I want you to write for pleasure—to play. Just listen to the sounds and rhythms of the sentences you write and play with them, like a kid with a kazoo. This isn’t “free writing,” but it’s similar in that you’re relaxing control: you’re encouraging the words themselves—the sounds of them, the beats and echoes—to lead you on. For the moment, forget all the good advice that says good style is invisible, good art conceals art. Show off! Use the whole orchestra our wonderful language offers us! Write it for children, if that’s the way you can give yourself permission to do it. Write it for your ancestors. Use any narrating voice you like. If you’re familiar with a dialect or accent, use it instead of vanilla English. Be very noisy, or be hushed. Try to reproduce the action in the jerky or flowing movement of the words. Make what happens happen in the sounds of the words, the rhythms of the sentences. Have fun, cut loose, play around, repeat, invent, feel free.
that bad sensory moment when you’re trying to do something that requires a lot of focus and the people around you are talking loudly and you’re just sitting there like $&@&&@@^%#%^%***++*%%#%^*+%%%
What is ‘late in a fandom’? It’s after the first heady flush of media excitement. Six months after the standalone movie or book comes out, a year or more after the series ends.
We get inspired by late canon: the behind-the-scenes book, the deleted scenes, a revealing creator interview. We get inspired by fanon and meta. We get talking to that one – one! – person who likes our ideas.
Sometimes a fic even needs to be written late in the fandom. After thinking and creative ferment, worldbuilding and character development. ‘Late to the fandom’ is a good time to take risks. To do the dark AU, focus on the minor character from stage left. It’s also a good time to offer up tropetastic fun.
Whatever you do, you will get readers who appreciate that you are writing. Because for every writer considering writing ‘late’ there’s a hundred fandom members wanting some fresh content.
Writing a fic ‘late’ in a fandom is OK.
“a year or more after the series ends.” or, like, 20 years. hundreds of years after the book was published. y’know, whenever.
Also it’s almost always safer. Most of the people who live to be mean on the internet have moved on to something else.
You are absolutely correct, and I made sure to go back and tag it before answering this ask.
I am surprised I didn’t tag it initially because we have a whole bunch of tags content warnings tags specifically for religious stuff, because it’s something we are also uncomfortable with.
Thank you for letting me know I had forgotten to tag it.
