deird_lj: (Default)
[personal profile] deird_lj
As you might have noticed, I’ve written quite a lot of fanfic in the last year and a half.

And, if you’re very observant, you might have noticed that the majority of it has “written for the _____ prompt at [livejournal.com profile] still_grrr at the top.
Those that don’t will almost certainly be “written for [livejournal.com profile] open_on_sunday, or “written for [livejournal.com profile] good__evil, or possibly “written for [livejournal.com profile] deird1.

This is because challenge communities rock. Completely.


So far, I have written and posted 73 fics, and 59 drabbles.
Guess how many of those were not written for a specific prompt?

Go on, have a guess.

Give up?

Six. Just six.

Without being prompted and prodded, I would have written:
- Angel and Spike on the phone
- Dawn getting sucked into a Crystal of DOOM
- Willow having lots of pets
- Spike and Angel destroying half of America
- Willow wishing she could stop Xander’s wedding from becoming a disaster
- Illyria grieving

That’s all.


The rest? Entirely done because of prompts or ficathons.
(In fact, out of those 132 fics, ficlets, and drabbles, 78 of them were written mainly because I haven’t missed a single prompt at [livejournal.com profile] still_grrr in a year and a half, and I refuse to let myself be beaten!)

And the thing is, if it weren’t for those prompts, I’d only write stuff I feel like writing. Stuff that’s easy.

If it weren’t that I started getting excited about possibly getting participation banners, I never would have written Xander making up ridiculous bumper stickers, or the Fang Gang hunting down a group of Mary Sues, or a Watcher training Rapunzel.
If it weren’t for my fear that I’d let down my assigned ficathon person, I never would have managed to write Oz in alternate universes, or Fred dusting a furniture store’s worth of vampires.
If I hadn’t needed to find something to submit, then Nancy bluffing down a vampire, Joyce and Giles kissing in the kitchen, and Spike going insane would all still be half-finished, and languishing in a drawer somewhere.

But because I’ve got these prompts I never would have thought of, with time limits I have to stick to, I have to push myself.
I have to stretch myself.
I have to try stuff I never would have thought of.

Stuff like…
- Buffy falling in love with a coat rack
- a Dr Seuss style poem
- Wolfram & Hart sending friendly flyers
- a self-insert destroying the world
- Dawn continually sitting underneath tables
- Buffy punching Spike in the face
- Vi and Faith organising a food fight
- Dawn writing to Santa Claus

As a matter of fact, almost everything that people have ever squeed over, recced, or nommed for anything… almost all of those are things that were created after a couple of days of me yelling at my notebook, crossing out every sentence I got halfway through, writing down “I HAVE NO IDEAS. WHY AM I SO CRAP AT THIS?” in huge letters, and swearing I was going to give up and never try writing again.
…and then deciding, once again, that this prompt is not going to beat me, dammit, and desperately trying to think of something, anything, that I could write that might fit the stupid challenge.


If I didn’t participate in challenges?
I’d be comfortable. I’d write stuff that inspired me. I’d write stuff I found easy. I’d write stuff that got written without too much effort.

And I wouldn’t be half the writer I am.

Challenges stretch us. They make us look for stories we’d never thought of. And they make us keep on going, even when it gets horribly difficult.

Basically? They rock.

Date: 2009-06-30 02:07 pm (UTC)
next_to_normal: (Default)
From: [personal profile] next_to_normal
I'm with [livejournal.com profile] rahirah. Props to those of you who do them, but that's just not how my brain works. In fact, I actually have three prompts from people that I'm supposed to be writing, but haven't come up with any ideas yet (and one of them is from three months ago!!).

I've done a few fics (mainly drabbles) that were based on prompts or requests, but I certainly wouldn't count them among my best. (Er, unless you include "Closure" as a challenge fic, but since I was answering my own challenge, I don't think it counts.)

I always need to write things that inspire me, but I'd hardly call it easy. (I'm trying really hard not to get offended by that, because some of it has been torture to write, so it kinda burns to hear it dismissed as easy.) The fics that can be written without too much effort are the ones that get thrown out in the idea stage because there's nothing original or unique about them. Hell, I probably hold myself to a higher standard than any challenge community could ever do for me.

Date: 2009-06-30 07:32 pm (UTC)
deird1: Fred looking pretty and thoughful (Default)
From: [personal profile] deird1
Oh, I envy you...

You people who can actually inspire yourselves! How exactly do you do that?

Date: 2009-06-30 07:45 pm (UTC)
next_to_normal: (Default)
From: [personal profile] next_to_normal
Now is probably a bad time to ask me, as I haven't been inspired by anything in about a year. I tend to think it'd be a lot less stressful if I could just write on whatever topic someone threw at me, whether I cared about it or not. At least I'd be writing something, instead of staring at the blank screen wishing I were writing.
Edited Date: 2009-06-30 07:46 pm (UTC)

Date: 2009-06-30 08:04 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] mabus101.livejournal.com
It helps in my case that I'm relatively new to the whole fanfic thing, and even to Buffy fandom. (Not as new as some, but there are episodes of Angel I still haven't seen completely.)

But...I don't know how to describe it...I see ideas, and they connect in odd ways, and I ask, Did Joss ever do this? And if the answer is no, I write it. Usually, in fact, the answer is no.

Date: 2009-06-30 08:43 pm (UTC)
quinara: Sheep on a hillside with a smiley face. (Default)
From: [personal profile] quinara
How exactly do you do that?

This is probably just me, but I find random snippets of conversation, images appear every now and then, and then slowly snowball over the course of days/weeks/months until you've got a fic. If you're (un?)lucky that'll be a fic you need to write...

Date: 2009-06-30 09:35 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] angearia.livejournal.com
You people who can actually inspire yourselves! How exactly do you do that?

I think the inspiration comes from wanting something. From wondering 'what if?' I enjoy challenge fics because they help me grow and are, well, challenging. But I've never come up short with my own ideas either. Perhaps it's because my imagination is almost wired to have it's own challenges handed out.

As for inspiring myself, reading good meta about relationships in the 'verse I'm writing and also watching videos or listening to music - those always do the trick for me. Often times I'll be driving to work and I'll start imagining scenes in my head, Buffy says this to Willow, Spike does this, and so on. I just let my imagination run with the characters. A lot of the scenes in my longer work are from just imagining, most of the time when I'm in my car actually. I think somehow my car has become my thinktank, heh.

Date: 2009-06-30 10:57 pm (UTC)
cleo: Famke Jansen's legs in black and white (sheet music)
From: [personal profile] cleo
You people who can actually inspire yourselves! How exactly do you do that?

I think it's definitely different for everyone. I just get a pressing need to explore something, to write something that is just under the surface. A lot of my inspiration comes from music, from asking myself "what are those chord progressions, those passing tones, those key changes in words?". But it's definitely not a fluid process for me. Lots of agony.

Date: 2009-06-30 10:55 pm (UTC)
cleo: Famke Jansen's legs in black and white (Books)
From: [personal profile] cleo
I feel pretty much the same as you. It's always a toss up as to whether a challenge will spark an idea or just leave me sitting there blankly. I've been doing a bit more lately, but I've been lucky in getting some really great, really unique prompts. And I've spaced them out over almost a year's time, and I tend to be drawn to the communities that are a bit more vague on prompts and have a very wide deadline margin.

The fics that can be written without too much effort are the ones that get thrown out in the idea stage because there's nothing original or unique about them. Hell, I probably hold myself to a higher standard than any challenge community could ever do for me.

Yes, precisely this.

Date: 2009-06-30 11:38 pm (UTC)
next_to_normal: (Default)
From: [personal profile] next_to_normal
Yeah, I've had some good prompts, but it's hit or miss. I joined [livejournal.com profile] open_on_sunday a while ago, hoping it would spark some inspiration, but I've yet to actually write something for them.

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