Fanfic Writers' Virtual Water Cooler

[Whytewytch]

I once thought about doing NaNo, but the more I hear about things like that, the happier I am not doing it. I manage to do my fair share of writing anyway, so I'm probably not missing anything but additional stress.

For people like you and Seaboe, it probably would just add more stress; you're getting the writing done, so don't fix what ain't broke.

Others of us need that discipline and that reward. Last year, it seems they gave away a lot of things also--winners could get five free copies of their books from CreateSpace, there were discounted and free memberships to various writing-related things. The year I did it, I think they only had the badges, which was also fine by me. Knowing I had done this (and by extension, could then do it again) was all the reward I needed. But the badges were cool.

[Amara D'Angeli]

Sounds like your experience was not a positive one. {{HUGS}} And not every thing works for every person. It's good when you know what works for you and what doesn't.

It really is awful they turned it into a competition between regions rather than a personal commitment. Not everything has to be about who did more, did better, etc. So, Seaboe, I completely understand where you're coming from.

For me, I think I need that discipline. Someone said earlier (I think it was amara), that much as she loves to write, if she doesn't make herself sit down and do it, something else (like the vacuuming) will take precedence.

Yep, that was me. I have a guilt complex that just won't quit. I still feel like writing is something I do to pass time and that's just not the case anymore. I still struggle to allow myself to work it into my schedule without feeling like I could be doing something "productive" with my time. The only writing I seem to let myself get away with without guilt is for assignments. I even struggle with the time I devote to writing plays that are going to be produced. I've got to change my way of thinking!

If I tell them I'm doing NaNo (which they can read about online) and that we have to reach a goal of 1666 words a day for 30 days in order to achieve success, they still don't understand (I know a lot of--shall we say, not very literate?--people), but they do respect that I'm doing this crazy thing for this one month.

The people in my world don't get it. For the most part I'm not surrounded by writers so when I tell them I've got to write sixteen hundred words on any given day they, first, look at me like I'm nuts, and second, launch into some diatribe about how awful writing is. People don't understand how much I enjoy it. Well, my RL people don't. Thank goodness for the internet and all the lovely people I've met who are writers!

[fems]

Looks like I'm one of the lucky ones with the people around me understanding and supporting my writing.

[Whytewytch]

Yep, that was me. I have a guilt complex that just won't quit. I still feel like writing is something I do to pass time and that's just not the case anymore. I still struggle to allow myself to work it into my schedule without feeling like I could be doing something "productive" with my time. The only writing I seem to let myself get away with without guilt is for assignments. I even struggle with the time I devote to writing plays that are going to be produced. I've got to change my way of thinking!

Same here. I still have that voice in the back of my head that says, "Writing is a hobby. Do something (in school) that will get you a real job." Even when I was going for an English degree, I was always made to feel like I should get a job teaching or publishing or teaching. My mindset is starting to turn now toward, "Writing is what I do, dang it, and if you don't get it, too bad!" It's a slow change, though, after decades of being told that the idea of me being a writer was fanciful, a nice daydream.

The people in my world don't get it. For the most part I'm not surrounded by writers so when I tell them I've got to write sixteen hundred words on any given day they, first, look at me like I'm nuts, and second, launch into some diatribe about how awful writing is. People don't understand how much I enjoy it. Well, my RL people don't. Thank goodness for the internet and all the lovely people I've met who are writers!

If it wasn't for the internet, I don't think I would've ever gotten back to writing. other than vague, angry, depressed entries in a journal of how people just don't get me. My hubby and boys get it, so long as it doesn't interfere with their plans for me, and everyone else just doesn't get it at all. Even with NaNo, they still ask why I would do such an odd thing and tell me that they would never do something that "weird" or "nerdy" or whatever. Even if they don't come right out and say it every time, the tone of their voice says it all.

Or the look on their face:

[Whytewytch]

Looks like I'm one of the lucky ones with the people around me understanding and supporting my writing.

Count your blessings! Hubby gets it, and will understand more when I get my first paycheck from writing (men understand hobbies--other than their own--a lot more when there's pay attached to it and when it doesn't put them out). And see? I just called it a hobby again.

My boys are proud that mom writes, so long as they don't need something during my writing time. My friends and colleagues and in-laws are like, "Huh? Really? What have you published?" My parents are like, "That's sweet, dear. It's nice to still have dreams." (I have teen-aged kids, fer cryin' out loud!)

[Amara D'Angeli]

Count your blessings! Hubby gets it, and will understand more when I get my first paycheck from writing (men understand hobbies--other than their own--a lot more when there's pay attached to it and when it doesn't put them out). And see? I just called it a hobby again.

My boys are proud that mom writes, so long as they don't need something during my writing time. My friends and colleagues and in-laws are like, "Huh? Really? What have you published?" My parents are like, "That's sweet, dear. It's nice to still have dreams." (I have teen-aged kids, fer cryin' out loud!)

You ought to see the sidelong glances I get from people when I tell them my (useless-to-them English degree) is being followed by a (frivolous-to-them) film/screenwriting degree.

(Then again, I tend to panic a little when I think of the amount of student loan debt I'm racking up to go work in an industry with 50% unemployment...across the country...where the cost of living is astronomical. Yep, getting off that train of thought right now!)

[Falcon Horus]

Looks like I'm one of the lucky ones with the people around me understanding and supporting my writing.

Lucky you!

I get funny looks and glances when I merely mention the stuff I do, like writing stories... and cosplay. Especially that last part has them looking even more funnier. However, once they've seen my costumes and props they think it's pretty cool. Letting them read my stories, that's a whole other story. Actually it's not done.

[fems]

My friends and family aren't the judgmental type. They have plenty of hobbies (yes, I'm calling it a hobby since I'm not thinking about getting original stuff published) and other interests that I don't share and/or care about. Gardening, football/soccer, going to church, smoking pot, mountain biking, knitting, drawing, sailing, painting, running, volleyball, camping and plenty of other things they make time for in their schedules and I don't complain about.

I guess it helps that most of them are readers and/or have to write a lot for assignments and articles etc. Plus, my friends know that my fanfic writing has improved my English so they often ask me to take a look at some of the stuff they've written to help make it flow better.

Just last weekend my aunt asked me how the writing was going, if I was still enjoying it and a lot of other questions. Even my great aunt inquires about it when we talk/write to each other, probably because she has always said how much she enjoys my writing in letters to her (even before I considered really writing stories).

[Amara D'Angeli]

Lucky you!

I get funny looks and glances when I merely mention the stuff I do, like writing stories... and cosplay. Especially that last part has them looking even more funnier. However, once they've seen my costumes and props they think it's pretty cool. Letting them read my stories, that's a whole other story. Actually it's not done.

Just about everyone who knows me knows I writer. A very, very small number of people know I write fanfic. Only a handful of people over the course of time have been allowed to read anything I wrote. Then again, for all I know, people who know me could have been reading my stuff all along and neither one of us would ever know due to the pseudonym.

[Seaboe Muffinchucker]

Only a handful of people over the course of time have been allowed to read anything I wrote.

A lot of people know I write; my family does not read what I write (well, my brother read the story I actually got paid for). When I started writing as a child, I let my family read my stuff. They were not helpful. My sister and father would proofread; my mother thought everything I wrote was good; my brother wasn't interested. However no-one I ever ran into was discouraging, whether family, friends or acquaintances.

I get funny looks and glances when I merely mention the stuff I do, like writing stories... and cosplay.

You're just hanging around with the wrong crowd. Most of my friends are costumers. Only a few are cosplayers, though one actually runs cosplays for others (she has acreage).

Seaboe

[Amara D'Angeli]

A lot of people know I write; my family does not read what I write (well, my brother read the story I actually got paid for). When I started writing as a child, I let my family read my stuff. They were not helpful. My sister and father would proofread; my mother thought everything I wrote was good; my brother wasn't interested. However no-one I ever ran into was discouraging, whether family, friends or acquaintances.Seaboe

I should clarify: they don't read my fanfic. The other stuff the most certainly read!

[SF_and_Coffee]

The people in my world don't get it. For the most part I'm not surrounded by writers so when I tell them I've got to write sixteen hundred words on any given day they, first, look at me like I'm nuts, and second, launch into some diatribe about how awful writing is. People don't understand how much I enjoy it. Well, my RL people don't. Thank goodness for the internet and all the lovely people I've met who are writers!

I'm very fortunate, then. I hang out in real life with a lot of people who enjoy reading. Some of them also write, and pretty much all of them share at least one or two geeky, nerdy hobbies with me, so they all know that none of us are in any position to criticize each other's chosen activities, be they vocation, avocation or something in-between. (I'm in the Society for Creative Anachronism and do some costuming there and I also do a bit of community theatre both onstage and behind the scenes, so I think that means I hang out with creative and geeky people simply by default!) In fact, about half my friends do cosplay, which is actually beyond anything I do.

Looks like I'm one of the lucky ones with the people around me understanding and supporting my writing.

Yep!

A lot of people know I write; my family does not read what I write (well, my brother read the story I actually got paid for). When I started writing as a child, I let my family read my stuff. They were not helpful. My sister and father would proofread; my mother thought everything I wrote was good; my brother wasn't interested. However no-one I ever ran into was discouraging, whether family, friends or acquaintances.

You're just hanging around with the wrong crowd. Most of my friends are costumers. Only a few are cosplayers, though one actually runs cosplays for others (she has acreage).

Seaboe

My parents encouraged my writing when I was growing up, and even into young adulthood. They read and enjoyed it. They're both gone now, I'm an only child, and I have no family to whom I'm truly close, so I don't particularly have to worry about what any of my relatives think!

[Falcon Horus]

I was a fairly good writer in school, short stories flew out of my pen like crazy and a few of them were entered into competitions (one or two without my prior knowledge though). Won a poetry competition once though I failed to see what made my poem so special for it to win at all.

And when I say school - I mean Dutch and English. French was a disaster since I wasn't entirely fluent in my writing there, and luckily we didn't have to write anything for our German classes cause that would have been really fascinating to read.

Then I discovered fanfic around the time I discovered Stargate SG1 some 15 years ago, and my writing took flight.

It was my mother's dream to one day write a children's book, however work and her ilness have prevented her from achieving that dream.
I once considered writing a career option, and then I grew up and knew that wouldn't be a good one to go with. Reality can be such a pain in the mikta.

However, I never filed it away under "not possible" so who knows.

[Princess Awinita]

When I did Nano last year and the year before I took a snippet from my story two years ago and figured, why not embelish that some more ? And it turned out to be a whole knew universe created from a simple 1500 word segment in a totally unrelated story based on my MC Lake One and her friend Swallowtail. So last year in the spring I was kicking around a ten chapter story idea centered first and formost on the question of "What if ?" and also the question "How does one react to different things ?" So with those two questions in mind I started writing the story that spawned into a four story series with short interlude scenes and a full on guidebook on all the information in the story. Heck I love writing this, Project One is awesome! Though the last two stories may be pushing the gore button by a "holie smeg we did it!" turn.

Also ontop of that before November rolled around last year I had finished the first of four stories in perfect timing to gear up and focus my writing for NaNo on story two, by then I had hit my stride at writing and when November was done I uploaded my story, without editing it in any way whatsoever, choosing instead to upload as is to show my skill, and if there were any mistakes, that the story really is not intended to be a offical paperback or hardcover book anyhow, its all for the fun of it for me.

Therefore....


November get here NOW!!

*goes back to lurking*

[Seaboe Muffinchucker]

November get here NOW!!

Ya know, there's no rule that says you have to wait for November.

Seaboe