thoughts on reading/writing fanfic
Jan. 15th, 2012 10:26 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
dexstarrI've been thinking a lot about how my writing (and reading) tastes have changed in the past year and a half. I'll probably forget half of what I've thought about, as it's something I tend to think about when driving, and that's not a time to jot down notes!
When I first got into fandom (July 2010), my pairing was Severus/Hermione. I think one of the things that drew me to that pairing was finding a fic that was incredibly long, well-written, and had two of my favorite things: a D/s relationship, and professor/student. I remember staying up until 6am a few days in a row to finish that fic (For the Potions Master's Amusement). I even tried writing Severus/Hermione — my first drabble was that pairing, and one of my least favorite fics was as well.
But now, it's a pairing I could care less about. I got over my infatuation with it. One reason is that I barely read het fic anymore, and the other is that I don't particularly care for Hermione anymore, either. I write her occasionally, and read fic about her, but she's not a character I seek out.
I wrote my first femslash a month after starting to write HP fanfic (August 2010). It was a Bellatrix/Narcissa piece, which is still a pairing I like, and write sometimes. Actually, now that I'm thinking about it, my first ever HP fic was a Bellatrix/Hermione which hasn't seen the light of LJ. For the next few months, I wrote a lot of smutty het drabbles/short fics, with mostly younger characters as the pairings: Draco/Pansy, young Bellatrix/Lucius, young Lucius/Narcissa, etc.
I wrote some genfic, too, and that was when I read![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
celta_diabolica's excellent Misbehaviour 'Verse, which I claim as being responsible for my love affair with Narcissa Malfoy. Aside from that, I think that's when I started to get into minor characters, although I didn't try writing many, other than Narcissa.
It was last year, 2011, when I really started gravitating towards rare pairs and femslash. I barely wrote any het last year (5 out of 25 fics). The majority was femslash, and mostly with rare pairings: Narcissa/Astoria, Septima/Charity, Rolanda/Narcissa, etc. I still write Narcissa a lot — I feel like I have a good handle on her, so if I'm a crunch for a fest or exchange, I gravitate towards writing her in a pairing.
One thing I am really happy about is that I am writing rare characters. Mostly name-only characters, or ones we don't know much about. I'm hoping that it's a step towards me getting ready to write my own characters, in my own settings. It's like baby steps … first I started with well known characters, and then I moved to basically making up characters, while still making them fit in JKR's sandbox. I'm not ready to make my own sandbox, but I'm hoping I will be. I really want to do some original stuff, but I worry that I'll stick with what is comfortable and easy — something like a magical environment — and not be original enough. Plus, the feedback and sense of community with fanfic is more encouraging than striking out on your own :/
That's what I prefer to read, too. Mostly femslash or genfic. My reading taste in fanfic is actually pickier than my taste in books. I like a lot of the older female characters — Minerva, Septima, Aurora, the adult Black sisters, etc. I don't feel that I can convincingly write a lot of them yet, so I stay away from some like Minerva, Poppy, Pomona, etc., and try to just read them.
I've noticed that my writing style has also changed. I always think a lot about a fic before I start it, scribbling random notes and figuring out how the story will flow before I write any real words. During 2011, I wrote a lot of extensive notes for fics that never got used at all, but were necessary for my mental process. As an example, I wrote about 10 pages to produce an ~800 word fic.
I don't begrudge any of that, because in a way, that's how I've always written. In 2010, I wrote ~200,000 words, but put out only ~64,000. But what I started doing last year is different. I write character backgrounds, ideas, random scenes. I suppose that's because I'm writing name-only character and such now — I need to have something about them in my head so I can write a fic.
I'm not really sure where I'm going with this. Just lots of randomness I doubt anyone will find interesting but me. I wonder if/how my tastes/style will change in another year and a half?
When I first got into fandom (July 2010), my pairing was Severus/Hermione. I think one of the things that drew me to that pairing was finding a fic that was incredibly long, well-written, and had two of my favorite things: a D/s relationship, and professor/student. I remember staying up until 6am a few days in a row to finish that fic (For the Potions Master's Amusement). I even tried writing Severus/Hermione — my first drabble was that pairing, and one of my least favorite fics was as well.
But now, it's a pairing I could care less about. I got over my infatuation with it. One reason is that I barely read het fic anymore, and the other is that I don't particularly care for Hermione anymore, either. I write her occasionally, and read fic about her, but she's not a character I seek out.
I wrote my first femslash a month after starting to write HP fanfic (August 2010). It was a Bellatrix/Narcissa piece, which is still a pairing I like, and write sometimes. Actually, now that I'm thinking about it, my first ever HP fic was a Bellatrix/Hermione which hasn't seen the light of LJ. For the next few months, I wrote a lot of smutty het drabbles/short fics, with mostly younger characters as the pairings: Draco/Pansy, young Bellatrix/Lucius, young Lucius/Narcissa, etc.
I wrote some genfic, too, and that was when I read
celta_diabolica's excellent Misbehaviour 'Verse, which I claim as being responsible for my love affair with Narcissa Malfoy. Aside from that, I think that's when I started to get into minor characters, although I didn't try writing many, other than Narcissa. It was last year, 2011, when I really started gravitating towards rare pairs and femslash. I barely wrote any het last year (5 out of 25 fics). The majority was femslash, and mostly with rare pairings: Narcissa/Astoria, Septima/Charity, Rolanda/Narcissa, etc. I still write Narcissa a lot — I feel like I have a good handle on her, so if I'm a crunch for a fest or exchange, I gravitate towards writing her in a pairing.
One thing I am really happy about is that I am writing rare characters. Mostly name-only characters, or ones we don't know much about. I'm hoping that it's a step towards me getting ready to write my own characters, in my own settings. It's like baby steps … first I started with well known characters, and then I moved to basically making up characters, while still making them fit in JKR's sandbox. I'm not ready to make my own sandbox, but I'm hoping I will be. I really want to do some original stuff, but I worry that I'll stick with what is comfortable and easy — something like a magical environment — and not be original enough. Plus, the feedback and sense of community with fanfic is more encouraging than striking out on your own :/
That's what I prefer to read, too. Mostly femslash or genfic. My reading taste in fanfic is actually pickier than my taste in books. I like a lot of the older female characters — Minerva, Septima, Aurora, the adult Black sisters, etc. I don't feel that I can convincingly write a lot of them yet, so I stay away from some like Minerva, Poppy, Pomona, etc., and try to just read them.
I've noticed that my writing style has also changed. I always think a lot about a fic before I start it, scribbling random notes and figuring out how the story will flow before I write any real words. During 2011, I wrote a lot of extensive notes for fics that never got used at all, but were necessary for my mental process. As an example, I wrote about 10 pages to produce an ~800 word fic.
I don't begrudge any of that, because in a way, that's how I've always written. In 2010, I wrote ~200,000 words, but put out only ~64,000. But what I started doing last year is different. I write character backgrounds, ideas, random scenes. I suppose that's because I'm writing name-only character and such now — I need to have something about them in my head so I can write a fic.
I'm not really sure where I'm going with this. Just lots of randomness I doubt anyone will find interesting but me. I wonder if/how my tastes/style will change in another year and a half?
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Date: 2012-01-16 03:33 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2012-01-16 04:31 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2012-01-16 04:36 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2012-01-16 04:56 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2012-01-17 10:56 am (UTC)I agree that you're well on your way to producing original fic (a fact which makes me squee!). Between writing name-drop characters and producing such extensive background information about them, I think you've begun acquiring the skills you'll need to characterise original characters
for your own nefarious purposes. The world-building skills will come, especially as you get ideas for the kinds of stories you want to tell.Also, you're the sweetest thing EVER! Thanks for linking to my stories. MWAH!!!
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Date: 2012-01-19 01:09 am (UTC)Haha, me too. I like rare pairs much better. I actually think I found that Snape/Hermione fic because a friend told me about it. I went back to try and reread it a while ago, and just couldn't get into it. I love the Dark Side; it has cookies! :D
Rereading this post, I realize I didn't really say what I wanted too, meh. But next year it will be interesting to do this again, and see if my reading/writing tastes have changed.
Thank you for the encouragement, dear! I've been thinking of starting a writing blog, to do this sort of thing even more in depth. Annnnnd it would be a way to procrastinate from actually writing. I like doing that a lot, lol.