Is there a "have as much fun as you can" religion?

[amanuensis1]

I've been re-watching Topsy-Turvy [I love this film. For those of you who are HP fans and not Gilbert and Sullivan fans, you could watch it for the marvelous performances by Timothy Spall (Peter Pettigrew) and Shirley Henderson (Moaning Myrtle)], and am tickled as usual by the notes at the end (one of these days I need to make a post about what I call those placard-type end notes in films, because I'd love to get it into common slang usage, but I digress big time).

Y'see, Arthur Sullivan got tired of the success of his light collaborations with William Gilbert--he wanted to write a Grand Opera, felt it was expected of him as a Serious Composer. But the public loved the G&S operettas (including D'Oyly Carte, who was producing them and selling out the house). And so Sullivan didn't write that Grand Opera (Ivanhoe) until late in the game, after he and Gilbert had written their best collaborations.

And Topsy-Turvy points out that Ivanhoe "is now mostly forgotten, and isn't as much fun as The Mikado."

So.

Anybody here getting nagged at by colleagues or their own conscience or something to "stop wasting time on that fanfic and write something original for a change"?

Always remember to have fun, guys. Maybe you have dreams of selling something for publication--I sure do. Or even supporting yourself with your writing full-time. (That, I'm not anticipating for myself. Gay BDSM erotica keeping me in Pop-Tarts for life? Um, doubtful.) But don't forget that art is supposed to be something you love. I'm really gonna be okay with it if, 15 years from now, my immortalization is comprised of a Wikipedia entry reading, "Amanuensis did eventually have a book of original short erotica published by a small press, but the fanfic community agreed Fifty-three Stories About Snape and Black was more fun."

Comments

[swtalmnd]

let's see... isn't the base Wiccan premise, "An' it harm none, do as thou wilt"? That always seemed a pretty "as much fun as you want" sort of thing. And there's always Dionysian paganism.

And, yeah, I really do have that nagging thing.. but sometimes you just need to have Snape tie up Harry's cock and balls and violate him with a toy snake, y'know?

*weg*

[amanuensis1.livejournal.com]

Damn, do I ever know. Keep up the violating! *hugs hard*

[pauraque]

The Japanese equivalent for hear, hear, hear!

[amanuensis1.livejournal.com]

So, it'd be the opposite of "Oni bikkuri shakkuri tu"? ^_~ *loves that there are people who get this*

[soawen.livejournal.com]

Think of it this way: How many deep, thoughtprovoking origonal stories have made people masturbate and orgasm?

[amanuensis1.livejournal.com]

Well, a LOT, I think--it's just that it's got to be a bugger trying to find a publisher for that stuff. So few publishing houses putting that stuff in book form, y'know.

[underlucius.livejournal.com]

Funny you should raise that today. My mother AND one of my best friends are both nagging me to "stop messing about in fandom and write that great english novel."

I've only been writing for a year and a half, writing seriously that is, I consider this to be the nursery slopes, and I wouldn't have come along in leaps and bounds (imvho) without honing my writing through the 100 or so fics I've written in that time.

[amanuensis1.livejournal.com]

Exactly. The stories I wrote at the beginning of all this had promise, but I'm learning newer things about storytelling and composition with every story I write. And having the BEST time doing it.

[lycoris.livejournal.com]

My Dad keeps nagging me to stop writing fanfic and write original stuff. :) I just ignore him.

And I LOVE your wikpedia summary. It's wonderful.

[amanuensis1.livejournal.com]

I would love to have that much immortalization someday, I swear. It would be perfectly wonderful.

[angiepen.livejournal.com]

Well, I definitely agree that Fifty-three Stories About Snape and Black are more fun than just about anything else I've ever read. :D How many writers of original fiction have that said about one of their stories?

Angie

[amanuensis1.livejournal.com]

*loves you muchly* Screw wikipedia. That's plenty right there, love. Truly it is.

[musesfool.livejournal.com]

I'm really gonna be okay with it if, 15 years from now, my immortalization is comprised of a Wikipedia entry reading, "Amanuensis did eventually have a book of original short erotica published by a small press, but the fanfic community agreed Fifty-three Stories About Snape and Black was more fun."

Ah, I love you.

[amanuensis1.livejournal.com]

And you, ma chere. Every damn day!

[http://users.livejournal.com/_hannelore/]

Hell, yes. Speaking of, when are you getting around to writing that AU HP Samauri fic? ;)

[amanuensis1.livejournal.com]

Me? Did I promise that? *looks around* There's at least one AU historical fic I do want to write, though there aren't Samurai in it...damn, here come the bunnies.

[meredyth-13.livejournal.com]

Yeah to having fun! What's the point of this life if we either spend it trying to do the 'right'or 'big' thing and being miserable, or being miserable cause the next one's gonna be better - but we haven't really got a guarantee on that either?

If it means you keep writing and posting outstanding HP fic, then I'm pretty ok with the argument. Honest! If the measure of what we've achieved in this world is how much happiness we've had and more importantly, how much we've brought to others - then you're right up there on the BIG winners list.

ps. hope you got my last email (hotmail tends to lose my emails occasionally) - if you didn't get a response to your email, let me know - otherwise I'll assume you did, and that all's ok. : )

[amanuensis1.livejournal.com]

I LOVE the idea of being that kind of a winner, yes, I do. I hope it's true! (And, yes, I got the last email! Am hunting for decent chunks of time to work on your beta--will do my best to do so this week!)

[lady_songsmith]

Fifty-three Stories About Snape and Black is definitely more fun. Not only did it make me howl with laughter, but I spent a solid half hour muttering over my herbal references trying to get that 10th one.

[amanuensis1.livejournal.com]

Hee! I hope it came to you eventually. And if you didn't get it, I'm sure it was my fault--I got kinda tricky on one or two. *hugs*

[scoradh.livejournal.com]

*wanders in from random fic-reading*

It's just so weird, what you said about writing fanfiction - I'm really gonna be okay with it if, 15 years from now, my immortalization is comprised of a Wikipedia entry reading, "Amanuensis did eventually have a book of original short erotica published by a small press, but the fanfic community agreed Fifty-three Stories About Snape and Black was more fun." Because I've always thought that fanfiction was a hell of a lot more, not just fun, but sharable? No, that's not a word, is it...but I think 'real' authors get locked in their ivory towers, and they probably have so little interaction from their readers, they never hear their opinions, and it all gets to be about money. Not that money isn't good, it's excellent, but the fandom is a completely pure medium. It's like the communism of authorship, except that it works.

Okay. *buggers off now*

[amanuensis1.livejournal.com]

*watches icon, giggles*

I love what you have to say here, and while I'm sure many published authors never retreat to that ivory tower, but the "sharable" aspect of fanfic is definitely what makes it so much fun. "Pure medium." Damn, I like that.

[greenling.livejournal.com]

Hmm... Discordianism maybe? I'd say LaVey Satanism, but that's more "have as much fun as you can by pissing off people who think you believe Satan is an actual entity and doing really evil things like jaywalking".

The Church of the SubGenius is pretty cool.

[amanuensis1.livejournal.com]

Nnnno, I don't think I want anything with the word Satanism attached to it, but I have to admit that's a funny concept.

[pir8fancier.livejournal.com]

From my personal experience having sold a book and been writing fanfiction for the last year when I "should" have been writing second book, I will tell you that what I have learned reading and writing fanfiction is invaluable.

I don't buy the argument that if you are sacrificing real fiction for your fanfiction. Writing is the most personal, soul-baring experience. This cannot be turned on like a tap. Well, it can and it shows and how many authors do you know who are phoning it in to make that deadline.

If you want to write a book that is NOT fanfiction you will. That writing (because it is now almost impossible to live off of your book earnings, trust me on this one) should be a passion, should be something that you will bargain your time with other aspects of your life to do, should be something that will make you stay up late and not curse the exhaustion the next day. In short, you should write what you want to write because at the end of the day, it's you looking at yourself in the mirror.

Will I get back to my book? Yes. Do I think this last year has been wasted? No. The fact is that my fanfiction is the BEST writing I've ever done and it will do me in good stead for my next project, fanfic or real fic wise. Every time you write something it should be a learning experience. It should tell you something about pacing, characterization, voice, plot, mood, etc. Fanfiction is just as valuable in this regard as real fiction.

You have to be proud of your words. They are one of the few things that you completely own. Even in fanfiction. They are yours.

In fact, I hate the term "real" fiction, as if fanfiction were some ugly step-sister of fiction. Some of the BEST writing I've *ever* read has been on the Internet. Has been fanfiction. Has had men sucking each other off or giving each other hand jobs, oh let me count the ways. The fact that it's fanfiction does not in any way substandard. It's still damn fine writing.

Off of soapbox.

[amanuensis1.livejournal.com]

Oh, but that was a great soapbox stand.

If you want to write a book that is NOT fanfiction you will. I do believe this. I am purposely squelching story ideas here and there because they just don't seem FUN enough to me right now, not compared with the fun of fanfic. One day again, an original idea will seem to be the most fun idea possible and I'll go with it--and if that doesn't happen I'm not going to worry about it.

Some of the BEST writing I've *ever* read has been on the Internet. Has been fanfiction. Hear, HEAR. And that goes double for the men-sucking, too. Why shouldn't porn be the most engaging of fiction? Isn't that, well, inherent?

[loony-moony.livejournal.com]

*cuddles you* Someday I really do thing there're going to be books about this fandom. This stuff is too crazy not to be documented. :) You reminded me of something that happened to me last week - I've been emailing to my aunt in France, and in her last email she said that if the opera thing didn't work, maybe I could make a living out of writing adorable letters. Me parents agreed with her. It was amusing, because I was dying to tell them all "you think I write cutely? Wait till you see the writers in my fandom!" :)))

[amanuensis1.livejournal.com]

This stuff is too crazy not to be documented. :)

Every so often I do see articles in newspapers and magazines about the phenomenon--the quote from one of Rhysenn's stories in Esquire magazine was a day of glory, man. And it keeps showing up, again and again.

[sor-bet.livejournal.com]

I've kind of wondered why those of you who write so well DON'T do it for a living. Gay BDSM erotica doesn't pay well? Because we can get it for free on the web, or because publishers haven't figured out yet that women, who buy books, like that kind of thing?

[amanuensis1.livejournal.com]

There's a world of discussion here--but, yeah, the population who will buy that kind of thing in book form is just not that large, and the population of stores that will carry that stuff is not all that much bigger. So that's what we're fighting.

[red_squared]

That, I'm not anticipating for myself. Gay BDSM erotica keeping me in Pop-Tarts for life? Um, doubtful.

Have you read any of Robert Jordan's Wheel of Time Series? (I'm not recommending it if you haven't - it started out well, but now it drags on and on - I think it might currently be up to Book 11). It was a bestseller at one point - I'm not sure where it stands now. This is a series in which female characters regularly get naked around one another, beat each other up, use magic to torture one another, use magic to make the other feel pain without leaving a mark or put their mind in a magical version of 1984's Room 101.

There's even a whole continet where magical women are collared so that they can't perform magic of their own volition, and are tied to another woman by means of a leash so that they can do the magic the leash-bearer wants them to.

So you know - could be just a matter of time before some of the male characters get naked and abuse one another, creating a demand within his audience for well written gay BDSM, and then...

...or that might just be a dream I had. They don't call the genre 'fantasy' for nothing.

But don't forget that art is supposed to be something you love.

Yes, exactly! The minute fandom turns into work, I'm out of here.

All of your fics that I have read convey to your audience that you've enjoyed writing them, which - for some reason I've yet to figure out - makes it more enjoyable for me to read.

[amanuensis1.livejournal.com]

Yeah, the problem, for me, with mainstreaming that kind of lovely kinkiness is that I only want the dirty bits--I'm not interested in building up any kind of storyline that's going to draw attention away from teh smutte. Though I admit you're tempting me to go look at that series. Except I've always been mistrustful of that series because they look just like those Shannara tripe novels. Talks about books and covers, eh?

And you have renewed my faith with your last statement. Damn, I'm gonna make sure I remember that. Always.

ur porn rox

[(Anonymous)]

hun, u write the best porn. really. i'd buy it! keep up the bloody fantastic work!

Re: ur porn rox

[amanuensis1.livejournal.com]

*hugs you hard* That means more than anything. Thank you so.