I’ll have to do some translations again
That’s it. I will have to translate my Wallander fics into English. When I read the result of an online translation, I realized that this couldn’t go on. You have no idea how stupid it looks. I certainly hope no one thinks I write that badly in reality. Translating is such a bore. I’d been hoping to be able to wait a while longer, but since there’s a demand, I’ll just have to do it. Actually, it might be a good thing for another reason too. At least I try to tell myself that. If I get to work on something, I might be able to get back to writing again, and if so I just might be able to finish my novel, at long last. I hope so anyway.
No inspiration
Suddenly, I lost my inspiration to write. I think I can guess why. Lately I’ve had mood swings. Some nights, I almost cry. In between I feel perfectly ok. Oh, well. Blogging and writing fan fiction can wait. The real problem is that I still haven’t been able to finish my novel, but nothing’s really changed there, so that’s a different problem.
Of course, in the meantime, I still have a couple of other finished books that I’ll submit to a publisher. As long as I can stay cheerful and I’m doing my best with that. Going for walks, even on little outings, looking for cool things to photograph, watching movies, even once or twice a week a tv show I actually like.
Though as far as tv is concerned, this is probably the worst time in a long time. Right now, as far as I know, there’s just one thing worth watching. Don’t get me wrong. I’d complain just as much if there was one or more shows per night, but this is going a little too far in the other direction. No wait, I think Heroes will be back. In that case, I can’t complain.
Writing fan fiction again
I thought I was done with fan fiction – at least for a while – but I got inspired again and that was that. Though in the past couple of days I’ve been too tired to finish my last fan fic in the new fandom. Hopefully, I’ll feel up to it again soon.
I haven’t even blogged that much lately, so it’s great to be writing again. Hopefully it won’t be long before I’ve recharged my creative batteries so I can finish my novel.
Inspiration for fan fiction
What inspires you to write fanfiction? I’ve given it a lot of thought and I’ve come to the conclusion that you need to like the fandom enough, but not too much. Why do I say that? Because if I don’t care at all about the fandom there’s no point in spending time making up stories. It simply won’t happen. There’s nothing to catch my imagination. On the other hand, if I love the series or movie too much, there won’t be anything to add. I won’t be inspired either.
Now what does tend to inspire me? Good characters primarily. If they’re interesting, moving, attractive – or – fascinatingly unpleasant, I guess, then I take more interest than if the characters are badly developed. Of course, I can always develop them more… Their interaction interests me a lot too. And the type of series/movie is important too. For instance, I tend to get inspired to write mystery stories based on cop series and when it’s a sci fi fandom I can widen my choice of plot. In a way, the sky’s the limit. That can be limiting too of course. If anything at all is possible, what could I add to the fandom?
I’ve gone into this elsewhere, but I suppose I could mention it again. One major motivator for writing a fanfic is to resurrect a character who died. Naturally, many people like to pair up characters who don’t normally get to be a couple. That’s usually two men (or two females) but could just as well, at least in my case, be one male one and female (or one female and two males… LOL). I guess I tend to go for the more unusual straight couples (or threesomes…).
Speaking of the type of series. I’ve found that when the atmosphere, the undertext of the series (or movie) doesn’t appeal to me, I’m not inspired. There’s only so much you can do to change the ‘spirit’ of the fandom. Beyond a certain point, it simply won’t be worthwhile.
Why fan fiction?
Why write fan fiction? That’s a question many people ask. In fact, it’s a good question. It all depends on what you’re after really. If you want to be published by a publisher on paper, then obviously writing fan fiction won’t be very helpful. The same applies if you just want to be ‘clever’ and get admired for your writing.
On the other hand, whatever your ultimate goals, writing is always helpful, no matter what kind it is. Some people write journals/diaries etc. Others write ‘practice texts’ that aren’t really useful for anything beyond the actual writing practice you get. Then again, if you find it fun and rewarding, you might as well write fan fiction as anything else.
And there are plenty of people who enjoy this type of writing enormously, either as writers or as readers or both.
So if you have fun using other people’s characters, don’t feel guilty. Fun isn’t bad, it’s good for you. And if you make friends who share the same interests then that’s good too.
There might be reasons why not to write fan fiction or types of fan fiction you might want to stay away from, but those are other topics, to be covered elsewhere.
