On writing

[indybaggins]

I want to start posting here more often again! So a meme on writing - feel free to steal it if you want to do it too!

🍓 How did you get into writing fanfiction?

I was one of those kids who had a feral childhood back in the nineties. My mother would work evenings and I'd be left alone to watch TV and put myself to bed, so I remember watching The X-Files from the time that I was like, 8? So once we got our first computer I looked it up, found fanfiction, and read it vicariously. After that came Lord of the Rings, which was the first fandom I wrote in. 



🍇How many fandoms have you written in?

Many! Maybe fifteen? 

🍈How many years have you been writing fanfiction?

*whispers* - Twenty-two years (dear lord how is that true). To be fair, those first fics were absolutely horrible. I wrote them in English which isn't even my first language (or my second) so they went something like 'Sam give kiss to Frodo, it was niiiiice.' 

🍎Do you read or write more fanfiction?

It really depends. For a long time I wrote more, I was very active in fandom all through my twenties. Then the thirties hit and an intense job and a partner and kids and I found it very hard to combine that fandom identity with all the demands from the real world. So I drifted away from fandom and interacting, but kept on reading fic to get me through the hard times. Now I'm making a conscious effort to put myself out there again, to write and share and engage, because I DO love that it's part of who I am. 

🍌What is one way you've improved as a writer?

I've always had betas, so that's always my first advice. Other than that, marrying my Britpicker was a stroke of genius lol. (Yes, we met through fandom, living in different countries. We were best friends and fandom writers for years, then confessed our love, came out, had kids, got same-sex married because hell yes. Now we're raising little bilingual kids and living our best lives). 

🍑Do you have any bad habits as a writer?

I write best when I write what I myself want to read. As soon as I start considering what the fandom might want or what will get me the most comments I feel like it becomes less interesting. 

🍍 What's the weirdest topic you researched for a writing project?

Rigor mortis and post-mortem erections. Yes, that fic is out there somewhere on my AO3. 

🍉What's your favourite type of comment to receive on your work?

The long ones! The ones quoting their favourite bits! The ones from friends! The ones from entirely new readers! The ones where they just shout at me in excitement! The ones that are analysing the characters! ...all of them, basically. I LOVE COMMENTS OKAY

🍐What's the most fringe trope/topic you write about?

I'm a poly shipper. I actually have an 'OT3' tattoo, I got it years and years ago as a little joke to myself thinking that I could get it covered up some day when I grew up and became serious about life. I still have it and love it! 

🥭What is the hardest type of story for you to write?

The hardest ones can be the most rewarding ones. Writing 'A Warm Gun' (about trans Martin) was very difficult and triggering at times for me, especially the first sex scene. But I did it anyway, and it's one of the most healing fics that I ever wrote. I really want to write a sequel, actually, nine years later. But it will bring up a lot. 

🍏What is the easiest type?

I enjoy character-driven angst, and some interesting sex is always fun ;) 

🍑Where do you do your writing? What platform? When?

At home behind my desktop at night when everyone is asleep. During the day in a cafe with my laptop after the school drop-off. 

🍋What is something you've been too nervous/intimidated to write, but would love to write one day?

I tend to love a challenge! Oh, wait, I know - Harry Potter. I have loved Severus Snape for a very long time and I always thought that I'd write him some day. But now with what the books have become associated with... Yeah. 

🍇 what made you choose your username?

Indy from Indiana Jones, because it's a pretty name that I thought was fairly gender neutral. And Baggins because I was a pervy hobbit fancier at the time lol.

Comments

[pauraque]

I write best when I write what I myself want to read. As soon as I start considering what the fandom might want or what will get me the most comments I feel like it becomes less interesting.

Yes, same. I think a lot of people have had the experience of coming to fandom with no preconceptions and just writing whatever, and then learning more about what's commonly written and what people expect and developing inhibitions based on that or writing what the "market" wants, and then realizing that isn't fun and going back to just writing what makes us happy.

[indybaggins]

Yes, exactly! But then it's hard as well because I do really love comments and fandom engagement, and sometimes when you're out there doing your own thing it feels like no one cares. Which isn't true of course! But yes, that's the lesson that I have learned, always write for yourself and the rest is a bonus *g*

[thatjustwontbreak]

This meme makes me so nostalgic for livejournal!

So I drifted away from fandom and interacting, but kept on reading fic to get me through the hard times.

Something that I love about fandom is that we can kind of ebb and flow with how much time we're putting in, as well as how we're engaging with it. It also feels to me like the norms don't change as much, but in a reassuring way. Like, commenting on dreamwidth or chatting about fic kind of feel the same as they did in the early aughts.

[author_by_night]

Yes! I love the ebb and flow. I actually thought I was completely done with fandoms, or at least the fic side of them (still very much into chatting about things I love), then found a new one a few years later.

[indybaggins]

I didn't write for 7 years and then got back into it, so everything is possible! *g*

[indybaggins]

Exactly! It can be a comforting background presence in your life, or it can be a full-blown active hobby, and it's allowed to go in between the two depending on where you are in your life.

[tellshannon815]

I'm much the same with writing what I want to write - ask anyone in the Lost fandom, I will try any character once, and that very often involves the characters who aren't particularly fan favourites, who aren't even always well liked, who aren't in that many episodes. Focusing on one particular ship in the main cast doesn't really appeal to me.

[indybaggins]

It can be so nice to try and find the stories that haven't been told yet <3

[kat_lair]

Ah yes, The X-Files was a gateway fandom for me as well. And I too met one of my partners via fandom :D

[indybaggins]

Haha we have a lot in common! :D

[walgesang]

Ooh, I like this meme and this was a very fun read! :D I miss how I used to just write anything that popped into my head but omg my writing is so, so much better when it's beta'd. A drabble is just about the only thing I'll allow to post without a beta but honestly I've checked in with someone once or twice even for just 100 words! It's always useful for me.

[indybaggins]

Betas are life! I don't know why so many writers seem to be against them. It's a lovely way to build community, and to learn from one another as well.

[walgesang]

Yes! I am really so fortunate to have a beta who is also a good friend. ♥ I feel like I need betas who aren't afraid to say "this just doesn't work" or "I don't understand what you're trying to convey here" because it helps make my writing so much better.

p.s. I noticed this post is under a lock so I'd like to be able to post this meme but would you rather I not link it back to you? Just wanted to check! :)

[indybaggins]

I didn't particularly mean to lock this post, I think that it's just my journal standard? I unlocked it, and I don't mind if you want to link to it :)

And I think that it takes a bit of guts to tell someone that their writing isn't quite working? I always loved my betas the most when they were willing to tell me the truth. Or well, not always in the moment lol, there have been tears, but afterwards I was always happy to have had the chance to learn. With English not being my first language it's been a sharp learning curve at times, but I do feel so glad that I can just go ahead in write in English now.

[walgesang]

Oh, no pressure to do so! I'm always just careful if I read something on someone's journal under a lock if they'd prefer to keep it private. Thanks!

Exactly! This is why I'm not a great beta for SPAG but I'm always up for everything other than that. :D I'm always super impressed with folks who can write in more than one language! I always thought maybe I'd take a stab at a drabble in French but even that would be difficult as I'm not good at it at all! Meanwhile I've had folks who have translated my fic into Chinese, Russian and French which always makes me go ::hearteyes:: because I don't have those translation chops at all.

[author_by_night]

. We were best friends and fandom writers for years,

Timeline question, if I may. You say you drifted from fandom after getting married - did you both drift away after meeting, or was this a second marriage?

I definitely recommend beta readers, and I think ALL writers could benefit from them. It's so easy to see how something should look in our heads and not realize how it actually comes across to readers, or to miss typos, etc.

As soon as I start considering what the fandom might want or what will get me the most comments I feel like it becomes less interesting.

Yeah, that's such an easy trap to fall into. For me, I am very much a gen writer. Even my ship-focused fics tend to be more about the emotional aspects of the relationship than the romantic or sexual ones. Though I don't know, to me characters just... being together doing a thing IS deeply romantic, even if they're not necessarily whispering sweet nothings or having sex. In any case, this has historically meant fewer kudos and comments. But I definitely think it's more fun to just do what you want.

[indybaggins]

We were best friends and fandom writers for years, then confessed our love, came out, had kids, got same-sex married -- it was in that order haha, it was mainly because of study/work and then having kids that it was very challenging to keep on engaging with fandom as well.

I love being a beta as well, and I keep on offering it to people in an 'if you want to bounce some ideas off me' sort of a way but no one takes me up on it any more, I wonder if fandom culture has shifted away from that a bit?

characters just... being together doing a thing IS deeply romantic Yes, I fully agree! A good conversation is also really interesting to read.