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

-the last book you read was Merriam-Webster's Guide to Punctuation and Style.

 

...when you get excited in your "technology and society" college class because your professor's first subject to discuss in the copyright law section is how much she loves fan fiction, even going to the point of explaining what a ship is.

 

....you begin to imagine how cool it would be to have a Ph.D in SW Fanfiction because who wouldn't want to specialize in something totally absurd like "Ducks, Cats, and other mysterious things in a galaxy far, far away (and why Luke still doesn't know what a duck is after 30 years in isolation)" P.S: a good dissertation topic

 

...When you are re reading one of your Stranger Things fics and discover that you used the name Luke at one point rather than Lucas, which is the proper name.

 

...When you get upset with Wikipedia for not having more info on Japanese sun deity, because such a thing would be perfect for fitting in with a current fic plan.

 

...when read a fic on another site and discover something called Whumptober.

...when Whumptober sounds intriguing, but I couldn't possible create a fic a day for 31 days.

...when you've heard of whump over the years, but never actively pursued it.

 

....when an infected tooth scares away you muse. But hopefully the antibiotic bring her back.

 

...an Antman clip leads to you knocking out a short SW story in less than 20 minutes.

 

I'd love to see someone make a story about this clip

 

...when bizarre and random stories make sense in YOUR mind but once you publish them people are all, ''What the kriff?!" and you're all, "what are the readers talking about? all of this makes sense to me!....I..I think......"

 

...when you finally start writing again, you plan on including a clay Llama sculpture in a fic without an explanation, and Triplet Toddlers who don't like gourmet food, and grilled cheese... lots and lots of grilled cheese. (This totally does make sense in context...)

 

When you hear the song Delta Dawn and wonder if the "mysterious dark haired man" could have been Loki.

(And I see those Sims references, TPAM.)

 

...when you think third person sounds too stiff so you redo what you've got in first person and then wonder if it wouldn't be easier to tell the story in third person...so you redo it Or undo it. Or something....

 

...when you look up the best ROTC colleges for one of your characters as well as the route from Indiana to Hampton, VA because his girlfriend is coming to visit him.

 

YKYAFFWW you reread back a few chapters before beginning to write the next and a Giant Plot Hole yawns before you involving timing of a Certain Event and the sense of relief overwhelms when you think of a work around after an indescribable 9 hours (8 of which were sleep time, but still)

 

...you suddenly start leaning towards a character selecting long sleeves rather than cap sleeves, in a previous chapter, and baulk at doing the re-edit, as you wonder how much the change will affect material that has been written since.

 

...you know exactly what a WIP-completing writer means, when they feel as if they have completed a marathon.

Well done, @devilinthedetails

 

When you've been on vacation for 10 days and had a certain amount of time to write, but didn't.

 

...when you hunt through 10 pages of the OTP thread looking for the spoonfuls of mush prompt listings only to finally realize spoonfuls of MUSH is in the MMM thread. Found it.

...When you've been calling it 'loving spoonfuls' when, in fact, it is 'spoonfuls of mush'.

 

...when you think up some ridiculous **** for your story or role-play, and later do one-letter-at-a-time searches on either Google or Amazon for ideas, a picture, or information.

This evening's Amazon search was brought to you by the letters:

PRINC

*observes autocomplete*

Me: Well, 'princess' exists.


PRINCESS CA

*more autocomplete*

Me: And we have 'princess castle', albeit as a cake topper.


PRINCESS CASTLE BU

*Ah, autocomplete is cooking on gas*

Me: Wow, 'princess castle bunk bed' actually exists. Actually, that's not that bad looking. And that one has steps! Awesome.

 

...someone wants a link to your story, and you think “I guess this means I need to finish it now”