Growing as a writer

[valis2]

Right now I've been posting fic at the Archive Of Our Own. I'm enjoying the hell out of not having to reenter the header info for every single chapter. I like the interface, and thanks to the brilliance that is saruwatari, I have been putting in the original posting date for everything so it appears in order.

Anyway, I'm mostly scanning the stuff as I post it just to make certain the HTML works, but there have been a few that I've reread. I started writing fanfic in my head at a very young age, of course, but I always thought that it was embarrassing to put on paper and I never did until I met bookwench2096. After seeing the Mummy about a dozen times in the theater, she started writing a fanfic, which made me realize that I could, too, and I typed a few up on my manual typewriter and enjoyed the hell out of the experience.

I found the internet and ingested tons of fanfic, starting October 2003. I started writing HP fanfic after that. And it's so interesting to reread the things I've written over the past six years in fandom. My brain tends to think of myself as unchanging, and the fics as interchangeable, but actually, I think I've improved. It's really hard for me to even think this because of the way I was raised, but I do think that I've gotten better, and I'm feeling a sense of satisfaction over it. And guilt. ha!

I'm also intrigued by style. I've noticed different tones to my writing. Sometimes I like to get very lyrical, and sometimes I am stripped down, and sometimes middle-of-the-road. Makes me think that I have no style, which is distressing, but maybe there are similar elements in these tones that I'm overlooking.

Writing is a journey, and I'm starting to understand it a little better, which is heartening.

Comments

[lindahoyland.livejournal.com]

I used to make up stories in my head about characters in Enid Blyton books when I was about 9, so I've been creating fanfic for a long time,so it seems LOL. My first stories were Star Trek (still on ff.net) and I started writing LOTR in 2004, but I shudder to read my early efforts! Thanks for sharing your experiences.

[valis2.livejournal.com]

I've always thought of parallel stories while reading or watching anything. I've always inserted myself as a character and enjoyed the experience very much. I had no idea that other people did that, too, until the internet! So fascinating to see that so many other people want to immerse themselves in other worlds. :)