WIP challenge: day 17 check-in!

[littlebutfierce]

We're halfway through the weekend (sob): how's the fic going? Have you been able to get started with whatever you hoped to work on this weekend?

For discussion: ficwriter1966 suggested we talk about our first fics. When did you start writing fic? What was it like? Are you proud of that first fic? Any lol-worthy tales of Mary Sues & self-inserts? & what got you started writing fic, anyway?

Comments

[littlebutfierce]

Well, I think I've tidied up a fic enough to send it to beta in the next couple days (next couple days cuz I think the manga chapter it references is going to air as an anime episode this Monday, & my beta watches the anime but isn't v. far in the manga: & I don't want to spoil her!). That was my main goal for this weekend, so yay for me!

I also wrote a little bit more of OT3 fluff, which is always kind of soothing to me, & also I have so many OT3 stories in my head that it might get used at some point.

My first fic was 5 or 6 years ago -- a really terrible Obernewtyn piece. Then I didn't do anything at all until last year when I watched Oofuri & there was a kink meme & lo, suddenly I had fics I wanted to write. I'm still reasonably proud of the fics I wrote then -- & kind of amazed that I can see improvement in my writing even between then & now. That's really encouraging to me!

I must've written fic in high school when I joined the Mercedes Lackey fan club -- one of the things you could do was create a Herald persona for yourself (my first Mary Sue!) & I'm sure I must've then written actual fic, instead of just doing a character profile, but I have no memory of it. I'm sure it was lolarious though.

[jagnikjen]

Well, no major goals for the weekend, really. But I am looking forward to getting some writing done later and tomorrow, to get closer to finishing something postable. :)

First fics...lessee, I started writing fic about eight/nine years ago. They are all still posted to my fan site for that fandom and on FFN and still get read and favorited. I'm always surprised and pleased.

They weren't too bad in all honestly, for a beginning writer. The only thing I've really ever edited them for was punctuation and spelling.

I started writing it because a lot of what I read was not that great and I thought I could do better...so I tried. :)

[elistaire]

Just got my prompt challenges and am busy trying to figure out what to write!

First story--oh, no, so embarrassing. Song-fic of the worst sort, and also death-fic, and then my 'computer' died and it was swallowed into the ether never to return. Which was a damn good thing. So, my first *posted* fic was: The Siren, which I don't think is bad at all. I enjoy it as a comfort fic for the setting more than anything. But, the UST, oh, UST! It kills me every time.

[katzenjamming]

Today was a break day, I guess? I'm totally not any closer to completing that goal I made at the beginning of the week, though I did come up with some ideas to make some progress when I get the chance.

Hahahah, I get so embarrassed just thinking about my first fics! I can't remember which fic was the first I posted online, but they were so bad that when I rediscovered my FFnet account about ten years, the first thing I did was take down all my old ones. A few of the earlier ones were in that terrible script format (no, I don't mean screenplay), but there was plenty of bad prose to go around. (To give myself some credit, it wasn't the worst stuff, but not really good either.) And yes, I did have an OC or two that probably were terrible Sues.

Interestingly, though I did a lot of "crackfic" stuff that gets me to cringe nowadays, I feel like I was better at humor back then. Or maybe I'm just more self-conscious about my grade-school brand of humor? :P

[linaewen]

I actually did some work on a piece for a challenge -- which was due yesterday, but I'll be late submitting it. No actual writing took place, but I did some research and thought through some ideas, and was content. I will try writing some words tomorrow!

I first started writing fic about 9 years ago, and my first proper tale was a short piece in the Lord of the Rings fandom -- which ended up becoming the prologue to a much longer work after readers wanted more of the same. I'm very proud of that story and plan to go back to it at some point and teak it a bit, to make certain aspects more accurate with times and dates.

[bay_alexison]

Posted one of my fics at LJ's springkink community earlier today. One of my friends commented on it, saying she like it a lot and that my story of the pairing (that we both love) is refreshing from the other stories of that pairing. I then was able to add a little over 600 words to another springkink fic and finished it! It's very very rough but I plan to edit the heck out of it before the deadline.

I started writing both original and fan fic in high school. Back then I'm not great with grammar, having a bunch of tense mistakes and awkward sentences scattered around. Later on though I had improved with grammar, but I still tend to get those grammar mistakes once in a while.

[eggcrack]

I was about 12 when I first started writing fic. I was going through hard times in my life and discovering Star Wars was a huge life-improving thing for me, and eventually I started writing fic for it. I had been writing original stories about an original character for a while, so I crossed her over to the Star Wards world and Sued her up, and wrote lots of hurt/comfort tales with her. They were pretty awful and way too telling of my mental state of those days, but I'm glad I wrote them.

[ficwriter1966]

No writing so far this weekend - I've got an idea in mind that's being very stubborn about gelling in my head.

I started ficcing when when I was about 11 - I loved a lot of the sci fi TV shows on at the time, and I wrote down on school notebook paper what had happened in a particular episode. Wrote my first original fic in 1966 (that's where my user name comes from), a really terrible Mary Sue for the old Batman show. My mom told me never to throw away anything I wrote, so I still have it - it's a good touchstone for seeing how much my writing has changed over the years!

What started me writing fic? Honestly, it was a place to escape to. I was a very, very shy little kid, and that imaginary universe was exciting and friendly.

[littlebutfierce]

Oh, I love when old fics get comments or bookmarked!

Hope you've managed to get some writing done this weekend -- though having a few days w/o a big writing goal is good to have once in a while too. :)

[littlebutfierce]

Exciting! I hope you're feeling energized by your prompts & not terrified. ;)

& hehehehe re: the songfic. I'm kind of glad a lot of my early writing (not just fic) took place before posting things on the internet was more usual... ^^;;;

[littlebutfierce]

Breaks are definitely necessary!!

At least being embarrassed about our old fics means we've made progress, I suppose?

Crack fic is made for grade-school type humor, so I don't think there's a problem there! :D

[littlebutfierce]

Yay for research & thinking through the fic! Good luck getting some words down today.

That's really great that your first fic ended up developing into a huge one because it was so well-received!! I'm glad you had such supportive & encouraging readers too.

[littlebutfierce]

Woo, yay for posting your fic & getting some positive feedback right away! Good luck editing the other piece.

[littlebutfierce]

Those fics sound like they were really cathartic! Sometimes we need fic like that, even if we never show it to anyone else (actually sometimes it's better if we don't show it to anyone else -_-;;;). I'm glad it got you writing fic!!

[littlebutfierce]

I hope the idea coalesces into something you can translate into words soon -- maybe it just needs a bit more incubation time?

That's fantastic that you still have that first Mary Sue!! Awesome.

& yeah, I think fic can be a really comforting, useful thing for a lot of people.

[lilly_c]

I'm taking a little break from my fic this weekend. My new flatmates have moved in yesterday so I'm trying to be sociable rather than reclusive :)

I think I started writing fic when I was about 9 or 10 which was right around the time X-Files came into my life. I grew up with show. Thankfully nothing ever got any further than my notebooks but I do remember them been extremely angsty. Can't remember ever writing Mary Sues or self inserts though. I got started because of the bad things going on at home and at school, in a way it, writing fic, along with writing music was therapy more than anything else because it helped me get a lot of bad thoughts/images out of my head.

[littlebutfierce]

I hope your flatmates are nice!

I think fic can be really helpful & therapeutic that way -- & I think it's possible to write cathartic fic that's still quality fic, for all my comments about Mary Sues etc.

[elistaire]

Definitely energized! I'm up to page 12!

Songfic...my ultimate shame!