The Things Non-Fanfic Writers Wonder...

One of my personal favourites:

"Why don't you write something of your own? It can't be that hard."

 

This might be the perfect response to the "Why don't you write your own stories?" question: "I can write it. I can edit it. I can send it to every publisher and agent. But I can't guarantee it will ever get published. And what's the point of writing your own stories if you're the only person reading them?"

Because the core argument at the heart of the "Write your own stories" statement is that you should be getting paid for your efforts. But you can't say for certain that the effort will pay off in the end. Writing is an art form, yes, but if it's your own creation, you might want something more tangible from the sweat and tears than vague emotional satisfaction. Writing fanfic gives you that feeling, and you know very well that you'll never make money off it.

The people who think that it's so blasted easy to make writing a full-time job would never dare say that about being a doctor or a police officer. It's easier for some people to live a conscious delusion, I guess.

 

My husband would prefer I got paid. And I did, briefly, work as a technical writer of sorts writing childbirth education materials and then curriculum guides for homeschoolers. But any time you write with a deadline and have to offer up what you've done, it becomes a job.

I write for myself first and foremost. And I'm never completely happy with my work. I write and rewrite, edit and re-edit. And I'm still unhappy. But it provides a creative outlet for me and as long as I stay true to the story my muse has provided, I find some satisfaction.

The day I don't enjoy writing anymore I'll stop. It's that simple. If the day comes that fan fiction doesn't provide any satisfaction, I won't write that anymore either. I still write original stuff, but that's for me.

 

I'm safe from that one, I write original stories as well as fan fiction. Anytime someone asks me that I just whip out my currently-3,000 word story and say "See?"

 

Haha! My mother actually asks the same question to me about animation.
"Okay, so Shrek: is that 3d or 2d?"

 

That would be my response too, except my example would be my original 164,000 word novel.

The big question I was asked a few times was, how can you write anything in Star Wars? Wouldn't that be copyrighted? I answer with, "It's FAN-fiction, written by the fans and for the fans and none of it is being sold...I hope. Or we're in some trouble if a few of you are getting paid under the table.

 

I get something similar to that question myself. For me, it's more like, "Stop writting fan fiction and write something you can sell!"

My reply is always, I do both. I hone my skills writting Fan Fiction. Without having written Fan Fiction, I would not be working on a novel today.

 

I thought you guys were on strike?

 

We don't get paid enough to walk the picket lines with the professionals.

 

Well, there goes my theory that some of you are getting paid for fan fiction under the table.

 

I ran to the bookstore and then back to work as soon as my shift started. I'm a bartender and knew it was going to be slow, so I kept it under the bar and read when no one was looking. Then after getting to "that part", I put the book down and walked around making funny noises. When asked why I was acting so weird (what's weird about that? Maybe it was because I sounded like a donkey), I said, "They've killed Luke Skywalker's wife!"

"Luke Skywalker is married?"

"That wasn't in the movies!"

"How do you KNOW this?" (Said accusingly)

Yes, I agree: headdesk, handfaceslap.

I have to say too, I spent 7 years working on a fic...just because I love it. And then wrote a 10 page paper about wy fan fiction is original. I hear that one a lot: "Why don't you write ORIGINAL stuff instead of stealing other people's ideas.?" Oh the ignorance...

 

Ah girl I hear you!!!! *sigh* they're just in the dark...and missing out on a LOT!

Yesterday, I had to find a honest yet attention-deflecting answer when my dad picked up my green notebook that I write all my drabbles in. "What's this?" "Uhh...its just where i write random stuff I want to keep track of." That's the truth, right?! And its always fun to try to whisper to a classmate during spanish what you're doing instead of conjugating verbs....

 

Ohhh boy, I get the one about "THAT DIDN'T HAPPEN IN THE MOVIES!!!1!1!!" all the time. Especially when one of my friends who has never seen Star Wars tried to be conversational about it, and said "Oh, what actress is that Mara Jade person played by?" *headdesk* I then had to spend an extra 15 minutes explaining how she's not in the movies... all information she probably could have cared less about

Irish, I've had stuff like that happen all the time! Someone will see me, and ask what exactly I'm writing. To avoid questioning, I reply "Oh, just ideas..." LOL if only they knew

 

it's nice not to be alone...

 

Ugh, I hate explaining stuff to people. That's probably why I don't bother telling anyone that I write fanfiction in the first place. Because from that moment on, it's all questions about stupid things that require hours of elaboration to just get a point across. I know how draining tha can be, I shot films in College. Every time one was in progress, I was guaranteed to get the same question over and over: "What's it about?"
And then I take a breath and a little piece of my soul whithers and dies.

Explaining things sucks.

 

How about, "Is that a camera?" That question alone is why I never got my gun license.

 

Now, see, I would find that all hilarious so I'd say ask away. I could use some laughter. Besides, you could always make up some ridiculous story about the camera or the film or why you write the fanfic.

 

It is difficult trying to explain what you're writing to people who don't know anything about you, your style of writing, etc. Complete strangers seem to come out of the woodwork and descend upon you like acid rain. (Guys really seemed to find the notion of a girl writing in a notebook fascinating for some stupid reason).

 

I gave up trying to explain long, long ago. My family just view me as an eccentric.

One year for Christmas my cousins got me Star Wars Trivial Pursuit. Nice, right? Except that NO ONE else can play with me, because the answers are too easy for me and totally stump everyone else.

Also, I remember when I worked as a reviewer for the Archives, at first I was totally afraid I'd be reviewing stories by people who knew all sorts of EU things I didn't and I'd look like a complete idiot. I tried to explain this difference of OT/PT/EU and about all the myriad hundred thousand things that were in the CUSWE to my husband who just sort of looked at me and shook his head.

 

I use Fnafic as excuse. I need to learn how to do plot, so i try that in Fanfic first before I write abook that's too horrible to be mentioned.
Fortunately most peolple know I write (it's said to be impossible to find me without pen and paper, even in disco ) so usually everybody just assmumes I write original. Especially, when I suddenly whip out ideas about something original. It's all about keeping up the illusion.
Other friends know about fanfic (even write themselves) so no problem there.

And I can always say, I got my first novel finished, I'm just tp lazy to type it into the comp.

 

When I say I'm not obsessed with Star Wars, my friends just kind of look at me.

Then I claim "No, it's true! It's not like a spend every waking moment doing something Star Wars-- usually I'm writing!"
"What do you write about?"
"Fanfiction"
"What kind of Fanfiction?"
"Star Wars Fanfiction."
So then, two of them turn to me and say, "I've never seen Star Wars, is it any good?"
"Are the new remakes of the old movies any better?"
*headdesk* She seriously thought they were remakes of the old ones!
So, my friend turns to my other friend (who was a one time Star Wars fanatic.) "Are they any good?"
So I say. "They are my inspiration!" And everone just stares at me. It always ends the same way. Someone tries to define the word 'obsession' for me, and I deny I'm obsessed, then they ask me what fics I'm writing, so I tell them, and they tell me it's 'just wrong' to twist the plot like I do.

Then I come home, and spend like, four hours writing fanfic. Yeah, I usually write at least two hours each day, and when I'm not doing that, I'm playing my guitar.

 

Just ignore the great unwashed.

 

I've learned that being a fanfic writer specializing in angst and drama is helping me in writing an original Gothic story for my Gothic lit class. However, with the way it's going so far, it's going to be hard to keep the Sith from intruding...
My professor is going to wonder why I can't write an analytical paper to save my life, but I can write creatively rather well.

 

Only a few of my friends know about fanfiction.
When I tell people I'm a Star Wars fan I usually get something like...

"You don't look like you'd be into Star Wars..." [insert wrinkling of the nose or amused grin here]

What exactly are Star Wars fans and fanfiction writers supposed to look like?

I get the "Why don't you do something useful or write something you can sell" bit from my dad a lot. My mom is fairly supportive of my fanfiction obsession. She thinks it's amusing watching me check my e-mail repeatedly for update alerts.

I think my favorite is:

"So, is it, like, Star Trek or something?" To which I usually respond with a hearty:

 

I get that too! Exactly what kind of a stereotype are they looking for here?! LOL on second thought, I don't want to know!