[uh, fandom-crossing angst?]
Nov. 15th, 2006 10:45 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
reenkaThis is going to sound a bit weird, but... how do you guys write fanfic? *___*
I was just thinking that as much as I really -wish- I could write non-HP stuff (well, I guess I really 'should' write more original stuff since I -could-, but ignoring that for a moment)... I have severe issues with writing in other fandoms. Even ones I fall in love with that have extremely hot and sympathetic leads (*cough*BLAIR*cough*)
First of all, whether or not I love or know the canon or fanon, I don't get ideas; secondly, no matter how much I love a character, I don't usually feel a sense of 'ownership', like I'm in touch with their voice myself. I mean, I've tried writing a Gundam Wing AU (right before HP, sometime in '02), and it was pretty much a joke-- and that's not to mention my pathetic teenage failure to do anything like a Star Trek fic. The best I could do was write an original (though not actually very original... or good) sci-fi fic that sort of had an Enterprise cameo. Yeah, that was as far as I could go... the starship -.-
My only positive experience was writing in the Peter Pan universe, but even then I don't have 'ideas', just an intimate sort of familiarity and comfort with the 'verse-- but I know lots of fictional 'verses better, and I can't imagine writing them. I dunno if this counts, but my other comfort-zone is fairy-tales-- I can write 'fanfic' to any myth or legend or fairy-tale, regardless of culture or plot or whatever. Funny how that works-- maybe there are just always unifying themes and archetypes obviously at work no matter what tale you pick. In actual fandoms, I'm always painfully aware of their idiosyncracy-- like, how I know nothing about cops, California teenagers or far-future Gundam pilots no matter how much I've seen on TV. I mean, clearly I know nothing about Wizarding English boys in boarding schools either, but somehow the fantastic setting lets me make things up a lot more easily.
(And obviously I could do 'research', but no amount of pure knowledge makes me comfortable enough to 'let go', y'know? I'd just be more aware of everything I need to remember and not screw up. -.-)
With HP, I started out with a character's voice-- Draco's-- that came to me out of the blue (I mean, I had Duo's voice in Gundam Wing, but it was a sort of sad fanon imitation-- this Draco may have been fanon, but he was my fanon, charged with emotion and meaning from the start). The Harry in my head didn't become 'real' (er, a full character) until months later, and I puttered around writing (rather overdone and artsy) fanonish H/D ficlets in the quest to write My Ultimate Epic (never let it be said I don't aim high). I think eventually-- little by little-- after reading canon, reading lots more fanon, thinking about the universe-- I began to figure out what to say about the characters, and got so comfortable with Harry & Draco I could write other pairings. It got to the point where the only reason I wouldn't be able to write a pairing was just 'cause it didn't -work- for me (ie, I thought it was OOC for the character) rather than just... innate difficulty. So.
Maybe it just takes me awhile to get used to a 'verse, and I have to be so obsessed I'm willing to turn out what I later realize is crap-- the thing is, so many people do just churn out fic after fic in a range of fandoms, the quality seemingly unchanged. People get monogamous about a fandom and then switch and write something else as if it was perfectly normal 'cause they fell in love with a new character/pairing.
Well. I'm in love with a new character/pairing too-- this has happened before with Highlander, QaF, plus several little flings. It's just, okay....
Do people start with characters' voices or ideas (though really, I myself can't progress much until I have both). How do you -get- 'ideas' in a 'verse you're not automatically comfortable with? Do you even -need- ideas, or do you 'just write' and use cross-fandom-type standard plots/ideas (anything from PWP to 'character A goes blind' to 'character B suddenly gets jealous when character A goes on a date'). I mean, I don't write that no matter what fandom, so maybe that's a large factor that allows people to cross fandoms easier. Hm, also-- does loving a character/'verse/pairing directly correspond to being able to write them if you're already a fanfic writer in another fandom? Questions, questions :P
I was just thinking that as much as I really -wish- I could write non-HP stuff (well, I guess I really 'should' write more original stuff since I -could-, but ignoring that for a moment)... I have severe issues with writing in other fandoms. Even ones I fall in love with that have extremely hot and sympathetic leads (*cough*BLAIR*cough*)
First of all, whether or not I love or know the canon or fanon, I don't get ideas; secondly, no matter how much I love a character, I don't usually feel a sense of 'ownership', like I'm in touch with their voice myself. I mean, I've tried writing a Gundam Wing AU (right before HP, sometime in '02), and it was pretty much a joke-- and that's not to mention my pathetic teenage failure to do anything like a Star Trek fic. The best I could do was write an original (though not actually very original... or good) sci-fi fic that sort of had an Enterprise cameo. Yeah, that was as far as I could go... the starship -.-
My only positive experience was writing in the Peter Pan universe, but even then I don't have 'ideas', just an intimate sort of familiarity and comfort with the 'verse-- but I know lots of fictional 'verses better, and I can't imagine writing them. I dunno if this counts, but my other comfort-zone is fairy-tales-- I can write 'fanfic' to any myth or legend or fairy-tale, regardless of culture or plot or whatever. Funny how that works-- maybe there are just always unifying themes and archetypes obviously at work no matter what tale you pick. In actual fandoms, I'm always painfully aware of their idiosyncracy-- like, how I know nothing about cops, California teenagers or far-future Gundam pilots no matter how much I've seen on TV. I mean, clearly I know nothing about Wizarding English boys in boarding schools either, but somehow the fantastic setting lets me make things up a lot more easily.
(And obviously I could do 'research', but no amount of pure knowledge makes me comfortable enough to 'let go', y'know? I'd just be more aware of everything I need to remember and not screw up. -.-)
With HP, I started out with a character's voice-- Draco's-- that came to me out of the blue (I mean, I had Duo's voice in Gundam Wing, but it was a sort of sad fanon imitation-- this Draco may have been fanon, but he was my fanon, charged with emotion and meaning from the start). The Harry in my head didn't become 'real' (er, a full character) until months later, and I puttered around writing (rather overdone and artsy) fanonish H/D ficlets in the quest to write My Ultimate Epic (never let it be said I don't aim high). I think eventually-- little by little-- after reading canon, reading lots more fanon, thinking about the universe-- I began to figure out what to say about the characters, and got so comfortable with Harry & Draco I could write other pairings. It got to the point where the only reason I wouldn't be able to write a pairing was just 'cause it didn't -work- for me (ie, I thought it was OOC for the character) rather than just... innate difficulty. So.
Maybe it just takes me awhile to get used to a 'verse, and I have to be so obsessed I'm willing to turn out what I later realize is crap-- the thing is, so many people do just churn out fic after fic in a range of fandoms, the quality seemingly unchanged. People get monogamous about a fandom and then switch and write something else as if it was perfectly normal 'cause they fell in love with a new character/pairing.
Well. I'm in love with a new character/pairing too-- this has happened before with Highlander, QaF, plus several little flings. It's just, okay....
Do people start with characters' voices or ideas (though really, I myself can't progress much until I have both). How do you -get- 'ideas' in a 'verse you're not automatically comfortable with? Do you even -need- ideas, or do you 'just write' and use cross-fandom-type standard plots/ideas (anything from PWP to 'character A goes blind' to 'character B suddenly gets jealous when character A goes on a date'). I mean, I don't write that no matter what fandom, so maybe that's a large factor that allows people to cross fandoms easier. Hm, also-- does loving a character/'verse/pairing directly correspond to being able to write them if you're already a fanfic writer in another fandom? Questions, questions :P
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Date: 2006-11-16 10:54 pm (UTC)I do get mental images when I actually get inspired... but unless I'm comfortable with that world, I can't imagine stuff within it. I mean, for a long time in HP I wasn't comfortable (hadn't even read canon for a year), so the kind of images I got were stuff like 'Draco outlined against the setting sun' :>
Maybe it is just obsession for me too-- that's certainly part of it, yet I'm completely capable of being obsessed without writing fanfic-- I was with Sandman and Star Trek and largely with Buffy. But thanks for the input! :D