Top Ten Things I've Relearned about yuletide this Year.
1. Doesn't matter how well you know the fandom--you don't know it well enough to avoid looking up character last names and such on IMDB.
2. Doesn't matter how well you know the show--you will feel utterly incompetent to write it by day two.
3. Doesn't matter how well you know the flavor, you still can't capture the flavor the way you want. If it's a sitcom, you'll be up against the wall of trying to put sitcom-like banter on paper, and thus you have killed the flavor; if it's a dramatic historical movie, you can't perpetuate the anachronisms because you were raised better than that, and thus you have shat on the flavor.
4. Doesn't matter how everytime you pinch-hit you think that you'd enjoy it so much better if you had more time--if you have more time, you'll wish you were pinch-hitting so you wouldn't have the option of throwing it all out and starting over.
5. And really, that Desperate Housewives fic was the best one you'll ever/have ever written, and good lord, Desperate Housewives fic is unnecessary, so why are you trying to write anything anyway. (We'll call this one the "Doesn't matter how rewarding it felt last time, you're afraid it will never be that rewarding again.")
6. Doesn't matter how much you enjoy the show/book/movie; you will feel that you are a disappointment to the giftee/yourself/your betas/the historical tradition of tragi-comedy.
7. Doesn't matter if the idea sounds good at the bar; it's stupid when you try to write it.
8. Doesn't matter what you think of to Save the Fic; for some reason, it won't work.
9. Doesn't matter if you write fic or fiction allatha time... it's so much harder if you're not writing in your normal domain. It's also so much harder if you're writing in your area of mastery. You can't, in fact, win.
10. Just tell yourself you're in it for the spirit of the thing, because that's the only thing that's going to save you.
2. Doesn't matter how well you know the show--you will feel utterly incompetent to write it by day two.
3. Doesn't matter how well you know the flavor, you still can't capture the flavor the way you want. If it's a sitcom, you'll be up against the wall of trying to put sitcom-like banter on paper, and thus you have killed the flavor; if it's a dramatic historical movie, you can't perpetuate the anachronisms because you were raised better than that, and thus you have shat on the flavor.
4. Doesn't matter how everytime you pinch-hit you think that you'd enjoy it so much better if you had more time--if you have more time, you'll wish you were pinch-hitting so you wouldn't have the option of throwing it all out and starting over.
5. And really, that Desperate Housewives fic was the best one you'll ever/have ever written, and good lord, Desperate Housewives fic is unnecessary, so why are you trying to write anything anyway. (We'll call this one the "Doesn't matter how rewarding it felt last time, you're afraid it will never be that rewarding again.")
6. Doesn't matter how much you enjoy the show/book/movie; you will feel that you are a disappointment to the giftee/yourself/your betas/the historical tradition of tragi-comedy.
7. Doesn't matter if the idea sounds good at the bar; it's stupid when you try to write it.
8. Doesn't matter what you think of to Save the Fic; for some reason, it won't work.
9. Doesn't matter if you write fic or fiction allatha time... it's so much harder if you're not writing in your normal domain. It's also so much harder if you're writing in your area of mastery. You can't, in fact, win.
10. Just tell yourself you're in it for the spirit of the thing, because that's the only thing that's going to save you.