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On starting to write fic and fan fic
Mar. 14th, 2022 08:37 pmThe twitter thread about what all our first fanfics here that helped spawn this post https://twitter.com/thesilversun/status/1503467693168631808?s=20&t=Uj51ESl4aosifEWrC_hAew
So lots of people are talking about when they first started writing fic, what fandoms, what it was about.
And one thing that stands out to me is how many people say that their first fics were self insert and/or Mary Sue fics were they or an idealised version of themselves was the main protagonist of what they were writing. Like nearly everyone in the thread seems to have started like that.
So much of it seems to be because they had a crush on whatever character they were shipping their self insert with.
Then there's me.
I never wrote self inserts. Not even when I first started writing fan fic. It was the pre-existing characters that interested me, their interactions with each other, with the world around them. I didn't then, don't now and never had shipped myself with characters or had a crush on them. No, it's not some weird purity type brag thing, like somehow it's good that I didn't/it makes be better than writers that did. I just didn't. It's not a good thing. It's not a bad thing. It's just a thing. It didn't seem odd to me to not get a crush on a character however, as I didn't get crushes on actors or singers or even like people at college. And honestly even now at 42, I've never yet looked at anyone and gone 'ooh bedroom thoughts' so at this point I don't think this part of me is likely to change.
(Some how at 20 and never having had romantic anybody throughout my teens, I met my husband, we shared dice at a university rpg club. Proposed to each other 5 years after that - just sitting there one evening eating a meal together, and we decided that this was we wanted to have. The best part 23 years after sharing those dice we're still together and have a kid who'll be a teenager in a few months.)
So I'm wondering are people who get crushes more likely to write self insert fic than those who don't?
So lots of people are talking about when they first started writing fic, what fandoms, what it was about.
And one thing that stands out to me is how many people say that their first fics were self insert and/or Mary Sue fics were they or an idealised version of themselves was the main protagonist of what they were writing. Like nearly everyone in the thread seems to have started like that.
So much of it seems to be because they had a crush on whatever character they were shipping their self insert with.
Then there's me.
I never wrote self inserts. Not even when I first started writing fan fic. It was the pre-existing characters that interested me, their interactions with each other, with the world around them. I didn't then, don't now and never had shipped myself with characters or had a crush on them. No, it's not some weird purity type brag thing, like somehow it's good that I didn't/it makes be better than writers that did. I just didn't. It's not a good thing. It's not a bad thing. It's just a thing. It didn't seem odd to me to not get a crush on a character however, as I didn't get crushes on actors or singers or even like people at college. And honestly even now at 42, I've never yet looked at anyone and gone 'ooh bedroom thoughts' so at this point I don't think this part of me is likely to change.
(Some how at 20 and never having had romantic anybody throughout my teens, I met my husband, we shared dice at a university rpg club. Proposed to each other 5 years after that - just sitting there one evening eating a meal together, and we decided that this was we wanted to have. The best part 23 years after sharing those dice we're still together and have a kid who'll be a teenager in a few months.)
So I'm wondering are people who get crushes more likely to write self insert fic than those who don't?