this is actually not a particularly emo entry all things considered
I'm coming slowly to the realization that my writing is all extremely derivative.
With the exception of fanfiction-which is easy, because the characters and (with exceptions) plots are already laid out for you-I really can't write very much that's my own. I say this because I'm considering attempting to write some kind of dimension-spanning epic with a wide cast of characters, etc. etc. and am realizing that not one idea I am coming up with is my own.
An examination of my collection of original fiction:
Heartbeat Like a Drum: Inspired by something that happened in real life. I mean, all right, I don't hook up with club bouncers in shady backrooms, but I did see a bouncer who I thought was hot.
Desiderata: Inspired, again, by true life (though in a closer-to-real way than HLAD).
Art is an Act of Vengeance: Again, inspired by true life.
Coffeeshop & Sleep: Too short to really even be considered "fics", but here's the breakdown: Coffeeshop was inspired by true life, and Sleep was inspired by this Tora/Saga fic by rheakurokawa.
By Dirigible: Possibly the first of my original fics that wasn't directly inspired by one particular thing, though I do believe I was reading a steampunk anthology when I wrote it.
Untitled: Inspired, weirdly enough, by a scene from on of the rent_a_gundam stories.
Five Love Songs: I can't remember what this was inspired by, but it was derived from something, I know that much.
Na Kolea: Again, semi-inspired by true life, in the sense that I spent a while hooker-spotting in Waikiki and thought about the subject.
What Am I Doing Here?: Inspired by an essay that I had to read (and write a reading journal on) for English class. The essay was about sex and alcohol and alcoholism and other such delightful subjects.
Could Have Been & On Family: From the heather_sky universe, and therefore not very original at all, actually.
The Alleluia Paradox: Similarly taken from a heather_sky offshoot AU roleplay between qc_heartless and myself, and so not very original.
The Cosa Nostra series & Quello che hai addomesticato: Inspired by a line from ronsard's fic The Keeper.
So as you can see, I'm not the type who can come up with world-traveling dimension-spanning adventures. I derive. I take other people's ideas and twist them, and try to build something on them. That's why I ultimately fail, I think; I don't have enough creativity of my own to be able to come up with lengthy ideas and follow through with them.
The reason I bring this up is, like I said, that I halfway toyed with the idea of writing such a dimension-spanning work. And then I realized: I can't do human bioweapons again, because a) In Elysium and b) I just read a really good human bioweapons AU Kingdom Hearts fic last night and no doubt I would end up deriving from it. I can't do steampunk because of the steampunk anthology that I recently read. I can't do magic because it would inevitably end up borrowing from lynnyanne's Royaume 'verse. I can't do vampires because holy fuck are vampires overdone. I can't do zombies because I think zombies are dumb (I'm sure I just lost like six friends by saying that, sorry).
So what can I write about?
With the exception of fanfiction-which is easy, because the characters and (with exceptions) plots are already laid out for you-I really can't write very much that's my own. I say this because I'm considering attempting to write some kind of dimension-spanning epic with a wide cast of characters, etc. etc. and am realizing that not one idea I am coming up with is my own.
An examination of my collection of original fiction:
Heartbeat Like a Drum: Inspired by something that happened in real life. I mean, all right, I don't hook up with club bouncers in shady backrooms, but I did see a bouncer who I thought was hot.
Desiderata: Inspired, again, by true life (though in a closer-to-real way than HLAD).
Art is an Act of Vengeance: Again, inspired by true life.
Coffeeshop & Sleep: Too short to really even be considered "fics", but here's the breakdown: Coffeeshop was inspired by true life, and Sleep was inspired by this Tora/Saga fic by rheakurokawa.
By Dirigible: Possibly the first of my original fics that wasn't directly inspired by one particular thing, though I do believe I was reading a steampunk anthology when I wrote it.
Untitled: Inspired, weirdly enough, by a scene from on of the rent_a_gundam stories.
Five Love Songs: I can't remember what this was inspired by, but it was derived from something, I know that much.
Na Kolea: Again, semi-inspired by true life, in the sense that I spent a while hooker-spotting in Waikiki and thought about the subject.
What Am I Doing Here?: Inspired by an essay that I had to read (and write a reading journal on) for English class. The essay was about sex and alcohol and alcoholism and other such delightful subjects.
Could Have Been & On Family: From the heather_sky universe, and therefore not very original at all, actually.
The Alleluia Paradox: Similarly taken from a heather_sky offshoot AU roleplay between qc_heartless and myself, and so not very original.
The Cosa Nostra series & Quello che hai addomesticato: Inspired by a line from ronsard's fic The Keeper.
So as you can see, I'm not the type who can come up with world-traveling dimension-spanning adventures. I derive. I take other people's ideas and twist them, and try to build something on them. That's why I ultimately fail, I think; I don't have enough creativity of my own to be able to come up with lengthy ideas and follow through with them.
The reason I bring this up is, like I said, that I halfway toyed with the idea of writing such a dimension-spanning work. And then I realized: I can't do human bioweapons again, because a) In Elysium and b) I just read a really good human bioweapons AU Kingdom Hearts fic last night and no doubt I would end up deriving from it. I can't do steampunk because of the steampunk anthology that I recently read. I can't do magic because it would inevitably end up borrowing from lynnyanne's Royaume 'verse. I can't do vampires because holy fuck are vampires overdone. I can't do zombies because I think zombies are dumb (I'm sure I just lost like six friends by saying that, sorry).
So what can I write about?