2015 choices

[tielan]

Now that I've got a house (or, well, possibly *had* a house - I think I left the gas stove burning this morning, sent my stepdad over there an hour ago and haven't yet heard back, which is reasonable if, say, the house is burning to the ground [eta: no, I didn't leave the gas on, so house is still intact - phew!]) and we're moved in, and it's mostly a case of trying to get little things done...

I have to start making choices for 2015.

To whit: exactly what I'm going to participate in this year.

So far, there's Halfamoon (helping to run), the MCU Ladies exchange (which I'm running), and I've just signed up for the Heroine Big Bang.

There'll be others later on in the year, I have no fear of that. But fandom writing is easy - it happens without thought, without thinking, without effort. (Okay, no, that's not quite correct - there is effort, it's just easy to get the plotbunnies hopping and once they're moving, the story tends to move so long as I write *something*.)

I want to write my own original fiction. I've never been published, nor been even close to publishing, but, you know, bucket list, et. al. And I know I can write better than some published authors - but it's best-selling authors, not best-writing authors in the end, and I have never ever ever been "one of the cool kids" whose writing attracts thousands through Clever Use Of Tropes and all the Same Old Same Old that people like to read and people like to write because it reinforces the status quo. ("The status is not quo!")

I need to set aside some time/space in which to force myself to write non-fannish stuff. Because if I just 'let it happen', then the fannish stuff will squeeze out the non-fannish: I've been writing fannish longer, there's an instant audience, and it's just easy.

So I have to make better choices this year about where I want to put my time. I'd like to finish a full-sized fiction manuscript before I'm 40, and given how fast I write, if I put my brain to it, I could write several. The problem is putting my brain to it.

One more big bang this year, I think - the Marvel one later this year. We'll see if Avengers II helps or hinders the bunnies, and there's at least one Big Ass fic I need to get out before Age of Ultron completely blows it out of the water. It may or may not end up being my MCU Ladies fic. (Yes, that one about Maria that I detailed a couple of weeks ago.)

Anyway, choices. Which means I have to start making habits now.

Comments

[beatrice_otter]

When I was younger, I wanted to be a published author. And I wrote two SF novels in college.

Then I realized that I enjoyed writing fanfic more, and the actual life of a writer was not for me. And that the reason that being published was so important to me was that any other artistic endeavor, family and rl friends would think was a great hobby, but they didn't see a point to writing for fun--aren't you ever going to try selling it? I mean, if I wanted to paint for my own enjoyment and never work at it, they wouldn't have batted an eyelash, and of course we're all very musical but only my Mom has ever even taught music, but writing for some reason wasn't a hobby it could only be a career.

And then I said, f that, I'm just gonna have fun writing fanfic.

But that's just me.

[tielan]

See, for me, I have stories I want to share, to tell other people, with characters who are their own people and not just shadows of other people's canons. I like creating worlds and interactions and individuals. It's just been very difficult the last fifteen years while getting caught up in the fun (and audience) of fanfic.

I love writing fanfic and would never leave it behind, but I've always had stories in me, and I'd like to share them with others, in a more formal setting, outside of fandom.