my new hobby? creative outlet? obsession? all of the above...

[owlmoose]

Something that many people don't know about me is that when I was young, I was going to be a writer when I grew up. I went into detail about this way back in one of my first posts to this LJ. The gist of it is that I used to be a writer, and then I wasn't, and the change was so gradual that I didn't even notice.

Back then, madlorivoldmort suggested that I try writing fanfiction. I considered the idea but dismissed it, because I was thinking that I had become more of a nonfiction writer, that fiction wasn't really my thing anymore. Certainly I have a lot more experience with the former, given that almost all my writing since high school has been in the form of papers.

But something there must have taken root. One of my hobbies while I was unemployed last year was playing video games. Mostly story-based role-playing games, mostly in the Final Fantasy series. And some of the characters from one of them took root in my brain and wouldn't go away. For a month, I composed a "what happened next scenario" in my head. It eventually became clear that it wasn't going to go away until I wrote it down. So I did. And then spent a couple of months expanding and polishing it. And then finally got up the guts to post it on the Internet. Where it caught a couple of positive reviews -- nothing overwhelming, just enough to keep my confidence up. The day I got the first one, I was so blown away. I wrote something, and someone else read and enjoyed it. I can't even really describe how cool that was.

Anyway, that story idea lead to another, and I found myself writing a long piece. Like, possibly a novel length work, which is still in progress. But that's not even the most interesting thing.

As I was writing fanfic, I also started reading more of it. I came across a work in progress about some of the characters I often work with. It was an excellent story that really drew me in, so I left a thoughtful review. Well, the author was so pleased by my review that she made a point of letting me know how much she appreciated it. Then she read one of my stories and left me an equally thoughtful and glowing review. We began reading each others' LJs (I have a separate one for my writing activities - kjswritinglog) and swapping reviews and advice.

A couple of weeks later, she mentioned on her LJ that the piece that I had reviewed was becoming something of a collaborative work. This particular story was a re-telling of some game backstory from one character's point of view. Two other authors had taken this as a challenge to fill in the details from the POV of two other characters. There's a fourth character who is a part of this story, and she asked if anyone was interested in writing her piece of the tale. Since this character is my favorite, the one whose POV from which I often write, I couldn't say no. So now I'm involved in a collaboration with three other authors, and it's been an amazing experience. I've never done anything quite like it; it's somewhere between writing and an RPG. It's only been a few weeks and it's already well over half-finished; I'll be sorry to see it end. Of course, then I'll have my other story to get back to, and I'm sure other ideas and possibly even collaborations will follow.

So this is what I've been doing with my spare time lately, and sometimes with time that I don't really have to spare! I doubt that any of you reading this would get much out of my writing since I don't think you know anything about the fandom, but I provide the links above (to my first work and the writing LJ; you can get to everything else from both places) just in case. But it was starting to feel weird to have something becoming such a major part of my life and not tell my friends about it. So here it is.

Comments

[madlori.livejournal.com]

Kathleen! That's so great! I'm thrilled that you've discovered the joys of fanfiction as a hobby. For me, it's much more than just a hobby...because of fanfiction, I've been able to do professional freelancing and original writing as well.

Getting reviews is great; I've been spoiled by my bounty in my years as an HP fic writer it's easy to forget what those first reviews felt like.

[owlmoose.livejournal.com]

Thanks. :) It's still great; I have a couple of loyal readers, but right now I'm mostly getting feedback from my co-authors. But every once in awhile someone new will stumble across across a piece and let me know that they like it, and I'll get the warm fuzzies all over again.

I think it's so amazing that your fanfic activites have branched out as much as they have. Whether writing will turn into more than a hobby for me, I don't know. Right now I'm just happy to have it back in my life at all.

[waterowl.livejournal.com]

That's so cool, Kathleen! I had no idea you wanted to be a writer, or even wrote. I guess that's what happens when you (read me) are so shy about writing that you don't talk about it. I don't know if you know this, but one of my writing outlets after college was writing songs and stories for PernMUSH, an online RPG based on (of course) Anne Mccaffery's Pern. It satisfied me for a long time.

[owlmoose.livejournal.com]

Well, that's the thing. I didn't write for so long that I almost forgot that it had been a part of who I was. So it's so satisfying to have it back. Interesting that the two of us have been rediscovering writing at the same time, unless you've been doing it all along and just not talking about it. Isn't it a weirdly personal thing? I've been keeping it quiet for months, only starting to mention it very recently.

I didn't know about your Pern writing past; sounds like it was fun. Was the MUSH collaborative, or did everyone just write and post separate pieces? The collaboration thing is far more exciting than I ever thought it would be. We feed off each other in a really amazing way.

[waterowl.livejournal.com]

I've been writing since I learned to type at age 8. It's only recently I've been more public and started writing things for publication. So we've both been discovering different aspects of writing at the same time.

The MUSH is basically a collaborative RPG. You write your own character then play with other people. I didn't think I knew how to write plot, but I knew characters. Now my characters write plot for me.

hi there.

[steluch.livejournal.com]

good luck with the writing...though i'm not an avid reader of fanfic, i applaud mind-enhancing hobbies.

on the topic of hobbies, i just friended you because plantgirl seems to think we have similar taste in films (http://www.livejournal.com/users/steluch/56732.html?view=167836#t167836). i'm also a big fan of attending readings at the intersection for the arts (http://www.theintersection.org/) and wouldn't be opposed to having additional company for some such events...

Re: hi there.

[owlmoose.livejournal.com]

Hi! I think we've met and talked architecture before -- aren't you a friend of Ethan's?

The arts organization does look like an interesting one. Anything particularly appealing coming up?

Re: hi there.

[plantgirl.livejournal.com]

Yes, she is. Ethan's friend, that is. And mine, too, at least on-line (I rarely manage to see her IRL).

[plantgirl.livejournal.com]

That's great! I'm so happy for you!! ::does happy dance::

Seriously, when a collaboration goes well it's just such a cool feeling. I haven't had it happen much, and never with writing, but still...

[owlmoose.livejournal.com]

It's really been amazing. Sadly, the story is almost finished -- I only have three more chapters to write out of twenty -- although we're already talking about writing another one.