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On Writing: "owning" your characters
I have quite a few prolific multi-fandom writers on my f-list, and this is something that has always intrigued me ~ the ability to jump from fandom to fandom, universe to universe, circumstances to circumstances, and write about so many different characters in so many different surroundings. AU, canon-verse, pairings of all ratings...I have always been somewhat in awe of people who have this ability.
Now that the Inuyasha canon has finished, more of the IY-centric writers on my f-list are starting to branch out. I'm also in this group; even though I dabbled a bit in Ouran HS Host Club, I never really threw myself entirely into it. MY IY stories always came first, and usually competed for my attention :P But now that I'm seriously writing for one other series - and seriously contemplating writing for even more - I'm starting to examine this ability to write actively for multiple fandoms. So...
My childhood BFF IRL has always been a writer. This is something we've always had in common. Due to various circumstances, we lost touch for awhile, only to rediscover each other on LJ. Imagine my shock when I discovered she was also writing fanfic, a habit I'd only recently picked up again to help cure myself of some writer's block. (Short version: the first things I ever wrote, around ages 8-10, were fanfic, then I started writing original fiction at around 12 and continued through high school, then I had some issues at college, blah blah breakdown, blah blah antidepressants blah blah blah. Importance: meds stabilized my mood, but also killed my creative drive.) ANYWAY, while I was over here, fairly deep into IY and writing my very first story, she had been around for awhile, established in Bleach fandom, but also had a shitton of projects on the side for a bunch of *other* fandoms. I remember asking her, "how can you do this? How can you feel you have a good enough understanding of the canon to write derivative fiction for five different fandoms?!"
It boggled my mind. Actually, it continues to boggle my mind, and I am in awe of those of you who can and do write steadily for multiple fandoms.
Some of it, of course, comes from drifting from one fandom to the other. Some of it is because the canon material isn't that wide in scope (writing fic for a movie, for example). But some of the series she enjoys and writes for don't really fall into these categories - Bleach, Transformers, Star Trek, TNMT. o.O In the case of a few, there are multiple canons to contend with, which I'd assume you'd need at least a passing familiarity with, at least in order to differentiate.
So how does she do it???? How can she write crossovers at the drop of a hat???
I still don't know, but I have at least now experienced active writing for more than one fandom, and discovered...maybe its not as difficult as I believe/expect/imagine.
Basically, I guess it comes down to how you approach it. For me, if I'm moved enough by something that I want to write fic for it, I have to feel like I know the canon material inside and out. I watch all the episodes or read all the books, look at official related stuff (art, contests, etc) and even peek into the fandom to see what's what. I 'researched' IY like this for a good six to nine months before jumping in and joining myself. I had a story just pressing on my head that needed to come out. It was weird enough to write fanfic after 15 years out of the game, but it really felt weird using characters I didn't create myself. I really didn't have much confidence in my ability to OWN the characters enough to write about them. I've always been obsessive about characterization, and very picky about what I read because of that - because, to me, the characters are the heart of it. If we didn't like these characters, why would we write other stories about them?
It took awhile, but eventually I became comfortable with - and even possessive of - my ability to handle certain IY characters. Some, like Miroku, I'll probably never totally understand. Some, like Sesshoumaru, I'll probably never be able to be objective about again. But either way, these characters and their archtypes became ingrained in me. It was easy to shape the ideas that I had around them, and figure out ways to make them work - and for the AUs, ways to make them 'canon-compliant'.
Then came March of this year, will all its attendant drama, and I ran back to the very first show I ever got into really, really heavily for comfort and escape. It was such a trip rediscovering it all, and then...I got bitten by the fanfic muse. And I wondered - would I have to start this process of "claiming" the characters all over again? Or would I magically just be able to carry over that confidence I'd built in the process using other characters and import it into this one?
For me, I had to start all over again from scratch. It was easier, since Kids Inc fandom is pretty much nonexistent, so there was no real 'fanon' to contend with. Even though this series hits the reward circuit of my brain like crack, and literally *no* amount of wankery could ever make me want to turn my back from it, I was still hesitant. Scared. Tentative. I wrote to get the plot out of my brain, figuring I could smooth the characterization as I went (and besides, it wasn't like anybody else cared except me :P). But still, I was skeptical. I wondered when that feeling of knowing what the hell I was doing instead of just flailing excitedly would come over me. I don't remember when it happened for IY, just that it did.
I had to take a break from fic writing in June, and I was afraid when I did I'd lose the momentum of my KI fic. I certainly didn't want to be stuck in perpetuity with 5 WIPs, now for multiple fandoms *facepalm* I wrote some IY fic instead, because it was easier to slip into those characters' minds and habits, and I'd missed them. But now I'm easing back into KI (well, as much as one can ease into an addiction) and it just feels downright weird. These are characters I've known and loved longer, but nothing feels quite...right yet. Its frustrating, but its not something I can force. All I can do is keep chipping away at it.
Not that that's stopped the muse. For the last few weeks it's been non-fucking-stop, and this universe is quickly exploding out of my control - but I love it all :) I'm still not sure when I'll ever feel like I 'own' the characters enough to write them well, but I'm having fun, and those few fellow fans who've come out of the woodwork seem to enjoy it as well. I guess I just wonder, sometimes, if others can read my words and see the lack of confidence like I can.
I never really felt comfortable writing Ouran characters, even though I liked them immensely. I guess I didn't want to try my hand at KI, only to find I'd ruin it for myself. Has anybody else felt this way?
If you write for one than one fandom, what is it like for you? Can you easily switch between the universes/characters/whatever, or does it feel like you're giving one up while you work in the other? Do you feel like you have to know your canon inside and out, or can you just take something interesting and run with it?
It's always amazed me at how fast people start writing fic for brand new fandoms. What does it take, an episode? Even less?
I suppose its hard for me to wrap my brain around it, because everything I've ever wanted to write fic for is pretty much done, canon-wise, so I don't understand/appreciate the speculative nature of fic for on-going series as much. I see the big picture of the universe I'm working in, the full story/character arcs for the characters, and I break it down from there.
Of course, I've also noticed I have a distinct pattern of the types of stories I write, even when I move on or back between fandoms, but that's a different post.
Sooo...yeah. This has been weighing on my mind, alongside the gigantic explosion of plot I'm antsy to work on with Stacy in Bloom. I can write an LJ post on my lunch break, though (fic? yeah...not so much :-/).
Thoughts & comments welcome. You know me - I love meta discussions! =)
Now that the Inuyasha canon has finished, more of the IY-centric writers on my f-list are starting to branch out. I'm also in this group; even though I dabbled a bit in Ouran HS Host Club, I never really threw myself entirely into it. MY IY stories always came first, and usually competed for my attention :P But now that I'm seriously writing for one other series - and seriously contemplating writing for even more - I'm starting to examine this ability to write actively for multiple fandoms. So...
My childhood BFF IRL has always been a writer. This is something we've always had in common. Due to various circumstances, we lost touch for awhile, only to rediscover each other on LJ. Imagine my shock when I discovered she was also writing fanfic, a habit I'd only recently picked up again to help cure myself of some writer's block. (Short version: the first things I ever wrote, around ages 8-10, were fanfic, then I started writing original fiction at around 12 and continued through high school, then I had some issues at college, blah blah breakdown, blah blah antidepressants blah blah blah. Importance: meds stabilized my mood, but also killed my creative drive.) ANYWAY, while I was over here, fairly deep into IY and writing my very first story, she had been around for awhile, established in Bleach fandom, but also had a shitton of projects on the side for a bunch of *other* fandoms. I remember asking her, "how can you do this? How can you feel you have a good enough understanding of the canon to write derivative fiction for five different fandoms?!"
It boggled my mind. Actually, it continues to boggle my mind, and I am in awe of those of you who can and do write steadily for multiple fandoms.
Some of it, of course, comes from drifting from one fandom to the other. Some of it is because the canon material isn't that wide in scope (writing fic for a movie, for example). But some of the series she enjoys and writes for don't really fall into these categories - Bleach, Transformers, Star Trek, TNMT. o.O In the case of a few, there are multiple canons to contend with, which I'd assume you'd need at least a passing familiarity with, at least in order to differentiate.
So how does she do it???? How can she write crossovers at the drop of a hat???
I still don't know, but I have at least now experienced active writing for more than one fandom, and discovered...maybe its not as difficult as I believe/expect/imagine.
Basically, I guess it comes down to how you approach it. For me, if I'm moved enough by something that I want to write fic for it, I have to feel like I know the canon material inside and out. I watch all the episodes or read all the books, look at official related stuff (art, contests, etc) and even peek into the fandom to see what's what. I 'researched' IY like this for a good six to nine months before jumping in and joining myself. I had a story just pressing on my head that needed to come out. It was weird enough to write fanfic after 15 years out of the game, but it really felt weird using characters I didn't create myself. I really didn't have much confidence in my ability to OWN the characters enough to write about them. I've always been obsessive about characterization, and very picky about what I read because of that - because, to me, the characters are the heart of it. If we didn't like these characters, why would we write other stories about them?
It took awhile, but eventually I became comfortable with - and even possessive of - my ability to handle certain IY characters. Some, like Miroku, I'll probably never totally understand. Some, like Sesshoumaru, I'll probably never be able to be objective about again. But either way, these characters and their archtypes became ingrained in me. It was easy to shape the ideas that I had around them, and figure out ways to make them work - and for the AUs, ways to make them 'canon-compliant'.
Then came March of this year, will all its attendant drama, and I ran back to the very first show I ever got into really, really heavily for comfort and escape. It was such a trip rediscovering it all, and then...I got bitten by the fanfic muse. And I wondered - would I have to start this process of "claiming" the characters all over again? Or would I magically just be able to carry over that confidence I'd built in the process using other characters and import it into this one?
For me, I had to start all over again from scratch. It was easier, since Kids Inc fandom is pretty much nonexistent, so there was no real 'fanon' to contend with. Even though this series hits the reward circuit of my brain like crack, and literally *no* amount of wankery could ever make me want to turn my back from it, I was still hesitant. Scared. Tentative. I wrote to get the plot out of my brain, figuring I could smooth the characterization as I went (and besides, it wasn't like anybody else cared except me :P). But still, I was skeptical. I wondered when that feeling of knowing what the hell I was doing instead of just flailing excitedly would come over me. I don't remember when it happened for IY, just that it did.
I had to take a break from fic writing in June, and I was afraid when I did I'd lose the momentum of my KI fic. I certainly didn't want to be stuck in perpetuity with 5 WIPs, now for multiple fandoms *facepalm* I wrote some IY fic instead, because it was easier to slip into those characters' minds and habits, and I'd missed them. But now I'm easing back into KI (well, as much as one can ease into an addiction) and it just feels downright weird. These are characters I've known and loved longer, but nothing feels quite...right yet. Its frustrating, but its not something I can force. All I can do is keep chipping away at it.
Not that that's stopped the muse. For the last few weeks it's been non-fucking-stop, and this universe is quickly exploding out of my control - but I love it all :) I'm still not sure when I'll ever feel like I 'own' the characters enough to write them well, but I'm having fun, and those few fellow fans who've come out of the woodwork seem to enjoy it as well. I guess I just wonder, sometimes, if others can read my words and see the lack of confidence like I can.
I never really felt comfortable writing Ouran characters, even though I liked them immensely. I guess I didn't want to try my hand at KI, only to find I'd ruin it for myself. Has anybody else felt this way?
If you write for one than one fandom, what is it like for you? Can you easily switch between the universes/characters/whatever, or does it feel like you're giving one up while you work in the other? Do you feel like you have to know your canon inside and out, or can you just take something interesting and run with it?
It's always amazed me at how fast people start writing fic for brand new fandoms. What does it take, an episode? Even less?
I suppose its hard for me to wrap my brain around it, because everything I've ever wanted to write fic for is pretty much done, canon-wise, so I don't understand/appreciate the speculative nature of fic for on-going series as much. I see the big picture of the universe I'm working in, the full story/character arcs for the characters, and I break it down from there.
Of course, I've also noticed I have a distinct pattern of the types of stories I write, even when I move on or back between fandoms, but that's a different post.
Sooo...yeah. This has been weighing on my mind, alongside the gigantic explosion of plot I'm antsy to work on with Stacy in Bloom. I can write an LJ post on my lunch break, though (fic? yeah...not so much :-/).
Thoughts & comments welcome. You know me - I love meta discussions! =)
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For instance, I like Vampire Knight, but I don't think I'll ever write for it. Why? Because I personally feel it is too intricately detailed for me to write about it. Not to mention, I feel I'm better @ the sappy romance stuff, and this story is most definitely not like that. There's romance yes, but if someone were to write Yuki and Zero going to a cafe on a date, I'd be kinda weirded out :/
I write for several fandoms myself, but I think what happens with me is my interest changes. For instance, the other day out of the blue, I wanted to read Ranma 1/2 again, where I haven't seen that in probably a year. I take that fandom and focus on it for a while. Then if something else new happens in one of my other fandoms or I feel suddenly nostalgic about one, I switch and focus on that for a bit.
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I have some favorite series like those. I enjoy them, but I could never do them justice with fanwork.
I write for several fandoms myself, but I think what happens with me is my interest changes.
*nods* There's a lot of drifting in and out of fandoms, I think. I'm just in awe when people have Major WIPs going for all of them, and can keep everything straight enough in their heads (or on their computers, or whatever) to keep writing on them. I'm also kinda envious, because I wish I could pick up series so easily :P
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My first real fandom (Cats) literally has dozens upon dozens of canons: it's a musical, and each individual production has its own version not only of what the characters look and act like, but all of their relationships - sometimes characters are missing, or there are extras that aren't in another version. So I guess I learned pretty early on how to juggle this sort of thing, since there is practically no limit to what you can do with the characters in that fandom. A good example is Bombalurina. Sometimes she's red, sometimes she's black, sometimes she is brown and gold. Sometimes she's very sensual, or very girly, or fiery, or a fierce warrior... it all depends, and you can kind of pick and choose how you want her to be. And it's like that for all 20-odd characters.
By contrast, playing in a single fandom feels very, very, very limited to me. So I always kept a bunch of other projects going in the background, even when I was just posting InuYasha fanfic with this account. I needed some other way to experiment with different characterization - a way that wouldn't completely break the canon. Some of it's bleeding over into being public now because other people are interested in some of the fandoms I'm playing with (Power Rangers in particular, where I'm finding my stories are a billion times more popular than any of my InuYasha fic ever was). But I still keep most of it in my head or in private files that I email to the interested parties.
I guess I didn't want to try my hand at KI, only to find I'd ruin it for myself. Has anybody else felt this way?
Yes. This is why I have a bevy of fandoms I'll probably never write for, despite loving them to death.
Can you easily switch between the universes/characters/whatever, or does it feel like you're giving one up while you work in the other?
Yup. Sometimes I'll have four or five fics open at once, spread across a bunch of different fandoms, and I'll poke at them all in turn and see what clicks.
Do you feel like you have to know your canon inside and out, or can you just take something interesting and run with it?
It depends. I have to feel like I know enough to get the characterization right enough that people will recognize the characters. But I don't think I have to know which episode Little Detail X happened in, specifically (so long as I know that Little Detail X did indeed happen, if it's important to the story/characterization). I started writing fic for Magic Knight Rayearth well before I finished the series; my solution was just to disclaim that I was only writing based on the first season of the anime. Hell, I started writing InuYasha fic before the series was even finished, and I kind of believe that to "truly" know the canon material it must be completed.
What does it take, an episode? Even less?
Pretty much. Sometimes it's just a moment that captures my imagination and makes me want to expand on it. -shrug-
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LOL - I totally understand *stares at writing notebook* I just have a problem of, if I don't use it, I'll lose it. I wish I could stockpile ideas, but I think that part of my brain is missing :P
My first real fandom (Cats) literally has dozens upon dozens of canons
Holy Christ. How the hell do you keep that all straight?! o.O Just...wow. Consider me bowing in your general direction for even understanding all the nuances and differences, much less enough to write fic for it.
By contrast, playing in a single fandom feels very, very, very limited to me.
I think I understand what you mean. When I broke out of the mold a little and starting posting Stacy in Bloom, it felt...freeing. Like, hey, I can write for anything, not just IY! Suddenly the world opened up a little bit. I wouldn't say the possibilities are endless - especially since I can't hope to know everything about every series I'm interested enough in to write fic for - but it did feel open.
I still keep most of it in my head or in private files that I email to the interested parties.
Really, as long as you're satisfied with it, I think that's all that matters. We share to get feedback, yes, but we don't always need that to complete our fannish experience :)
This is why I have a bevy of fandoms I'll probably never write for, despite loving them to death.
There are several series out there I would love to play with, but I feel I could never do justice to the characters I enjoy, because they are very quirky in a way I am not :P I will I say I don't feel pressure to produce fanwork for the series I enjoy - and sometimes its nice to just be a silent watching/reading fan, you know?
Yup. Sometimes I'll have four or five fics open at once, spread across a bunch of different fandoms, and I'll poke at them all in turn and see what clicks.
*shakes head* Wow. I just...my experience is the complete opposite (which is probably why this is so fascinating to me!). I feel I have to turn one of them off to work on another, though sometimes a muse wakes up and just demands to be heard, no matter what I'm working on.
Pretty much. Sometimes it's just a moment that captures my imagination and makes me want to expand on it. -shrug-
Well let me ask you this - when you have these moments, do you usually write a one-off, or do you write something big and multichaptery? How much does it take for you to feel like you could write something 'epic', or do you even want to?
I started in each of my fandoms writing to "change the ending," so to speak. Maybe that's why I don't appreciate the speculative side of fanficcing so much - because when I start, its to make a (usually huge) change to the canon, to divert the plot into something I find far more interesting :P It seems from the responses I've received so far that others start the exact opposite way - with character sketches or short pieces based on bits of the canon material, and then you work your way up. Hmm...
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That or I'm just a freak. I mean, really, who comes back to a story and writes the last chapter/epilogue after two years?
other than me, obviouslyHoly Christ. How the hell do you keep that all straight?!
Haha, I only play in three or four versions of the canon, and if there are major discrepancies from the "standard" (which would be the movie version, as it's the most widely available and easy to reference) in a given story, I try to disclaim where I'm getting the weirdness from. Though then you get the asshat kids who were in highschool productions of the show and decide that means they know every version of the canon better than you, even the ones you saw and they didn't. -facepalm- Coincidentally I don't really post in that fandom anymore because it's annoying to deal with. XD
Really, as long as you're satisfied with it, I think that's all that matters. We share to get feedback, yes, but we don't always need that to complete our fannish experience :)
Well, a lot of my "fannish experience" tends to involve writing small stories for a specific person (the person tends to change quite a bit but the motivation really doesn't). It's kind of rare for me to have that urge to write longer or more in depth things that I want to share on a larger scale. Mostly I just toss off whatever comes into my head that fulfills the "request" - or that I think the person will be interested in or like - and send it off and call it good enough. Like, if I know my sister's having a bad day, I'll write her up a little bit of fluff for one of her fandoms just because. That sort of thing.
I just...my experience is the complete opposite (which is probably why this is so fascinating to me!). I feel I have to turn one of them off to work on another, though sometimes a muse wakes up and just demands to be heard, no matter what I'm working on.
My lack of attention span, let me introduce you to it. :D Actually I also tend to have at least one chat and one video game running (plus tv or background music) when I'm writing, too. I need at least a little chaos to be productive. Sometimes I have to narrow it down to just one story and some suitable background music, but that's mostly when I'm getting down to the end of a story and actually want to focus and just finish the thing already.
when you have these moments, do you usually write a one-off, or do you write something big and multichaptery?
Oh, hell no. Writing "epic" length fanfic is way too much work. Most of what I write, period, is under 1,000 words. My big effort in the IY fandom was to change that... which pretty much failed, but oh well.
How much does it take for you to feel like you could write something 'epic', or do you even want to?
Sometimes not a lot... I wrote a ~30,000 word (as yet unfinished) fic for a challenge in the Cats fandom that was simply "write about an uncommonly used character" (I used Griddlebone, whom we know next to nothing about from the canon, since she is only in half a song, which is a flashback of an operatic version of her lover's story, at that)... and I wrote a one-shot of roughly the same length in the IY fandom based on a prompt at
It seems from the responses I've received so far that others start the exact opposite way - with character sketches or short pieces based on bits of the canon material, and then you work your way up.
For me, this boils down mostly to A) laziness and B) lack of desire to actually get involved.
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The only fandoms I've really been able to do that is Heroes and Inuyasha. That's mainly because I've seen more of their episodes numerous times, and I've been way more engrossed, paid way more attention, than others.
The process though for writing them for me is tuning into a particular scene, remembering it vividly, through facial expressions and dialogue, and then use that as a foundation for expanding upon that for something else. If the fandom or episode is fresh in my mind, it's easier for me to do that. After awhile, the characterizations sort of stick and become a baseline.
I admit some fandoms that I've lost track of (Avatar, Harry Potter, Twilight), I do have to revert back to the source material, watch an episode again or reread a passage. It's the same as research, and sometimes I don't have to do that, I can just go on Wiki and look it up and be reminded of the scene.
It takes a little work, but it's worth it. :D
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Well, I definitely don't think it's easy - I guess I just realize its not impossible, which is pretty much how I viewed it before :P If you take the same approach I do to this whole fanficcing deal - and, I admit, I take my stories and writing pretty seriously - that's an awful lot of work, and an awful lot to juggle all at once.
I don't know, but I don't write LONG epic stuff from a few episodes of a fandom.
*nods* I can understand being inspired by a single episode, or a story arc, and writing something fairly short and speculative about it. I've just seen, from perusing my friend's f-list, that it seems a lot of people in these fandoms are doing this kind of epic-in-length-if-not-story thing with huge, sprawling fandoms, and that's just - wow.
The only fandoms I've really been able to do that is Heroes and Inuyasha. That's mainly because I've seen more of their episodes numerous times, and I've been way more engrossed, paid way more attention, than others.
So it's kinda like you take these two Really Seriously, and feel you can write Long Stories for these particular series, while all of your other dabbling is just that - dabbling? Because you're probably the most prolific multi-fandom author on my list, and at any one time you could be writing for a variety of fandoms, even just short pieces. That's just as impressive, to me, as juggling epic WIPs :)
And I know you've written longer stories for fandoms in the past that you're not really a part of any longer, so you also have some of that drifting from place to place going on...you just tend to drift back, LOL :P
After awhile, the characterizations sort of stick and become a baseline.
I suppose I'm just not as confident about writing on the fly about something I don't fully understand, and putting it out there for others to judge. Then again, I don't get a lot of workable ideas for all the various series I read or watch and enjoy, so *shrug* Maybe its just what pulls us to write fic?
Like I said, I've never been really pulled to write something for an on-going canon, so I probably don't appreciate the speculative side of it. But that has to be part of the fun, yes?
I admit some fandoms that I've lost track of (Avatar, Harry Potter, Twilight), I do have to revert back to the source material, watch an episode again or reread a passage. It's the same as research, and sometimes I don't have to do that, I can just go on Wiki and look it up and be reminded of the scene.
It takes a little work, but it's worth it. :D
Oh, hell, I do this kinda thing even with series I know backwards and forwards, just to refresh my memory. Its part of writing good fanfic, I think, to at least look like you know what the hell you're doing, even if you don't feel 100% confident about it :P
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Yep! Dabbling, that's a good word. This is probably why I have a lot of fandom collections at FFnet because they're not related, but they're just snippets that inspire me. Sometimes I get inspired to do more, and they become oneshots. I think the longest non-Heroes and non-Inuyasha one-shot I did was 6000 words, and that was for Star Trek (which was my first fandom, actually.) But it's very rare for me to do more than that for other fandoms I'm not so solidly grounded in.
Because you're probably the most prolific multi-fandom author on my list, and at any one time you could be writing for a variety of fandoms, even just short pieces. That's just as impressive, to me, as juggling epic WIPs :)
Thank you! Sometimes I feel I just have a horrible attention span, but jumping from fandom to fandom just seems normal to me. It's like that spur of the moment obsession and going with the flow. :D
Then again, I don't get a lot of workable ideas for all the various series I read or watch and enjoy, so *shrug* Maybe its just what pulls us to write fic?
I really think it comes down on what system works for you. A lot of people I've met are like you and are only comfortable with one or two fandoms, whereas there are others like me, who squee and dabble in pretty much anything that draws their attention at that time.
I think
Some series are like that.
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Naruto is my one true love, but, apart from reading select fics, I've purposely stayed away from most fandom activity--afraid of having a negative experience I suppose.
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THIS. I just can't even imagine working on several fic series at once, myself, all for different fandoms. Its one thing to work on multiple multichapter fics from the same source material, but more? Its seems like it'd be a lot of juggling o.O
I guess this is why I have delayed starting any original writing until I had at least one chapter story finished--my attention span doesn't need any more competition.
LOL :P
Part of this, I think, comes from the fact that I've spent far more years working with things I *do* completely control - characters, universe, situations that I built from the ground up, so to speak - that it's hard for me to adjust to the limitations of fanfic. Even in a purely aesthetic sense, setting aside the whole wanting-to-be-published-and-credited-with-my-ideas, its...different. Which is why I've never thought fandom was all that great a springboard for original work *shrug*
Naruto is my one true love, but, apart from reading select fics, I've purposely stayed away from most fandom activity--afraid of having a negative experience I suppose.
Seems like a perfectly valid reason to me! If you love something, why taint it with wankery if you don't have to?
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It's been kind of fun, and the interesting thing is how different the writing is, in say, my Greek pieces, and the Arthurian and the IY. I've been enjoying the heck out of the freedom to move from one universe to the other...but to be honest, my background in both the Greek myths and Arthuriana is deep and extensive, probably moreso than my InuYasha background, so it's an easy thing to do. Requires minimum research, just a few fact checks once in awhile, and I'm off to the races.
But I had started writing IY fanfic about two months into my fandom trip...I did obsess, read everything I could, watched the anime over and over, and the early tentative writing of mine gave me the exploration of the characterization I wanted. (I tend to see writing as exploration and learning about a character as much as presenting a finished product. I have learned recently this is the absolute best way for me to plow into the story universe I want to do, start writing drabbles and oneshots about the characters, and the decisions I need to make I make much better than if I try to do it in writer's notes. A case of whatever works, I suspect. But this for sure is what led me into my characterizations I use for my IY stories. I guess I have to make friends with them this way, so I can "own" my characterizations!)
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I suppose it does come down to what you're comfortable with, as the writer. Some people are confident enough to share their characterization experiments with the world, while some of us feel like that's pulling teeth :P
I will say that I do feel I grow with each new piece and each new story I write. I still maintain Fragments wouldn't be as good as it is, if I hadn't started working on Fleeting first. Even though I was working with two very different sets of characters, some of the things I learned were able to be carried over, which is always a good thing =)
I guess I have to make friends with them this way, so I can "own" my characterizations!
*nods* Same. I tend to really play cautiously until I try something and it works, and then I kinda build on it from there. But I always carry this fear of writing something terribly OOC because I didn't take the time to do my due diligence with research. Even now, I rewatch and reread constantly, and really try to think/justify whatever I'm having my characters do. For me, its more important that *I* think my characters are behaving logically than if my readers do...if that makes any sense.
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As for Eureka and Inuyasha, I do have chapter fics for. I have an original idea in my head but I want to finish all my WIP's first.
I think the fandoms keep you sane and help you explore different avenues. My three fandoms all touch on something different in me and depending on how I feel, it helps give me what I need at that moment in time. It's all about what makes me happy.
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I don't blame you - talk about the tinfoil hat brigade!! I can only imagine what its like trying to navigate the waters and explore characterizations with crazycakes breathing down your neck :P
I think the fandoms keep you sane and help you explore different avenues.
Oh, certainly. I never would've had an idea like Fleeting if not for the perfect aligning of universes, a very big part of which was the characters I was writing about. That story, more than any others, really convinced me I could write Sesshoumaru well.
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If you write for one than one fandom, what is it like for you?
It's freeing. No matter what my mood, I have a place to play and characters to play with.
Can you easily switch between the universes/characters/whatever, or does it feel like you're giving one up while you work in the other?
I usually have no problem hopping from one world/character/story to another, even mid-writing, because it seems like my brain is usually multi-tasking stories. I'll be working on dialogue for one and a character completely unrelated to the fandom will pipe up to be heard, and I'll like it so I have to take that and run with it in a different story and completely jump into something else and rinse, lather, repeat.
Do you feel like you have to know your canon inside and out, or can you just take something interesting and run with it?
I'm... fairly well versed in most of my fandoms. A couple of them have various "canons" (Zelda in a loose ongoing canon, Final Fantasy are all different with various connecting details, Power Rangers is technically one long canon except the newest season like, retconned everything because Disney sucks so a lot of people while enjoying the season ignore its impact on the series as a whole) but for the most part, I like screwing with canon anyway ;) Provided I have a jumping off point, I'll take an idea and run with it.
What does it take, an episode? Even less?
Many of my loves die an early death *sadface* Firefly, Dollhouse... there's not much to them, even though the ideas and worlds are huge (hell, Firefly has its own RPG guides). But yeah, for me, it can be little as one episode (I began drabbling in Dollhouse after the second, even if I never posted anything).
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*shakes head* Wow, I can only stand in awe of your ability to tame the chaos! It certainly explains how you can create such interesting crossovers (at the drop of a hat? :P). My fandoms rarely mix in my head, though I did have a very weird twinge for a kinda GH-inspired KI fic (LOLWAT) o.O
But yeah, for me, it can be little as one episode (I began drabbling in Dollhouse after the second, even if I never posted anything).
I guess I find this fascinating, because in general you receive so little information in a pilot, or first regular-season episode. And, well, I feel like why should I be writing derivative fiction when I haven't even seen what the creator does with it? :P I guess I need a pattern of behavior, first and foremost.
This has been a very interesting discussion. Its fun to get a peek inside other folks' writing processes!
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Although I have read Kenshin, YYH, and am current on Naruto and Bleach I am not sure that I would ever write in the fandoms. Most of the people in those fandoms seem to concentrate on romance which is rare in shouen stories and ignore the fact that the story is about the struggle of hero to
overcome unbeatable odds and the monster inside them simply because they do not believe they can lose.
Although I enjoyed watching Star Trek, Heroes, Avatar and Doctor Who, I have only seriously considered writing about the women in Doctor Who who are the true heroes.
I guess I have no plans to move on from IY anytime soon. I will try to continue writing on the LJ where I feel most comfortable. Using the LJ to write my stories has also forced to produce updates in a timely fashion. One of the reasons that Left Behind has stalled is that I have no deadline to force me to write and so I am able to put off writing it.
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Well, romance is so popular because there is a distinct lack of it in the canon, and when your writing fanbase is mostly female, I think its only natural that fic focusing on relationships is so plentiful in number ;) Good fanfic builds on the back of its canon, and compliments it - or, at least, that's the way I see it.
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It's odd, because I feel like the shows that I'm slower to fall in love with are the ones that I end up writing (or planning to write) for - Doctor Who, NCIS, Buffy and even to an extent Firefly, which I loved dearly and immediately but took awhile for me to begin watching at all. I don't see *all* the episodes before writing/thinking of writing, but I do get a bit obsessive. :P I have a pretty terrible memory *except* when things are put to me in story format. (I'd remember every detail of the cases we read in law school if they were interesting, but the ones that didn't explain enough of the facts for? I was useless.) I don't watch things over and over again, but I explore all the nuances to fill out the story.
Anyway, as you know, I've been having issues with consistent writing these days. I have lots of scraps of ideas written down and floating around in my head. I can keep the ideas themselves straight, but after I've gone through a drought, it takes me awhile to get back in the grove of the tone of each story. I have to find my mindset again. I definitely can't sit down and write a few minutes on my lunch-break, even on the best of days! :P
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*nods* I know what you mean. I probably wouldn't write fanfic for the vast majority of media and fiction I'm interested in, simply because I'm satisfied with the original authors'/creators' version of events. Rarely have I been pulled towards a character enough that I felt compelled to explore him or her further - but when I do, man do I get in deep :P
I don't see *all* the episodes before writing/thinking of writing, but I do get a bit obsessive. :P
This seems to be a common theme - we all have our obsessions that fuel the need to explore, no matter how much canon material we have behind us. For me, I've noticed that I tend to 'rewrite the endings' of my favorite series, not because I'm unhappy with their canonical conclusion, but because it'd be interesting to explore the implications of something else. That's why I tend to start with long, chaptered fics and move on to shorter pieces, and I guess why I feel the need to know my characters and canon so well before I even put pen to paper.
I still haven't 'seen' all the episodes of Kids Inc, but that hasn't stopped me from writing, based on what I have seen (and when I have the pleasure of a 'new' episode, I find a way to work it into my fic, LOL).
after I've gone through a drought, it takes me awhile to get back in the grove of the tone of each story. I have to find my mindset again. I definitely can't sit down and write a few minutes on my lunch-break, even on the best of days! :P
I'm the same way - I feel like have to write some "warm up" pieces before launching back into my multichapter WIPs. (Aheh, there's a reason I haven't touched Sess/Kag in awhile - I need something small to get me going again!) I can't just sit and write without having some motivation to do so, but apparently my brain likes the crack that is KI so much its willing to pretty much brainstorm on a constant basis. It helps when it comes time to sit down and pound out chapters, though, to have those snippets of dialogue or pieces of action, just waiting to be integrated.
And always, always, always, I think something is terrible when I'm writing it, but even upon a first revision/reread, it's never as bad as I think it is :P
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It feels great to be able to branch out though, try our hand in other worlds :)
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It does =) If you'd told me at any point before March of this year that I'd end up writing for my favorite childhood series, I would've laughed in your face. Sometimes its a challenge, and sometimes its just pure fun :P