Writing aspirations/dreams

[Ihe]

Oooh thats a good one @zmunkz, right up there with people doing fan fiction inspired by your stories.

 

[Scarfy]

On the subject of fan fiction, there's an interesting article on The Mary Sue about why authors shouldn't read stuff based on their own stories:

https://www.themarysue.com/writers-fanfiction/

 

[HareBrain]

I would only read it for the eyebrow-raising sex between the Sea Mother and Disembodied Voice 'G'.

 

[Juliana]

On the subject of fan fiction, there's an interesting article on The Mary Sue about why authors shouldn't read stuff based on their own stories:

Yes, I'm always seeing writers explaining to fans why they can't read fanfiction of their work. Would love to reach the point where that's an actual problem I have!

Re the paralel discussion, I'm an extroverted introvert. As in, I can go to writer events - even organize them myself at times - and chat away happily, do panels at cons, etc, but before I'm a mass of nerves and after I need to go and curl up in a corner on my own to recover. I found out I'm comfortable speaking on a panel, but put me up front on my own and my heart will start pounding like crazy, ugh. But I keep on putting myself out there because I think it's important to push my own limits, and I'm glad I have done so - I've met so many great writer people that way, by swallowing down the fear and just giving it a try.

 

[zmunkz]

On the subject of fan fiction, there's an interesting article on The Mary Sue about why authors shouldn't read stuff based on their own stories:

https://www.themarysue.com/writers-fanfiction/

Damn, that’s sort of a bummer. I hadn’t ever thought about it, but it does make sense.

 

[allmywires]

I would love to have people write fanfiction of my stories (fun fact: one time someone wrote a fanfiction of a fanfiction I was writing at the time - fanfic-ception!) but also I don't think I could ever read it because a) I used to be a fic writer and I know how weird some of it gets and b) I couldn't read someone else writing my characters. No idea why, it would just not sit well with me.

Fan art, on the other hand, is something I dream about every day

Usually when I answer this question i give the old "oh the money doesn't matter to me, I'd just like people to like it and that's all" but that's a blatant lie because this has already happened with my very-much-not-bestselling published work and it's still not enough. So, what do I really fantasise about deep down? No, not that R-rated scene that's coming up in book 2, but I would love for a film/TV show to be made. Even if it's terrible. (Another lie - would hate it if it was terrible. Betrayal). Honest-honest answer: probably will never be happy even if I somehow become mega famous from it all. But hey, if it was possible for me to ever be happy with my own writing, I'd probably have stopped a long time ago. Unrealistic goals keep me writing!

 

[HareBrain]

Fan art, on the other hand, is something I dream about every day

Not me. Even though I only have really vague ideas what my characters look like -- we're talking like trying to read a grime-encrusted road sign in dense fog here -- they are at the same time remarkably exact, and I will know if any facial feature is even a millimetre out.

Like you, I found getting a few readers and reviews, welcome as they are, isn't the be all and end all I thought before I got them. In the same kind of sense as fanfic and fan art (but not fan art) what I would value particularly is someone taking an idea from my books and running with it, or it inspiring them in some way, or it making them see the world differently or IT BEING THE GENESIS OF A NEW SPIRITUAL MOVEMENT THAT MAKES ME MILLIONS OF DOLLARS AND DISCIPLES YES THAT'S IT OK YOU'VE DRAGGED IT OUT OF ME.

 

[allmywires]

What I love about fandom is how into the details they all get -- all the obsessive speculation for the next series/volume/instalment that's coming up, and the microscopic details they go into. I love the idea of leaving those sorts of breadcrumbs in my work (though maybe not to Westworld levels). On the flip side, not sure I could cope with the hate if you make a decision the fandom disagrees with. Ay, the curses of imagining yourself a famous artwork-creator!

 

[Juliana]

Fan art, on the other hand, is something I dream about every day

Well, you can always order your own like I did for both my book launches... (I commissioned them from a fanartist I found on Tumblr)

BEING THE GENESIS OF A NEW SPIRITUAL MOVEMENT THAT MAKES ME MILLIONS OF DOLLARS AND DISCIPLES YES THAT'S IT OK YOU'VE DRAGGED IT OUT OF ME.

The thing is, just like with any job, it's a ladder of aspirations. As you go achieving your goals, you go updating/upgrading so there's always a new challenge on the horizon. And I think that's how it should be, unless of course you get there and decide you've had enough - also valid.

 

[Phyrebrat]

but I would love for a film/TV show to be made. Even if it's terrible. (Another lie - would hate it if it was terrible. Betrayal).

I’ve even partially cast mine, including: Jared Harris, Eric Stoltz, Stephen Fry, James Callis and the three League of Gentlemen actors; Reece Shearsmith, Mark Gatis and Steve Pemberton. I’ve yet to place any of the female roles as there’re too many good actresses I can’t decide!

pH

 

[Jo Zebedee]

Did I mention how much I want a Space Rock Opera by Muse. That, and I retire. None of this ‘there’s another level of aspiration’ sh*te after that

 

[Sum Dude]

Not me. Even though I only have really vague ideas what my characters look like -- we're talking like trying to read a grime-encrusted road sign in dense fog here -- they are at the same time remarkably exact, and I will know if any facial feature is even a millimetre out.

Like you, I found getting a few readers and reviews, welcome as they are, isn't the be all and end all I thought before I got them. In the same kind of sense as fanfic and fan art (but not fan art) what I would value particularly is someone taking an idea from my books and running with it, or it inspiring them in some way, or it making them see the world differently or IT BEING THE GENESIS OF A NEW SPIRITUAL MOVEMENT THAT MAKES ME MILLIONS OF DOLLARS AND DISCIPLES YES THAT'S IT OK YOU'VE DRAGGED IT OUT OF ME.

So you want to be L.Ron Hubbard.

For the longest time I thought his name was Elron, as in like Elrond from LOTR

 

[Toby Frost]

I've had some fan art, but not for ages. I also had a couple of people dressing up as my characters at conventions (I believe you young people call it "Cosplay"), which was pretty cool. I've never seen any fanfic, though, and to be honest I'm happy with that! Not that I wouldn't want anyone to write it, but that it's better that I don't see it.

Of course, my style is very hard to imitate. It would be very tricky to achieve quite that level of childish scrawl and misspellings without going slightly mad.

 

[Joshua Jones]

I couldn't read someone else writing my characters. No idea why, it would just not sit well with me.

I am right there with you. For me, at least, I have spent so much time working on these characters that messing around with them is like trying to brainwash my children under my nose. And, that isn't limited to the protagonists I like, either. If someone rewrote the most vulgar of antagonists, the ones I would love to kill off if the story would permit, I think I would feel the same way. They are despicably evil for a reason, and they are, to an individual, both convinced they are right and may have a point at times...

So, while I am not the sort that would be against fanfic, I don't suppose I could enjoy reading it of my work.

 

[Phyrebrat]

I could read others’ interpretations of my characters in their iterations. I’d like to be able to point out any inconsistency between theirs and mine, though.

However, I can’t imagine fanfic authors caring too much about authenticity; I recall an X-files parody where Scully and Skinner got it on... I realised then that fanfic is probably lots of wish-fulfilment.

Although I’d quite like to meet Walter Skinner myself

pH

 

[CTRandall]

I wonder if, in a mathematical sense, introverts and extroverts are topologically equivalent. Perhaps they are different shapes but with the same number of holes (again, purely in a mathematical sense).

In this case, I suspect I am a Möbius strip.

 

[ZlodeyVolk]

As a teen I wanted to be Wikipedia famous …

It's good, that you moved on from this ambition: Wikipedia 'fame' is not all you might have imagined it to be. I don't know who it was started an article about my last labour of love, but I had to go through and take out all the factually inaccurate stuff; gods know whence they got that nonsense, it wasn't from me. And it was a shame, too, because the bogus stuff was far more impressive than the realities!

Yes, yes, I'm just big-noting myself—so, back on topic: I've recently come to consider that any author whose work inspires cosplay has left a laudable mark on the world. I've noticed some Space Captain Smith cosplay, for example.

 

[Toby Frost]

For me, at least, I have spent so much time working on these characters that messing around with them is like trying to brainwash my children under my nose. And, that isn't limited to the protagonists I like, either.

I think that’s completely understandable. There is a certain sense of “No, these characters are mine, not yours”. After all, you put in the work of creating them. And it would be very weird – and uncomfortable – to read stories in which they were doing things that they weren’t designed to do (not necessarily sexual, but that would definitely count!). I was talking to a friend about comics last night, and he made the point that, once a villain is popular enough (like the Joker, say) someone will want both an origin story and a story where the villain is the lead character, if not the actual hero. There are some characters where you just wouldn’t want to do that – it would spoil them.

I've recently come to consider that any author whose work inspires cosplay has left a laudable mark on the world. I've noticed some Space Captain Smith cosplay, for example.

That's a good way of looking at it. Excellent!

 

[AlexH]

I wonder what it's like for George R. R. Martin writing a book at the same time the TV series it's based on has progressed past it? No spoilers please - I've only seen up to and including series 4!

 

[ZlodeyVolk]

It's a good question, that. Does he continue to write the story as he intended to write it? Or does he now work to produce a novelization of the series?