Fannish Thoughts

[cornerofmadness]

I've been reading a lot of fanfic this month (Yay to free printing) I've noticed some of us have a tendency to write only a handful of characters or one single ship and rarely venture beyond that. Others of us writing just about anything.

This is hardly news, I know. Some, however, I'm noticing write exactly the same story again and again, they just change the setting (especially true of the AU though I rarely read those because without the supernatural I just don't care). In fact, it's gotten to the point with some of the shippy writers I know, that I'm just bored with their new stuff since it's exactly the same as their old stuff, just a new setting. This is especially true of the B/A'ers and the Spuffy writers (not all of them. I'm most assuredly not saying that). I think others might have noticed this as well. I wonder if people think the same of some of my stuff.

So this has gotten me curious (and I'm sure this has been discussed before), what do people think of my stuff. Am I successful in giving the same ships new and interesting story lines when I write them or are people thinking 'oh god, Spike/Dru again?' So...

A) do you write only one or two character and if so why? What is it about them

B) do you prefer writing lots of characters and if so why?

C) do you stick with one ship or do you like to play with any.

D) If you're the one or two shipper kind of writer how do you plan around the I'm gonna bore my readers with the same romantic plot reprocessed yet again? Or do you just really not care and just write for your own enjoyment (well we all should do that but you know what I mean)

As for me, I like writing groups of characters better than just one or two. That said, I do have my preferences. Before Connor showed up, I did a lot of Spike and Dru. After Connor, exploring his relationship with Angel and pairing him off with women I think work became a focus. I still like doing a variety when I can though. Spike and Dru always appealed to me. They're such wicked fun. Connor is an archetype I've been writing for 20 years now so he was a given to appeal to me.

When it comes to the ships, I hopefully make the stories different in two ways, varying the setting and the people invovled. This is especially fun to do with Spike/Dru and Darla/Angelus because I love historical research and I can put them just about anywhere. Secondly I prefer to make the ship the background of the story and the focus something else, usually the bad guy. Hopefully it works.

Thoughts?

Comments

[cornerofmadness.livejournal.com]

I don't mind you jumping in at all .
But I have found in other fandoms that when people write the same ships or the same characters all the time, it does tend to get repetitive for me. Even really good writers. But maybe that's just my personality because I don't stick to one set of characters either.

I think this might be it for me as well. I'm reading one now. I like the author. She's a friend but it's like eyeroll, oh look B/Angelus...again. I've found myself making excuses not to read even though the quality is very good.

I think I'm a lot like you in how I approach my writing and how I like to handle multiple characters. It was one of the reasons I wrote so many ficathons last year, I needed out of my rut

[dknightshade.livejournal.com]

There's this one story by a really good author that I've tried to read about 3 times and I just get 2/3 of the way through it and stop. It's not badly written, but it feels so 'been there, done that.'

Ficathons are good to get out of ruts. Sometimes they can force you to get start going in a different direction, which is nice.

[cornerofmadness.livejournal.com]

There's this one story by a really good author that I've tried to read about 3 times and I just get 2/3 of the way through it and stop. It's not badly written, but it feels so 'been there, done that.'

That's where I'm at now but since it's one of her few non AU's I'm wanting to finish it (I don't read AU's if I can help it) She reads so much of mine I feel guilty not returning the favor.

Ficathons are good to get out of ruts. Sometimes they can force you to get start going in a different direction, which is nice.

That's why I did so many last year but then I ended up with SO many pairings I hated that I'm being much more selective (not to mention the people I write for tend never to even so much as say thanks and I never end up getting a story)

[dknightshade.livejournal.com]

I ended up with SO many pairings I hated

That's definitely not fun. It's one thing to try to broaden your horizons, and another to have to write pairings you really don't like. Oh well.

[cornerofmadness.livejournal.com]

yeah, so what I ended up doing this year for ficathons was entering ones that were pairing specific or had an interesting twist or were the kind where you get a challenge but you write the story for YOU