A recent post on my flist mentioning NaNoWriMo got me thinking. Well, I was thinking before that, because Julie had asked me about my writing and I had to admit to her it was all fan fic these days, and no original fic. And I miss original fic. The challenge of it, the greater opportunity for self-expression it provides. Not to diss fan fic by any means; I am going to be sending Julie the first chapter of my old novel, Dis/inhibition, and I’m embarrassed about it because I ramble on unnecessarily. Fan fic has taught me to say a lot with much fewer words and improved my writing in important ways.
But I’m getting the urge to go back to original fic. The only thing stopping me is, well, finding the time between life stuff and finishing my fan fics, and still having no good ideas for original fic, ideas that are tangible enough to sustain a big writing project of the kind I inevitably do.
Probably for NaNo, I’ll just push on three TD eps simultaneously like I did last year (or was it the year before?). TD 214 is going slowly because I don’t want to do anything obvious for the episode, and have been waiting for my brane to come up with something a little different (which it is, slowly).
The original fic just has to evolve slowly. That’s how my other two original stories came about. Invent a few characters, put them out there, and see what they do. I don’t want to pick up those old stories and start them up again because I want to find out who I am now, not who I was at 29 or 35.
Author Nancy E. Shaffer 
and it’s not that easy to do original fic. it takes more thought, at least to me, than fanfic. Fanfic you know the universe but for original fic you have to create it. I’m still plugging away.
funny you should say that about age since the two I’m dusting off now and revamping a bit were written a decade ago and I’m no longer the person i was when i wrote them
My first novel, the one I started at 29 that I was still polishing at age 40, that novel actually evolved with me. It started out as one thing, and became something else, and then something even else, etc, as I grew older. The basic plot stayed the same, but the details changed, reflecting my changing interests and concerns. It was interesting.
I tried Nano a couple years ago; got deep into half the story I wanted to tell, then couldn’t figure out how to make the other half not seem stuck on. Parallel development did not work the way I’d hoped. Plus I seemed to be spending an inordinate amount of time on a character I didn’t care about.
But I’m getting the urge to go back to original fic.
Yay. It will happen.
I don’t think it’s the most efficient or savvy “get out there and write!” strategy ever invented. For some of us, for example, word count is irrelevant to progress.
The urge is always there; the page is usually blank. It’s quite frustrating.
I’m sure. going back to the vampire I’m amazed at how many Lakota phrases I knew back then (and geez could I swear in that language) ask me what i remember.
If Julie understands that this is the way you used to write years ago & you know it’s rambly & you’ve learned a lot since then, that doesn’t sound like a reason to be embarrassed. It shows how far you’ve come! (Love the title, BTW.)