Fanfic writers poll

[mhalachai]

Howdy to all the fanfic writers in the crowd. How are you doing? Good to hear!

Let's talk fanfic writing. I was curious about how *you* write your fanfic. Please feel free to fill out the poll below, and pimp to anyone you think might like to chime in.



[Poll #696703]

If you have anything to say, add, or explain, please do so in comments!

Comments

[uforeah.livejournal.com]

I had to post a comment mainly because I don't think I have ever been the first person to comment on one of your posts before.

And ummm...what is the diff between post and pre canon?

And why no box for Merry?

[mhalachaiswords.livejournal.com]

Hi there!

Pre-canon happens before the series starts, so before Harry was left on the Durselys' doorstep. Post-canon is after the last published item of canon, or if there's a set time frame, like HP, then after book 7

No box for Merry as I sort of ran out of space and/or forgot :( But I ticked off the "Other Book" category for that :)

[bleedtoblue.livejournal.com]

I also write fanfiction for manga.

[mhalachaiswords.livejournal.com]

Pardon my extreme ignorance -- anime is, well, animated, while manga is in comic book form?

[beachmouse.livejournal.com]

Style- I really don't have any easiest or hardest type to write in terms of timeline. It's more of a case that the story concept just kind of bubbles up from somewhere and then fits in wherever it fits in.

[mhalachaiswords.livejournal.com]

Gottcha. Some people find a certain style, so I'm glad you commented. Thanks :)

[emeraldswan.livejournal.com]

Very few people, I notice, find it easy to write crossovers. Me, I love them.

How're you?

[mhalachaiswords.livejournal.com]

I personally love the crossovers. Percentage-wise, I write them more than any other thing. Unless you include drabbles, which I'm not for the purposes of my point.

As for life, I'm all like whoa.

No, seriously, I'm good. I've got a writing plan -- finish one scene and write another (both short) for my next Inevitable chapter tonight, then tomorrow write the next/last long LOOOONG scene for the chapter. It's all action and woe and I need to do it in one setting. I think tomorrow AM at Starbucks will do nicely.

Other than that, things are meh. Applied for another job today. Maybe I'll win the lottery tomorrow night and I'll never have to work again. Yeah, right.

[eavling.livejournal.com]

I've written fanfiction, just never posted it nor never had any sort of style or point to it. They were just daydreams that quickly petered out. My writing ability is not so great as to sustain the current of my imagination.

Some of the most fantastic stories I've ever written are dreams that I immediately wrote down; they read like sci-fi movie scripts. Do you ever get inspiration from your dreams? Like, 'all of a sudden my left hand was a foot, and I was walking on the wall' translates into 'werewolves rebounding off of walls in fights?'

[mhalachaiswords.livejournal.com]

I don't often get inspirtation from dreams, per say. Although I had an odd dream last night where my righ hand was cut off, twice. I think that means I'm writing too much (I'm right-handed).

[celandineb.livejournal.com]

Here via daily_snitch. Just FYI, I answered all the questions up to "what are your fandoms" specifically for the Harry Potter fandom - but some of my answers would be different for the other two fandoms I write, Lord of the Rings and Pirates of the Caribbean.

[mhalachaiswords.livejournal.com]

Makes sense. I slapped this all together thinking multi-fandom, as I tend to write crossovers so often I don't consider myself having "one" fandom. I forget sometimes that there are more people who are't me, in the world, than are ;)

[mary-re.livejournal.com]

I haven't written much more than drabbles in a while, woefully, but in drabbles, I've written just about every character you could think of from HP at one time or another!

I've only written for two fandoms, I think because I just am not certain enough with the canon of fandoms other than HP (because I've been involved in the HP fandom for so long), and I worry about writing characters utterly ooc, because I hate when other people write characters badly. I'm more than willing to read new fandoms, however, even including fandoms whose shows I've never seen (SGA, for example, because omg teh hawt). I've read fic in just about every fandom you listed at one time or another, and other fandoms besides them. I truely have too much free time.

Lessee...In response to getting-to-know-you question #1: I'm just about coming up on my 2-year fic-writing anniversary. God, I feel like an utter geek, especially considering I've been reading fic since probably 1999. *adjusts 'I am a HP-geek' badge uncomfortably*

[mhalachaiswords.livejournal.com]

Your icon has captivated me. That's art, baby.

When did GoF come out? Five months after that is when I first pickd up a HP book. I feel like a late-comer to the fandom. Same with AB -- I only started reading after NiC came out. That's okay, thought. Book fandoms are cheaper to catch up on than TV fandoms :P

[watcher457.livejournal.com]

i've only written in three fandoms, and that's anita blake and harry potter. the third is an original series by a friend of mine. i have written almost all of those styles and i tend to be rather comfortable. i've never tried to do a crossover, except to dabble in the world you created, which is the ultimate crossover and amazing.

[mhalachaiswords.livejournal.com]

which is the ultimate crossover and amazing.

It'll certainly be hard to top. That is, if it ever *ends*. 326,612 words is TOO MANY and there's many more to come.

Is your AB stuff posted somewhere?

[christycorr]

[Hi there! Here via daily_snitch.]

Um. Yeah, I've written fanfiction for manga too.

Interesting poll! I have to agree with beachmouse, though: it's the story concept that makes it hard for me, not the timeline. I checked "post-canon", though, because the idea of writing Triofic, especially post-War, makes me want to chortle something and/or throw myself out the window.

Oh, and... seven males, look at that. *laughs* Definitely not something easy to find in the HP fandom.

[mhalachaiswords.livejournal.com]

I checked "post-canon", though, because the idea of writing Triofic, especially post-War, makes me want to chortle something and/or throw myself out the window

You think there's death and despair to be had, then? Me too.

Yeah, there certainly is a low number of HP fanfic writers on LJ that are male. It's almost odd. This quiz is sort of skewed toward HP, but I wonder how representative that is across all fandoms. There have to be some fandoms with more guys than girls writing fanfic, right?

[snakeling]

I couldn't answer the slash question, because while I think there is huge subtext for my OTP (Harry/Snape, *points to icon*), I've never referred to it in my fics.

I chose AU as the hardest to write, because when I say AU, I mean "what if" stories, where you diverge from actual canon, but still have to keep the story believable and close to canon.

Nice poll :)

[mhalachaiswords.livejournal.com]

Like "what if James had lived but Lily did not? kinds of stories? I'm not a huge fan of writing those myself.

Thanks :)

[faith1922.livejournal.com]

Whoops, that's a un poll. I think it's funny how many writers kill of canon characters. Me, I just can't go too long without killing someone off.

And how come people have such problems with Crossovers? It's where totally crazy schemes and ideas are least likely to be found out and criticized.

Anyway, interesting results all around. And I find I'm not your usual writer...

[mhalachaiswords.livejournal.com]

Crossovers have just the littlest bit greater suspension of disbelief, which I'm all in favour of.

I'm not the usual writer either. I'm pro crossovers (as I think it apparent to all the regulars around here).

[shopteacher-guy.livejournal.com]

I always suspected that most fanfiction writeres were female, but wow..
Maybe us guys just don't participate in polls??*G*

[mhalachaiswords.livejournal.com]

No, I think the gender spread is accurate. Also, as a caveat, there is a disproportionate level of HP writers here, and LJ is also rather female at times.

[thekams.livejournal.com]

Sometiems, I write fic if I get an idea stuck in my head and just need to get it out, but mostly, I need a prompt. I find it hard to think of ideas myself, but give me a prompt, and I do pretty good. So far, mostly just HP fic...I may branch out someday, though...you never know ;)

[mhalachaiswords.livejournal.com]

Do you drabble? I find that when I'm stuck for ideas a drabble or two helps. hp100 is a godsend sometimes for that :)

[goldandamber.livejournal.com]

I didn't think about till now, but I have a tendency to create my own character in said word. Or at least the couple I've been working on have. Done 2 so far for Anita Blake world and working on a BTVS/HP crossover, where my main character is a Blind Slayer. I give my characters more flaws than an LKH book *grins wickedly*

[mhalachaiswords.livejournal.com]

A well-done OC is better, in my mind, than an OOC canon character. That's the fun part about fanfic, putting our own spins on the worlds.

I give my characters more flaws than an LKH book

You mean like spelling mistakes or just character flaws? *ducks*

[tamerterra.livejournal.com]

*tries to click Pre-canon, AU and Missing Scenes*

I tend to do for 'Missings Scenes that didn't happen, but could have done at any point during canon.'

[crazy-vasey.livejournal.com]

I knew that fanfiction authors tended to be mostly female but that's one spectacularly skewed ratio showing up in that poll.

[mhalachaiswords.livejournal.com]

95%? hella yah. It's a bit much. I'm wondering why it's so intense, myself.

[laney-1974.livejournal.com]

I'm all about the crossovers. Don't ask me why, but I can't seem to find anything interesting to write for just straight fics. Though, I've been contemplating venturing into Atlantis fandom... AFTER I finish everything else. So, basically, I'll be writing Buffy/Stargate forever. :)

[mhalachaiswords.livejournal.com]

We alreayd *know* what happens in the straight fic. Tossing two worlds together is funner than putting OC stuff into a single fandom fic (and you suddenly have twice the audience. It's great fun)

Atlantis

What season are they in, anyway? Do I need to know what's happened on SG-1 since the end of season 5 to get Atlantis? I'm tempted to buy the DVDs.

[nimbus1944.livejournal.com]

Blimey. All of a sudden, I'm in a 5% minority. I feel so oppressed and downtrodden. ;)

[page-r.livejournal.com]

Like, ZOMG I never would have believed that there were that many writers crammed into such a small space around here @_@

I just wanted to add to the GIGANTIC set of replies because of how many things I wanted to answer 'depends!' on.

You didn't add as a possible fandom 'real life characters' Although I am strongly against this within certain fandoms (ie: Harry Potter = EEW 14yr olds!) I have to say I am a sucker for a few other areas of stalking famous people through fanfiction.

also: CROSSOVERS-4-EVAR! *pumps fists* Even if Voldemort being a vampire may scare little children - it won't stop me!!!!

[mhalachaiswords.livejournal.com]

I hadn't thought about RP fic. It seldom crosses my mind, as most of what I hear about is the rather terrifying Dan Radcliffe + Emma Watson = TWU WUV scariness.

Voldemort doesn't need any help to scare small children (heck, I watched That Scene in GoF last night and was creeped out). But oh man, who he gets to work for him... tee hee. Crossovers rok my sox

[dhark-charlotte.livejournal.com]

I went ahead and did your poll, even though I am currently working on my first ever fic + related ficlets. The characters talked to me for about 3 months until I finally gave in...

Crossovers are my favorite and I found it easier to jump in that pool than any other.

[mhalachaiswords.livejournal.com]

Crossovers are my drug of choice, as I think everyone knows. And yay for fanfic! What fandom(s) are you in?

Fanfiction writing

[(Anonymous)]

I couldn't get the poll to work for me but that might have something to do with me not being a member. Oh well.
Personally I write when ever an idea forms and I write until I can't write anymore (which doesn't often happen at the end of the fic). I don't remember when I started reading and writing fanfiction but I do know it was the year before the 4th Harry Potter book came out (I know cause I got tired of waiting for the book to come out and started reading fics and writing my own). Since then I've progressed to Buffy, X-men, Some Manga/Anime, Anita Blake, and Eragon. But writing crossovers are my all time favorties. It's really an art figuring out how to make the characters meet, how they fit into the same world, how they relate emotionally, who's the tougher hero, and that sort of thing.

Well I just thought to share my comments since I can't seem to answer in on the poll.

-Mashell