fanfiction fun??

[rose_griffes]

As I've been whining to daybreak777 about writing, this idea came up: I should be having fun while writing. Huh?

[Poll #1789400]

I thought about letting y'all select "I reject your binary choices!" but then the choices wouldn't be binary, would they? So if you want that to be your answer, you'll just have to comment. *grins*

Writing fic is slogging through the muck of misplaced, context-less words, arranging them into some semblance of order, then hosing them down to remove the remaining debris. It's not fun, although I do sometimes find it satisfying and I nearly always like the finished product.

What about you?

Comments

[daybreak777.livejournal.com]

In writing fanfic there are so many parts. Thinking of the idea, the initial outpouring, the first draft, discussing it with your cheerleader/beta, hashing it out on your own, polishing, posting, rereading, getting comments, rereading it again, getting late comments and then it's kind of done. But not really. ;-) Because it's still out there in the world for new people to find and read.

I do find it all fun. It's my choice. It's me wrestling with my muse and us both winning! It's sometimes not fun but it's always worth it. Sometimes it's more fun not to finish a fic. Not to have to do the slogging through but just write the bits you want that are fun. At least for me.

[rose-griffes.livejournal.com]

Sometimes it's more fun not to finish a fic. Not to have to do the slogging through but just write the bits you want that are fun. At least for me.

I write mostly because I want the story to exist... so unfinished stories irritate me, since the idea is still there but no story. :(

[daybreak777.livejournal.com]

It is frustrating. But I have to have fun with it. It's rare that I've pushed through not fun writing and and liked it just because it existed. I have to say nearly every story I've posted except for three I've really enjoyed the process of writing them.

Editing, however, is another story. Ugh. Fortunately people help me with that! They are called betas! And I like talking fic with these beta peoples so that's fun too. :-)

[korenap.livejournal.com]

Writing fic is slogging through the muck of misplaced, context-less words, arranging them into some semblance of order, then hosing them down to remove the remaining debris. It's not fun, although I do sometimes find it satisfying. Don't have enough finished product to say always.
I like how the ideas have taken form, but am rarely satisfied with the execution. Or maybe I'm still to low on the learning curve to be able to expect the need for fewer rewrites, fixes and additions.

And I want my fingers and my brain to work in tandem. Is that too much to ask? (hear shouts of *yes!*)

[rose-griffes.livejournal.com]

I like how the ideas have taken form, but am rarely satisfied with the execution.
I usually get to a point where I'm satisfied with what I've written... as long as I don't do that thing where I start comparing my writing style to other people's. (Never a good idea, that.)

[lizardbeth-j.livejournal.com]

I REJECT YOUR BINARY CHOICES! :)

It's not always "boucy-house-paint-ball" fun, no. However, on a scale of "bouncy-house-paint-ball" to "My job is counting lentils" it's still definitely on the fun end of things. If it were utter drudgery I wouldn't do it.

[rose-griffes.livejournal.com]

Well, yeah, it's more fun than counting lentils. Heh. Though for me there have been moments of drudgery; they're usually outweighed by how much I want the story to exist in a finished form.

[puszysty.livejournal.com]

If I'm not having fun writing a story, it will usually turn into a WIP and typically stay that way.

[rose-griffes.livejournal.com]

Hm. I'd probably only have three finished stories if I did that. :)

[rose-griffes.livejournal.com]

*laughs* yeah, there's that...

[callmeonetrack.livejournal.com]

Nope. But *having written fanfic* is fun. ;)

Hee, maybe that's not fair actually, sometimes it's really fun while doing it too. And sometimes it's just really hard work.

I must like it if I spend my free time doing it to the extent that I do. Because I'm fairly lazy. Hee.

[rose-griffes.livejournal.com]

Nope. But *having written fanfic* is fun. ;)
Exactly!

I must like it if I spend my free time doing it to the extent that I do. Because I'm fairly lazy. Hee.

I think it's mostly that the story has more willpower than I do after a certain point. Hah!

[daybreak777.livejournal.com]

Hee! I like your categories. They made me giggle. I have similar categories for vidding. (Which is why I make so few vids. And why I make more vidlets than full-length vids.)

Fandom is like cotton candy to me, most days. But I don't create very serious things, no. That's for real life.

I'm trying to think of my most serious fanworks. But even those had moments of glee and giggles in them. Most of 'em anyway. :-)

[rose-griffes.livejournal.com]

Categories, yes!

Fic that I feel I am writing because it should exist, because no one else will do it if I don't, is almost never fun, though sometimes I try to write it anyway because it ought to exist.

With me it's usually that I want it to exist because I like my idea, enough to keep writing even past the easy stuff.

[deborah-judge.livejournal.com]

I think I'm in the minority with no here. But I'm with Tara here: I don't find writing fun, but I find it fun to have written something. The fun part, in other words, is when it's done and I can read it and so can other people. Thinking up ideas is also fun.

The process of writing itself I find sometimes cathartic, sometimes difficult, sometimes fascinating, often an interesting challenge...but I wouldn't say fun.

[rirenec.livejournal.com]

LOL, I agree with the post uploading bit being fun. However, I also like the writing bit, from that moment when, ooh, ooh, that's an idea... and I want to write it now, and then having the fun bit of picking words to getting a sentence which feels good. Maybe I need to agonise more :)

[rose-griffes.livejournal.com]

I'm with Tara here: I don't find writing fun, but I find it fun to have written something.
Yup, me too.

[sabaceanbabe.livejournal.com]

Writing fic is slogging through the muck of misplaced, context-less words, arranging them into some semblance of order, then hosing them down to remove the remaining debris. It's not fun, although I do sometimes find it satisfying and I nearly always like the finished product.

This is how it's been for me for the past couple of years. And then I stumbled into a story that I really, really want to tell, and suddenly it's kind of effortless. IDEK! I now have what's more or less a fic OUTLINE that just hit 30,000 words! It's kind of freaking me out. O_O

[rose-griffes.livejournal.com]

Yay for effortless! (An outline that long is... mind-boggling to me.)

[lyssie.livejournal.com]

I actually really enjoy it--putting out insane, crazy ideas (or at least scrawling them down as half-formed ideas and plots).

[rose-griffes.livejournal.com]

You're really good with the ideas! Perhaps this is why I keep slogging through on unfinished fics--I just don't have that many ideas that I want to write.

[rirenec.livejournal.com]

I write with enthusiasm and for fun, post, then think - oh dear, that could've been better - but still enjoy it anyway. :D

[rose-griffes.livejournal.com]

Hee! Well, enthusiasm is good! I wish I were more enthusiastic while I'm writing...

[ivanolix.livejournal.com]

Writing fanfic is satisfying but it's not fun. It's work. Even the hilarious crackfic...maybe it's the perfectionist in me, but I'm always thinking about "Am I getting this right?" The characters speak to me, but it's work to translate that into entertaining prose.

And when it comes to angstier work...it can be pure torture to get that onto the screen or the page. Worth it, oh god yes, but not fun.

[rose-griffes.livejournal.com]

It's nice to know it's not just me!