BSV Forum - General - The Bloodshedpub

Why do you write fanfic?

Oct 10 2006 03:05 am   #1ZoeGrace

There really was no good category to put this in...it's writing related, specifically fanfic writing related so this was the closest category I could find.  I thought I'd kick off a discussion of sorts.  Why do you write fanfic (for those that write it.)?

There are no wrong answers, I'm just curious about various other people's motivations.  Some people may have read some of my LJ posts on this topic, I'll repost some of my own thoughts, but first I'm curious about what drives other writers...first to write, and secondly to write fanfic.

Do you just write fanfic or do you write original fic too? (There's nothing wrong with if you just write fanfic...this is just a curiosity of mine.)

Zoe =)

Oct 10 2006 08:51 am   #2Diabola

I saw you weren't sure where to put this, so I moved it to the section where I think it belongs. In the end this isn't really about writing (the technical part or writing) itself, as much as it is a general discussion. And that's exactly what the pub is for.

Please don't take this the wrong way, I don't intend to move things around all the time, this is just to get things started.

Oh errr, maybe while I'm here anyway I should answer the question, huh? I wrote something about this on lj a while back, and since I'm lazy I'll just copy it, ok?

When I see something I believe to be wrong, be it in a show or a book, I have this urge to fix it somehow. For a long time I was content with imagining those solutions (and annoying my sister by telling her about them), but when I started reading fanfic I fell in love with the idea that I'd be able to show them to others. Plus, I absolutely love reading and always wanted to be able to write something myself. Sadly language and literature isn't my strong suit, I was always better with math and technical stuff. Because of that I knew writing a "real" novel is way out of my league, so fanfic gave me the opportunity to dabble in writing – and the hope that in time I'll get to the point where at least I like what I'm producing.

"The difference between genius and stupidity is that genius has limits." - Albert Einstein
Oct 10 2006 09:18 am   #3ZoeGrace

heh no, it's cool dia...I just didn't know where to put it was all.  And it makes sense to put it here.  

I can identify with that reason for writing fanfic...I used to imagine other scenarios too...and then I found the concept of fanfic and wrote one down lol.  It really is like indefinite episodes in the altiverse.  This is a totally "romantic" writing notion of mine...but I read it in this children's fantasy novel by Diane Wynne Jones called: "witch week" some character said, "every story is true, somewhere."  It makes me think of this whole: "all these conflicting stories can exist and be just as "true" from a story perspective as all the others." which is nice.

I'm going to try to organize more briefly my reasons for writing fanfic...so i don't freak people out with my verbosity then I'll be back to post them. :)

Oct 10 2006 09:45 am   #4ZoeGrace

OK, here are my reasons: 

I read somewhere that in writing, the first million words are just practice. No writer really likes to hear that, but it is a fact that a lot of what you write will never see the light of day, it's just the price of learning your craft and honing your voice. If you are a novelist you might write three entire novels before writing the one that actually sees publication.


So in brief (well brief for me...sorry i'm verbose)...the reasons I personally write fanfic:


  1. The freaking reviews! Knowing that the writing that is my practice writing, where I'm trying to learn my craft, is actually being read by a good number of people, and being enjoyed by a few of them enough to tell me about it just rocks my world. I'm incredibly grateful that there are places where I can post this stuff and be read.

  2. It teaches me how to develop a plot. I used to write something (original fic) and think the outline was just set in stone and I couldn't go anywhere different with it. Fanfic just opens up this whole new world of possibilities...when you see the literally thousands of ways one story “could have gone” it's easier to start thinking outside the box when you write, and understanding if you have to delete an entire subplot and replace it with a new one...the world really won't end.

  3. Writing is like magic, and anytime you do it, whether it's original fic or fanfic you remind yourself that you CAN do it.

  4. It gives me courage. I've gone to darker places than I've gone previously. I've actually written sex (though not super explicitly). Fanfic gives me a forum to test out things I'm scared to write. Usually what I'm scared to write gets the best response, not because it's dark or whatever, but because I wrote what I honestly had to write rather than hiding behind something that wasn't me.

  5. Has helped me to learn to write in character, and helped me to carry that over to develop stronger original characters for my other work. It has also helped me get better at sustaining longer stories.

    Most of my reasons have to deal with developing my other writing and using it as a training ground for writing in general. When I first started writing fanfic last year I didn't have this mindset and I wrote a lot of really craptastic fic that I just rushed through and didn't care about. I think I was afraid to care about it because I was afraid people wouldn't like it. And if people didn't like the crappy fic I didn't care about...well “so what?” I wasn't putting myself out there at all.

    And of course I write it for the obvious reasons: I think Spike is completely freaking yummy and I love Spuffy and Buffy the show. I'm completely obsessed and want to “fix” things like Dia mentioned.

    Sorry this explanation was so incredibly long and cheesy. I'm a cheesy person sometimes.

Oct 10 2006 09:54 am   #5Always_jbj

Love.

That's pretty much what it comes down to. I love writing, I love the characters, and I love the incredible world that Joss gave us.

And feedback is really nice too! lol

Aim from the heart
Some will love and some will curse you, baby
You can go to war
But only if you have to 


Fanfic ~*~ Artwork ~*~ Live Journal
Oct 10 2006 10:09 am   #6ZoeGrace

hahaha WOW always_jbj you are freaking succinct! lol :)

Oct 10 2006 11:18 am   #7Guest

I've always been a reader....been reading fanfic for quite a while now. I started writing when...this is a bit embarrassing...I had this dream, and it was Spike and an original character "having a day in the life", so to speak, and I thought this OC was really cool, and the ideas for her powers and life just wouldn't leave me alone, and so I started from there. Put her in Sunnydale for an AU season 5 and beyond. That's now on its 3rd book in the series, LOL.

I mainly read Spuffy, or gen fics that have Spuffy in them, so I figured I should eventually tackle a story my way sometime, and Discovery was born, basically because I wasn't satisfied with the end of "Chosen". That little story has gotten me the best review of any of my works, which was really sweet.

When I was in school, I couldn't write for crap. Complete mental blank. My senior creative writing class helped by giving me prompts that I could build off of, and that's what the BTVS world is for me, too. After writing 3 fanfics, I started an original story, that is on chapter 4 right now. I'd like to try publishing it one day online. It really is huge that I can build a story now, considering where I came from. I guess I just had to live a while, LOL. I also wanted to figure out creative writing to be able to form my thoughts well enough for verse of other types, like song lyrics.

The readers keep me trying new things, as getting feedback is just really cool!

Caro Mio

Oct 10 2006 02:03 pm   #8slaymesoftly

I don't consider myself a fiction writer.  Hadn't written anything "creative" (except for some doggerel poetry to amuse friends) in a very long time when I fell upon BtVS and fanfic.  I was inspired to write by seeing how other fanfic writers were twisting the events in the show and/or taking these amazing characters and creating their own adventures for them.  I hated that Buffy was so mean to Spike all the time (because, me? I would have been all over him. lol), so I wrote a season VI ficlet to "fix" the situation. And somebody posted it for me (at Inamorati) and that was that. I wrote another one, and another one, and.....

Still have no real interest in writing "original" fiction, although I do have the first three sentences of a potential short story on my hard drive.  I suspect those three sentences will sit there until the laptop dies. LOL

I am not a minion of Evil...
I am upper management.
Oct 10 2006 06:12 pm   #9msclawdia

I write fanfic because... I can't not?  The characters just bounce around in my head and get me thinking 'now what?' or 'Would Willow really do that?' It's only for fantasy and sci-fi shows.  Not that I think there's anything wrong with writing, say, Veronica Mars fics.  I'm just not motivated to do so.   Before Buffy, my fandoms were TNG and X-Files.  I've written a lot of Buffy stuff, but it took some time to find the characters' voices, and Borrowed Time was the first story worth showing. 

Oct 10 2006 07:52 pm   #10Guest

Coquine, again.  Still too lazy to sign in.  Despite my loooong-standing WIPs, I do still actually write fanfic, and still hope to finish all of my WIPs eventually.  Like a lot of others, I was writing fanfiction before I even knew it was a 'thing.'  It started with wanting to see more of my favorite characters in the X-Men comic books, so I decided to just write it myself.  I actually did this with every obsession of the moment that I've had, and they've all been sci-fi/fantasy type 'verses.

When I was a freshman in college, I had access to the internet for the first time, and I was delighted to discover that, not only was I not the only person who did this, but that there were entire communities on the web dedicated to it.  I started off reading mostly X-Men (Rogue and Gambit in particular) fanfic.  Then when I discovered BtVS, it was an easy shift to Spuffy fanfic, and I found it to be so good and so satisfying that it's now the only 'verse I really read anymore.  It is, in my opinion, some of the best writing of any kind out there, and I hope that it never, never fades away.

Oct 10 2006 07:54 pm   #11Guest

Coquine again, because I realized I forgot to answer the question!  I read and write fanfiction for love of the characters, and wanting to see them in far better ways than we were given them in canon.  That's really all it boils down to.

Oct 10 2006 07:55 pm   #12ZoeGrace

Cara Mio, I totally get that about writing prompts.  It really DOES help you to see your other writing (if you do other writing) in a whole new way...and the dream thing isn't silly.  Part of the idea for my current novel came to me in  dream.

LMAO Patti about the three sentences that will die with your laptop.  I'm very curious now lol.

MsClawdia..."Borrowed Time" is absolutely fantastic and I'm really glad you're sharing it with us! :)


Oct 10 2006 07:57 pm   #13ZoeGrace

Coquine: I'm right there with you on the "really i'm going to finish those WIPs" someday lol.

And yeah...I hope Buffy fanfic never dies either.  We have a lot of great stuff to read.  Buffy fans are in a class all their own. 

Oct 11 2006 01:25 am   #14slaymesoftly

Zoe - be as curious as you like. I have no plans to try to do anything else with them.  Did it as much to prove to myself (and stupid hubby) that I really don't want to write about anybody but Spike and Buffy as for any other reason. LOL  Could they be the beginning of a short story? Yeah, sure. Will they be?  Not likely.

I am not a minion of Evil...
I am upper management.
Oct 11 2006 01:32 am   #15Niamh

Why do I write?

Because I have to.  I started out writing original fiction, many, many, many years ago.  I wrote a book for my sister when I was 7, and haven't looked back since.  I have over 500,000 words written in a long fiction series that hasn't completely seen the light of day. I've got stories I've started and not been able to finish because of lack of feedback -- and decided inability to finish something.  However, I always have a story to tell. . . . it's just getting onto the screen that is the problem

Why do I write fanfic?

Because I got stuck at home one summer, unable to even dress myself and I watched seasons 2, 3, and 5 (because those are what I had) in endless loops, and caught up on other seasons while they were on FX, until I got season 4, which got added to the loop.  The dangling plot threads and dropped story lines ("you don't know what you are") drove me out of my mind as a writer.  So once I could hold a pen again, I set out to tell a story I thought hadn't yet been told.  I guess I struck a nerve, because 2 people kept nagging me to post it, finish it and well, here I am nearly a half a million words later, still telling the same story.  The love story of Buffy and Spike -- because it is love -- struck a nerve within me, one that I couldn't ignore.  And while the whole star-crossed lovers thing that was going on with Buffy and Angel was cute -- it sure as hell wasn't real.  What Buffy and Spike had -- with all it's danger and darkness -- that was real, because it grew -- it didn't just pop up out of thin air and cotton candy dreams.  And to me, the real hard story is what needed to be told.  Plus, I have some real issues with one of the show's writers.  And that's all I'm saying.

So, yeah, that's about it. 

Oct 11 2006 01:53 am   #16ZoeGrace

Cool Niamh and I agree that Buffy and Angel wasn't real love.  It might have been cute puppy love or infactuation but it didnt have any of the messy qualities that a real love relationship has.

Oct 11 2006 03:20 am   #17Guest
Cas

I agree with what everyone has said.  It's not so much for the reviews, though those help, mainly I write for myself.  The story I am posting now I wrote just because it was left unfinished, (with a couple of false starts by other authors)and I wanted to see if I figure out how the story should go as Spuffy intended.  Never really expected it to see the light of day. However, the reviews really do help, and not just with encouragement.  I need to see what the readers are getting from what I have written, because sometimes they don't come away thinking what I intended.  Hope this prints okay, cause it looks a little wonky here.

Oct 11 2006 04:08 pm   #18maryperk

For me, it was simply I had so many ideas that wanted to get out.

Oct 12 2006 12:26 am   #19GoldenBuffy

I just like to write as well as read. Been doing both for a long time. My mom taught me to read at 3.5 yrs, and I started writing stories in the third grade. As I got older it just helped with stress, so I guess it was only natural that I'd start to write fanfic as well.

And in the air the fireflies
Our only light in paradise
We'll show the world they were wrong
And teach them all to sing along
Nov 13 2006 02:26 am   #20Guest

Pfeifferpack here (not logged on)

 

I write both but have only put the fanfic out for public consumption thus far. 

 

I write because I always have done so.  I write fanfic because I had these stories in my mind (all BtVS/AtS inspired as it is the only arena I write fanfic in) and they had to come out.  Some, like my first William Chronicles, were to flesh out the reason a character was as portrayed onscreen.  Others are a "what if" exercise where I take canon and give it a tweak to see where it might lead.  Some were in response to a challenge.  My longest was an attempt to go past NFA and also try my hand at getting the voice for all the major characters of both shows. 

Nov 13 2006 03:19 am   #21GoldenBuffy

I like writing Buffy 'cause we can fix all the wrong that happened on the show. ROFL Same with Angel,lol.

And in the air the fireflies
Our only light in paradise
We'll show the world they were wrong
And teach them all to sing along
Nov 13 2006 06:47 am   #22dipole_dipole_attraction

Reading is my escape and Buffy is my passion.  Sometimes (okay, a lot of the time!) an idea gets stuck in my head and I just have to develop it.  Writing it down makes me see the infinite amount of possibilities, and I end up just as immersed in the story as if I were reading or watching it.

And sometimes, just because I like words.

Nov 15 2006 02:54 am   #23Spikez_tart

Me, too, Goldenbuffy.  Spike deserves to get the girl and he's going to get her in my stories, no matter what. 

If we want her to be exactly she'll never be exactly I know the only really real Buffy is really Buffy and she's gone' who?