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dividedbyblue) wrote2025-04-29 09:48 pm
dividedbyblue) wrote2025-04-29 09:48 pm
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Have you written anything, fandom-related or original?
Three weeks for Dreamwidth: Have you written anything, fandom-related or original?
I don’t consider myself a writer, but I wrote a few things. Concerning original work, I wrote some five short comic stories in my native language, Dutch, which I drew too. The shortest was four pages, and the longest, I think, was something like 30 pages. I often have ideas for short stories (mostly things that would work in a comic), and sometimes write short things down that come to mind. Some are ideas, others are just some sentences that I like the sound of, or the image they create in my mind. A few weeks ago, I wrote the text for two other short comics I could make in the future (a one-page and a two-page one).
Concerning fandom writing, when I was about 20 years old, I wanted to write a Xena fanfiction story—general fiction, not romance, because I didn’t consider myself able to write that then. I started writing it in Dutch and quickly realized that I would have no use for it, as most fanwork is in English, and I didn’t feel comfortable writing it in English. I stopped writing the story, and it’s still stored somewhere on my computer, unfinished.
A few years ago, however, I decided to try to write a fanfiction story in English. I had just finished watching Star Trek: Voyager, and knew that Janeway/Seven of Nine was a popular subtext ship way back when the show aired. I had an idea for a tiny story taking place at the end of the show, mixed in with some details present in the Star Trek: Voyager book 'Full Circle’, which I was reading at the time. I posted it on AO3. For anyone interested, it can be read HERE. Please be aware that I couldn’t find a beta-reader for it, and with English not being my first language, there will be grammar errors in it. I started another story after that, a Legends of Tomorrow fanfiction, of which I’ve currently written 2/7 chapters.
I must say that, as far as writing is concerned, be it original (comic) stories or fan stories, it is something that I need to explore more to feel comfortable with it. When I write something like fanfiction, I write very slowly. The (short) comics also always take more time than I expect them to (the drawing as well as the writing). It sometimes makes me feel like I’m doing something wrong. I need to explore a bit how to plan it correctly. I also need to explore what I can do with the short comics I made. One of them, a 15 page story I wrote back in college for an assignment, was planned to have 30 pages but I decided to split it in two ‘cause the assignment was just for a 15 page comic, and only make the first part. I still want to make the second part for that, too.
I don’t consider myself a writer, but I wrote a few things. Concerning original work, I wrote some five short comic stories in my native language, Dutch, which I drew too. The shortest was four pages, and the longest, I think, was something like 30 pages. I often have ideas for short stories (mostly things that would work in a comic), and sometimes write short things down that come to mind. Some are ideas, others are just some sentences that I like the sound of, or the image they create in my mind. A few weeks ago, I wrote the text for two other short comics I could make in the future (a one-page and a two-page one).
Concerning fandom writing, when I was about 20 years old, I wanted to write a Xena fanfiction story—general fiction, not romance, because I didn’t consider myself able to write that then. I started writing it in Dutch and quickly realized that I would have no use for it, as most fanwork is in English, and I didn’t feel comfortable writing it in English. I stopped writing the story, and it’s still stored somewhere on my computer, unfinished.
A few years ago, however, I decided to try to write a fanfiction story in English. I had just finished watching Star Trek: Voyager, and knew that Janeway/Seven of Nine was a popular subtext ship way back when the show aired. I had an idea for a tiny story taking place at the end of the show, mixed in with some details present in the Star Trek: Voyager book 'Full Circle’, which I was reading at the time. I posted it on AO3. For anyone interested, it can be read HERE. Please be aware that I couldn’t find a beta-reader for it, and with English not being my first language, there will be grammar errors in it. I started another story after that, a Legends of Tomorrow fanfiction, of which I’ve currently written 2/7 chapters.
I must say that, as far as writing is concerned, be it original (comic) stories or fan stories, it is something that I need to explore more to feel comfortable with it. When I write something like fanfiction, I write very slowly. The (short) comics also always take more time than I expect them to (the drawing as well as the writing). It sometimes makes me feel like I’m doing something wrong. I need to explore a bit how to plan it correctly. I also need to explore what I can do with the short comics I made. One of them, a 15 page story I wrote back in college for an assignment, was planned to have 30 pages but I decided to split it in two ‘cause the assignment was just for a 15 page comic, and only make the first part. I still want to make the second part for that, too.
no subject
That’s a powerful method! At the beginning of this year, I did something similar, trying to get out of a period in which I didn’t draw much by forcing myself to draw for at least five minutes a day. Sometimes, it set me up, and I got into a flow state, creating something fun, and other times, when I didn’t feel like it, I did a five-minute pose on the website Line of Action (https://line-of-action.com/). So then it was still a very short practice session. Nowadays, I don’t do the 5-minute drawing session anymore, but it’s because, thanks to it, I got into the practice again. I draw almost every day now.
¡Gracias! Tengo mucho que aprender, pero me gusta el idioma. A veces intento leer fanfics en español :). Leer y comprender es mucho más fácil que hablar o escribir.
It’s cool that you can understand and speak Spanish thanks to knowing a similar language. I have that sometimes with German. I only have a very basic knowledge of it, but because it’s so similar to Dutch, I can sometimes understand things :)
Thank you. Perfectionism is definitely part of it. I also sometimes am very unsure about my work and its quality, and then I stick too much to reference pics, for instance. I have difficulty drawing something from inspiration, and I used to be able to do that in my youth. I think I should dedicate a sketchbook to practising it and accept that the quality will maybe not be good for the first month or so. But perhaps that will give me some confidence if I stick to it.
These writing challenges seem fun! Good that it helped you become more relaxed with writing. I’ve seen there is something that appears similar, but then for drawing,
no subject
Inderdaad!
I have a German reader who said the very same thing about how they can grasp much of Dutch without really knowing it. My Dutch is not very advanced (yet) but there are a few little things in German that have become more understandable even to me, not counting the more obvious ones (like kaas - Käse, haha, that's easy).
A sketchbook for putting ideas on paper without caring to make them look perfect seems like a good strategy. Just don't get a fancy sketchbook because that fear of messing up the first page of something that's too pretty is real! I always skip the first page myself so i don't deal with the anxiety of needing to draw something beautiful to greet whoever opens up my sketchbook.
And ah, damn, this is why I shouldn't type messages when someone is speaking to me IRL -- those comms I mentioned are not just for writing, they welcome multimedia fills to their prompts! Hell, I've done drawings for both of them, haha. But I see must explore
no subject
Yes, the kaas-käse is indeed close. :) In my local dialect, our word for ‘kaas’ even sounds like the German word, but without the ‘e’ at the end. :) It’s fun that learning one language can also help you understand another one a bit. Someone told me that the more Spanish I’ll know, the more I will also be able to understand Portuguese.
That’s a good tip :) I also always feel a bit insecure working in a nice sketchbook. I’m thinking of doing the loose sketches in a Canson Croquis XL ringed sketchbook. I’ve used them before; they have pretty large sizes, and while the paper is thin, it’s nice to work on with pencils. The paper has a yellow tint. And I don’t find them intimidating :)
Good to know, I’ll check them out!
no subject
Oh, that is fascinating! At the same time that regional variations seem very daunting to foreign learners (“wait, why can’t I understand this person when I’ve studied this language for three years already??” haha), they lend so much vibrancy to languages too. As for Portuguese… Sim, isso é verdade. Aposto que você consegue entender estas palavras perfeitamente bem! Só não conte a ninguém que eu as escrevi… I don’t like to reveal the fact that I speak that and actually very, very few people online know about it ;)
I know that one! I use a smaller, bound Canson sketchbook myself. It technically doesn’t lend itself well to anything but pencils but I’ve used it with other materials and it’s behaved better than I expected, especially when I applied watered-down Chinese ink. The paper does wrinkle a little bit in that case but not enough to convince me to stop, hehe.
no subject
Sadly, the Dutch spoken in Flanders (Belgium) is notorious for this. There are a lot of local dialects that influence how people talk, but it’s been less noticeable with younger people :)
I understood that without looking something up yay ^^ I won’t tell anyone you know Portuguese ;)
Canson is an excellent brand for papers. Even their lowest-tier sketchbook is still good, in my opinion.