I started making up stories in my head and putting them down on paper at an early age, but it wasn't until I was 16 or so that I discovered the concept of fanfic. I knew that others made up stories in their heads and wrote them down of course - those were called novels - but it had previously never occurred to me that you could do it with other people's characters.
During that summer though, I became a big fan of the original Star Trek series through reruns. And while browsing through a local bookshop on Saturday afternoon I discovered a copy of
ST: The New Voyages - a published collection of fanfic. Not only were the stories incredibly well written, but that was my introduction to the whole fascinating notion that instead of making do with playing the same TV adventures over and over and over again, you could make up your own. And share them with others! Wow.
Naturally enough, it wasn't long after that that I started writing my own fanfic and over the next decade or so I wrote a wide range of fanfic, for all kinds of shows, and had them published in various fanzines.
But I think the first show I wrote for where I built up a significant body of work was the western
The Young Riders. Which was my big love just prior to falling in love with LNC. Since LNC, although I've moved on to become obsessed with other shows - Buffy, Angel, Stargate (Classic - don't talk to me about S9
), BSG and others - I've never felt the urge to write fanfic for them.
I don't know why this is, exactly. Whether it's simply been a side issue of the fact that currently I have no urge to write anything at all or whether it's because I've invested such a strong emotional commitment and attachment to the non-writing side of FoLCdom - the friends I have here, the community etc - that I don't want to move on in that sense.
But to the point of this thread - I do confess that I've always found LNC a lot more restrictive to write for than previous shows. Simply because over the years I'd become used to working in a much larger playground than is available to me with LNC, such as a large ensemble cast of 6 or 7 characters I could use. Or a wide range of locations, rather than mostly just the Daily Planet, Clark's or Lois's apartments. Sure you can send them to Hawaii or the Swiss Alps now and then <g>, but in the main you're limited to just a few places to play in.
Also, there was no limit to the possible themes I could write about - it's true that you can write about darker themes in FoLCdom, but you do have to accept that generally speaking you'll find less readership for them because it's just not what the majority of readers want to read. Whereas in most of the other fandoms out there anything goes for the most part.
And with previous shows, the characters' early lives were usually missing for the most part, which meant you could have a lot of fun playing around with filling in the blanks of their early years. Which of course is not possible with Clark Kent and even most of Lois's early years were filled in with LNC, so there's not much to explore there either. Which isn't to say there aren't gaps to explore - and many authors have - but just that in comparison to what I'd been used to it was less of a challenge.
So, yes, I have found it more frustrating at times to write about LNC and much harder work than any fandom I've previously written for. But they're worth it.
And although it was a drastic change from what I'd been used to, it was also probably the most writing fun I've had through the years, too. Sometimes, more difficult is more rewarding.
LabRat
