Writing for the first time
I always come up with these stories in my head that I want to write out, but when I sit down and do it I get lost in the detail and fret about being a sucky writer.
I’ve drawn my own comic book in high school, which I felt more comfortable doing since I’m an okay artist and I’m good with layout. A couple years ago, I attempted a webcomic, which didn’t work out at all. I had the plot and characters all ready to go, but then I realized that my artistic and computer abilities were lacking. Producing those pages took FOREVER (actually I couldn’t get pass the first page). In high school the comic book was sketched out and colored with pencils. Web comics required penciling (slow as molasses), inking (I suck at), scanning (keep forgetting what husband showed me), and using a computer program to color (suck at again, and I hate to rely on husband). It didn’t help that I got a friend into webcomics whom was belting out pages like nobody’s business. So I abandoned it and sadly all my work with plot and characters were wasted.
Recently I went on one of my obsessions. It was with an animated show called Saiyuki, which led me back to fanfiction. The last I read fanfiction was in 2000, which wasn’t as easy to access as it is now a days. I found this website FanFiction.com that made it very easy. After reading a few bad writings, I start to think, “Hey, I can’t be that bad.” And if a 13-year-old (I don’t know about you but at thirteen I was scared to do anything) can post something crappy than I can too. So I belted out a few chapters (quite haphazardly, I might add) and some people actually liked it. Made me feel all good inside and write like 11 more chapters, so now I’m addicted even when my Saiyuki obsession had already faded away.
I’ve also started to write out what was supposed to be my webcomic, and it is way more instant gratification now. I love it! It’s so neat to watch my stories take on a form outside of my head. I’m only on chapter 5 with that one because there isn’t someone saying, “please update” like they do on ff.com, but it’s still fun.
I'm on LJ now, because I noticed that quite a few fanfiction writers are here, Ranma (the other fandom I use to read) and Saiyuki, whom are the only writers I know. I’m here basically to keep my obsession alive. I’ve noticed that when I have someone to share it with, it can last a long time and I’m having way too much fun for it to end anytime soon.