The Fan Fiction Mafia

[Sike Saner]

So a few of you mentioned future stories in your new year's plans. I don't suppose you'd be willing to give us a little preview? Any hints as to what you're planning?

It's a TOoS sequel. And it isn't a TOoS sequel.

:>

Well, it doesn't... directly continue that story, for Reasons. And technically, chronologically, it comes after Communication. But it does address a few of the loose ends in both of those--major **** about my canon that I felt needed its own story.

Also Karo's in it. Like, probably a lot.

 

[Starlight Aurate]

Welcome, PhalanxSigil! It's always good to have new members (and I actually thought you were already in this club).

Creepychu and Negrek

Thank you. I took your advice to heart, and just got more writing done in one sitting than I have in the past month.

As for what you can do about it, I'd recommend that you stop questioning yourself for a bit and just let yourself write, even if the larger goal is still unclear. It's perfectly normal and okay if your initial ideas feel unfinished or you can't get them all to fit together right. That's what a first draft is for; getting your ideas written out so that you have a starting point to work from. Once you get engaged in actually writing your story rather than worrying about how to write it, you should start getting a feel for what you want to say just based off what feels right to you and what doesn't.

So really, just write out what comes to your mind and worry about having it make sense later. All those bits that feel redundant or don't work out can be edited out and no-one but you need ever know; I mean, just consider the massive tl;dr paragraph I wrote out for you (twice as long as what this reply ended up being). It really didn't feel like it had any point to it, but you wouldn't know by looking at what I actually posted, would you? ;D

Just did it! I decided to try this and just let myself write whatever would come to my mind, and I actually got quite a bit done and feel like I can do more--I feel like my story is going in an actual direction now! Will I post what I just wrote? Or did I just make it to help myself define the characters and their goals more clearly? I don't know, but I can feel that just writing that part out helped me. And to answer your (rhetorical) question, no, I wouldn't have known that you had written a reply 2x as long as this

It can be hard to come to terms with the fact that you're writing without a real sense of your destination, but once you get the words flowing and start to build up momentum, you can often break through plot uncertainties on inertia alone.

I think I understand what you're saying. I just wrote based on what I felt and without very many pauses, and I honestly felt like it was productive even though I have no idea as to whether I'll actually stick it into the final edition of my story. I don't know man, writing just felt... good which is probably why I'm a fanfic author in the first place lol

Best of luck getting through your block. It takes real courage and perseverance to get through a chaptered story, but you've already gotten much farther on this one than you have on the others you've tried, haven't you?

Thanks! And yeah, I have gotten farther on my current story than on others, especially since the other stuff I've posted here isn't stuff I like to acknowledge lol.

So a few of you mentioned future stories in your new year's plans. I don't suppose you'd be willing to give us a little preview? Any hints as to what you're planning?

Continue more of my current chaptered fic about Team Aqua and Team Magma.
Finish, polish and post a one-shot about a guy and a Grumpig meeting a Glalie.
Edit and revise my ORAS one-shot about Team Magma Commander Tabitha to make it actually connect and make sense this time.
Possibly heavily edit and re-write my Interpretations one-shot about the origins of the Red and Blue Orb (though my other projects take priority before this one).

First is sprucing up and ORASifying my Hoenn contest entry, Crater Dreams. You already know what that one's about, Negrek. For everyone else it's about the ancient Sootopolans.

I admit, I got excited when I saw this bit. I'm a sucker for stories in ancient times

Best of luck in your New Year endeavors, everyone!

 

[Griff4815]

What's the funniest/most unfortunate typo (or other mistake) you've ever made in your fics?

I wrote "ninja clam" instead of "ninja clan". Luckily(?) I caught it in time.


So a few of you mentioned future stories in your new year's plans. I don't suppose you'd be willing to give us a little preview? Any hints as to what you're planning?

Just writing the sequel to my Digimon story. Maybe I'll do something Pokémon related at some point. We'll see.

 

[Mrs. Lovett]

So a few of you mentioned future stories in your new year's plans. I don't suppose you'd be willing to give us a little preview? Any hints as to what you're planning?

The thing about me and plans is that I devise grand plans all the time but I only get around to some of them. But maybe I should finally organize my thoughts and let the people waiting outside my closed door know what I've actually been doing instead of updating Roots for seven months.

If that means we'll be seeing updates to Roots in the coming year, then I definitely hope that resolution will work out for you. I really enjoyed the story, but since I noticed it had been well over a month since the last activity by the time I caught up it felt a bit too awkward to leave a comment on it at the time.

That's totally fine; I'm glad you were reading! My first resolution naturally involves Roots, but this time my update might not come for a while, because I want to revise it. I'm not going to change a lot, which means there won't be any plot-overhauls or drastic character reinterpretations. Most of the changes I'll make will concern worldbuilding, and generally sprinkling life into dull areas. Some moments in the story will need a lot of work, but others are more coherent with my current goal, so I'll probably be able to pass those chapters by with almost no edits. But even so, I'll have to look over all my existing material, and consider not only what I can revise, but what I should. So, it's a complex issue that still needs to simmer in my mind a bit, and one that unfortunately necessitates a hiatus. But don't worry, I promise everyone the wait will be worth it. A first draft is never wasted.

The other fic I'm working on is for Avatar: The Last Airbender. I'm calling it my main project right now, just because I want to get it to a solid position before I devote more time to Roots. I'm not sure how many fans of the series there are here, so I was originally planning to keep it to FF.Net. But maybe I'll post it here, just in case someone might want to read more of my writing even if it's non-Pokemon. Not to mention, updating the thread would give everyone proof that I'm not squandering my writing time and am actually still functioning! It's a fun little adventure/drama involving Zuko and his family. So, if that's your cup of tea... then maybe you'll get to see the thread soon?

But my main, main, main goal right now is to get my ORAS Challenge one-shot revised and posted. I've been putting it off for the longest time and I feel bad about it.

 

[PhalanxSigil]

Nope, I'm a new member. This club seemed cool, so I figured I'd join.

So a few of you mentioned future stories in your new year's plans. I don't suppose you'd be willing to give us a little preview? Any hints as to what you're planning?

Right now, I'm mostly focused on my current fic, Pokemon: Convergence. If I have the time or any crazy ideas, I might start an ORAS journey fic, but it's highly unlikely.

By the way, regarding Convergence, if you want to review it, could you perhaps hold off for a bit? I'm in the middle of making some seriously substantial edits to the last two chapters, and by the time I'm done, it'll practically be a different story. It might not be worth it to review it right now. Just an FWI.

(Thanks again, Negrek.)

 

[Cutlerine]

My first resolution naturally involves Roots, but this time my update might not come for a while, because I want to revise it. I'm not going to change a lot, which means there won't be any plot-overhauls or drastic character reinterpretations. Most of the changes I'll make will concern worldbuilding, and generally sprinkling life into dull areas. Some moments in the story will need a lot of work, but others are more coherent with my current goal, so I'll probably be able to pass those chapters by with almost no edits. But even so, I'll have to look over all my existing material, and consider not only what I can revise, but what I should. So, it's a complex issue that still needs to simmer in my mind a bit, and one that unfortunately necessitates a hiatus. But don't worry, I promise everyone the wait will be worth it. A first draft is never wasted.

This is good to hear! I liked Roots, and after a good edit, I may well like it still more. Good luck with your edit! I'll be keeping an eye out for it.

So a few of you mentioned future stories in your new year's plans. I don't suppose you'd be willing to give us a little preview? Any hints as to what you're planning?

I read somewhere a theory of the novel that described a fork taking place early on in its development -- one branch leading to the familiar kind of novel that started with things like Robinson Crusoe, and the other giving rise to the ebulliently digressive kind that has its roots in Tristram Shandy, and which you see today in novels like Rushdie's Midnight's Children. So I thought that, since I'm always interested in experimentation, and since I wanted to do an ORAS fic, I'd have a go at a Shandean sort of fanfic about a post-post-apocalyptic Hoenn, with a narrator who's worried about fitting everything in and so keeps getting side-tracked with far-fetched stories about pirates, ghosts, librarians and other startling creatures of the new world.

I say post-post-apocalyptic, because this story is set five and a half centuries after Brendan/May failed to stop Kyogre drowning the planet, and humankind has long since picked itself up and got going again. Although everything is much wetter than before, and the surviving Pokémon species have adapted to their circumstances in some frankly alarming ways.

 

[Umbramatic]

So a few of you mentioned future stories in your new year's plans. I don't suppose you'd be willing to give us a little preview? Any hints as to what you're planning?

I read somewhere a theory of the novel that described a fork taking place early on in its development -- one branch leading to the familiar kind of novel that started with things like Robinson Crusoe, and the other giving rise to the ebulliently digressive kind that has its roots in Tristram Shandy, and which you see today in novels like Rushdie's Midnight's Children. So I thought that, since I'm always interested in experimentation, and since I wanted to do an ORAS fic, I'd have a go at a Shandean sort of fanfic about a post-post-apocalyptic Hoenn, with a narrator who's worried about fitting everything in and so keeps getting side-tracked with far-fetched stories about pirates, ghosts, librarians and other startling creatures of the new world.

I say post-post-apocalyptic, because this story is set five and a half centuries after Brendan/May failed to stop Kyogre drowning the planet, and humankind has long since picked itself up and got going again. Although everything is much wetter than before, and the surviving Pokémon species have adapted to their circumstances in some frankly alarming ways.

Post-post-apocalyptic AU? Deeeeeeeeeelicious.

 

[Mizz Nikki]

Do you have any writing-related new year's resolutions this year?

I do have a couple. I'm determined to finish my TW story over my tumblr, Out of Time. I only have one more chapter left to finish and I really want to get it done but I've dealing with a writers block and I've been unable to come up with something to write.

After I complete that story, I do plan to write another TW story on my Tumblr.

I also have some plans for some Pokemon stories. I do have a story that I have written on my fanfiction account. It's called to Return to Houen and it contains Cavaliershipping and PokeSilvershippng with some one sided Pearlshipping. My new years resolution this year is to re-write that story but as an Cavaliershipping/Amourshipping fic. I have not decided if I will still be including some one-sided Pearlshipping in it. I would like to it, we'll have to see.

I would also to write some more Amourshipping and Cavaliershipping one shots. We'll have to see.

 

[PhalanxSigil]

Do you have any writing-related new year's resolutions this year?

This is gonna be pretty similar to my previous post, but really, my resolution is to write on a more consistent basis. At the very least, I want to have a chapter done at least once a month, but hopefully I can do more.

And because most of my homework this year will be writing essays, a resolution to get all A's in those classes totally counts as writing-related, right guys? Right?

I'll see myself out...

 

[gorgonfish]

So a few of you mentioned future stories in your new year's plans. I don't suppose you'd be willing to give us a little preview? Any hints as to what you're planning?


I've recently become obsessed with an anime called Log Horizon and really want to do a crossover thing with it. The basic premise is people getting stuck in a mmorpg and not being able to log out, but it steers away from the common trope of 'get out of the game or die in real life'. There's a whole bunch of cool reveals that I don't want to spoil because you really need to just watch the series or read the light novels. Anyways, the crossover would be taking the characters from the various pokemon regions and trapping them inside the game world from LH (the game world is based on a half-scale model of the earth with thirteen servers dividing it up). The gym leaders, elite four, and team [insert]s would become various guilds from the game. It's hard to make it sound that exciting without spoiling things from the series, but it carries over the concept of not focusing on how to get out as much as how to live in a game world that is becoming real.

 

[Creepychu]

Just did it! I decided to try this and just let myself write whatever would come to my mind, and I actually got quite a bit done and feel like I can do more--I feel like my story is going in an actual direction now! Will I post what I just wrote? Or did I just make it to help myself define the characters and their goals more clearly? I don't know, but I can feel that just writing that part out helped me. And to answer your (rhetorical) question, no, I wouldn't have known that you had written a reply 2x as long as this

Good job. That feeling that you're moving again really is huge for getting things done in writing, so as long as you have that you should be a-okay. I've seriously gone weeks trying to get one paragraph done, only to blow through the rest of the chapter in an afternoon just because I was so relieved to finally be rid of the one awful paragraph. Glad to hear you got something similar out of it.

That's totally fine; I'm glad you were reading! My first resolution naturally involves Roots, but this time my update might not come for a while, because I want to revise it. I'm not going to change a lot, which means there won't be any plot-overhauls or drastic character reinterpretations. Most of the changes I'll make will concern worldbuilding, and generally sprinkling life into dull areas. Some moments in the story will need a lot of work, but others are more coherent with my current goal, so I'll probably be able to pass those chapters by with almost no edits. But even so, I'll have to look over all my existing material, and consider not only what I can revise, but what I should. So, it's a complex issue that still needs to simmer in my mind a bit, and one that unfortunately necessitates a hiatus. But don't worry, I promise everyone the wait will be worth it. A first draft is never wasted.

Given how much material you have to go over, I can definitely understand how that would take a bit. I'll definitely keep an eye out for when the revised version comes around then.

The other fic I'm working on is for Avatar: The Last Airbender. I'm calling it my main project right now, just because I want to get it to a solid position before I devote more time to Roots. I'm not sure how many fans of the series there are here, so I was originally planning to keep it to FF.Net. But maybe I'll post it here, just in case someone might want to read more of my writing even if it's non-Pokemon. Not to mention, updating the thread would give everyone proof that I'm not squandering my writing time and am actually still functioning! It's a fun little adventure/drama involving Zuko and his family. So, if that's your cup of tea... then maybe you'll get to see the thread soon?

Well, Zuko and his family were my favorite part of the series so color me interested. Guess I'll have to glance over to Other Writing from time to time now too. XD

So a few of you mentioned future stories in your new year's plans. I don't suppose you'd be willing to give us a little preview? Any hints as to what you're planning?

Hah, I have a whole bunch of early draft/idea type stuff hanging around, but I've basically got two main ideas I'm plugging away at right now:

1) A PMD story based on the premise that a human turning into a pokémon is not just something that happened to the main character but rather to the human population at large. Essentially, something somewhere went horribly wrong, most people can't remember what happened during the change because they went into shock from the transformation, and the majority of facilities involved in pokémon research and development of pokémon-related products were laid to waste in the aftermath. Exploration teams are primarily focused on scavenging and reconstructing pokémon-related tech and digging through the ruins for information about what happened. The bulk of the story would be set a fair bit after the big shift, and focuses on a member of one of the first exploration teams who's returning to society after an extended period of rehab from a mission gone wrong, only to find that larger society has started accepting the change and moving on from trying to reverse it.

Organized society definitely exists, but I guess you could still jot this down as a post-apocalyptic story given the central premise. The primary focus of the story is on the protagonist and his new team trying to get to the bottom of what happened, and on exploring the various ways people and the world as a whole have adapted to the change. Planned ideas also include going into a fair bit of detail on the effects technology from the main series universe (like pokéballs, healing machines, and the computer storage system) would have on a PMD-type society and some body horror/man vs self type conflict involved with people who still identify as human, as opposed to the younger generations which have been pokémon since birth. This is probably the most likely one to see some finished chapters done, simply because there is such a vast amount of potential content for me to tap into.

2) Probably the longest standing in terms of a kind of story I've wanted to do, a journeyfic with more of a focus on the travelling and coming-of-age aspect of the subgenre. Main protagonists include a new trainer with a sheltered upbringing trying to live up to the expectations placed on them for being the child of a famous (and in some respects infamous) trainer and a pokémon who knows a lot more about being a trainer than he does about being a member of his own species. Story as a whole is set against a backdrop of a region in the process of being added to the pokémon league and the resulting conflict between two very different views of what being a trainer entails. Given the subject matter, there will definitely be action beats, but the bulk of the story will be focused on character- and worldbuilding. No themed antagonist team is planned, though a wider plot of sorts may be involved, courtesy of a promise between two close friends gone out of hand in ways they never expected.

As said, this idea has been in the works a lot longer than the first, but it's also the one I've been a lot more particular about what I want to do with, since there's a lot of ideas I still need to write around and see if I can make them work for me. Plenty of headcanon, detailing of trainer-related stuff, and historical detail for made up places will likely be involved. This story is pretty much determined to happen some time in some shape, but as it stands right now I'm not sure which one will be ready for prime time first.


Aside from those, I've got a bunch of potential one-shots, some examples including the story of a member of Global Police and a member of Team Rocket sitting down and having a discussion on the ethics of Slowpoke tails over dinner, and a silly one-shot based on Lanette's very brief bit-part appearance in the game.

Titles for stories are pending all around; they're usually not something I settle on until I have to. I'm also still in the process of getting things written out and focusing my attention with both stories, so finer details are likely subject to serious revision between now and posting time. That or I could end up falling in love with a completely different idea and get it posted before any of this, who knows.

 

[Brutaka]

1) A PMD story based on the premise that a human turning into a pokémon is not just something that happened to the main character but rather to the human population at large. Essentially, something somewhere went horribly wrong, most people can't remember what happened during the change because they went into shock from the transformation, and the majority of facilities involved in pokémon research and development of pokémon-related products were laid to waste in the aftermath. Exploration teams are primarily focused on scavenging and reconstructing pokémon-related tech and digging through the ruins for information about what happened. The bulk of the story would be set a fair bit after the big shift, and focuses on a member of one of the first exploration teams who's returning to society after an extended period of rehab from a mission gone wrong, only to find that larger society has started accepting the change and moving on from trying to reverse it.

Organized society definitely exists, but I guess you could still jot this down as a post-apocalyptic story given the central premise. The primary focus of the story is on the protagonist and his new team trying to get to the bottom of what happened, and on exploring the various ways people and the world as a whole have adapted to the change. Planned ideas also include going into a fair bit of detail on the effects technology from the main series universe (like pokéballs, healing machines, and the computer storage system) would have on a PMD-type society and some body horror/man vs self type conflict involved with people who still identify as human, as opposed to the younger generations which have been pokémon since birth. This is probably the most likely one to see some finished chapters done, simply because there is such a vast amount of potential content for me to tap into.

Reminds me a little of pokenutter's Blue Snow. The entire population is all transformed into Pokemon by some weird weather event, then soon after transformed back by another event. However, if these people weren't outside when it happened, they weren't reverted, so the story focuses on one of the people who were stranded as a Pokemon.

 

[DarkerShining]

So a few of you mentioned future stories in your new year's plans. I don't suppose you'd be willing to give us a little preview? Any hints as to what you're planning?

Well... I suppose there are some "Special Episodes" for Pokémon Mystery Dungeon: Reflecting Balance that I'm working on, which will be One-Shots focusing on different characters at different points in time before and during the events of the story, kind of like the Special Episodes in PMD: Sky. Hoping to get the first of those up soon-ish, as well as make more progress on the main story itself. Not sure what else I'll be able to write, but I've certainly got some ideas that I may or may not be able to make into something.

 

[Akiyama]

So a few of you mentioned future stories in your new year's plans. I don't suppose you'd be willing to give us a little preview? Any hints as to what you're planning?

Well, that inspired me to write a better summary for my work, Pokémon Mystery Dungeon: Orbital Resistance: "I don't care if half the world dies. I will not stop it because you have created the perfect ending for him. When it's done, everything will be depleted from him like he has done to me, and he will suffer forever in the same loop. He will never achieve his vengeance, never find love, and never be happy."

It's amazing how long the story should come out as, but it's so worth it to create my own setting for PMD in the process (although it is inspired by many sources). We'll have violence and morally questionable actions.

 

[FullMoon]

Why you like fanfic/writing: Because I have a very active imagination and feel a need to share some of my better ideas with others, I want to show make my own stories as well as expand on the universe that is given to us by the original creators since there's often a lot of things that could be expanded upon in an interesting way.

So, hey guys. You might have seen that I already posted my fanfic in this fórum, I only found out about this club now, so I hope I can be a part of it.

 

[TrainerMaria]

So a few of you mentioned future stories in your new year's plans. I don't suppose you'd be willing to give us a little preview? Any hints as to what you're planning?

Sorry for not being active for a bit but I should be better from here on out.

As for my new year's plans, I am focused on writing my own original story but I am also planning on trying to write a fan fiction. I'm hoping that it will help me to gain more experience and to write more efficiently.

I'm currently working on the first chapter of the fan fiction. The original inspiration is from a dream that I had. In it a girl joined a guild that was devoted to helping Pokemon and people alike. The people in the guild were all given a special gift that allowed them to change into a specific Pokemon at will. According to which Pokemon they changed into they were also able to use certain abilities in their human form.

It's basically a lot like the Pokemon Mystery Dungeon series. You join a guild, accept basic missions and work for the good of the world. The pokemon that you change into is based upon your personality and your true self.

Throughout the dream however there was a sense of urgency that the guild would be tested in a way that would determine not only their future but the future of the world. Sadly I woke up before learning what the threat was. I ended up working something out by designing the past of guild and more.

Originally I was considering making it into a roleplay but I decided to make it into a fan fiction. The setting of the roleplay would have been after the events of the story so I might be able to make it into a roleplay afterwards. Either way though I'm really excited and curious to see how it develops.

 

[bobandbill]

So a few of you mentioned future stories in your new year's plans. I don't suppose you'd be willing to give us a little preview? Any hints as to what you're planning?

Well, a story I'll be posting is one which I'm now up to the last few scenes with writing out! I know some edits I'll be applying earlier to it, but it's exciting that I'm nearing the end of it. Even if the current scene I'm on is not going to be short by any means (battles...) and that only a couple weeks ago I threw in an extra scene I had not planned to have at all, so there's still room for that to happen yet again. :V

It's a trainer fic, but the protagonist is a gym trainer rather than the standard one that goes about travelling and taking on gyms. Loosely based on canon in-game NPCs so I guess that's kind of like the characters I did in my last one, which were also loosely based on npc characters (some of them anyway). It's nowhere near as silly as that one was though, haha. Slice-of-life story spanning a few months, and that's all I'm saying for now on that.

I've had other ideas for stuff to work on after that. Might try doing drabbles again for pokemon which I did some of last year (and actually post them here), maybe considering reviving my silly song parodies... for bigger stuff it's another matter though. There's one fic idea which is just a mess of concepts... that may include characters trying to write the best story within the story and failing. And something about evil togepi, becuase it's not very loosely based off an old set of fic ideas that came from talking to two mods over msn (one here :V And 'msn' probably dates that, haha).

And then over Christmas a friend got me a copy of Pokemon XD too (only borrowed it years back), so there's the chance that when I play through that I'll feel up to make a parody of that game. But that'd be a huge project seeing how long the Colosseum one took me.

 

[diamondpearl876]

I don't post here often, but I'm kind of sort of looking for help right now, if anyone wants to have discussions about fics or serious topics in general.

So a few of you mentioned future stories in your new year's plans. I don't suppose you'd be willing to give us a little preview? Any hints as to what you're planning?

Uh, I guess I have two main fics I'm focusing on.

Love and Other Nightmares - An unconventional journey!fic with "chosen one" cliches used, explored and crushed. Not much to say about this one, except: how do I deal with writing this story when literally every aspect of it is entirely out of my comfort zone? I hate my mind sometimes.

Survival Project sequel - SP is my pride and joy for many reasons, and I had planned to leave it as it was until some ideas blew up in my face and demanded to be written. What I need help with is learning how to properly portray more serious topics such as physical abuse, mental illness and so on without being unrealistic and offensive. Also, how do you go about brainstorming character arcs for characters that were, well... developed in the first story?

I don't want to go into specific plot points because tl;dr. Anyone want to talk with me?

 

[FullMoon]

I'm currently in a vacation to my mother's homeland, it's probably a good time to get some writing doing, but I just can't get in the mood to write and even if I try to I usually can't get much done. It's frustraing really. What do you guys do in order to get in the mood for writing?

 

[Starlight Aurate]

Not much to say about this one, except: how do I deal with writing this story when literally every aspect of it is entirely out of my comfort zone? I hate my mind sometimes.

Writing out of your comfort zone is definitely a difficult thing to do, but it can be good practice. I don't know if having a story with EVERYTHING out of your comfort zone is the best way to start; it's good to take things like this in little increments, just take baby steps, and give your self plenty of time to look things over. And I'm sorry to ask this, but how is it out of your comfort zone? I know you may not want to give spoilers for your fic, but is it just writing on subjects you don't know much about? I know that I, at least, have to spend time doing research for my fic so that I have at least some idea of what I'm talking about.

What I need help with is learning how to properly portray more serious topics such as physical abuse, mental illness and so on without being unrealistic and offensive.

That is tricky, and I know that those subjects are hard to touch on tastefully. I haven't been brave enough to do it merely because, as I don't have experience with those topics, I don't think I can do it realistically. If you do want to include them in your story, researching those and accounts of people who have suffered under them would be the best way to go, in my opinion.

Sorry, I don't really know how to approach this, but thanks for asking the question! I've been wondering the same thing ^_^;

Also, how do you go about brainstorming character arcs for characters that were, well... developed in the first story?

My approach would be to have some sort of outline for the arc. You at least want to know where your character is at, where your character is going, and how your character gets there. It's okay if your character has already been developed; I always feel like people (real and fictional) always have more that can be revealed about them, or if they're already developed can head in a different direction or undergo some other characterization process.

Sorry if I didn't make any sense, but I hope that my advice has some merit! If you need me to be clearer, just let me know.

What do you guys do in order to get in the mood for writing?

Oh dude, I had the same problem not too long ago! This is hard to get through, I know, since when you're lacking motivation it's really hard to find it. There are times when all I want to do is write my fic, and when I'm willing to just let it die. What worked for me was to turn back to my original sources of inspiration. I'd listen to the same songs that inspired me to characterize my characters the way they are, I'd read books by my favorite authors again, and I'd look at more fanfiction. Not sure if it applies quite the same to you, but Creepychu and Negrek gave me some pretty sound advice on the last page. One of the things I did was just write everything out, and let the words flow without concern as to whether what came really pertained to my story and would ever be posted for others to read.

Sorry if this doesn't help at all, but good luck! Breaking through these motivational barriers is really hard, but I know that you can do it. It might just take some time.