dividedbyblue: Nicodemus from The Secret of NIMH writing (writing)
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.
dividedbyblue: An eldery man reading a scroll (Reading)
Three weeks for Dreamwidth: What are you currently reading?

I’m reading a novel and three fanfiction stories, one of which is finished and the other two are still ongoing.

* The book I’m reading is Winterwode by J. Tullos Hennig. It’s the third book in her series of books of the Wode, which currently consists of five books. The books tell (or retell) the story of Robin Hood, as he comes of age, discovers he’s a main part of the old pagan religion and has adventures as he gets older. In the books, some of the things we come to expect from a Robin Hood tale are changed somewhat. Robin is a gay man who falls in love with the son of a Christian nobleman. Maid Marian is Robin’s sister.

I was initionally drawn to the books thanks to it being a reimagining of Robin Hood with a queer perspective, and I can say the books are really wonderful. There’s a lot happening, a clash between the old pagan religion and the then-new Christian faith that is rapidly spreading. There’s a lot of adventure and intrigue, a lot of companionship (Robin’s merry men form a great lot of friends). There’s history in it, with the crusades going strong and the Knights Templar coming into play. There is magic in it, in a way that the stories read as something between fantasy and magic realism. I greatly recommend the book series.

* The main fanfiction story (the one that is finished) that I’m reading is the Spanish 1983 by Lookupthestars_ on Wattpad. It is a Marta & Fina fanfiction story from Sueños de Libertad, but it is set in a new timeframe (modern day) with a different setting. A young female reporter/ photographer, by chance, discovers a box full of beautiful black and white photographs by an unknown author who recently passed away. In awe of this find, she becomes intrigued with wanting to know more about this photographer and her life, and starts looking for clues in the photographs to learn more about the identity of this photographer. One thing she quickly discovers is that one woman is photographed multiple times over the course of years. She becomes fascinated by this woman in the pictures and searches for her identity, wanting to meet her and show her the pictures.

This story is a sapphic romance story, and it is beautifully written. Its quality is on par and sometimes even better than the published romance stories I read. I highly recommend this story to anyone who is a fan of sapphic romance (and knows Spanish, since it’s written in Spanish), even if you’re not familiar with the TV show. No previous knowledge of anything is required to read it; it just reads like an excellent book. Anyone who wants to check it out can find it HERE.


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