[PUBLIC POST] Let's talk fandom!

[ljwrites]

All right, the weekly open posts are back! This week let's talk about our fandom obsessions, or just works that we really like. Here are some possible discussion launchers, but feel free to ignore some or all of them and add your own:

- What are some of your favorite works?
- Were you or are you involved in fandom?
- How did your favorite works or fandoms influence your writing?

Go to town, folks!

Comments

[inkdust]

Now actually relevant to me!!

Well, I've always read some fic now and then, but I've never been involved in a fandom until now. AO3 account is rather new and shiny.

Things are still all Agent Carter all the time over here, and I don't expect to write for another fandom anytime in the near future, if at all - though of course this one came out of nowhere. But it's been an awesome experience to go beyond individual stories and identify actual writers whose work I admire (Paeonia, Eienvine, LadyWillow, *wistful sigh*). I don't think it's something I could have done, or done as well, earlier in my writing history. I can recognize specific skills and strengths now.

So it's been a little backwards for me - my writing initially influenced my foray into fandom, but I'm excited for the reverse as I continue on. The experience of feedback has been incredibly encouraging, and the practice finishing things and releasing them into the wild (five things now - three chapters and two shorts) is excellent. And I appreciate that I haven't entered this world until now. I know many people grew up as writers through fandom and benefited from that, but for me it's...testing grounds. It's exciting.

[ljwrites]

Go you--that is awesome, to be discovering new things and having fun! My experience has been in the other direction, too, coming to original writing through fanfic, so it's fascinating to hear how things can be the other way around.

Do you see differences between writing original stories and writing fanfic? Do you find fanfic easier or harder? I love the sense of community in fandom, and it doesn't hurt that there's a built-in audience for the stories I write in a fandom. I also like that even short stories are effectively "extended" through the existing canon, making writing and setup generally easier. When I started feeling constrained by the canon, though, I knew it was time to start working on original fiction. I still hope to go back to my fanfic projects once I have a little more time!

[inkdust]

I do find fanfic generally easier in terms of a predetermined world. At first I was apprehensive about characterization - keeping in character had never meant referring to an outside source before. But that's where the community came in, because seeing their praise and especially specific comments on the characterization was the most effective reassurance that my instincts were on track. Then just like with original characters, the more you write them the easier it gets.

And I've definitely noticed your point about short stories - I've found myself actually able to write shorter pieces, mainly because I don't have to provide explanation. In that sense it's a lot like the writing I was doing about my own characters - vignettes within a framework. I'm hopeful that the practice might help with figuring out how to write shorter original stuff.

It's also been good for letting me work more on the writing side of things, with less focus demanded for character and plot. I wrote a pair of 400 word snapshots with much more of a flash fiction / poetic essay / no actual action feel, focusing heavily on the tone, language, rhythm and received compliments directed at precisely those aspects. That's what makes me say "testing grounds." Let me try to write something quiet and beautiful and see if they say it's quiet and beautiful. Let me try to write something with an undercurrent of movement from start to finish and see if they comment on the rhythm and flow. It helps that I've picked a sharp little corner of fandom. I plan to try a piece with a little more humor next.

[ljwrites]

It's also been good for letting me work more on the writing side of things, with less focus demanded for character and plot. . . . That's what makes me say "testing grounds."

An excellent insight. It's kind of like working with a section or module of existing code to test it out, rather than trying to test and run an entire application built from the ground up. On a related note, I have argued that fanfic lends itself to a completely different style of storytelling than original fiction.

[inkdust]

"I have argued that fanfic lends itself to a completely different style of storytelling than original fiction." I agree completely. I'm happy to be getting to know it in addition to the other.