Million Words Celebration: Introducing DizzyDrea
It occurred to me recently that though I've been writing for a while, most people outside a few friends online don't know who I am. So, as part of my Million Words Celebration, I'm going to introduce myself.
Hi, I'm DizzDrea!
What were you expecting?
Okay, I'll get serious for a minute. But only a minute.
Or two.
I've been writing since I was in my twenties. And no, I'm not going to tell you how old I am, except to say I'm old enough to know better, but still too young to care.
Anyway, oddly enough, I started out writing original fiction. I'd always had an active imagination; as a child I had three imaginary friends. I would come up with elaborate fantasy worlds that I could pretend to be part of: Amazonian princess, super spy, football player's wife. I did it all from the comfort of my imagination, dreaming of a life that wasn't mine.
It was a friend of mine who suggested I write something down. He wrote poetry, and told me that he realized he just needed to get it out, so he did. So, that's what I did too. I don't even know if I have that first original story anymore, and I shudder to think of what it must be like to read it again after all these years. But, it was a start, and that's all I needed.
The first fanfiction I wrote was a Star Trek: The Next Generation story. It's not finished, nor is it published anywhere, but I still have it. I doubt I'll ever let it go, because it was my first. I learned a lot, plugging away at that story. I learned about Mary Sues (because this story has an OC that is probably an ill-disguised copy of me), and how to structure a story, and all about tropes, because Lordy did I put a bunch in there. But it was fun, and although I didn't know about this thing called fanfiction at the time, I knew I wanted to write a story that I would read.
The first fandom that I ever published a story for was JAG. I was a Harm/Mac shipper to the very end, so most of the stories I wrote are centered on that pairing. This was the fandom where I learned all about shipping and just how devoted fans can be to their favorite pairings. I had a few stories posted on a JAG archive that no longer exists. I don't remember feeling nervous about publishing them, I just did it. I don't even really remember getting any feedback about them, either, but that was okay. I'd done what I set out to do.
After JAG ended, my writing stalled. Call it writer's block, or being uninspired, but whatever it was, I had it in spades. I didn't open up my Star Trek story, or put words into anything original, nor did I find inspiration in any of the shows I'd been watching faithfully. I also didn't think it was weird in any way. It just was. I didn't define myself as a writer at this point, so not writing wasn't worrisome. Plus, I'd discovered a rather large online community of fanfiction writers, so I could get my fix anytime I wanted to, without having to go to the trouble of writing it myself.
The show that finally caught my Muse's attention was Stargate: SG-1. Suddenly, words started pouring out of me. I was a Jack/Sam shipper right from the start, so my earliest SG-1 stories are all about those two. Now, I came into the show rather late. I didn't have Showtime at home, so I didn't start watching until the show moved to Syfy (then known as SciFi), and even then, only after they announced that the show would be ending. But I went back and devoured the DVDs, one season at a time, and became hooked.
Even then, the only person who ever saw anything I'd written was my sister. I would send her the stories and she'd send back praise, and I was happy. I really didn't need more than that.
I don't know what prompted me to decide to start publishing my stories. I think I finally began to realize that they were moldering away on my hard drive, and that was just kind of useless. What was I writing for, if I wasn't ever going to share what I've written? So, I decided to post a story to Fanfiction.net. It was really the only archive of its kind at the time, so that's where I decided to post my stuff. The first story I ever published there was a NCIS: LA story, oddly. But it got good feedback, so I posted a Stargate story next.
Fairly quickly, I'd emptied out my completed folders and was getting lots of love for my stories. It was fun, and for the most part, gratifying. There weren't any of the horrible reviews that I'd heard about, so I felt kinda lucky. I was non-controversial, and that suited me just fine.
The more I've written, the more I've branched out. I used to be a one-ship-per-show kind of person. I had my favorite couple and never deviated. I've since learned that there's more challenge as a writer in pairing together characters that don't automatically come to mind on a show. Those are the stories that tend to get less notice, but I'm fine with that. I'm writing those stories for my own enjoyment, and not to please anyone else. I have gotten angry reviews for those stories, or reviews that have said they'd have rather not read that pairing, but I just shrug them off. They were warned, after all, so it's not my fault they chose to ignore my warnings.
I've also branched out into many more fandoms than the two or three I started with. I'm now up to 31 different fandoms (either a specific tv show, movie or book, or a cinematic or tv universe). Some of those were fusions or crossovers with other fandoms, but I've at least dipped my toe into each and every one. Every year, it seems like I pick up at least one new fandom.
When I first started writing, it was a stretch to write 1500 word stories. Now, If it clocks in under 10,000 I’m wondering what went wrong. I’ve started doing Trope Bingo at least once a year, which has been great for inspiration, and often keeps me writing when I might otherwise just take a break. I’ve also done a couple of Big Bangs (both for Marvel so far), which was a lot of fun. I may one day do the Het Big Bang, but I’m definitely going to do the Rough Trade Little Black Dress challenge the next time it comes around. Which means at least one new fandom (The Sentinel), and possibly more.
My inspirations for stories come from all over. A line of poetry, a passage from a book, a line of dialog in a movie or tv show. More often than not, my stories are inspired by, or take their theme from, the music I listen to. It varies from story to story, but you can be sure that something inspired me to write that particular story.
I’ve only ever written one story on request, and that was for my sister, who asked for a particular pairing and was the one who got me started on the rare-pairs kick that I’m still on to this day. For the most part, I don’t take requests, because I have to be in love with an idea in order to write it. I’ve done gift exchanges before, and written to prompts given to me by others, but I just don’t feel like I get the best out of myself if I try to write someone else’s idea.
So, that’s me in a (rather large) nutshell. If you want to know more about me or my writing, leave a question in the comments. I’m always happy to answer what I can. And look for more posts in the coming months about some of the books, movies and tv shows that I love (not all of them inspired fan fiction, but many of them have).
Hi, I'm DizzDrea!
What were you expecting?
Okay, I'll get serious for a minute. But only a minute.
Or two.
I've been writing since I was in my twenties. And no, I'm not going to tell you how old I am, except to say I'm old enough to know better, but still too young to care.
Anyway, oddly enough, I started out writing original fiction. I'd always had an active imagination; as a child I had three imaginary friends. I would come up with elaborate fantasy worlds that I could pretend to be part of: Amazonian princess, super spy, football player's wife. I did it all from the comfort of my imagination, dreaming of a life that wasn't mine.
It was a friend of mine who suggested I write something down. He wrote poetry, and told me that he realized he just needed to get it out, so he did. So, that's what I did too. I don't even know if I have that first original story anymore, and I shudder to think of what it must be like to read it again after all these years. But, it was a start, and that's all I needed.
The first fanfiction I wrote was a Star Trek: The Next Generation story. It's not finished, nor is it published anywhere, but I still have it. I doubt I'll ever let it go, because it was my first. I learned a lot, plugging away at that story. I learned about Mary Sues (because this story has an OC that is probably an ill-disguised copy of me), and how to structure a story, and all about tropes, because Lordy did I put a bunch in there. But it was fun, and although I didn't know about this thing called fanfiction at the time, I knew I wanted to write a story that I would read.
The first fandom that I ever published a story for was JAG. I was a Harm/Mac shipper to the very end, so most of the stories I wrote are centered on that pairing. This was the fandom where I learned all about shipping and just how devoted fans can be to their favorite pairings. I had a few stories posted on a JAG archive that no longer exists. I don't remember feeling nervous about publishing them, I just did it. I don't even really remember getting any feedback about them, either, but that was okay. I'd done what I set out to do.
After JAG ended, my writing stalled. Call it writer's block, or being uninspired, but whatever it was, I had it in spades. I didn't open up my Star Trek story, or put words into anything original, nor did I find inspiration in any of the shows I'd been watching faithfully. I also didn't think it was weird in any way. It just was. I didn't define myself as a writer at this point, so not writing wasn't worrisome. Plus, I'd discovered a rather large online community of fanfiction writers, so I could get my fix anytime I wanted to, without having to go to the trouble of writing it myself.
The show that finally caught my Muse's attention was Stargate: SG-1. Suddenly, words started pouring out of me. I was a Jack/Sam shipper right from the start, so my earliest SG-1 stories are all about those two. Now, I came into the show rather late. I didn't have Showtime at home, so I didn't start watching until the show moved to Syfy (then known as SciFi), and even then, only after they announced that the show would be ending. But I went back and devoured the DVDs, one season at a time, and became hooked.
Even then, the only person who ever saw anything I'd written was my sister. I would send her the stories and she'd send back praise, and I was happy. I really didn't need more than that.
I don't know what prompted me to decide to start publishing my stories. I think I finally began to realize that they were moldering away on my hard drive, and that was just kind of useless. What was I writing for, if I wasn't ever going to share what I've written? So, I decided to post a story to Fanfiction.net. It was really the only archive of its kind at the time, so that's where I decided to post my stuff. The first story I ever published there was a NCIS: LA story, oddly. But it got good feedback, so I posted a Stargate story next.
Fairly quickly, I'd emptied out my completed folders and was getting lots of love for my stories. It was fun, and for the most part, gratifying. There weren't any of the horrible reviews that I'd heard about, so I felt kinda lucky. I was non-controversial, and that suited me just fine.
The more I've written, the more I've branched out. I used to be a one-ship-per-show kind of person. I had my favorite couple and never deviated. I've since learned that there's more challenge as a writer in pairing together characters that don't automatically come to mind on a show. Those are the stories that tend to get less notice, but I'm fine with that. I'm writing those stories for my own enjoyment, and not to please anyone else. I have gotten angry reviews for those stories, or reviews that have said they'd have rather not read that pairing, but I just shrug them off. They were warned, after all, so it's not my fault they chose to ignore my warnings.
I've also branched out into many more fandoms than the two or three I started with. I'm now up to 31 different fandoms (either a specific tv show, movie or book, or a cinematic or tv universe). Some of those were fusions or crossovers with other fandoms, but I've at least dipped my toe into each and every one. Every year, it seems like I pick up at least one new fandom.
When I first started writing, it was a stretch to write 1500 word stories. Now, If it clocks in under 10,000 I’m wondering what went wrong. I’ve started doing Trope Bingo at least once a year, which has been great for inspiration, and often keeps me writing when I might otherwise just take a break. I’ve also done a couple of Big Bangs (both for Marvel so far), which was a lot of fun. I may one day do the Het Big Bang, but I’m definitely going to do the Rough Trade Little Black Dress challenge the next time it comes around. Which means at least one new fandom (The Sentinel), and possibly more.
My inspirations for stories come from all over. A line of poetry, a passage from a book, a line of dialog in a movie or tv show. More often than not, my stories are inspired by, or take their theme from, the music I listen to. It varies from story to story, but you can be sure that something inspired me to write that particular story.
I’ve only ever written one story on request, and that was for my sister, who asked for a particular pairing and was the one who got me started on the rare-pairs kick that I’m still on to this day. For the most part, I don’t take requests, because I have to be in love with an idea in order to write it. I’ve done gift exchanges before, and written to prompts given to me by others, but I just don’t feel like I get the best out of myself if I try to write someone else’s idea.
So, that’s me in a (rather large) nutshell. If you want to know more about me or my writing, leave a question in the comments. I’m always happy to answer what I can. And look for more posts in the coming months about some of the books, movies and tv shows that I love (not all of them inspired fan fiction, but many of them have).