Why do you write:tie-ins, fanon, fic, success & frustrations

[Triskelion]

Why do you write?

Other than the voices, I mean....

More to the point, why write tie-ins/fanon?

If you write fanon, have you been satisfied with the results? Was it worth it? Did as many people read it as you would have liked? Did you get a decent response? Or did you only hear the crickets?

If one were to write a random fanon book, what kind of reader numbers are we talking about here? A couple? Ten? A hundred? I ask because I'm new to this whole thing, but would like to write a Voyager novel, and indeed have finished my first 7 chapters. If I finished it, would anybody read it?

Or is it better to keep it under my hat and write original stories for publishing first?


Why, after 13 years, does writing for publishing still feel impossible and unattainable to me!

Anybody wanna read my 7? I'd appreciate any feedback.

(Feel free to ramble to your heart's content and ignore my post altogether).

 

[David Mack]

I do it because I enjoy it and because I get paid to do so. If there weren't a paycheck attached, I would write something else instead.

 

[BrotherBenny]

Why do you write?

Other than the voices, I mean....

More to the point, why write tie-ins/fanon?

If you write fanon, have you been satisfied with the results? Was it worth it? Did as many people read it as you would have liked? Did you get a decent response? Or did you only hear the crickets?

If one were to write a random fanon book, what kind of reader numbers are we talking about here? A couple? Ten? A hundred? I ask because I'm new to this whole thing, but would like to write a Voyager novel, and indeed have finished my first 7 chapters. If I finished it, would anybody read it?

Or is it better to keep it under my hat and write original stories for publishing first?


Why, after 13 years, does writing for publishing still feel impossible and unattainable to me!

Anybody wanna read my 7? I'd appreciate any feedback.

(Feel free to ramble to your heart's content and ignore my post altogether).

I write because I want to, because I enjoy it.

I'd like to make money at it someday, but for now I write fanon and I have a good fanbase. Check it out, and that of everybody else, in the Fan fiction forum. In respect of publishing what you're writing, submit a 10-12 page synopsis and the first three chapters to Pocket Books (as per their official guidelines) and see what happens. The worst they can do is say no, but if they say yes, you become very happy.

 

[Christopher]

Write a fanon book? Does that mean writing a pastiche of the work of an early-20th-century Marxist anticolonialist psychiatrist/philosopher?

I think the question is actually about the writing of fan fiction? I've never heard the portmanteau word "fanon" used as a synonym for fan fiction before, so I'm not sure. Usually it's used to mean the individual fan's personal continuity, or as an adjective applied to works considered part of that continuity, which can include pro fic as well as fanfic. If the question is about the writing of fanfic, that half of it should probably be asked in the Fan Fiction forum elsewhere on the board. Trek Lit is definitely the wrong board for asking people to read your fanfiction, but the Fanfic forum is exactly the right board for that.

So why do I write? Because I never seriously wanted to do anything else. Once I noticed I had a knack for thinking up stories, I just knew it was going to be my career.

Why do I write tie-ins? Because Star Trek was what got me into science, science fiction, and creative writing. Also because I've had a lot more success getting people to pay me for tie-ins than for original fiction.

 

[KRAD]

I was told that there'd be free booze.

 

[Triskelion]

Why do you write?

Other than the voices, I mean....

More to the point, why write tie-ins/fanon?

If you write fanon, have you been satisfied with the results? Was it worth it? Did as many people read it as you would have liked? Did you get a decent response? Or did you only hear the crickets?

If one were to write a random fanon book, what kind of reader numbers are we talking about here? A couple? Ten? A hundred? I ask because I'm new to this whole thing, but would like to write a Voyager novel, and indeed have finished my first 7 chapters. If I finished it, would anybody read it?

Or is it better to keep it under my hat and write original stories for publishing first?


Why, after 13 years, does writing for publishing still feel impossible and unattainable to me!

Anybody wanna read my 7? I'd appreciate any feedback.

(Feel free to ramble to your heart's content and ignore my post altogether).

I write because I want to, because I enjoy it.

I'd like to make money at it someday, but for now I write fanon and I have a good fanbase. Check it out, and that of everybody else, in the Fan fiction forum. In respect of publishing what you're writing, submit a 10-12 page synopsis and the first three chapters to Pocket Books (as per their official guidelines) and see what happens. The worst they can do is say no, but if they say yes, you become very happy.

Thanks Xeris, no harm in trying, is there. Well, I intend to. Been a fan a long time and a writer too, and I'd like to join the ranks as it were.

(I didn't realize there was a separate forum for fan fiction at the time of my posting).

Christopher, it goes to show you that even English teachers can learn something new every day! Thanks for taking the time to explain the lingo.

 

[Geoff]

I was told that there'd be free booze.

And chicks. Lots of hot chicks.

 

[Greg Cox]

Honestly, my brain is just wired that way. I remembering writing and illustrating my own handmade books and comics, mostly about my favorite monsters and superheroes, as far back as elementary school. Including my sixth-grade magnum opus "FRANKENSTEIN MEETS THE GOLEM."

It just took me awhile to figure out that you could get paid for this silliness . . . .

 

[Lonemagpie]

For money

And cos I enjoy it - giving something back.

 

[Allyn Gibson]

I was told that there'd be free booze.

And chicks. Lots of hot chicks.

Wait.

Are you saying there's not hot chicks?

Then what am I doing wrong?

Tell me, so I can make sure I don't start doing it right.

 

[William Leisner]

Why do you write?

Other than the voices, I mean....

It's just for the voices. Because if the voices thought I was doing it for some other reason, they would get angry -- very angry. And then they tell me to burn things...

 

[TGTheodore]

I was told that there'd be free booze.

And chicks. Lots of hot chicks.

I can't wait! I only have to sell one full-length novel and then I don't have to keep buying drinks for all the others wherever they ask me.

At least that what they told me in Vegas ...



As Steve Allen used to say: "All seriousness aside ..."

Initially, I thought it would be glamourous ... (excuse me while I laugh so hard I cry)

[Ten minutes later ...]

Like many others, I had stories I wanted to tell. Also, many times my ego, after watching a mediocre episode of a television series, would know I could write better. And I could. But the ego just didn't realize the selling part is actually the toughest part of writing.

I also like having a physical record of my artistic impulses. Actors and dancers don't have that. They may have a tape of what they've done, but I have a script or manuscript, or hopefully, a book. Getting that first physical copy of SNW IV was just an amazing feeling.

As for music and lyrics, I've composed and written them from about age eight. Whether original or parody, not only is it artistically satisfying (conveying hopes, dreams, desires, opinions, moods or criticisms), but fitting them together is a wonderful brain puzzle. And after I'm done, I feel like I've completed an "Expert" crossword puzzle in ink. Not to mention the kick I get out of watching and hearing my talented friends perform my work.

Watching others react to your work is something that writers for the live arts get to experience. I wish all the terrific fiction authors here could get a taste of that. I know they get the compliments and praise they deserve (and additional work), but to watch live reactions by people as they experience your work for the first time is just incredibly rewarding -- or excruciating.

--Ted

 

[Kevin Dilmore]

Honestly, my brain is just wired that way. I remembering writing and illustrating my own handmade books and comics, mostly about my favorite monsters and superheroes, as far back as elementary school. Including my sixth-grade magnum opus "FRANKENSTEIN MEETS THE GOLEM."

Sounds like my eighth-grade effort titled "Prelude to Star Wars," in which I tell a 10-chapter story in 12 pages. I also attempted to write dialogue for R2-D2.

It just took me awhile to figure out that you could get paid for this silliness . . . .

Umm ... you get paid?

Kevin

 

[Scott Pearson]

I write because I love writing (and because of the voices) but I've always wanted to try to make a living off it, slim though those odds are. So I write Trek tie-in because I love Trek, but also because I've been able to get paid for it a few times. I've never written any Trek just for the fun of it, it's always been for a possible check. Don't get me wrong, I've got nothing against fan fiction, more power to the people who do it, but I've always approached all my writing as a profession (as well as an addiction). It all comes down to what the individual wants from his or her writing. For some reason, I've always wanted to be published in the traditional way, checks included. If you're satisfied by simply writing for the fun of it and putting it on the internet, go for it. If you really want to be published for money, than you just keep plugging away at it. Ten years passed between the time I knew I wanted to be a writer and my first publication, and that publication was in 19-freakin'-87. In the decades since, I've had a handful of successes, generally increasing in readership and paycheck, but obviously moving at a glacial place. It's a cruel Klingon mistress, but I can't keep myself from going back for more punishment. As I say on my website "If you bang your head against the wall long enough, eventually you’ll break through." Perhaps I should add, "Either that, or it will feel really good when you stop!"

 

[KRAD]

As I say on my website "If you bang your head against the wall long enough, eventually you’ll break through."

I like how you leave it open as to whether or not it's the wall or your skull that you break through.........

 

[Triskelion]

^ Nice! I learned a long time ago I have little choice in the matter. If I could believe in it's rewards a bit more I would apply myself more.

Also, thanks everybody for not bringing the hammer down on me posting here. Nice bunch of folks here.

 

[Scott Pearson]

As I say on my website "If you bang your head against the wall long enough, eventually you’ll break through."

I like how you leave it open as to whether or not it's the wall or your skull that you break through.........

Not to mention that the two interpretations are not mutually exclusive outcomes . . .

 

[BrotherBenny]

If I could believe in it's rewards a bit more I would apply myself more.

Believe in yourself. That is all that matters as long as you have a day job. I'm currently writing fan fiction to hone my craft since the feedback I get from my readers is always extremely helpful, but I have over a dozen projects waiting for me when I decide to make the break into professional writing.

My only published articles thus far have been for a craft magazine with about 700 subscribers which my father is the editor of. I act as proof-reader and junior editor on said magazine (all of which is voluntary, damnit) but I'm looking forward to starting up my own magazine someday

 

[TGTheodore]

I believe in my thesis above I neglected to answer "why tie-ins".

Well, when you really love a franchise, it's a dream being allowed to play in their sandbox.

While my contribution to Trek is a mere asterisk, I actually got to be a part of it. Real Trek. An iconic franchise known worldwide. And that's an amazingly wonderful feeling.

The same can be said for my Peanuts musical. I've been a fan of Charles Schulz's comic strip since 1959. And I was allowed to write and compose a new musical for the opening of the Museum and Research Center named for him. About 95% of the dialogue was directly from the strip, so I got to use his actual work.

Neil Simon let me musicalize one his plays, and then produce it. NEIL SIMON.

And finally, I edited and compiled the final stage version of The Martian Chronicles for Ray Bradbury. And my version was the one that he published.

No one really knows my name, I'm the opposite of rich, but being able to be an actual part of so many properties and creators whose work I love and respect is just amazing to me.

I truly am ... the most famous person in my apartment.

--Ted

 

[Greg Cox]

Oh yeah, there's a definite fannish component here, even for us jaded professionals.

"Ohmigod, I'm writing Detective Chimp!"