new discovery every time
I've been writing fan fiction - not a lot of it, not in a lot of fandoms, hardly ever in big fandoms - for, on and off, fifteen years. And yet, the process of my writing is a surprise every time.
First there's a small idea - will it work? no, it's BO-RING. Still, it may be a variation on an old theme, no harm in starting. Then there's the fact that I have NEVER in my life - not even in secondary school, where I used to get decent marks in my Italian compositions - written anything easily; the words always, but always, stop somewhere between mind and keyboard (or notepaper), no, that's stupid, no, that's telling-rather-than-showing, no, it's so unoriginal.
Then a few paragraphs are on paper, 1 or 2 make sense, the rest is una schifezza (so much more expressive than rubbish, crap, dreck). A plot has taken shape, and I can do the research (the fun part). Then I have to connect all the dots of the plot outline (the hard work part). That's when I get repeatedly stuck, swear at myself, and am convinced that the story is una schifezza.
And then the first draft is written, and I revise it (sort of fun), and then there's the small matter of finding a long-suffering native English speaker and arguing things out with her, and then there's a story. At times it's still una schifezza, at times it's not.
And this time I am six days from the Yuletide deadline, and I am still at the second stage of the process, but I am determined to push to the final stage.
First there's a small idea - will it work? no, it's BO-RING. Still, it may be a variation on an old theme, no harm in starting. Then there's the fact that I have NEVER in my life - not even in secondary school, where I used to get decent marks in my Italian compositions - written anything easily; the words always, but always, stop somewhere between mind and keyboard (or notepaper), no, that's stupid, no, that's telling-rather-than-showing, no, it's so unoriginal.
Then a few paragraphs are on paper, 1 or 2 make sense, the rest is una schifezza (so much more expressive than rubbish, crap, dreck). A plot has taken shape, and I can do the research (the fun part). Then I have to connect all the dots of the plot outline (the hard work part). That's when I get repeatedly stuck, swear at myself, and am convinced that the story is una schifezza.
And then the first draft is written, and I revise it (sort of fun), and then there's the small matter of finding a long-suffering native English speaker and arguing things out with her, and then there's a story. At times it's still una schifezza, at times it's not.
And this time I am six days from the Yuletide deadline, and I am still at the second stage of the process, but I am determined to push to the final stage.