So You Always Wanted to Write Fanfic by Sarahetc

TALK STORY

So You Always Wanted to Write Fanfic

POSTED BY: SARAHETC
UPDATED: Tuesday, January 11, 2005 12:17
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VIEWED: 7897
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Friday, May 9, 2003 7:52 AM

Read carefully. Contains everything you need to know.

http://www.somethingawful.com/articles.php?a=1447

Sarah

I'm a dying breed who still believes, haunted by American dreams. ---Neko Case

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Friday, May 9, 2003 9:07 AM

HOTFORKAYLEE

Are you trying to give us a hint of your next story? I remember last year people were saying on the boards about Mal and Simon hooking up. I don't know, but the guy who wrote that piece might not be quite right.

Quote:
"Ok, it's morning. You're getting ready to go to work. You pull on your pants. Do you fasten then zip or zip then fasten?"
"What kind of question is that?"
"It's just a question."
"Why do you want to know?"
"Why do I want to know? Because I think of these things sometimes. I was getting dressed this morning and for a second I couldn't remember which I did first. So, I started thinking about it. Does everybody do it the same way? Is it a left handed - right handed thing?"
"Do you think about this stuff a lot?"
"Yeah."

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Friday, May 9, 2003 9:13 AM

SARAHETC

Quote:
Originally posted by HotForKaylee:
Are you trying to give us a hint of your next story? I remember last year people were saying on the boards about Mal and Simon hooking up. I don't know, but the guy who wrote that piece might not quite be right.

No. I just thought it was really funny and thought just maybe the fact that I posted it would make it that much funnier.

Not a fan of much slash myself, though I do really love "The Filament" series (find it at http://firefly.populli.org ). It's Wash/Simon, but it's so well written and actually pretty believable. I also love everything Nicole Clevenger writes about Firefly.

Are people wanting hints?

Sarah

I'm a dying breed who still believes, haunted by American dreams. ---Neko Case

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Friday, May 9, 2003 9:29 AM

LOSTANGEL

Quote:
Are people wanting hints?

DUH!!!!!!

C'mon Girl! You know the Chronicles are like crack to me!

BTW, LOVE the Filament series. The only slash stories that sounded believable to me.

______________________
Lost Angel

WASH: Psychic, though? That sounds like something out of science fiction.
ZOE: We live in a space ship, dear.
WASH: So?

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Friday, May 9, 2003 9:49 AM

HOTFORKAYLEE

Quote:
Originally posted by Sarahetc:
No. I just thought it was really funny and thought just maybe the fact that I posted it would make it that much funnier.
Sarah

Youre right Sarah. As I was reading it I kept thinking "Sarah linked to this?". Personally I wouldn't change anything in your stories but I was reminded of that one night when you asked about romance in the stories and a few people took it down a couple a levels from romance. That was funny also though. I really do love everyone on this board, one big happy (slightly dysfunctional) family.

Quote:
"I heard a new joke today... What is more dangerous, than a locked room full of angry Narns?"
"I don't know."
"One angry Narn... with the key!"

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Friday, May 9, 2003 10:00 AM

SARAHETC

Quote:
Originally posted by lostangel:
Quote:
Are people wanting hints?

DUH!!!!!!

C'mon Girl! You know the Chronicles are like crack to me!

Okay. I'm going to go out on a limb and say that you could use less crack. That is a load of exclamation points.

Gave these hints in taglog and elsewhere; heavy on the Radegung and Channain so far, new characters Talrius and SaintofCheese (somebody let her know, okay, cos I haven't seen her around) and maybe one more.

Oh, and maybe some hot lovin'. I still don't know.

Sarah

I'm a dying breed who still believes, haunted by American dreams. ---Neko Case

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Friday, May 9, 2003 10:17 AM

LJC

I really love eleanor K's slash too--the early stories in particular of her Mal/Simon series "Things That Haunt Us" is full of delicious sexual tension that just makes me melt. Also, debchan's "Tetchy" was the first "Firefly" slash I read, and it's just excellent. So far the only Simon/Jayne I've *bought*, in terms of characterisation.

I'm more of a gen/het girl, me. have been since day one (which is scaring me to recall now is something like 13 years ago now). That's all I write, and the sheer volume of PWPs (Plot? What Plot?) that seem to make up about 80% of the slash in this fandom don't do much for me. Mainly 'cause I don't read/write fic to get turned on--I do it to get more of what I love, namely, the characters from the show I adore.

I want plot. I want to be told a *story.* And "Two hot guys doing it" isn't much of a story to me, most of the time. Any more than "A hot guy and a hot chick doing it" is, for that matter. I like plot. Plot is good. Plot makes everything better.

(tho I admit, part of what bugs me is that the characterisation feels *off* in a lot of the slash fic out there--like, it's Simon or Jayne or Mal in name only, sometimes. I think that's why stuff like lemon lashes', and deb's and eleanor's stand out to me.)

Part of what I love about the way ff_fridays have worked out thus far, actually, is seeing all the cool character vignettes that folks have written that they may not have written on their own, had they not read the challenges and decided to take part. Plus it's a great lot of fun, keeping up the Firefly Friday tradition even with teh show off the air currently :)

--
Some take the high road. Some take the low road.
And some just go screaming down the highway, dropping flaming bits of wreckage.

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Friday, May 9, 2003 10:34 AM

LOSTANGEL

Sarahetc. ya think I got a problem or sumpin'? *twitch, twitch, drool*

I have to sadly agree with that. I've always been one to subtract the amount of exclamation points from someone's overall IQ. At the rate I'm going, I'm in the negative numbers now.

I actually can't decide if I'm missing my story fix or my Sarah fix. Damn you're cuddly girl!

______________________
Lost Angel

WASH: Psychic, though? That sounds like something out of science fiction.
ZOE: We live in a space ship, dear.
WASH: So?

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Friday, May 9, 2003 10:51 AM

SARAHETC

Quote:
Originally posted by LJC:
I really love eleanor K's slash too--the early stories in particular of her Mal/Simon series "Things That Haunt Us" is full of delicious sexual tension that just makes me melt.

That one was very good--I read it straight through one Sat. morning-- but to me it also toed the "out of character" line. It's not even in the same 'verse as some of the PWP out there, but a little bit of it felt forced.

Quote:

I want plot. I want to be told a *story.* And "Two hot guys doing it" isn't much of a story to me, most of the time. Any more than "A hot guy and a hot chick doing it" is, for that matter. I like plot. Plot is good. Plot makes everything better.

Yes. And you know all the good ones cos you've rec'd 'em. I think the best plot piece out there is the Wash story about You-Can't-Go-Home-Again by Scrunchy. Who's real name is Stef? Help me out. The part where Wash is teaching and the cadet can't get the ship off the ground and he says something like, "No it goes like this. The fourth, the fifth, the fall and then the lift." I thought I was going to cry. Like, my heart skipped a beat.

I'm sure I should be writing her to tell her this but I'm not a part of that whole LJ clique.

Sarah

I'm a dying breed who still believes, haunted by American dreams. ---Neko Case

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Friday, May 9, 2003 10:53 AM

SARAHETC

Quote:
Originally posted by lostangel:

I actually can't decide if I'm missing my story fix or my Sarah fix. Damn you're cuddly girl!

You're such my Angel. I can't compete with your hordes of fans over on the fox boards, but I do what I can.

Sarah

I'm a dying breed who still believes, haunted by American dreams. ---Neko Case

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Friday, May 9, 2003 11:01 AM

LJC

feh, clique-schmick. Email stef anyway! She'd totally plotz! Also, she is *way keen*. I am trying to convince her that she must write Wash teaching his and Zoe's (totally fictional) future daughter (whom we have named "Calliope" and have an entire history based on late-night IMs) how to fly the shuttle, much as a farmer first teaches the 12 year old to drive the family tractor, you know?

--
Some take the high road. Some take the low road.
And some just go screaming down the highway, dropping flaming bits of wreckage.

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Friday, May 9, 2003 11:06 AM

SARAHETC

Quote:
Originally posted by LJC:
feh, clique-schmick. Email stef anyway! She'd totally plotz! Also, she is *way keen*. I am trying to convince her that she must write Wash teaching his and Zoe's (totally fictional) future daughter (whom we have named "Calliope" and have an entire history based on late-night IMs) how to fly the shuttle, much as a farmer first teaches the 12 year old to drive the family tractor, you know?

It's very cliquey!

And about that story. I am torn 200%. One hundred percent of me wants to read it right this gorram minute and the other hunnert percent is jealous as shit that I didn't think of it. I mean, what good am I if I don't give good Wash?

Anyway: Right now! (jealous) Right now! (jealous) Right now!

Sarah

I'm a dying breed who still believes, haunted by American dreams. ---Neko Case

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Friday, May 9, 2003 11:10 AM

LJC

Quote:
It's very cliquey!

I think I met stef through SV fandom, actually--she's slod's bud, and I'm one of slod's buds, and slod said "stef's writing Washfic" and I POUNCED, and dood--that's like the sum total of the cliqueness. We're more like the frat in "Revenge of thr Nerds" than the Cordettes, trust me. Crazy group of people who ran into each other totally randomly across several danfoms, who just happened to get on like burning domiciles.

Plus, trust me, writers KILL to hear if anyone's even *read* their fic, let alone read it and liked it. Even tho my hit counter at Fanfiction.net might say 1000 people might have read a story, I guarantee that maybe only 5 ever emailed me. Hence my being a pathetic slut for constructive feedback. SLUT, I tell you.

--
Some take the high road. Some take the low road.
And some just go screaming down the highway, dropping flaming bits of wreckage.

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Friday, May 9, 2003 11:35 AM

SARAHETC

Quote:
Originally posted by LJC:
Quote:
It's very cliquey!

I think I met stef through SV fandom, actually--she's slod's bud, and I'm one of slod's buds, and slod said "stef's writing Washfic" and I POUNCED, and dood--

"SV," "slod," "dood" -- it's a whole clique vocabulary.

Naw. I dig you. Just trying (and failing!) to be funny.

Quote:

Plus, trust me, writers KILL to hear if anyone's even *read* their fic, let alone read it and liked it. [clip]
Hence my being a pathetic slut for constructive feedback. SLUT, I tell you.

I dig you here too. You've rec'd even me. Unless I have you confused with someone else. And that is a distinct possibility.

It's a strange thing, the cold email to someone who's work you enjoyed. The first time I wrote Nicole Clevenger, half the mail was a disclaimer about how I was trying not to be a dork and also an apology for writing about Zoe so close to her writing about Zoe.

And now I haven't written her in ages and she probably thinks I should rot in the bottomless past.

Listen to me go on. I ought to look to that.

,
Sarah

I'm a dying breed who still believes, haunted by American dreams. ---Neko Case

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Friday, May 9, 2003 12:25 PM

LOSTANGEL

Sarah, (just got back from an impromptu errand I had to run) you realize you rule over your own clique, right? So if that doesn't give you the thrusters to walk up (yes figuratively, literally would be stalking) to a fellow writer and talk to her, I don't know what will. Frankly the author clique should be stronger than the board clique, and you got chops of your own baby.

You're not some groupy squealing at the sight of your favorite flavor of the week (note to self, get ice cream when done), you're a known professional (unpaid, but professional in spirit). So go talk to her/him/it.

And I may have my hoards on the Fox boards, but you're my dumpling, we all know who comes first.

(By the way, I'll take a merlot with all this cheese!

)

All kidding aside, I'm serious about the above.

______________________
Lost Angel

WASH: Psychic, though? That sounds like something out of science fiction.
ZOE: We live in a space ship, dear.
WASH: So?

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Friday, May 9, 2003 1:17 PM

GAMBIT3

Quote:
Originally posted by lostangel:
Sarah, (just got back from an impromptu errand I had to run) you realize you rule over your own clique, right? So if that doesn't give you the thrusters to walk up (yes figuratively, literally would be stalking) to a fellow writer and talk to her, I don't know what will. Frankly the author clique should be stronger than the board clique, and you got chops of your own baby.

You're not some groupy squealing at the sight of your favorite flavor of the week (note to self, get ice cream when done), you're a known professional (unpaid, but professional in spirit). So go talk to her/him/it.

And I may have my hoards on the Fox boards, but you're my dumpling, we all know who comes first.

(By the way, I'll take a merlot with all this cheese! )

All kidding aside, I'm serious about the above.

______________________
Lost Angel

WASH: Psychic, though? That sounds like something out of science fiction.
ZOE: We live in a space ship, dear.
WASH: So?

Ok, I'm seriously getting jealous. Of which one of the two, I'm not sure. I'm just fairly certain I'm jealous.

*notice ladies, no exclamation marks in the previous statement*

Yess!!!!!! I pulled it off!!!!

Oops.

__________________________
I am *not* a monster!

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Friday, May 9, 2003 1:20 PM

TALRIUS

Use all the exclamations you want. All kinds of mushy stuff goin' on in this thread.

--------------------------------------------------
DOBSON: I'm supposed to be meeting my wife's sister. I've only got a few days to see her...

ZOE: I wish there was another way...

DOBSON: Oh, no, no. That woman is like a dragon. I mean, I believe she has a tail. If there's any other moons we need to visit, or if we could just
fly very slowly...

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Friday, May 9, 2003 2:24 PM

SARAHETC

Quote:
Originally posted by lostangel:
Sarah, (just got back from an impromptu errand I had to run) you realize you rule over your own clique, right?

Jeezopete. Never meant to rule over the clique. Wanted to be the strange and indispensible one. I'll let you and Succatash rule.

Quote:

And I may have my hoards on the Fox boards, but you're my dumpling, we all know who comes first.

I am your dumpling! Even if I don't give good Wash, I can still be that.

You were saying something about ice cream?

Sarah

I'm a dying breed who still believes, haunted by American dreams. ---Neko Case

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Friday, May 9, 2003 2:32 PM

SARAHETC

Quote:
Originally posted by Gambit3:

Ok, I'm seriously getting jealous. Of which one of the two, I'm not sure. I'm just fairly certain I'm jealous.

Is this jealous good or jealous bad? You're liking the feeling or you would like me to do something to alleviate your pain? Or maybe you're not even jealous of me and now you're thinking Who the hell does she think she is?

It is true that I love Angel dearly. It is true that I write stories about her. Some might call those stories dumb or derivative or lame, but those people obviously aren't my audience.

Point is: She's my Angel. When you're followin' an angel doesn't mean you have to throw your body off a building. Somewhere they're meeting on a pin head, calling you an angel, calling you the nicest things. I think about her in fantastic ways and song lyrics.

I don't know you so much Gambit and that is a sad fact and should be rectified. I will keep up with you and see if a song suggests itself.

Sarah

I'm a dying breed who still believes, haunted by American dreams. ---Neko Case

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Friday, May 9, 2003 2:51 PM

GAMBIT3

As Neo would say... "Whoa!"

All I can say is that your lines in italics reminded me of a quote from the movie "Beautiful Girls", Willie is pushing 30, and he's engaged to Tracy, this really great girl... but he's really ambivalent about getting married...
He's apprehensive because he doesn't feel the passing that he imagined when he was 18... and he's chatting with Andera, who's beautiful, funny, charming, and has just taken his little town by storm... and he's talking it over with Andera:

Willie: I look at you and I think it's amazing that there's a guy out there that gets to do all sorts of things with you. He gets to make you happy, he gets to spend evenings with you.

Andera: But there's a guy out there who thinks the same thing about Tracy, and he's jealous of you. You getting to do all that with her.

*That's* the kind of jealousy I'm talking about.

__________________________
I am NOT a monster!

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Friday, May 9, 2003 4:14 PM

SARAHETC

Quote:
Originally posted by Gambit3:

Andera: But there's a guy out there who thinks the same thing about Tracy, and he's jealous of you. You getting to do all that with her.

*That's* the kind of jealousy I'm talking about.

Ah. That had a kinda poetry to it.

And if I'm getting you right, there is nothing about me to be jealous of.

Again, what the hell am I talking about?

Sarah

I'm a dying breed who still believes, haunted by American dreams. ---Neko Case

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Friday, May 9, 2003 4:26 PM

GAMBIT3

Quote:
Originally posted by Sarahetc:

Ah. That had a kinda poetry to it.

And if I'm getting you right, there is nothing about me to be jealous of.

Again, what the hell am I talking about?

Sarah

I'm a dying breed who still believes, haunted by American dreams. ---Neko Case

Umm... I don't even know what *I* am talking about 90% of the time, much less somebody else. I have enough trouble keeping up with the voices inside my head.

But that's OK. The voices like me. I'm happy there.

__________________________
Kaylee, will you marry me?

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Friday, May 9, 2003 6:08 PM

WULFHAWK

Sarah, dear, we are your subjects, whether you will or not. Your soul is darkly brave, your mind an edge to be feared...yet we fear it not. Shining talent guides us through a foggy time, though blindly we march.

Creep-ifying? Perhaps. Yet here we are

tanstaafl

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Saturday, May 10, 2003 4:44 AM

SARAHETC

Quote:
Originally posted by Wulfhawk:
Sarah, dear, we are your subjects, whether you will or not. Your soul is darkly brave, your mind an edge to be feared...yet we fear it not.

One more thing before I really shut up: I'm not a leader. I am really not. I'm very, very bad at it.

But read the fanfic article. Has anybody done that? It is twelve kinds of funny.

Sarah

I'm a dying breed who still believes, haunted by American dreams. ---Neko Case

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Monday, April 26, 2004 10:21 AM

REDNIKKI

I've actually been trying to find that Scrunchy story, and I've just failed. The site is gone! Sad. Any pointers?

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Tuesday, January 11, 2005 12:17 PM

LJC

She's moved her site here:

http://scrunchy.stupidcircumstances.com/firefly.html

sorry it took me so long to reply!

--
Some take the high road. Some take the low road.
And some just go screaming down the highway, dropping flaming bits of wreckage.

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