Ten... no, eleven years ?!
Jan. 28th, 2013 07:43 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
yami_samuraifloI... didn't really think about how long I've been writing, but recently, I checked the website of an old Saint Seiya collaborative fiction I was part of in 2002. At the time, I had just started writing and publishing my first fics, all Saint Seiya, and I will not mention them further, because they were really that bad. Mind you, I was really young...
Thinking back, I realize just how much I grew ever since I first started typing whatever bunnies started to eat my brain.
As mentionned before, the first fandom I was involved in was Saint Seiya. I was about twelve, thirteen and had to record the episodes for my brother each afternoon, because he finished school later than me. I watched the series at the same time, and pretty much fell in before I even noticed. At the same time, another of my brother made me discover fanfiction, through Saint Seiya; he had found a website, still existing today, and showed me how to use the Internet to go and see more.
*sighs* Oh god, I feel old now. At the time, we couldn't stay connected for long, and I ended up printing lot and lot of stories to read them as I wanted. Still have them somewhere, I think.
Reading fics made me try and write some in turn. But nothing I can really be satisfied with.
The Era of Legend project was the first fic I can be proud of. It started a project over a forum in June 2002, and evolved into a whole Y!Group were we stored files and fanarts, before eventually creating a website to host the fics. Under the penname Polymnie, I only wrote three of the chapters, two of them with some help from one of the other members of the project because I was stuck with the ending or some passages, but I was involved in the background of a lot of characters. All the new generation of God Warriors and Amphitrite and the members of her personnal guard were my creations. When I first saw fanarts of them, made by a couple of artists who had joined us... oh, God, I was so happy!
I eventually drifted away from Saint Seiya, and I'm not involved anymore in the Era of Legend project. As far as I know, the project is still going on, though very slowly. After ten years, I'm not sure who remains of the original team.
By 2004, when I created my fanfiction.net account, I was more involved into Harry Potter, after getting Goblet of Fire on Christmas 2001 or 2002, I can't exactly remember, and buying the rest of the books just after. I was also much into Gundam Wing, after reading the fics of some authors I liked who had dabbled into the fandom themselves. I was introduced to Naruto the same way, now that I think about it.
I tried to write multi-chapters stories, but almost none were ever finished, to my great shame. I just can't seem to be able to stay focused on a single story or plot for long. So mainly, I stuck to one shots and drabbles. I even tried translation from english to french for a while. I never totally stopped Harry Potter, but I soon went to another fandom.
By 2005, I had managed to catch a rediffusion of Ronin Warriors. It became my main fandom for the better part of the next 7-8 years. I'm not sure just how many fic I have written about the five dashing young men in armor, but I think they count for about half of the fanfiction posted on my ff.net account, so... perhaps fifty, sixty at the most, without the translations?
Even while I was focused on RW, I dabbled into other fanfoms: Naruto, mainly, but also Fullmetal Alchemist after watching the first TV series, Escaflowne too as a gift to my sister, and even some FF7 and FF9 fics after playing the games (something else I've never finished, would you believe?). I did some crossovers, too, mostly with Sailor Moon, my favorite series as a kid.
Then a trip to the cinema allowed me to discover the trailers for the first Bay movie, and curious, I started digging about the Transformers series and fandom and fell in love all over again.
I felt, sadly, conflicted at the time. There was almost no french fic for the TF fandom, and the idioms such as 'spark' don't translate so well. I hesitated for long about really joining the fandom and writing something. Although I understood english pretty well (helped by years of reading RW fictions in english), was I really good enough with the language to actually write a whole fic?
I think the answer is obvious now. Still, I don't think I would have actually tried to write something in english, if two things hadn't happened at the same time. First, I discovered the tf_bunny_farm, and all its wonderful bunnies. And, secondly, I had to go and do an internship in Wales in order to get my diploma in January 2008. By the time I came back in France, I was feeling a bit more able to actually write a whole english fic.
As I supposed, though, it was full of mistakes. Thankfully, kirin_saga offered her help to straight things out, and became my first beta, for at least two or three years. With her help, I just... went along with the creative flow and wrote dozen of short stories. I don't think I'll ever be able to thank her enough, because really, she's a big part of what I have become as a fanfiction writer today. So really, thank you, kirin_saga.
And today, what I have become, exactly?
I still do one shots for a number of fandoms, though only in french. It depends of my mood and what I just saw.
I stopped writing for Naruto, as I stopped following the series at least two or three years ago, but still do some HP; recent projects involved AU starring Petunia Dursley, and a bunch of oneshots in the same universe about various OCs living through and after the Second War.
RW... it depends; after my birthday in September, where my eldest brother gifted me with the whole series in DVD, I went back a little into the fandom, but I'm not as involved as before. TF has become my main fandom as of now.
Someday, I might try and translate some of my french work, but not for now.
Even though I write far less than before, I tend to write more ambitious projects, and fic I tend to find myself more proud of, such as Spark Deep, which readers seem to really approve of. Am I getting less creative than before? Not sure; I still have fic ideas, but most of them never get beyond a shaky, unfinished plot idea. Bits and pieces that aren't enough to create a whole. When it does and I'm not sure I can do it myself, I post them over the TF anonkinkmeme. I'm happy each time I see one of them adopted, really. And I'm an adult now (a fact I have an hard time to realize, sometimes), so I have less free time than before (though I'm currently jobless) and other hobbies.
My stories in themselves have evolved; no more possible Mary Sue, like when I was fourteen. More importance is given to the plot, though I still write funny, PWP stories now and then. And little things, here and there, that have improved over time.
I think, overall, I can be proud of myself.
Eleven years of writing fanfiction... and it's probably not finished :)
Thinking back, I realize just how much I grew ever since I first started typing whatever bunnies started to eat my brain.
As mentionned before, the first fandom I was involved in was Saint Seiya. I was about twelve, thirteen and had to record the episodes for my brother each afternoon, because he finished school later than me. I watched the series at the same time, and pretty much fell in before I even noticed. At the same time, another of my brother made me discover fanfiction, through Saint Seiya; he had found a website, still existing today, and showed me how to use the Internet to go and see more.
*sighs* Oh god, I feel old now. At the time, we couldn't stay connected for long, and I ended up printing lot and lot of stories to read them as I wanted. Still have them somewhere, I think.
Reading fics made me try and write some in turn. But nothing I can really be satisfied with.
The Era of Legend project was the first fic I can be proud of. It started a project over a forum in June 2002, and evolved into a whole Y!Group were we stored files and fanarts, before eventually creating a website to host the fics. Under the penname Polymnie, I only wrote three of the chapters, two of them with some help from one of the other members of the project because I was stuck with the ending or some passages, but I was involved in the background of a lot of characters. All the new generation of God Warriors and Amphitrite and the members of her personnal guard were my creations. When I first saw fanarts of them, made by a couple of artists who had joined us... oh, God, I was so happy!
I eventually drifted away from Saint Seiya, and I'm not involved anymore in the Era of Legend project. As far as I know, the project is still going on, though very slowly. After ten years, I'm not sure who remains of the original team.
By 2004, when I created my fanfiction.net account, I was more involved into Harry Potter, after getting Goblet of Fire on Christmas 2001 or 2002, I can't exactly remember, and buying the rest of the books just after. I was also much into Gundam Wing, after reading the fics of some authors I liked who had dabbled into the fandom themselves. I was introduced to Naruto the same way, now that I think about it.
I tried to write multi-chapters stories, but almost none were ever finished, to my great shame. I just can't seem to be able to stay focused on a single story or plot for long. So mainly, I stuck to one shots and drabbles. I even tried translation from english to french for a while. I never totally stopped Harry Potter, but I soon went to another fandom.
By 2005, I had managed to catch a rediffusion of Ronin Warriors. It became my main fandom for the better part of the next 7-8 years. I'm not sure just how many fic I have written about the five dashing young men in armor, but I think they count for about half of the fanfiction posted on my ff.net account, so... perhaps fifty, sixty at the most, without the translations?
Even while I was focused on RW, I dabbled into other fanfoms: Naruto, mainly, but also Fullmetal Alchemist after watching the first TV series, Escaflowne too as a gift to my sister, and even some FF7 and FF9 fics after playing the games (something else I've never finished, would you believe?). I did some crossovers, too, mostly with Sailor Moon, my favorite series as a kid.
Then a trip to the cinema allowed me to discover the trailers for the first Bay movie, and curious, I started digging about the Transformers series and fandom and fell in love all over again.
I felt, sadly, conflicted at the time. There was almost no french fic for the TF fandom, and the idioms such as 'spark' don't translate so well. I hesitated for long about really joining the fandom and writing something. Although I understood english pretty well (helped by years of reading RW fictions in english), was I really good enough with the language to actually write a whole fic?
I think the answer is obvious now. Still, I don't think I would have actually tried to write something in english, if two things hadn't happened at the same time. First, I discovered the tf_bunny_farm, and all its wonderful bunnies. And, secondly, I had to go and do an internship in Wales in order to get my diploma in January 2008. By the time I came back in France, I was feeling a bit more able to actually write a whole english fic.
As I supposed, though, it was full of mistakes. Thankfully, kirin_saga offered her help to straight things out, and became my first beta, for at least two or three years. With her help, I just... went along with the creative flow and wrote dozen of short stories. I don't think I'll ever be able to thank her enough, because really, she's a big part of what I have become as a fanfiction writer today. So really, thank you, kirin_saga.
And today, what I have become, exactly?
I still do one shots for a number of fandoms, though only in french. It depends of my mood and what I just saw.
I stopped writing for Naruto, as I stopped following the series at least two or three years ago, but still do some HP; recent projects involved AU starring Petunia Dursley, and a bunch of oneshots in the same universe about various OCs living through and after the Second War.
RW... it depends; after my birthday in September, where my eldest brother gifted me with the whole series in DVD, I went back a little into the fandom, but I'm not as involved as before. TF has become my main fandom as of now.
Someday, I might try and translate some of my french work, but not for now.
Even though I write far less than before, I tend to write more ambitious projects, and fic I tend to find myself more proud of, such as Spark Deep, which readers seem to really approve of. Am I getting less creative than before? Not sure; I still have fic ideas, but most of them never get beyond a shaky, unfinished plot idea. Bits and pieces that aren't enough to create a whole. When it does and I'm not sure I can do it myself, I post them over the TF anonkinkmeme. I'm happy each time I see one of them adopted, really. And I'm an adult now (a fact I have an hard time to realize, sometimes), so I have less free time than before (though I'm currently jobless) and other hobbies.
My stories in themselves have evolved; no more possible Mary Sue, like when I was fourteen. More importance is given to the plot, though I still write funny, PWP stories now and then. And little things, here and there, that have improved over time.
I think, overall, I can be proud of myself.
Eleven years of writing fanfiction... and it's probably not finished :)
