thoughts on reading/writing fanfic

[dexstarr]

I'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 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?

Comments

[reg-flint.livejournal.com]

Probably morph into original fiction, become weary with writing names that are mostly your impression ie Septima, and write in another more personal universe.

[dexstarr.livejournal.com]

Well, I hope so. I would, selfishly, like to sell some stories or novellas. But I think I'll stick with fic for the feedback and sense of community. I like what's familiar, sigh.

[reg-flint.livejournal.com]

I'm planning on doing half and half. Work on a bit of fic to sell, and a bit more than half to post publicly in a world I am so at home in. That and modding is a tired joy.

[dexstarr.livejournal.com]

Good luck. And here's hoping the next round of darkarts_ldws turns out as well as the others, but I am sure it will.