Have you written anything, fandom-related or original?

[dividedbyblue]

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.

Comments

Yes ...

[ysabetwordsmith]

I am currently working on an original poem about an anthropomorphic cheetah working at a roadside zoo.

I'm trying to resist the temptation to write something short about giant bone collector caterpillars as spawn of Ungoliant.

[sisterdivinium]

I take forever to draw even a single comic page sometimes so your 30-page comic sounds like quite a feat to me!

Despite it being quite some time ago, do you think you'll ever reconsider finishing your Xena fic in Dutch? Sure, most fanworks are in English but if we never take the first step then we'll never see them written in other languages... ;) (I've been learning Dutch so if by any chance you do ever go back to it I'll have fic about characters I already love to read, hehe!)

And we all go at our own pace, you know. I consider myself a slow artist all in all too -- the important thing is that we make what we want to make, whether that's writing or drawing :)

[fitia]

I checked your profile to look at your art, and it's gorgeous!! Your inks and linework are incredibly clean and beautiful, and your pencilwork is really good as well! Do you post your comics anywhere? I don't see them on your instagrams, and would like to check them out.

Also I'm always very sorry to see people in fan-spaces who aren't native English speakers mention that they're forced to write in English to find an audience... it's very unfortunate. These spaces are very anglo-centric to begin with, aren't they? Hopefully you could find a broader audience in Dutch one day!