I'm relatively new to this group and I always love asking people what motivates them to write fanfiction.

A good friend of mine always says, "Fanfiction is to fix". And I believe it.

My first experience writing fanfic was after a show I loved was cancelled and left far too many unanswered questions. I had to have answers. I couldn't leave it that way. So I came up with my own.

Bringing a couple together is a huge motivational factor as well. I've spent years writing those types of stories.

Coming late to the party with "Lois & Clark", I already know they're getting together. Yet, to my surprise, that doesn't spoil it. We get so many neat moments the journey is still fun and the characters are so richly fleshed out. I don't feel the urge to 'fix' anything though it is fun to wonder, "What if..."

The best explanation I have for me writing "Lois & Clark" fic is that the subject is so much fun. I loved superheroes as a kid, though, admittedly I was more of a 60s Batman fan and Superfriends. Super powers, secret identities, clones - it's fun to play with.

What motivates you?

I think you hit on all the salient points. I love to write and create my own universe (even if it is a derivative/clone of another). The first Superman movie left me enthused, dumbstruck and motivated to write, but life was too busy to have any time to think. Now I have time.
regards,
Artemis
hoping to get her muse unstuck

I'm a semi-pro writer (mostly RPGs), fanfic is an alternative that lets me write without any financial pressure etc., it's a good way of unwinding when I'm fed up with writing games.

My personal circumstances are such that I can't get out of the house much to participate in any leisure activities. Writing fanfic is a nice stress relief for me. Plus, it gives me a creative outlet. And it gives me a chance to hone a new skill and to try a new challenge. I don't know if I'll get more confident in my ability to write a story, but I still start out every story I write wondering whether I'll be able to do my idea justice; sometimes I wonder whether I'll even be able to finish the story at all. Then when a story gets to the point that I am happy with it, there is a tremendous sense of satisfaction and accomplishment.

I also love it when I can put a smile on a reader's lips.

Plus, I must admit that I am a feedback junkie. Will write for FDK!

Joy,
Lynn

It was a total creative outlet for me. I remember being stuck in my house 24 hours a day in grad school putting together projects that were constantly under our dept chair's microscope...and then I realized I could sit down and write something that wasn't going to make or break my career. And that was wonderful. And funny, too--I like to make myself laugh and needed it.

JD

I'd always written, since I was about 8 years old. Firstly, it was animal stories, then I developed an interest in SF novels - Wells, Heinlein, Wyndham and so on - and the stories took on a SF tone.

Then, I fell in love with re-runs of the original Star Trek during school holidays. But the episodes weren't enough for me. I wanted more. I collected the episode novelisations, but that wasn't enough either, so it seemed natural to begin writing stories about the characters I saw on screen. If the TV wasn't going to give me new adventures, I'd write my own.

Then, one day, while browsing through a local bookshop, I came across 'New Voyages' - a published collection of Star Trek fanfic by fans just like me and...Holy Cow! I wasn't the only one writing about the Trek characters and universe. And they actually had a name for what I'd been doing for several years. What a revelation!

I'd not only discovered a name for my activity, but also fandom, which I quickly immersed myself in and...the rest is history.

Fanfic allowed me to explore worlds that I loved, using characters I adored. No longer was I confined to just the adventures I saw on screen or that the show's makers gave me. I could travel the stars on my own.

LabRat

What motivates me to write fanfiction? That would be my muse, who calls herself Aoife, or so she decided sometime this year during a brief visit. I've never actually decided 'I want something to do, oh I know, I'll write fanfic', it really is just as simple as I get ideas and write them down.

When I was a kid I used to play-act them out but as I got older I realised that I looked silly, wandering around talking to myself, lost in some television or book-based world, and it occurred to me that I could write them down like a book. Which is what I did. Quite often I'd try and turn the ideas into original fiction as I didn't realise that there was such a thing as fanfiction until I bought my Lois & Clark DVDs when I was at uni, got back into the show and found the archive after wanting more Lois & Clark than the four series offered. So I started writing out these ideas in their 'original' form, rather than trying to morph them into original works by me, which worked much better and actually allowed me to finish one or two.

Aoife still drops by every now and then with new ideas. She's come up with more for L&C than any other fandom that she's obsessed with (of which there are a few, I won't lie) and despite the fact that she seemed to get bored with L&C a while ago and keeps changing her mind about what her current obsession is, she still gives me new L&C plot bunnies every now and then. It's just a shame she never sticks around long enough to let me get close to finishing any of them!

"Fanfic is to fix" -- yes. Definitely. Although I'm not interested in plot fixes, per se. Fanfic is for when I'm frustrated with what I see (or don't see) on screen -- when there's so much *potential* there that they're not exploring or taking advantage of. The L&C characters and their relationship are so good and fun and rich with potential. The show barely scratched the surface.

Some of this is not the show's fault; they couldn't reasonably do more than two-three "revelation" stories, whereas in fanfic we can do thousands.

My motivation is my brain getting hold of a "what if". Sometimes I see one particular scene and the emotions are so delicious that I have to figure out a way to get them there and then onward to a happy ending (Hearts Divided, for example). That's the tricky part. Sometimes I want to do a different take on a given situation -- how can I do an alt-Clark-meets-Lois story and make it fresh? Sometimes it's a challenge.

Hanging out in L&C's world is so much *fun*. It's fun reading what others do, and it's even more fun when I get to make up my own versions.

I've been writing fiction since junior high. I've only written fanfic for two shows, though, and mostly only L&C.

PJ

For me it all started with a question.

In the series you have:
1. Superman's powers
2. Kryptonite, green and red
3. Power transference via lightning and red K
4. Clark being an alien with super powers and looking 99+% human.

The question was, "Can you find a single underlying concept that could explain everything on this list?" Eventually I found a set of ideas that seemed to be able to cover all these issues. At that point I wanted to tell someone. (Other than The Fabulous Beverly) I actually considered writing a lecture by Bernie Klein but realized that even I wouldn't want to read it. So I constructed a story. (Luck and Consequences) When I started, the ONLY goal was to deliver the lecture in a way that would be interesting enough for someone to read.

So, in my case, it wasn't so much to fix as it was to explain. What I found along the way was that I enjoyed it. A lot! THEN it became about fixing things. That was certainly what I had in mind as of my 2nd story (After a Door Slams)

This past year while I've been struggling with my writers block, I've noticed that I've lost some of the motivation to fix and I'm thinking more about creation. I have several outlines for Alt-beginning stories. The challenge is to get these on paper. I'm very excited about two of these in particular.

So, back to the question:
What motivates me to write fanfiction.
1. To explain.
2. To fix.
3. Because I simply enjoy it - and this community - so much.

Bob

I’ve started writing because I want to find out “What would happen if....” and no one else has written the story. Being a nominally lazy creature I’d rather read what someone else has written but I’m finding I enjoy it (a lot more when the characters cooperate).

Reading fanfic and watching the show, or watching/reading other versions of Superman, can make my brain start spinning with ideas. Sometimes while trying to fall asleep at night, I imagine out L&C stories in my head. Every so often I'll come upon an idea that I like enough to sort of "work it out", either by thinking about it over a series of nights, or by writing it down.

I got REALLY inspired after reading the Death of Superman/Doomsday saga. It was just so compelling. Of course, as I was reading it, I was putting *our* L&C's faces on the characters, which led to a ton of "what if *that* had happened on the show?" kinds of questions.

I think for me, writing fanfic is just another way of getting MORE L&C. I love the show, but I always want more. Funny, I just realized something. For some reason, I think every fic I've ever written has either been set in Season 2 or else post-Family Hour. Season 2 is my favorite, and of course I would've loved more L&C after season 4... hmmm, veddy interesting....

As was mentioned by so many listed above; the joy of spending time in the wonderful FoLC universe! As well as getting a chance to rewrite the stars...