reading and writing fanfic

[tielan]

Is there anyone on the f-list who both reads a lot of fanfic and writes a lot of fanfic?

I tend to find that reading fanfic can throw me out of writing it - ideas that conflict with my own, new plotbunnies popping up all over the meadow, or a character depiction throwing me out of the writing mood. There are times when even the act of reading the f-list can be bad for my muse. Which is why I'm not very comment-y.

I find that people tend to be either writers or readers and was wondering if there are people who straddle both. And how do they find it?

Comments

[kellifer-fic.livejournal.com]

I both read and write.

Reading - I tend to stick to my flist and recs from same these days. I do fics by request quite often for shorter stuff and my longer stuff tends to be something that's been buzzing about my brain for a while.

I guess I might not find that much of a difficulty because the writers I read tend to have a pretty different style to me.

[saeva.livejournal.com]

So, I'm just going to live on your journal. *laughs*

I actually find that I'm the opposite from you -- not that I do much in the way of writing or reading lately. In the days before the Teylafen ficathon was due though I went scouring for Teyla fic, to see different interpretations, different ideas, things I might want to play with, others I wanted to avoid. I used a fic by my assignment (for a different fandom) as inspiration for the fic I wrote stylistically and must have re-read it eighty times to do so.

That's usually what I end up doing because I think that mostly I rift off of people better than just coming up with things out of thin air.

If I hadn't read Your Cowboy Days Are Over (http://www.butcheredart.net/Fiction/YourCowboyDays.html) I might never have had the guts to go through with the Atrela idea anyway because I spent a lot of time convincing myself people would hate it (given that OCs are generally not welcomed, even in SGA, and I'd never seen someone successfully explore these issues before).

However, once I *start* writing something I can't read anything in between beginning and reaching a stopping point (whether that be an end of a chapter or the end of a shorter fic) because it will throw me out. I'll start rifting on a new idea and lose threads or I'll lose character voice, etc.

So, a little of both. Though I don't know what you mean "How do they find it?" (I suspect this is a dialect issue.)

- Andrea.

[meghatron.livejournal.com]

I rarely read fanfic, even when it's recommended to me. Then again, I barely write fanfic more than once a year (the Draco/Ginny Ficmas on DGFF). So I probably shouldn't count.

Although I should say I would read a lot more fanfic if it were better written and paid attention to things like characterization and canon. But clearly that's just me, given the enormous audience that a lot of really crappy fanfics have.

[shusu.livejournal.com]

*drops by*

Sure. They tend to go hand in hand for me. Last week I spammed with two completed trilogies and churned out the databurst. But then, I can leave read-fic behind pretty easily. That's one reason why I even do the databurst -- I'd forget everything I read in the previous week, and I usually only take an hour or two a day reading.

It's preference, really. I find I have your difficulty when I'm reading or watching canon. Fanfic? Not so much.

[tielan]

I guess that, even when I do go out reading, I tend to stick with a handful of authors. Sometimes I browse sga_newsletter but even then I won't read more than a couple of the fics listed there.

I'm very much a 'grazer' when it comes to SGA fic - which is funny, because I used to be a 'full meal deal' kind of person...

What do you mean by a different style? Different characters? Different pairings? Different story focus? Or something else that's passed me by completely?

[tielan]

I can see why it would work the opposite for some people. There are times when I go around looking fic ideas, and some fics have inspired me in a new direction, while others have inspired me to avoid a concept at all costs! (And sometimes to write the same concept...only with my spin on it, and hopefully 'better' than the way they did...)

Though I don't know what you mean "How do they find it?" (I suspect this is a dialect issue.)

"How do you find the experience of being both a reader and a writer? Is it difficult? Easy? Something that you balance with care or something that you don't think about?"

So, yes, probably a dialect issue. :)

[tielan]

There are people whose fics I'm wary of clicking upon because I know that their representation of the characters isn't going to gel in my mind. Although, I suspect that there are people who feel the same way about reading anything I write.

And yeah, I'd probable read a lot more fanfic if I could be sure that I wasn't going to find so many lemons. I still remember the *shudder*-worthy days of Heliopolis and reading almost every single fic from A to Z.

[tielan]

Canon tends to inspire me - in this show, it's more often because the things that the characters do are not things I would have had them do, and so I head off into the wonderful world of fanfic to try to deal with what is unsatisfactory in canon.

(Which is possibly why BSG doesn't hit my fanfic buttons half as hard as Atlantis does. It's a lot more difficult for me to conceive the BSG characters doing anything other than what they do in the show.)

There's a meta in there about the difference between treating characters as pawns-in-the-story and treating them as people-in-a-universe. But not right now. :)

[grav-ity.livejournal.com]

Yes I do.

I started reading and then writing, and then kept reading because my friends were awesome and writing because the voices wouldn't stop.

And then life sort of got in the way of both and I can't do either as much as I like anymore, but I still make the attempt at both.

[kellifer-fic.livejournal.com]

Just... different to the way I write I guess. Different focus for the characters or way of storytelling... There are some pairings I read that I've never really written but that's not all I guess...

The writers on my list may be similar in their fandom choice but I get different things from them... I read janedavitt for my dark or hot fix... surrealphantast always gives me good team interation and friendship even if she's writing something shippy... paian gives me the angst I love that rips the heart out whereas skoosiepants gives me crack!fic that shouldn't be classed as crack!fic because it's just so wonderful...

And on and on and on... :) I tend to know what I get out of each person.

[settiai]

I do both pretty much equally. Of course, in my case, I'm currently extremely active in quite a few fandoms, so I think that might have something to do with it not bothering me. I'm so used to balancing canon details and story ideas for multiple fandoms (or, in the not-nearly-as-rare-as-they-used-to-be cases of crossvers, figuring out ways to make canon details and story ideas from two fandoms actually mesh together) that I have no problem reading fanfiction at the same time. I just file it away in a different drawer.

[saeva.livejournal.com]

Hey, you on? Up for IM? *still bored* Oh, and have you read Your Cowboy Days Are Over? It's really fantastic.

- Andrea.

[shusu.livejournal.com]

*g* I love everything SGA characters do. I like it more when they do it exactly wrong, partly because I'm sensitive to character archetypes and I've just seen it so. many. times. that SGA is a breath of fresh air -- a show dependent on the vitality of its acting for once and not the script.

Haha, the lure of meta. I do both at once. I describe my stories as kids, and in the past I've described my muses as kids in the backseat during a long car ride, hitting and poking and making each other scream -- but I can always stop the car or, I dunno, bribe them with slushies. What I say always goes, though.

[tielan]

I like it more when they do it exactly wrong,

You know, I have absolutely no issue with the things they do wrong - the things that the characters do "wrong" are precisely how I conceive them acting! (as presented by the bits and bobs of their character)

But I hate it when the writers seem to try to whitewash the characters' actions, or make them seem extra heroic just so they can be heroes. I find myself in a state of perpetual *wince* while watching.

[ubiquitous-girl.livejournal.com]

I used to do both, and I didn't find to much trouble switching between the two, cos I did them in totally different environments. But I haven't really written in yonks now, so I'm more a reader now. And I find it very hard to get back to writing.

[havocthecat]

Hm. I do both, but cyclically. When I'm reading a lot, I'm writing less, and vice/versa. Right now I'm in a writing cycle.

OTOH, I'm also cutting back on the roleplaying and that's partly because I miss writing. While creative collaboration is all well and good--there's something to be said for controlling your own universe too.

[madjm.livejournal.com]

I don't have much time for either anymore. But back in the day, when I wrote a lot, I read a lot, too. It didn't seem to bug me that much. Sometimes it would even inspire me to write more. Though, yeah, there is definitely the danger of spawning even more plotbunnies.

Of course, nowadays my main fandom is SGA, and that's not even much of an issue. J/T is about all I'm interested in reading, and you know very well there's not much of that. I have read some great Gen fic, and of course some Elizabeth/Ronon stuff as well. But this fandom is overwhelmingly Shep/McKay and Shep/Weir. I have no interest in either one.

[tielan]

there is definitely the danger of spawning even more plotbunnies.

*only wishes she could get Jamie to spawn a few extras*

[alliesings.livejournal.com]

On an average weekday, I'll read a couple of short fics. I'm almost always writing something, but unfortunately my attention span is almost never as long as the plot requires.

[madjm.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I know, I know. :)

[saeva.livejournal.com]

This is OT for the post, but not for the journal. *laughs* You know, I'm sitting here looking at sga_newsletter right now and staring a little at the fact that they have Extremes of Hot and Cold but not Sexplanations listed, considering that you posted them within a couple of hours of each other.

And I'm sort of wondering, do you find things like that happen often? Where they pick up certain fics of yours immediately but not others (with a clear bias)? Because I think I'm beginning to see that and I'd like to know if anyone else has noticed that too.

- Andrea.

[tielan]

Interesting.

I've noticed that some fics will take longer to turn up on sga_newsletter than others, and that it usually is the JT fics that take a while to be listed.

I'm wondering if it has to do with the personal preferences of the person who's doing the post - it sometimes seems as though there's absolutely no rhyme or reason to what gets included and what gets left out (at least when it comes to what's on my LJ).

Me

[cold-queen-5.livejournal.com]

I read alot of ff, and I write alot.

Reading & Writing Fanfic

[(Anonymous)]

I don't usually leave anonymous comments on LJs, but this is an interesting topic and since my ROZ bud, coldqueen, has added her cents worth, I'll provide mine.

I do both, but the writing is far more than the reading. Two reasons: I don't have the time and I don't want others' ideas influencing mine.

I stick to Ronon/Elizabeth and John/Teyla in the writing. On the reading side, I've enjoyed some really great fanfic, ship and gen, in the last few months since I switched over completely to Atlantis.

Because it's a newer show, the vibrancy and variations of the Atlantis fanfic are too good not to read.

And the writing for these evolving characters is a joy.

Two heads are definitely better than one, in ship and in fanfic.

Marianne