Writing: Why do you do it?

[t_eyla]

I already posted this at wewriteinhell, but there are a few folks on the f-list who are not in that comm who might find this interesting/might feel like putting their two cents in. Sorry to all of you for whom this is a double-post

Comments

[mikes_grrl]

I love reading stuff like this, because to me it validates fanfic writing for all of us. Okay, it's not a master class in English literature, but for many it is where they get their start, or their regeneration, or the bravery to try writing outside their comfort zone.

It is really impressive to me, a native English speaker, that you put forth so much effort to do all of your writing in English. WOW! Would you consider, now, writing original fiction in your native language? Why or why not?

For me, I was raised to be a writer by a very determined mother, so I cannot remember a time when I was not purposefully working at writing -- I'm talking about from the time I was six or seven, so I'm probably a bad example. HOWEVER I will vouch that after I stopped writing for many years due to severe mental stresses, fanfic is what got me back into writing every single day which for a writer is SO important. It has brought me back to facing up my art, and while my original fiction still languishes in comparison, I am in fact writing. Every.

[t_eyla]

So many writers in fandom are active in some kind of job or other that involves language in some kind. Published writers, English teachers, editors, you name it. I think that anyone who says fanfiction is just a silly waste of time has no clue what writing fanfic is all about.

Would you consider, now, writing original fiction in your native language?
No. Writing is all about working with language, and I've always done it in English. If I started doing it in German now, I'd have to learn all those little things all over again--which words do what, how to use idioms and expressions, how to make a sentence flow, etc, etc. German is very different from English--I don't even like reading German fiction, just because German is not a language made for prose. It's a good language for poetry, but I never really got poetry.

Writing every day is important. Doesn't matter what it is you're writing; as long as you're writing, you're still a writer.

[chaoskir]

The first story I wrote was a story in kind of a diary. But my family has no idea from privacy or prive space or something like this and so, as I was in school my Mum found the book and read it than she --- well let us say she was more than irritated and very annoyed and --- well I didn't wrote that diary any longer. Instead of that I made poems and hided the book very well. She never found anything of my writing stuff again. Than as my partner's child was able to read (but disliked it) I wrote a fantasy-kids-story for him with himself as hero. And now I'm on a few House-fics but except of one evil Wilson story I'm not finished and not a bit satisfied.

[t_eyla]

I'm never happy with what I come up with. I think it's just what happens when you write. As soon as you're really, 100% happy with what you wrote, I think there's nothing else left to write. There always needs to be something left that you haven't said yet.

But it's good that you're writing again! Good luck with it. :)

[euclase]

I don't mean the kind of writing that you do when you're fourteen and writing an epic novel about your Mary Sue character meeting her hero

Why doesn't that count?

Your writing (and background with writing) always impresses and humbles me. I've always looked at writing as playtime, but I can't really remember *not* doing or thinking about it, so there's "serious business" in there somewhere, I guess. I can't talk about writing without talking about drawing, though, so that probably counts me out of this discussion. But I liked reading about you! :)

[t_eyla]

Hm, depends on how you went about your Mary Sue novel. I mean, every kid starts a novel at some point, don't they? But I think there's a point in a person's life where they either forget about the novel and never write again, or where they sit down and go, yes, I actually do want to write a novel; now how do I go about this? That's what I was talking about.

I can't talk about writing without talking about drawing, though, so that probably counts me out of this discussion.Why would it? I can't talk about writing without talking about fandom and art in general, because writing is just one way of expressing what you want to express. There are so many other methods you can use--vidding, or drawing, or any kind of creative activity, really. It basically all comes down to people trying to express something that's important to them. I'd be interested to hear about your take on writing and why you do it

[euclase]

where they sit down and go, yes, I actually do want to write a novel; now how do I go about this?

It wasn't especially conscious for me, but now I know what you mean, and I can see how people would have that moment, yes.

Why would it?

I think because of your statement about pushing yourself, about people trying to express what's important to them. Writing is much more about the act than the end result for me, and I don't really push myself to end up with something as much as I push myself to understand something. Writing for writing's sake. Drawing is the same. And they're connected the way hands and eyes are connected, and I don't know how to explain it very well

[t_eyla]

I don't really push myself to end up with something as much as I push myself to understand something
Hm, but isn't this kind of the same thing? An understanding of something is still an end result. I don't usually go back and think a lot about the stories I've written--because they're done. They're finished, the project's over, and the brain's already occupied with the next one. I don't usually throw my stuff out, because I do want other people to read it--maybe because I think that what I managed to understand while writing this story may be valuable to other people as well.

And I kind of see the connection between drawing and writing. I don't get it, but when I'm working out a plot, I often feel the urge to draw it. I'm impatient, I don't want to put a lot of effort into it, so what I end up with are scribbled stick-figures and a lot of arrows pointing this way and that, and the scribbles don't make sense to anyone, but they do help me work stuff out. I think this is probably not what you're talking about, because I'm not putting

[angeloblueflame]

Even though I'm still very, very green, it was indeed fandom. Because in a couple of the ones I like to dabble in, it impressed me how much more amazing fics I've read have ended up being compared to what the original writers did in canon (AHEEEEEM, there, Panzir/Davis) I have seen things that could definately be great movies.

There are many things I show to nobody, nowhere. It ends up as personal entertainment. But fanfic, original fic, whatever: If I'm not reading or writing something, I just feel like half my oxygen's been cut. It's really only been a year of dabbling. I only compete with myself, really. The challenge is, if I'm not more satisfied with things in another year, it's myself I'll be pissy with. Can't have that.

[t_eyla]

There's some brilliant stuff out there in fandom. The better stuff in fandom is, I'd say, probably usually better than the low-to-medium-average stuff in published literature. (And looking at S. Meyer--well, I've stopped reading fanfic that was better than her books because I thought the fic was badly written.)

It's always a competition with yourself. You write something, and then you write something else, because the first something just wasn't it. And that's how you get better, I think.

[wheatear]

I know a few people who are not native English speakers and it always amazes me how good they are. To not only be fluent in a second language, but to write really good fiction in that language as well (usually with better spelling and grammar than many native speakers) is something that I have great respect for.

[t_eyla]

I think if you're serious about it, it's something that you can definitely learn, and fairly quickly, too. It takes effort, but it's also very rewarding, because you're forced to really think about what it is you're doing, and where your weaknesses lie. And if you know that, you know what to avoid and what to look out for, and it's easier to improve your writing.