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The Fan Fiction Mafia

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Wyrm

~Setting Sail~
Oh, yeah, this thing again. Maybe I'll actually stick around this time.

Why do you like fanfic/writing?

Writing: Life is mind-bogglingly boring at least seventy-five percent of the time for me. One day I discovered that you can create realities, just without the "real." Things went along from there.

Fanfic: It soon came to my attention that coming up with amazing stuff without spamming fantasy stories left and right was not exactly my thing. That's where fan work comes in. I have a universe to work with that I actually like. Fwee.

Fess up, kitties. What was your first story about?

Oh, god. Here we go. Try not to die while reading.

Alright, so this is where my real problem comes in. Basically: I suck. Once upon a time, I made my first attempt at Pokemon fan fiction. It was a self-insert about a ten year old named Daniel (hint-hint) who lived in Pallet Town and was about to start his journey with his friend/rival named Gary (who also was supposed to look like the anime Gary, too). They go to Oak's lab to pick between Bulbasaur, Charmander, and Squirtle. Then they have a battle. IN THE LAB. Afterwards, Oak asks Daniel to go to Viridian City to pick up a parcel. On the way, he gets attacked by a Spearow... And that's where I gave up. I had planned for him to travel through all the regions, challenging all facilities and following all the standard game events. He would then go to Poketopia and compete in a tournament in order to face Red. Then he'd save the world from some apocalypse involving Legendaries. This was actually posted here, too. Don't go looking for it. Even if it has decent quality for a starting fic, it's terrible.*raises flame shield*

You guys still with me? Alright.

Long story short, I've learned from my mistakes, and now I'm planning for a REAL story (not just what I called my other lame attempts "experiments"). I know what I'm doing now, but probably still stink at doing this well. *end ramble*

Glad to see the thread again. Let's kick some rival mafia rear.
 

Matori

THE QUEEN IS BACK
Fess up, kitties. What was your first story about? Aw man, my first fic was badass.

Ya see, I got into fanfiction writing about three months after I got into fanfiction reading. On this here very site as it happens. So I was happily reading away until I thought, 'I can do this, I've read loads of writing advide, I know to avoid certain pitfalls! Unlike Ash and Co. Am I right guys!'

Okay... I never thought that lame pun, but come on!

So anyway, my fic was about a kid from Mahogany Town (Didn't start in the game start town, this made me super progressive), he went to the Lake of Rage with his buddy for a camping trip. When he got back to his house his parents had been kidnapped by Team Rocket! (This was set after the GSC games and was written WAY before HGSS) They were pokéball creators and specialised in effect balls and they had given their latest prototype to their son, a "charge ball" which was able to catch electric types easier.

So long story short, the kid researches Team Rocket and goes around the various hideouts from the games, looking for his parents. (Because this made perfect sense to my early teen self. On the way, he runs into a Rocket Grunt who tries to kill him with a crobat until a Jolteon jumps in to save him (Whilst it is an eeveelution, I removed the element of choice Eevee provides. Progressive as all hell, I tell ya) It's also a shiny pokémon which I explain away later as being a sign of experimentation by Team Rocket. Kinda like Shadow Pokémon.

At some point in the story he gets a cubone and a kabuto in his team and then I stopped writing it because my computer got wiped.

It was around that time that I wrote the first fic I posted. Serial. Which was about a Serial Killer Gallade. He was a cool guy.

This is an amazing idea for a story, and if you rewrote it to involve the HG/SS Executives, I would totally be onboard with that. There need to be more stories set in the Gold/Silver canon, and this isn't a half-bad plot for a fic, either. It's neat that you acknowledged not every kid starts their adventure in the game start town, I think too many writers feel constrained by that.

The Gallade story sounds amazing as well. Odd, but definitely an interesting premise.


It's been a while since I've joined one of these... I'm SilentMemento. I write horror and darkfics, so that you don't have to - ah, who am I kidding? Some of you have written works of fiction that are way scarier than anything I can ever dream about. XD

Seriously, though, I do write horror. In fact, Revenant is my main fic. It has references to Dead Space, The Thing, Shutter Island, Alien, and E.T.. What that means is that it is a Pokemon fic based in space that has a ton of body horror and psychological horror. It is rated R, though, so if you're younger than seventeen or if you are easily frightened by disturbing imagery or if you get bored with extended exposition until the fifth chapter, a jerkass main character who isn't very sympathetic, or if you absolutely can't stand writers who procrastinate and tend to never finish stories, do not read.
Hi! (waves) One of these days I'll leave a review on Revenant, I've been reading it and loving it all so far.

So, without further stalling, I'll answer the two questions:

Why do you like fanfiction/writing?

Wow. Why do I like it? So I can get rich and famous, buy all the Lamborghinis and Ferraris I want, and have thousands of screaming fans lining up for my autograph when I enter a place? Isn't that why everyone does it? Nah, seriously, though, I love writing for the sheer freedom it gives me. I have all of these characters in my head who have a story to be told, who have granted me the honor and privilege of telling those stories and interpreting their character.

From the young (and surprisingly sentient) female cat who is slowly maturing (Warriors) and the peaceful Hypno who spends its days meditating on Three Island (Pokemon, of course), to the fast-talking, quick-drawing salarian special operative (Mass Effect) and the cold-blooded mercenary fox with a serious grudge against slavers (Redwall), all the way to the psychologically-traumatized child soldier who is going through his own trial in space (Pokemon), these characters and their stories are an absolute joy to write. These are characters that are all important parts, and the fact that nothing is as clear-cut as it seems makes it all the better.
I can definitely agree with all of this. I love being able to play around with characters and letting them run wild in my stories. More often than not, I end up having them give the story a totally new course just by letting their personalities take over. I know a story I've written is a good one when I feel like it's not so much me writing the characters as the characters telling me their stories and trusting me to write them down.


I'm actually in the middle of writing my first fanfic right now. It's an AU Pokemon fic inspired by the SCP Foundation wiki (it's not straight horror, more psychological horror-lite/fantasy). It isn't posted yet, but once I have time to edit the first few chapters I should post it. Ugh, revision. xD

Holy crap, I would LOVE to see this. So much. I love SCP and creepypasta and psychological horror and I would definitely add it to my list of things to read.

Oh, yeah, this thing again. Maybe I'll actually stick around this time.

Why do you like fanfic/writing?

Writing: Life is mind-bogglingly boring at least seventy-five percent of the time for me. One day I discovered that you can create realities, just without the "real." Things went along from there.

This is pretty much how I came to start writing. It's the best part, really.
 

Kaiserin

please wake up...
I want to be a mobster, too! :(

Why you like fanfic/writing: An anticlimactic form deserves an anticlimactic answer, yes? Because it is one of my more unique outlets for creativity. I have a lot of them, but whereas all my others involve either working with my hands (sewing, crafting, etc.) or working with images (drawing), writing is something that involves using words instead of pictures to accomplish the same purpose. I find it a little more challenging than drawing, in its own way, and it has a unique niche in the killings of my personal time.

...Poetic enough? C:

EDIT: Also, I wrote two shameless smutfics for Pokemon recently that are a little short on meaningful reviews, if anyone would be interested in looking at them? They're on my FFnet profile, but they're also very definitely PWP, so I don't want to link unless someone actually... wants to read them. (One is Rosa/Hugh, and the other is Rosa/Red, if that piques any interest.)
 

Phoenixsong

you taste like fear
Hm. Maybe this might work as incentive to lurk slightly less. Maybe. Who do I have to whack to get in, Don Jax?

Sadly I don't really have much in the way of active stories to pimp out—I've definitely never posted anything here, at least—so I'm afraid I'mma have to waste my one opportunity for shameless advertising. Ah, well. Hopefully I'll be able to get my act together and post at least a one-shot or something before too long, though! (I do have some stuff on my website, including a personal actually-make-words-more-often-you-cretin challenge in which I write silly drabbles for each and every pokémon; you can pester me later if you want to see 'em.)

EDIT because way to actually introduce myself: Hi, I'm Phoenixsong, and sometimes I write things. Sometimes I read things, too. Not nearly often enough on either count, but I try! I have a bunch of fic ideas buzzing around my head and I'm hoping to actually get one down on "paper" one of these days. I tend to like reading quirky journeyfic, but overall my tastes are pretty broad and can generally be summed up as "anything that's not predominantly romance" (and I'm not super fond of or knowledgeable about the animé or any of the mangas, so I tend to avoid those 'verses unless something else about the fic catches my eye... ohaithar AEM). When it comes to writing I'm kinda all over the board—I have at least a few of those "quirky journeyfic" ideas of my own but I also have non-journey plotbunnies that involve canon characters, original characters, weird AUs, fantasy, fun with pseudoscience, cracky AUs, tournaments, mystery/detective fiction, game retellings, role reversals, big worldbuildy projects, dystopian AUs and possibly the occasional crossover. Wish I could write horror, too, but when it comes to fic I don't scare easily and don't understand how/why other people get scared, so I don't think I'd be very good at it. :B That's not even covering the aforementioned drabble project and a related one-shot project that I guess is vaguely similar to Ysarvvyl's Pokédex One-Shots, in which everything stands alone and anything goes as long as it's about a certain pokémon or evolution line. Most of my ideas tend to be and have been Pokémon-related, but throughout my attempting-to-write career I've also poked at Golden Sun, Yu-Gi-Oh!, Tales of Symphonia, Fire Emblem, Homestuck and Redwall stuff, probably among others, and some original ideas as well. So... yeah! Hi!

and the cold-blooded mercenary fox with a serious grudge against slavers (Redwall)

Brief interlude for a Redwall brofist.

I'm actually in the middle of writing my first fanfic right now. It's an AU Pokemon fic inspired by the SCP Foundation wiki (it's not straight horror, more psychological horror-lite/fantasy). It isn't posted yet, but once I have time to edit the first few chapters I should post it. Ugh, revision. xD

Also a brofist for this! SCPokémon ftw!


Now then, questions!

Why do you like fanfiction/writing?

I'm not even sure I can sum it up properly, heh. I like creating, I like imagining, I like to experience things that I never normally could for one reason or another. (Maybe it stems from my early fascination with dinosaurs and Ancient Egypt? idk) I know my mom read to me a lot (and she's never not reading anything herself), I'm told I started reading around 2 1/2-ish and pretty much never stopped, and the creative writing I had to do early on (see the 'fessin' up below for more) probably did a lot to cement the idea that the quickest way to get in on this awesome imaginary stuff racket was to take up writing myself. Fanfiction in particular is fun because what's better than additional imaginary extensions to the imaginary shenaniganry you're already enjoying, mirite? More awesome all around!

Sadly I don't do as much writing or reading as I used to, primarily because I am distressingly easy to distract and to talk into over-committing; whenever I do try to write again these days it tends toward hilariously bad, or at least I think it's hilariously bad, haha. Honestly even when I wrote more it was still bad and I also never finished anything ever, but at least I wasn't as self-critical and didn't paralyze so easily when trying to put words on a page. I'm trying to get back into both, though, in part with the drabble challenge thing, in part by trying to remember to find more schtuff to read here and by buckling the hell down and trying to finalize one of my five million and three ideas before I start hating it or get distracted by something else shiny. I've made it something of a New Year's resolution to actually post something on Serebii for once and get it nominated for 2013's FF Awards because yes, I'm that conceited, so we'll see how well that goes!

Fess up, kitties. What was your first story about?

First-ever-ever story? I couldn't put my finger on exactly what it was about, but the elementary school I went to had mandatory creative writing time and I definitely filled up a whole mess of the yellow legal pads they gave us for that purpose. I'm sure plenty of people did something at least vaguely similar in their mini years, and I may have written stuff even earlier that I just don't remember at all, but what's noteworthy is that these mini-me writing assignments did include what is technically my first "fanfiction": a series of four stories involving me, my little brother and two of our cousins somehow winding up in the worlds of some of my favorite cartoons/movies (Tiny Toons, Rugrats, 101 Dalmatians and one other I don't recall atm) and helping the characters solve some weird problem over the course of probably two pages of my huge babby handwriting. This was well before I knew anything about the interwebs or had any access to it, so no one ever saw it except for the classmates I read it to during sharing time, but it's fiction about established characters so it counts, mostly. *nods*

On to internet fic! FUNNY STORY ABOUT REDWALL, ACTUALLY. AND ALSO FLOPPY DISKS. Okay not really, it's just a funny story about how inexcusably bad something I wrote was, but it relates to those things at least tangentially! I can't tell you exactly what the first fanfic I ever attempted to post was (I do know some of the earliest internets-and-forums-era fics I wrote were terribad Golden Sun fanfics, and from there I moved on to inflicting my special brand of ohgodwhy on Pokémon, Yu-Gi-Oh!, Redwall and many other things in between), but I strongly suspect it was my magnum opus Alosir Longblade.

In a nutshell it was a fantasy fic that took place in a world inhabited by anthropomorphic pokémon and non-anthro pokémon and also humans, elves, dragons and also like every kind of anthro animal from the Redwall series. Brian Jacques was a huge influence on my love of writing, and that in and of itself is not a bad thing, but unfortunately Redwall-esque stuff managed to leak into anything fantasy-related I did, be it weird prophetic riddlepoetry or bizarre songs or exaggerated accents or actual clone abbeys full of anthro pokémon standing in for Redwall itself. I attempted to start several stories that were basically Redwall-but-with-pokemans, actually, and then somehow the last one got blown out of proportion, became Alosir Longblade and also somehow picked up legit dragons somewhere idek. As a result there were huge chunks of this story that, while not a direct lift of any of the Redwall series' plot elements, followed a very similar structure and had my very bad approximation of Mr. Jacques's style. There were even some choice bits like the "sea elves" basically being expies of Redwall's otters and saying the exact same kinds of stuff and being obsessed with some silly impossibly spicy soup, and all that with there still being actual Redwall otters slated for appearances later in the fic.

The plot was basically that there was an evil sentret (no really) named Lord Stalfir who led this huge horde of evil humans/elves/dragons/anthromon and all the stereotypical "vermin" Redwall animals like foxes and weasels, and he was going around trying to find some vaguely-defined magic MacGuffin swords that he would do vaguely-evil things with. (The middle of the story wasn't very fleshed out... but then in my stuff it never is, even to this day.) He and his horde march on this sleepy little village and slaughter everyone, including this little elf girl named Alosir and her family—my hands-down favorite scene in the whole thing, btw, is when Alosir is trying to protect her baby brother, Stalfir says something to the effect of "Does the baby like hats? I have a hat he might like," and then runs the baby's forehead through with a spear—and then leave. A traveling band of... mercenaries? idek, but an anthro-umbreon, a fox and an apparently not-anthro pidgeotto are trailing Stalfir's entire horde by themselves, and they come through the village and find everyone dead except for Alosir who actually survived. She swears vengeance on Evil Sentret McStabbyhats and has been with that little group following him ever since. The story proper starts ten years later when Stalfir (now an evil furret, so much better mirite) is still looking for macguffinswords and Alosir is still looking for him and eventually she finds a sword and takes her surname from it and then they probably fight or something. Also there were volcanoes and tribes of jabbering swamp croconaw and unnecessary bad accents of various stripes.

Needless to say, it was glorious.

One of the best parts? I was convinced that, if I just took out the pokémon and replaced them with other animals/stock fantasy bushwa, I could get it published. Because, awful writing aside, removing all the Pokémon series stuff is enough to classify it as Totally Not Plagiarism You Guys even though the Redwall ripoff stuff is intact. It legitimately did not occur to me that leaving that in was also bad. What even, mini-Phoenix. What even.

One of the other best parts is how I posted it. I did all of my writing on an ancient laptop (Windows 3.1 baby, aw yeah) I'd commandeered. It wasn't hooked up to the internet, though—my primary means of interneting back then was through our WebTV. The WebTV, by contrast, only let you access the internet, so there was no way to store files on it and Google Docs et al were still years and years away. So in order to start posting Alosir Longblade I had to:

1. Save fic to a floppy disk.
2. Take floppy disk out to living room computer, also internetless, and print out the current chapter.
3. Scoot chair over to WebTV, navigate to the forum I wanted to post to and, reading from the printout, manually retype the entire chapter in the reply box.

I got the first two chapters up on that forum and, horrifyingly enough, had several people say they liked it (including an author I'd looked up to at the time; not sure what to make of that now). I sat down to post Chapter Three one day but then had to leave for some reason—I don't remember whether it was just sprung on me or if I knew about it and my timing/decision-making ability was just that atrocious—and so, to avoid having to redo what I'd already typed, posted only the first section of the third chapter along with an apology saying I'd edit the rest in later. For some reason, though, I never did. I think I may have written more of the story on my laptop, and I know I hadn't lost interest or realized how horribad it was yet, but I just... never went back to the thread. Whatever happened it was ultimately for the best, though it must have looked all kinds of weird with two full chapters and then like two paragraphs of the third.

Mercifully, I mean sadly, the only place I posted it to was wiped out due to some kind of forum-wide error long, long ago; the community itself still exists but the thread does not, so now the only way you'd be able to see it would be for me to start posting what I have again. Which I have actually considered doing, either just for laughs or as some sort of masochistic punishment, but unlike other people who make their old nonsense available online I don't have an especially good reason to (no newer revision to compare it to, for example). Unless I do end up punishing myself for something. Hm.

tl;dr, this story fills me with great shame and also great amusement. Also great anger because at twelve chapters it's the furthest I've ever gotten with a chapterfic. Most of my current stuff, while at the very least not as wtfish and not as horribly plagiarized (you know, except for the fact that it's fanfiction and, welp), is lucky if I ever get any words down at all. DX Oh, to be thirteen and a prolific hack again.

(Technically one of my new projects is also fantasy stuff with pokémon and elves and orcs and dwarves and humans and gods and stuff all thrown into a blender set to train wreck, but the difference is that this time I'm getting seriously into the worldbuilding and am hoping fervently that it will make sense. As much sense as that concept ever could, anyway. At least there are no sentret stabbing babies in the head and discussing haberdashery.)

...why is it so easy to ramble on waaaay more than was asked for in things like this and yet so impossible to actually write a story, sob whine cry angst artist problems etc..

I think the sheer volume of words in that spoiler is sufficient to whack anyone who attempts to read it. Am I in the mafia now?
 
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Matori

THE QUEEN IS BACK
Hm. Maybe this might work as incentive to lurk slightly less. Maybe. Who do I have to whack to get in, Don Jax?

Sadly I don't really have much in the way of active stories to pimp out—I've definitely never posted anything here, at least—so I'm afraid I'mma have to waste my one opportunity for shameless advertising. Ah, well. Hopefully I'll be able to get my act together and post at least a one-shot or something before too long, though! (I do have some stuff on my website, including a personal actually-make-words-more-often-you-cretin challenge in which I write silly drabbles for each and every pokémon; you can pester me later if you want to see 'em.)

Fellow lurker/rareposter here. I'm trying to do the same thing really, I've never had much of a presence here outside of my fic posts once in a blue moon and arguing with people in the anime forums, so I'm kind of happy this exists because I have a structured way to be social now and structure is frequently the only thing that lets me accomplish anything.

Nice to meet you!

Also, I feel your pain- back in high school, when I started ficcing, I didn't have internet access at home so my best friend was my trusty floppy disc and sneaking onto school computers to post it during newspaper (when I should have been doing.. newspaper things) or after school in the library if the tech lady wasn't watching. Either that or I'd go to the public library and pray the computer didn't eat my disc. The things we do for our art.

I also lacked a real computer so so many of my periods when I was allegedly "taking notes" I usually spent that time hand-writing fanfiction on looseleaf lined paper, then transcribed it as soon as I got home. It did more for my typing speed and skills than any computer class EVER did.
 

Kutie Pie

"It is my destiny."
Also, I feel your pain- back in high school, when I started ficcing, I didn't have internet access at home so my best friend was my trusty floppy disc and sneaking onto school computers to post it during newspaper (when I should have been doing.. newspaper things) or after school in the library if the tech lady wasn't watching. Either that or I'd go to the public library and pray the computer didn't eat my disc. The things we do for our art.

I also lacked a real computer so so many of my periods when I was allegedly "taking notes" I usually spent that time hand-writing fanfiction on looseleaf lined paper, then transcribed it as soon as I got home. It did more for my typing speed and skills than any computer class EVER did.

I used to write down chapters on pieces of paper, and then get on the family computer to re-type it all into the reply box when I first started out. Yeah, I'm surprised I didn't get carpal tunnel from it (I would eventually learn how to type normally in a typing class in eighth grade and thus the end of my beautiful penmanship). Mom then would show me the beauties of copying and pasting. She would then give me my own flash drive.

While I had a desktop computer, when I had just about entered high school (or actually, I think I was still finishing junior high), I eventually received a hand-me-down Dell laptop that I always had to keep plugged in because it only had one battery. I wrote a lot on that laptop for about two years. However, I was an idiot who didn't know how memory worked on computers, so once I used up the memory, I couldn't open my stories and transfer them to a flash drive (for some reason), and I lost a lot of them on that laptop. I would eventually get a new one from my late-grandfather that Christmas, and I started from scratch.

Though to be honest, I think it was for the best that laptop's memory was used up, many of the stories were pretty crappy. And it was then I started realizing I might've been getting into erotic fan-fiction o_O. All because I ended up reading my mother's/grandmother's collected romance/almost-Harlequin romance novels that I got out one boring summer. Why Mom never stopped me is a mystery. (But at least it and all of those fan fics I would run into would eventually lead me to writing Forsaken out of disappointment of the romance genre. That's something for another time.)
 

Liltwick

Just your Sleepy FIzzy Mod
I see this club finally! Time to be more active this time around then!

Why you like fanfic/writing:

Let's see here, I just love to write in general as it just allows me to express me feelings in ways that aren't possible. I like imagining things, how different turns could have been taken, what could have happened, all of those little unopened doors that they left untouched could be opened and you can write in your own story. I just love how everything you want can be written down in a novel, how emotions that aren't easily expressed can easily be set loose. It is a wave, it will sweep over your mind until it's dry, and you need to move on. Sure, everyone makes mistakes, but the virtues of writing just has a way to release. Ideas will come and go, just as life, and that's the beauty of it. If someone has writer's block, it's because they need a new change of pace, or scenery, or a new idea. Once you have that urge to write, it will never be let go... You will just bury it inside of you until it breaks free. That is why I love writing and fanfiction, to express your words and emotions, and to tell the tales of paths untold.

Okay, sorry for the long rant-like application.
 

Phoenixsong

you taste like fear
Think I finally do have carpal tunnel now, haha, though fanfic isn't entirely to blame for that. I'm fixin' to make my living working with the internet, so... :p

But yeah, trying to write and post fanfic back in the days of floppy disks and limited internet access (and apparently crappy computers for more than one of us) was always awesome. I actually still have a bunch of my old floppies—in fact, sometime in '11 I tried to recover some stuff from them and move it to a flash drive. It only sort of worked—a combination of hahahaha floppy disks and the fact that most of the stuff was written on I don't even know what rudimentary word processor on a Win3.1 PC meant that much of it was corrupted and filled with garbage when I finally managed to open and/or copy it. I saved some, partially saved others and may have accidentally borked one floppy beyond repair (though thankfully there was nothing super important on it as far as I can tell); I still have a lot of others I need to go through, haha. Which will be hilarious because good lord reading through the ones that aren't ruined is almost physically painful.
 
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Pyroli

Banned
Holy man, finally! A new fanfiction club! \ouo/

Why you like fanfic/writing: Well, let's see. I'm involved in all sorts of fine art programs; as in, I play as instrument, I paint/draw, I write, and I'm in a lot of drama productions. Now, as much as drawing allows me to blow off some steam; writing is what really gets me going. I've been told by various English teachers that I have a gift of turning mundane/domestic situations into amazingly vivid stories told at various points of view. Anyhow, I first got into, well truly writing in about Grade 7 (Twelve years old.). However, I didn't begin writing fanfiction until around the 8th Grade (And I will never speak of these dark days). Once I hit Grade 9; I found my primary fandoms, as well as far more inspiration to write; and an English teacher who fully supported me and had a lot in common with me.

Now I'm in Grade 10, still moving strong in the writing universe. I'm finding it easier, and easier to write with every story. The stuff I write usually depends on what I'm listening to, or how I feel at the time... And that my friends, is why I adore writing with a fiery passion.

Also why does everyone hate Second person? I don't understand?
 

Phoenixsong

you taste like fear
It's not so much that people hate second person itself, or rather it shouldn't be; it's just as valid a POV as any other. It's just that the nature of that viewpoint (to oversimplify, the fact that it implies that the reader is the main character) makes it difficult to use in a way most people find effective and appropriate. I'm a wee bit tired so rather than attempt to explain further I'll just link you to some posts in Advice for Aspiring Authors, in which Jax and I both touched on a few reasons why it's tricky and a few examples of where it might be best utilized. Someone else can probably weigh in on that as well.

Just because it's difficult doesn't mean it can't or shouldn't be done, though, and don't let anyone tell you otherwise! If you feel like you have a story that's well-suited to it, there's no reason not to give it a shot.

EDIT: Ah, wait, haha, just realized that you were the person who asked that question in the first place. You've presumably already seen those posts, then! Sorry. :p Point still stands, though: most of the dislike of second person POV stems from the fact that it's rarely used well, even though that's a problem with the author's choice and execution rather than second person itself being inherently bad. If more authors took the time to consider whether a) second person is the best fit for their story and b) they're handling it effectively, there'd probably be fewer people insisting that it should be avoided outright.
 
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I wasn't super active in the previous thread, but I'd like to join again.

The only fandom I've ever written a lot in is Pokemon. I wrote a ton back in the day, but I didn't post a lot of. What I did post was on other forums. They never got much attention, but it's probably for the best considering how poorly written they were. Still, what little criticism I did get helped me a lot. That, and the fact that I was writing almost constantly in the middle school to early high school days meant that I also learned to improve myself a little bit.

I used to be really into journey fics, and that was basically all I'd write. Now, I mostly stick to one-shots, for fear that I'll post yet another fic that won't get completed. (I've got a few plans, though. We'll see what happens.) I haven't posted anything in a while (coming up on a year now, I think), and I can't promise I'll be writing with more frequency any time soon. One can dream, though.

Now, onto these:

Why you like fanfic/writing?

I guess for me, the biggest reason I like writing is the chance to get my ideas down onto a page in completed form. I generally find myself daydreaming waaay more than actually writing, though, which is unfortunate. Still, when I do manage to write, I find it a whole lot of fun to see my ideas come to life. Realizing that a story has started piloting itself is one of the best feelings, and one of the things that makes writing so worthwhile.

Fess up, kitties. What was your first story about?

Like I said, Pokemon's really the only fandom I've written large amounts of work in. However, there was once one fandom that caught my attention long enough to inspire fan work, and that fandom was Dragon Ball/Z/GT. My plan was to rewrite the entire series, with my own changes added in. Basically, it was the first two episodes of Dragon Ball with characters randomly introduced earlier than canon and all comedy removed. I got about two chapters in before I forgot about it. It will probably never be seen by anyone again, unless I can find the old floppy disks I saved them on.

Now, I don't know if this was my very first story, but it was definitely one of the earliest that I can remember amounting to any significant amount of writing (if you can consider two bare-bones chapters "significant").
 

Azurne

~ ♥ ~
You know, I remember posting in a thread not too long ago, saying the forum had nothing to fear because Jax wasn't the mob boss. Now, I have to go back and eat my words. :|

Also, hi, my name is Azurne. I lurk, and I try to give helpful advice once in a blue moon. I can't finish a story to save my life, but I'd still like to join. I can provide arms and ammunition in the form of witty banter, as well as bullet-proof vests in the form of self-deprecating humor. Satisfaction not guaranteed, but there is a lifetime warranty.

Why you like fanfic/writing: To be honest, I'm not really sure anymore. When I was a kid, I would have told you because I liked reading a lot. When I was an angst-ridden preteen I would have told you because I can (translation: all the cool kids on the internet were doing it), and when I was a junior in high school I'd have said because I like exploring deep relationships with characters or something edgy and special snowflake-ish.

Today I'm going to say because I just do. It's something that comes naturally (though not as naturally as I'd like it to be), and I can't help it. I'm a chronic daydreamer, so coming up with hypothetical situations and characters happens on a daily basis, multiple times. Some days they may string together into a coherent story, some may just go poof in the night because they were simply idle 'that would be amusing' thoughts. I like to take things, twist them around and turn them on their heads, light the proverbial fire underneath their arse to see what they're made of. I'm something of a thrill-seeker, but instead of seeking dangerous thrills in real life, I like putting the thrills in written form. If a fandom or existing story doesn't pass my 'can you handle this' test, then they're perfectly ripe for some awesome re-writing.

So, I guess I'm kinda like a repairman for fandoms. The more I see how utterly broken an anime/game/book is, and how good it could have been, I either go into daydream mode or immediately start pulling up Word. *shrug*

Fess up, kitties. What was your first story about?

NEVER. You will pry that floppy disk from my cold, dead hands.

COLD. DEAD. HANDS.


Oh, oh wait. First story? Not first fanfiction? Okay. I was in first grade, and it was about me saving a dolphin. That's all I remember. (Even my first original story was a self-insert, sob). But, apparently it was good enough to get me into some sort of hardcore writing competition at the state level. Then they gave me a pop-up book as a prize, which legitimately offended me. I figured they must have thought I couldn't read real books, because all the older kids got actual novels. But, the guy who gave me the pop-up book was really nice about it and was apparently the author, so I kept quiet to spare feelings. Still, I was a very passive-aggressive first grader that day.

But, yeah. Dolphins.
 

Negrek

Lost but Seeking
Been a while since I've been a part of the FF club. May as well.

If you don't know me, I'm Negrek and I've been writing fanfic for about nine years now. I like writing action-adventure kind of stories, often with elements of mystery, suspense, or the supernatural thrown in. Right now the chapterfic I'm posting is Salvage, a very experimental story I've been working on for around four years. It follows two deeply messed-up kids with superpowers and no real conception of how the world actually works who decide that they need to rescue Mew from Team Rocket, no matter how many international incidents they cause along the way. Despite the zany premise, it's much less on the wacky antics side and more on the horrifying and morally questionable one. I've had a huge amount of fun writing it, but it remains to be seen whether people will enjoy reading it as much.

Why do you like fanfic/writing?

I've always been a storyteller, and writing is the medium I'm best at working in. I feel restless and unhappy if I don't do at least a little writing on a regular basis; I tend to have too much stuff going on in my head if I don't channel it out into a story. I actually write quite a lot, but only a small amount of it is ever posted or otherwise displayed... something that I think I really ought to work on getting over.

Fess up, kitties. What was your first story about?

I can't remember my first story; it was something or other scribbled (laboriously, since I'd only recently learned how to write) in some awful Lisa Frank notebook when I was probably six or seven or so. I came up with a few of those.

I wrote my first fanfic in second grade, for no real reason that I can remember except that we had some free time and I decided I was going to write an Animorphs novel. I got to about a page and a half in, which more or less covered the typical Animorphs opening with the whole "I can't tell you my full name" thing and also established that Ax was living in Jake's basement for some reason. I then received my first writing critique, from a friend who asserted that I didn't have to open it that way just because all the books did so and that it was boring, to which I responded that of course I had to open it that way, all the books do it, and also you're stupid. Then I lost interest in the story and didn't write more fanfiction until after a different friend introduced me to FFN in the eighth grade.
 

SilentMemento

Lone Wolf
And I'm assuming cute aliens befriending humans, amirite? :D *shot!*

Well, I wouldn't say that it's cute by any means. And it's far from friendly. But yeah, let's go with that so that I don't have to spoil anything.

We're all sadists here, unfortunately. *sage nod*

Yeah. All of our characters could probably attest to that.

Although to be fair, your idea doesn't sound that bad, tbqh. In fact...

Oh, it was bad. Trust me on this. I mean, the whole idea was about a six-month-old kitten traversing a distance so large that it would've been impossible under any logical circumstances. It would be a lot more fair to just call a pig a pig, no matter how much lipstick you put on it.

That sounds so metal.

Not when the name is...Stonetail. There, I said it. You might have to order a hit now just because of that.

Oh, old shames. Things like this always sound like a good idea when you're young. They very rarely are, and that's what makes them hilarious in hindsight.

Tell me about it. Fate, I was a total idiot as a teenager...

YOU'LL FIT RIGHT IN HERE. 8D

Glad to hear it. :)

Matori said:
Hi! (waves) One of these days I'll leave a review on Revenant, I've been reading it and loving it all so far.

Hello~ -waves back- Thank you. I'm going to have to get started on some of your stories as well; I've read them, but I haven't reviewed them yet.

I can definitely agree with all of this. I love being able to play around with characters and letting them run wild in my stories. More often than not, I end up having them give the story a totally new course just by letting their personalities take over. I know a story I've written is a good one when I feel like it's not so much me writing the characters as the characters telling me their stories and trusting me to write them down.

Totally agree. When characters and their actions are driving the plot, it's a beautiful sight to behold.

Phoenixsong said:
Brief interlude for a Redwall brofist.

-brofist- It's truly amazing how Jacques got started as well. He never intended for those books to become famous; he just wrote them for children at a school for the blind. It was only after a friend showed a book to a publisher without telling Jacques that his career as a writer got started.
 
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Bay

YEAHHHHHHH
Oh, you totally can answer whenever you'd like. ;D FREE REIGN~!

Haha, all right.

Fess up, kitties. What was your first story about?
So, the first story I wrote was a handwritten original mystery story about the main character finding out about her sister's death. I remember having the sister's boyfriend as the murderer I think and also the female character having romantic feelings over the detective. Never got around to finishing it because yeah, it's bad. I actually still have the notebook with the story with me now and rereading some parts...oh wow, I wrote it in first person POV, whattt? XD

As for my first fanfic I posted, it's a Pokemon fic that's basically a Pokemonized version of Ernest Hemingway's Old Man and the Sea back in 2006. Oh man ashamed of the many tense mistakes and awkward sentences. D: I did a rewrite, but then I decided to focus my improved writing skills on newer stories (because I tend to have too many ideas distracting me, lol).
 
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Psychic

Really and truly
All hail kingpin Jax.

Why you like fanfic/writing: There are times when I'm better with putting words down in writing than when speaking. I love words, I love putting words together to express ideas, but I especially love using words to create stories, worlds and characters that other people can see and discover and love.

Fess up, kitties. What was your first story about?
My first story was pretty much a mixture of Animorphs and an element of the Jimmy Neutron movie. All the characters were people I knew (read: other kids in my fifth-grade class) and I never wrote past the part where the main character turned into a tiger and almost ate her best friend. This was probably for the best.



Also *adds to Redwall brofist* Those were some of my favoruite books growing up, and his description and settings and characters always enchanted me. His death was really saddening.


Aaaaand now to get back to proofreading for the magazines in Israel where I had been interning and said I'd continue to edit for. :x

~Psychic
 

ChloboShoka

Writer
Why you like fanfic/writing: I've loved writing and have been writing stories and fan fiction when I was at a young age, even before I knew what fan fiction was. I thought that writing was a great escape and I find it relaxing and therapeutic. It helps keep me sane. I've written for a lot of fandoms but Ace Attorney and Pokemon are my main ones. The fics that I'm most proud of are The Other King (Historical Romance) and Carry On, Blissey (Medical Drama).

I love reading in general and I don't really have much of a favourite genre, but I love reading fics about Iris as well as historical AUs. The first fic I ever wrote was when I was very young. It was a Super Smash Bros. play and I can't remember anything about it other than there was this big pub where all the villains go to. I remember it was set in a place I made up called Jetiendo. My most recent fan fic is a lot different though: it was a contest entry for a forum. We had to write a one shot based on a picture and the image was a cup of tea. I ended up writing a one shot about a goblin that lives in a giant tea pot.
 

Luxvan

Mozilla Fennekin
Why you like fanfic/writing: It's simply a great way of doing whatever you want to stories you want to tinker with, at least writing them, anyway (personally I'm much more in favor of writing than reading). It's awesome to take a game like Pokemon and then creating situations that would absolutely never happen in the real series, or maybe they're so good you'd be disappointed if they didn't. Things like that I want to make and want to see in return.
Okay, now what I write or want to write....
Well, FanFiction profile's in my sig if you want it. So far I just have one story, my own Pokemon game, basically. I started working on it in 2011 but got writer's block, and then X&Y got me back into it and I'm having a lot of fun. Soon I'll be uploading a Kingdom Hearts fic inspired by Breaking Bad, if anyone here is interested in that. It'll be a rather dark story, something I personally like in writing.


Fess up, kitties. What was your first story about?

Very first FanFiction ever was written when I was 10, and it was a parody of Kingdom Hearts. It was pretty random and stupid, given the fact that I was 10. I may even try writing it again...



But uh, yeah, hey.
 

Ysavvryl

Pokedex Researcher
Oh, we're a mafia now? Well all right... *snickers while plotting* I'll be around.

Who am I kidding? I'm too nice for a mafia!

Why you like fanfic/writing: I write because it's a productive habit that I have way too much fun with. I love picking apart ideas, finding out about details and the big picture, then putting them together into something that entertains me. And if it entertains other people too, well that's just peachy.

I like fanfics because they're great practice and have the potential for a little more immediate interaction between the readers and writers. Although admittingly, I haven't found much time to be reading them lately. Another reason that I really like fanfiction is that it gives me a good outlet for experimenting, either with ideas, or forms, or styles. A good deal of the fanfics I put out are experiments and tests one way or another. The results I get from that I use to fine tune my original work.


Fess up, kitties. What was your first story about?
Meow?

*ggigles* Oh dear, well my first story was way back when I was in sixth grade. I was in a special ed class for poor coordination, espeically hand-eye, so my teacher had me write things. The first full story I came up with was about a princess who's on the run (no reason stated) who comes across a unicorn. The unicorn offers to fly her to the moon (no reason stated) where they encounter a giant. The unicorn wins by growing more giant and squashing the giant (no kidding). Then the princess finds moon treasure and they live happily ever after, the end in less than ten paragraphs. It won an award for middle school writers, probably because my special ed teacher used editing and typing it as parts of my lessons.

The first fanfic I wrote and posted didn't come until years later, after I graduated college and was passing time with mediocre jobs. I was into the webcomic Bob and George at the time, so I wrote a crackfic for Mega Man X where I turned X crazy-evil and Zero into a confused rock star. But it turned serious, which is a curse that remains with me. I just can't write straight crack! I always find something interesting to take serious no matter how silly or ridiculous the initial idea is. But I've learned to accept that, as you might tell from ClicheStorm; part of the reason that it's funny is because I seriously consider the cliches I put into it, including how the cliches work and why. But it is fun.


Oh, can I have a deadline? Sort of, as it's pretty distant. For Pokedex One-Shots, I want to be able to complete the other five regions before the English version of the sixth gen Pokedex is available. Not that I want to rush myself and throw in something low quality (comparatively) for the sake of numbers, but that is my current goal.
 
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