the years that I can't read books like I used to. I'll be at the point where I'm just really getting into a good book when suddenly I'll read something that triggers my beta reader alarm. Lately I've been reading some classic Asimov books and I'll find myself thinking "Deus Ex Machina" or "Mary Sue."

This got me to wondering how often my fellow fanficcers have caught their fanfiction hobby overlapping with their real lives and figured there had to be a few funny stories out there.

 

once i wrote this story for school, looonnng time ago.

anyhoo so i wrote the story and i had this part where the Bith where playing saxaphones...

i wrote "Four Bith played Sexaphones".... my teacher found the story interesting...

*slinking away in hilarious shame*

 

That's because you're thinking like a writer now, not a reader. I used to work as a copy editor for the US Navy, and now I find at least three typos in every book I read.


Fanfic overlap moment: When I meet someone new, I consider how I can use that person's name (or some variation of the name) as a character name.

 

It's ruined my real life work in that I don't do much now

 

Well, I used to have a life...

 

On the latest trilogy of SW profic books, I got halfway through the second and started guessing about how contrived the plot would have to be to accomplish what it looked like the author was going to have to do.


I was right.

 

When I was working as a temp at Regions Mortgage back in Montgomery, I kept a piece of paper with me as I was thumbing through the paperwork and wrote down all the names that sounded star warsish to use them for OC's I had quite a list developed

I have always been the sort to look for typos, even before I became a beta reader

I've told my family I can't come home before cause of the fanfiction awards going on that weekend

I have to write before going to bed, or else I can't sleep as well

The other day I asked my co-author if she could get Saturday off, cause my hubby is going to be gone and I wanted to spend the day writing


Yeah, I'm a fanficaholic

 

SO many movies I've seen I consider how much better the plot could have been done by a fanficcer or twelve I know.

Reading new characters in books has me thinking of SW OC's they remind me of.

 

hmm brothers in nature...

i must meditate on this...

 

I was wondering about this. I've heard about fanficcers who carry around notepads so they can write down ideas when they occur.

I can't count the number of (allegedly) good ideas that might have been saved if I adopted this practice, but I refuse to allow fanfiction to turn me into a notepad carrier.


*edited for speeling

 

I've dreamed about fanfic characters more than once. (Usually canon characters doing fanfic things, but occasionally OCs.)

As a matter of fact, I had a dream that my dad got me a lightsaber for Christmas, and I was saving up money to buy the other one so I could be just like (Unwritten Fanfic Character I Will Use later) and even have matching saber colors! Then I ran around in circles on a highway exit ramp with Ben Skywalker for no apparent reason, and woke up. I think he thought I was her because I had the twin lightsabers and the right hair color.

I start thinking about fic possibilities in stories. I also look over my original work and wonder who would get paired with whom if fanficcers got ahold of any of it.

 

And

Oh. My. God.

This would actually be really funny if it wasn't so damn true!!


Scratch that -


I knew it was bad when I picked up a certain 'Pro-fic' novel and for the few few pages, all I could see was [strike through] Blah blah blah[/strike through] Bleh, bleh bleh.


[Threepio voice] We're doomed![/Threepio voice]

 

Books have to be pretty darn good these days or else my fanfic nerdness kicks in and I keep trying to rewrite the darn thing. Contrived plot, Mary Sue, badly edited....

Same with movies. If I see a movie more than once and something doesn't work for me, I'll re-edit in my head. The ROTS turning scene comes to mind. Besides, I was pretty upset when Qui-Gon didn't speak in ROTS so now I just add the dialogue in my head. I wouldn't have done that before.

 

Regarding re-editing I was doing that all during the Mustafar duel. I kept picturing Xan/Qui instead of Obi/Anakin and thinking how much cooler the duel would've looked and how Xanatos would've been smarter than to challenge his Master on a lava planet where the possibility exsisted that he could burn too

 

I used to always carry out paper and pencil to write down story ideas and names for original stories, so adopting that practise for fanfic was like killing two womprats with one blast. I worked in an OB clinic a while ago, and let me tell you, I saw one of the coolest names ever. Not very Star Wars-y, but it makes me want to write something just so I can use it.

Same thing with typos. I could always spot them. Now more and more I notice the use of commas in everyday reading.

I'm at the point where I want to turn every Pink Floyd song into a songfic about Anakin, but then I realise that the lyrics are already so fitting that anything I could ever say would be trite.

I think I would've gotten out a bit more in college, had I not stayed in my room to read and write. Then again, going out can be overrated.

Whenever something catches my eye, I start writing mini fics in my head. They never get posted, it's just a bad habit I've developed.

And yes, I've screamed "MARY SUE!!!" at book characters before. One of my internships was to review books for the possibility of film production, and in my write-ups I had to get out of the "She's one step from marrying Captain Kirk" mindset.

 

Same here. And it seems like I'm always finding mistakes in these books, too.

 

ROTFLMAO at the thread title . . . I can't enjoy most pro fiction now either--of any genre, not just SW profic. I had to wait at the drugstore the other day and went to the novel rack for the first time in years--but it was only to look at book openings and try to cadge ideas for new techniques. My thoughts were something like: "Crap, crap, crap, crap--ooh, nice hook there . . . stealing that one--crap, crap, crap."

The same goes for movies . . . and the worst thing is that it's not only the bad stuff I can't stand to see--I'm afraid to watch the really good stuff, because I might feel compelled to write fanfic about it. I have actually never read the Harry Potter novels , because A) reading an 800 page book would take too much time away from writing fanfic, and B) I AM NOT ALLOWED TO PICK UP ANY MORE FANDOMS. I've actually written in at least five fandoms that I can think of, although only three are on the net. Every one of those damn things is a phone call from a relative not returned, a sunny day not spent outside, a load of laundry not done . . .

Some days I seem to get nothing done but fanfic. This is disturbing to me. Other days, I get no fanfic done. This is even more disturbing to me. The fact that not writing fanfic is more disturbing to me is disturbing to me.

About half the people I consider my closest friends I have never physically seen. This, also, is disturbing to me.

I have caught myself furtively scribbling drafts of fanfic passages in class, hoping nobody will notice--because I'm supposed to be paying attention to what's going on.

And I'm the teacher.

 

Guilty. I keep a small journal in my purse. I write down snatches of dialogue, interesting turns of phrase, etc. Gets a little difficult if a plot bunny bites hard and I can't take out my little journal and jot it down, like when I'm some place like in church.

I also write in my head when I'm driving. Just yesterday I was mumbling in the car and my son asked what I said, and I answered, "Nothing. Just running dialogue." Fanfic has yet to make me miss an exit, though. I just look like I'm talking to myself a lot.

 

I can't help but hear some songs on the radio and twist the words to make them fic-specific. No genre of music is safe. Rap? Country? Alternative rock? Oldies? All of it and then some.

 

Well then I blame society for not allowing me to carry a purse.

 

divapilot wrote: when I'm some place like in church.

Aiiighh!! That's another one--I can't turn off the fanfic voice in my head when I'm in church! The worst thing is when the priest is giving the homily and I start thinking, "Hmm, I wonder how the Jedi would say that." The priest in my old parish reminded me a little of Obi-Wan (personality-wise, not physically--unfortunately ), and I really did repurpose snatches of his homilies into fic occasionally.

I feel terribly guilty about mentally writing fic in church, actually. When the priest is up there consecrating the bread and wine, it's just really bad form to be wondering what Darth Vader does on his days off. (Although a friend of mine did confess that some robed image on a stained glass window reminded him of Darth Vader every time he looked at it, which made me feel slightly less abnormal, if not less tacky. Presumably, the "Church of the Holy Sith" has "Vader" up there as a martyr, and not a saint.)

Fanfic has yet to make me miss an exit, though.

I've missed exits. When I was student teaching and writing a massive fanfic novel at the same time, I tried using a digital voice recorder to "write" in the car during my commute. (Hey, why not make use of "wasted" time?)

Not only did this cause me to miss exits, but the recording quality was awful. When I fed the sound files back into my computer, it transcribed insane things about only special units being allowed to download data into the lawn.

Ooookay then.

I'm starting to feel like I need professional help.

















You think any of the editors at Del Rey would work with me?

 

Well then I blame society for not allowing me to carry a purse.

I'd be more than happy to pitch in for a nice man bag for you.

Love reading everyone's ruinations.

 

I can?t see a movie, watch a TV-show or read a book without picturing SW characters in it, and of course that leads to a plot bunny, and I have enough of those .

I used to love reading books, but since I started writing and reading fanfiction, I haven?t read nearly enough, I miss it sometimes.

And then it?s every time one of my teachers talk to much my thought?s likes to drift away, and where do they drift, toward fanfiction.

Ideas of my fanfic?s usually comes when I?m trying to sleep so I?ve learned to always keep a notebook next to my bed at all time, really annoying because I can?t sleep until I?ve written it down. I also get ff ideas on other places, like on the bus or in the shower, places where my mind relaxes.

I?m exactly like that, I can?t here a song without seeing a star wars character or two in it.

 

I was wondering about this. I've heard about fanficcers who carry around notepads so they can write down ideas when they occur.


Guilty! I'm even worse, I keep another tiny notebook stashed in my bathroom because that's the only room in the house I KNOW they can't disturb me. Well, they TRY, but I ignore them all.

 

Ok well after watching Brokeback Mountain as soon as I got over my initial reacting my mind automatically started comparing jack and Ennis to Anakin and Obi-Wan.

Also...a lot of people that I know somehow in my head start to become SW characters. That's how I make a lot of my OC.

But I think the biggesty of them all is that every time I hear a song that I like I start automatically thinking of how I could use it for a songfic.