Greatest thing of writing?

[Escriba]

This has come to my mind because the "angst thread" (that has become too harsh to my standards) has a little opinions of the reasons and motivations of writing, and I though about this question:

What is the greates or the most satisfactory thing about your stories?

In my case, I love writing, so the mere fact of creating the story (the general plot, the chapters, who's POV use, the tense to use, which turns in the story are going to happen...) satisfy me a lot.

But of course, it's not the only thing For me, writing is interaction, and I love to hear the readers opinions on the story. I like to know what they like and what they don't. And believe me, knowing exactly what didn't work for a reader helps a lot, because if more than one reader has the same complain, it means that I did something wrong. Although I admit I love when the readers have the exact reaction I was expecting.

But the most, most satisfying thing for me is when I write a specific joke in a story and people get it. It makes me so happy Because I really like humor. Sometimes I even think that maybe I overdid the irony (because the scene needed a more serious tone.)

My ego went around Jupiter when JustTripn said I have a characterisitic sense of humor

[Alelou]

For me the pleasures of writing fall into two categories:

Category 1 is all about discovery -- about entertaining and surprising myself with what comes up in the process of writing. I'm always trying to find new ways to put Trip and T'Pol together because I just so enjoy that. So if I manage to do something in that direction that seems plausible to me, I'm a happy camper: it really does feel to me like coming across new scenes in my DVD collection. Once in awhile it's also a little more -- a way of thrashing out my thinking about something not necessarily ST-related.

Category 2 is all about narcissism: It's a sheer pleasure knowing that other people are reading my stuff, and hopefully that at least some are enjoying it.

[honeybee]

For me, writing fiction is pure joy & imagination. I like to take the characters that I think I know and create stories around them. The process of doing it is plain and simple very enjoyable. I'm a nonfiction writer, and playing around with a genre (fanfiction) that is done for nothing but pleasure really suits me. Nonfiction has its rewards, but it is an external process of getting information. Fiction comes from within one's head, and that's a whole different ball game.

Like Alelou, I also enjoy hearing that people liked what I wrote. I know I can't please everyone - but if I gave someone a few moments of escape or pleasure, that's very rewarding. And if they think I nailed these characters, whom I assume they love as much as me, that is the ultimate compliment.

[WarpGirl]

Honestly, in person I'm shy and reserved, a true introvert. But I love the freedom and self-expression writing brings me. I also love, to pick people's brains I love to create stories. It feeds my artistic soul. If people love it, that's wonderful. If people hate it, that's OK and I learn from it. But I love expressing my thoughts, and ideas in a creative way. I just like putting things together. I can't help it, I've been writing since I was 3 years old.

[TPoptarts]

The best thing about writing for me is that it FINALLY gets the stories out of my system. My brain always runs wild and I'm like way too creative for my own good and so I always have like a hundred million stories and ideas and inspirations etc etc etc and everything's running around my brain all at the same time and it drives me crazy. My brain has like the longest to do list ever. Like for example right now I got like somewhere between 8-10 Justice League fics waiting to be typed. PLUS 2 filks. Why? I dunno, I had like 4 fics then bam out of nowhere come more fully fleshed out plots for more fics and I can't stop it, it's like my thoughts are thinking thoughts as for the filks, well for some reason I was thinking about the "Jingle bells Batman smells" song, and yesterday I saw totally unrelated Hawkgirl music video (HAWKGIRL ) with a totally different song, that's 2 songs already, and for some reason I just can't leave songs alone so one thing lead to another and more headache soon followed. I just can't help it. So actually writing and finishing and posting fics gives my brain a little bit of peace. Unfortunately I'm dyslexic which makes it hard for me to write stuff down even when I got all the sentences already inside my head, plus the fact that there's so much stuff running inside my brain at the same time makes it really hard for me to concentrate on one story at a time or whatever. So that's why I don't write nearly as often as I should. Which in turn makes my brain even messier.

[justTripn]

For me the pleasures of writing fall into two categories:

Category 1 is all about discovery -- about entertaining and surprising myself with what comes up in the process of writing. I'm always trying to find new ways to put Trip and T'Pol together because I just so enjoy that. So if I manage to do something in that direction that seems plausible to me, I'm a happy camper: it really does feel to me like coming across new scenes in my DVD collection. Once in awhile it's also a little more -- a way of thrashing out my thinking about something not necessarily ST-related.

Category 2 is all about narcissism: It's a sheer pleasure knowing that other people are reading my stuff, and hopefully that at least some are enjoying it.

I'm going to say yes, same here to all of that, with more Category 1 than Category 2, since fewer people read my stuff. I was thinking the other day that it feels like I'm playing Ken and Barbie (two dolls) with Trip and T'Pol, except that I can get so much more detailed. It's like: Now I'm going to dress them up for the beach. Now they are going to get married. Now Barbie is going out to a party, lol . . . They do whatever I want and it becomes as at least as real to me as the canon episodes. I like what Alelou says about coming across new scenes in the DVD collection. If I write a good story ("good" as defined by me) it takes me on a roller coaster ride of highs and lows, landing in the end somewhere comfortable amidst friends. And it does that forever! Each time I reread it. How cool is that?! I guess I try to entertain myself and as a bonus, maybe someone else relates to it too? And if they do, I'm over the moon.

I'm a clunky writer but I can think up complicated plots, so I'm also looking for the reaction: "Wow, you surprised me with that! I didn't see it coming, but OK, it makes sense that might happen . . . " That's always good. Another comment that makes me happy is "The characters/situations seem real" or "Hmm . . . interesting . . ."

[Alelou]

JT, I really don't know why you keep saying you are a clunky writer. You are a good writer. If you get fewer reviews, it's probably because you explore territory not everybody likes to spend a lot of time in, like the E2 universe, or include controversial ideas like Trip potentially having a wandering eye ( ).

My all-time favorite story of yours, though, is really a third-season missing scene story: Welcoming the New Year, 2154. (And if you ask me it really should go in the main section instead of Main Engineering.)

[Asso]

JT, I really don't know why you keep saying you are a clunky writer. You are a good writer. If you get fewer reviews, it's probably because you explore territory not everybody likes to spend a lot of time in, like the E2 universe, or include controversial ideas like Trip potentially having a wandering eye ( ).

My all-time favorite story of yours, though, is really a third-season missing scene story: Welcoming the New Year, 2154. (And if you ask me it really should go in the main section instead of Main Engineering.)

I agree.

[honeybee]

I don't know why you get fewer review, JustTripn' - but I read your stuff. I read it on ff.net before I ever came here.

I especially like your E2 series, which is quite complex and engaging. I think I told you I don't mind the teasing of other pairings in that universe - as it creates tension. But other people might find that difficult.

Also, I've gotten plenty of "I hate the E2" universe feedback from my stories, so that might keep people away, too.

This is mildly off topic, but the last chapter of of "Implications" which isn't posted here yet, gets more ff hits than any other chapter. In that one, Second Season Enterprise crew meets the descendants of my E2 timeline (the story had gone full AU at this point). It seems to me that people like that concept a lot, even though they say they don't "like the E2 universe."

What's really fun about writing fanfic is seeing the hits you get and reading reviews. I have had articles published in major magazines and never get the kind of feedback I do via fandom stuff. It's really fun.

[panyasan]

My all-time favorite story of yours, though, is really a third-season missing scene story: Welcoming the New Year, 2154. (And if you ask me it really should go in the main section instead of Main Engineering.)

Welcoming... is a wonderful fic. I still can remember certain scenes: the one when T'Pol is offering Trip handkerchief (I think) and he is thinking about how their hands acted "after the robe was dropped", the whole feeling of falling in that scene and the toast of T'Pol and Trips realisation who she is remembering. The fact that I remember those scene means they made a impact on me, only few writers had that effect.

[Escriba]

That's curious, why some stories have more feedback than others. I think sometimes it's the setting (I think E2 stories have less readers than RU stories or post-series stories), but other times it's the extension of the work, especially if you publish various chapter at once (since people would leave just one review for the several.)

The reviews in TriSilk tend to be more elaborated and insightful than in ff.net (here is more typical a "cool. More!") It happens to me that it a story is very good but I can't say anything more than "great" or "good job" I don't (usually) leave a review. So your stuff being good maybe is a problem, JustTripn

Your best work isn't always the one that gets more reviews. In my case, a silly story like "Perfect" (12 intrascendent paragraphs) has proportionately more reviews than, say, "Disruption."

Reviews aren't a mathematical equation, that's for sure

[honeybee]

Reviews aren't a mathematical equation, that's for sure!

Not at all. But I've resolved to leave more reviews. I usually don't leave them unless I've got something way specific to say, but on the other hand, I should let people know that I'm reading and enjoying. Since I'm new around here and some of these older stories are new to me, I will resolve to even leave reviews of older work. Better late than never, right?

[justTripn]

AHHH!!! Thanks everyone. That means so much! It is especially touching that panyasan remembers a "moment" from that story that I didn't actually write, (Trip remembering T'Pol's robe dropping), but I alluded to that whole event in an extremely sketchy, vague way, and it created a picture in your mind that was vivid. Wow! See that's the miracle of writing right there. THANK YOU. I won't go into the bad experiences I've had with this story (it was actually rejected from one site) leading to the situation that I can't decide if I love it or am embarrassed by it. Truely! As proof, this is the one eligible story of mine NOT posted at fanfic.net. THANK YOU.

And Honeybee, you write articles for a magazine?! Cool!

[WarpGirl]

Well for me my personal reviews rules are. 1. If I can't say something nice, I won't say anything. 2. If all I can say is "cool more" I won't say it uless I'm reviewing individual chapters. Because "cool more" isn't very helpful at all. 3. Only leave real criticism with people you know will take it well, because who needs the stress of dealing with somebody who doesn't.

Another joy I get out of writing when people and authors I really respect disagree with what I did, but review anyway. Because then I learn so much.

[Elessar]

I just like to know people are reading, I really don't care much about what they say unless they don't have one single positive thing to say or even a constructive way to spin negative feedback, then I get a little miffed, but that hasn't happened in a long time, especially here.