Fanfiction Meme
This meme has been going around my flist, but I first saw it at roh_wyn's journal.
1. Why do you write fanfiction?
As a way of meditating about Tolkien's world, digging deeper into it, making it more concrete for myself. Sometimes it's easier to show how you think something works than just to describe it in conversation. This is why it's so important for me to stick as close to canon as I can. Doing anything else sort of defeats the whole reason why I'm writing.
My answer's a bit different now than it would have been when I first started out, though. That leads to the next question...
2. What made you start?
It started out as just a way to blow off steam and to let my writing partner, "Gypsie," indulge her massive crush on Viggo Mortensen. I was also really bored at work at the time, and Gypsie wanted to write some Viggo!Aragorn smut, so I thought, "What the heck? It'll be a lark, and maybe it'll help keep my writing skills in shape."
Later, though, Gypsie drifted away from the fandom and I started writing fanfic on my own. I started to take it more seriously at the time, and I started to relate differently to the characters and the source material. I started to feel like it was more about that and less about me, if that makes any sense.
3. Slash, het, or gen?
Gen with a sprinkling of het. No slash. One of these days I'll do my full rant on "Why I Am Not And Will Never Be a Slasher," but the short version is that (a) it doesn't turn me on, and (b) I don't think it works in canonical Middle-Earth.
4. What fandoms do you write in?
Tolkien, exclusively. Usually I'm content just to appreciate and discuss; his world is the only one so far that's inspired me to dig in this particular way. Unless you count the MiSTings I used to write--but those are more like fanfic commentary than fanfic, IMO, even though I set them in the MST3K universe.
5. What fandoms do you read in?
I don't read much fanfiction these days, ironically. I skim a few well-known places for LOTR stuff, but I don't go aggressively looking for it. I do occasionally read a bit of anime fanfic, but usually I just dip a toe into the fanfic for any given fandom. In this year, I've read some good fanfiction for Rurouni Kenshin, Ouran High School Host Club, and From Eroica with Love (the exception to my no-slash rule, but it's more or less canonical in that fandom). Oh, and the latest fic I read was a bizarre Harry Potter/Steven Colbert crossover!
6. What's the worst story you've ever written?
Hmm, probably the original draft of "A Ranger's Temptation," now mercifully gone from the 'net. Gypsie and I tried to put an explicit sex scene in it, and I think the story actually works much better at a less-explicit rating.
For the worst thing I've ever written solo ... I guess that would be the drabble "Bundles." I've never been entirely satisfied with it. It doesn't seem to get quite to the point that I want it to, and I can't get it down to 100 words either. Hmm, maybe I should try expanding it to 200....
7. What writers are your inspiration?
The only writer that I specifically read for inspiration is Tolkien! But sometimes I get ideas from the most unexpected places. (I have to be careful with Tolkien, too, because if I read him just before writing, I sometimes start to slip into his archaisms. He can get away with them; I can't!)
8. WIPs or completed stories only?
I usually only post completed stories to archives, because I don't know if I can trust myself to finish a WiP. (I might relax a bit more about that for LJ.) But I'll definitely read WiPs.
9. Tag up to six people to respond to this.
Some of my flist have answered it already, and I'd really like to hear from ANY (or all) of the ones who haven't! So I won't name specific names, but I'll check my friends page eagerly to see if anyone picks up on it.
1. Why do you write fanfiction?
As a way of meditating about Tolkien's world, digging deeper into it, making it more concrete for myself. Sometimes it's easier to show how you think something works than just to describe it in conversation. This is why it's so important for me to stick as close to canon as I can. Doing anything else sort of defeats the whole reason why I'm writing.
My answer's a bit different now than it would have been when I first started out, though. That leads to the next question...
2. What made you start?
It started out as just a way to blow off steam and to let my writing partner, "Gypsie," indulge her massive crush on Viggo Mortensen. I was also really bored at work at the time, and Gypsie wanted to write some Viggo!Aragorn smut, so I thought, "What the heck? It'll be a lark, and maybe it'll help keep my writing skills in shape."
Later, though, Gypsie drifted away from the fandom and I started writing fanfic on my own. I started to take it more seriously at the time, and I started to relate differently to the characters and the source material. I started to feel like it was more about that and less about me, if that makes any sense.
3. Slash, het, or gen?
Gen with a sprinkling of het. No slash. One of these days I'll do my full rant on "Why I Am Not And Will Never Be a Slasher," but the short version is that (a) it doesn't turn me on, and (b) I don't think it works in canonical Middle-Earth.
4. What fandoms do you write in?
Tolkien, exclusively. Usually I'm content just to appreciate and discuss; his world is the only one so far that's inspired me to dig in this particular way. Unless you count the MiSTings I used to write--but those are more like fanfic commentary than fanfic, IMO, even though I set them in the MST3K universe.
5. What fandoms do you read in?
I don't read much fanfiction these days, ironically. I skim a few well-known places for LOTR stuff, but I don't go aggressively looking for it. I do occasionally read a bit of anime fanfic, but usually I just dip a toe into the fanfic for any given fandom. In this year, I've read some good fanfiction for Rurouni Kenshin, Ouran High School Host Club, and From Eroica with Love (the exception to my no-slash rule, but it's more or less canonical in that fandom). Oh, and the latest fic I read was a bizarre Harry Potter/Steven Colbert crossover!
6. What's the worst story you've ever written?
Hmm, probably the original draft of "A Ranger's Temptation," now mercifully gone from the 'net. Gypsie and I tried to put an explicit sex scene in it, and I think the story actually works much better at a less-explicit rating.
For the worst thing I've ever written solo ... I guess that would be the drabble "Bundles." I've never been entirely satisfied with it. It doesn't seem to get quite to the point that I want it to, and I can't get it down to 100 words either. Hmm, maybe I should try expanding it to 200....
7. What writers are your inspiration?
The only writer that I specifically read for inspiration is Tolkien! But sometimes I get ideas from the most unexpected places. (I have to be careful with Tolkien, too, because if I read him just before writing, I sometimes start to slip into his archaisms. He can get away with them; I can't!)
8. WIPs or completed stories only?
I usually only post completed stories to archives, because I don't know if I can trust myself to finish a WiP. (I might relax a bit more about that for LJ.) But I'll definitely read WiPs.
9. Tag up to six people to respond to this.
Some of my flist have answered it already, and I'd really like to hear from ANY (or all) of the ones who haven't! So I won't name specific names, but I'll check my friends page eagerly to see if anyone picks up on it.