When I was younger I did a lot of fan fiction writing. Not the only thing of course, but it was definitely a stepping stone in my process of becoming a better writer. There is some ease in taking characters that aren’t yours and making them into something that is and putting them through their paces, seeing how they react to situations you come up with. I’m not going to say that fan fiction isn’t real writing, because of course it is.

All my fan fiction was done before the Internet was a big thing, so few people ever saw or read it besides myself. Maybe things would have been different if I’d had a wider audience, or maybe not. My fanfic of choice was Star Trek, and I even had some books of collected stories from Trek magazine. Probably still do.

To me, fan fiction of any stripe lets you be creative with a safety net. You already know these people (or think you do). Sure, you can Mary Sue the heck out of someone (and the term itself comes from Star Trek fan fiction), but you don’t become a good writer if  you don’t write a lot of bad stuff along the way.  But fanfic lets you write something in a familiar universe and explore it in a way you might not otherwise be able to, and that’s an important part of being creative.

This has been a hard year, writing wise, mostly dry. Not for lack of time, just for lack of effort. Need to get my rear in gear and start writing something, anything. After all, a muse doesn’t respond if you ignore it.

]]> http://www.merindabrayfield.com/?feed=rss2&p=180 1 http://www.merindabrayfield.com/?p=177 http://www.merindabrayfield.com/?p=177#comments Mon, 15 Feb 2010 16:57:11 +0000 Merinda http://www.merindabrayfield.com/?p=177 This is something that was running around the internet a lot yesterday, but something I’m definitely struggling with of late:

Overcoming Creative Blocks

One common thread in many of these is letting yourself be distracted. I know for me, sometimes, I find my best ideas come in the shower. Another one seems to be getting up and going somewhere, whether it’s a walk or Tibet. I think I might just take a walk today, I do spend too much time in the house

http://betweentheticks.blogspot.com/2010/02/march-method.html

In fact, I’ve had that tab open for, well, a week. He’s right though, writer’s write, and it’s something I’ve been very remiss about. I should be writing whether I feel like it or not, and whether I’m in the throes of hot inspiration or not.

I’ve been in a bad rut of not writing, of late. I’m sure that’s part of why I failed so hard at nanowrimo this year; I was out of the habit of writing. I’ve found, from personal experience, that if you can just get back into the habit of writing, then your muse will start coming round again, maybe even bringing cookies.

When do I write best? For me, either first thing in the morning or late in the evening after hubby goes to bed. I’m married to a noise person who always has to have the TV on or music going, when I need near silence to write. And since my writing space is the living room, it’s not like I have the right to tell him to stop everything.

So, that said, I’m putting up this post and pushing up my sleeves. Feel free to poke me and make sure I’m writing and not fiddling around on Farmville.

2010 Amazon Breakthrough Novel Award

Deliberate

By this I mean to take responsibility for my actions. And to act. I’ve a terrible habit of procrastinating and letting myself just drift along in life. I know it won’t be perfect, but it’s a start. Right now I’m on vacation, so, as far as I’m concerned it really starts when I set foot back in my house, but even here there are things I can do. So, hey look, a blog post. I think I might also start posting some of my photography here too, we’ll see.

And this is helping me get interested again in my own work. I’d quit shopping “The Unthinkable” around, so maybe I’ll take another crack at it, or else look at self publishing.

How is everyone elses nano’s going?