Buffy Fan=Writer?

[Kean]

Myself and TC were talking about some of the stuff we had written and planned to write and it kinda hit me that most Buffy fans that I have come in contact with write in some shape or form. Just wondering if this is true statement here on the BuffyBoards. How many of you write? and those of you that do write did Buffy encourage you to get your words on paper? Also anyone who posts on differents show's boards would you say there are alot of writers there? is this just a Buffyverse thing?

 

[Kemy]

I'm a terrible writer, or at least I tend to think I am, and not great with stories, but yes Buffy has encouraged me to write fiction before now, I even have an Ethan story rattling around my harddrive somewhere.

I was even thinking of an idea for a story with wiccanslayer the other day so yes it does have a way of making writers out of many of us. Damn you Joss *shakes fist* 😀😛

 

[VisionGuy]

I was a writer way before I started watching Buffy. I still write sometimes. There is actually a fan fic around here written by me that I haven't finished. It got a lot of good comments too. Maybe I should get right on that...

 

[StuckinTraffic]

No, because I can't write at ALL. I write like those people that write the inserts you get in bottles of medicine that talk about all the bad side effects. Horrible.

 

[goldenboy]

Hey, now see SiT, you're not such a bad writer; that's a good line. Bad side effects, heh.

I have no sense of how to recreate funny, 'true' dialogue. Don't know how to build a plot, create surprises. I suppose you could learn the mechanics of it, right?

There are a lot of good writers on the B-Boards though, that's for sure.

 

[Angelic Slayer]

I TRY to write whenever I can, if that counts? Lol in all seriousness I've been into writing all my life, and although I started really writing with ONE story in harry potter land (*cringes*), BTVS really does take credit for most of my work. It's given me something to explore and really improve my writing with, and with so many storylines I can always come up with a story to write. So yeah, Buffyverse definitely propelled me to write more than I was.

As for other boards, I do find that Harry Potter fans are hardcore writers! Lord of the Rings was also big for a while, but it seems (to me, anyway) as though HP and BTVS are still the two biggies. They have the most fics on fanfiction.net and really have a solid fanbase of budding writers, you can find stories about either show anywhere.

So it's not just a Buffyverse thing, I don't think, but we buffyers are DEFINITELY up there on the writing. We really do love our Buffy (and when we don't-- we rewrite it! 😉 ).

 

[palabravampiress]

Well, I've been a writer ever since my pre-school teacher stuck a pencil in my hand and showed me how to write the letter "A." I'm serious. In first grade, my writing journal was full of fictional stories about fictional characters rather than with entries about my birthday party of my favorite food. Before I learned to write, I used to embarrass my mom in the supermarket by constantly blathering to and/or fighting with imaginary people. My mom thought I was crazy. Then, after I learned to write, the imaginary people remained confined to the page and my mom breathed a sigh of relief. "Oh, she's just a writer!" my mom said. Writing has nothing to do with Buffy; it's just a part of me.

For any fandom, I think it is very likely that a high percentage of people who post in forums are writers. Many fans of TV shows (like my husband) are very insecure about their reading and writing abilities. Most of the people that I know in my personal life would not want to write something and then post it on the internet to be criticized by strangers. Those who do post regularly must feel relatively confident in their ability, so it follows that they have some sort of ability. Of those fans having the ability to string together a decent sentence, it makes sense that an unusually high percentage would employ that skill either as a hobby or as a profession. I don't think it means that Buffy attracts writers so much as it means that the opportunity to write essays, arguments, RPG characters, fan fics, etc. about Buffy attracts Buffy fans who like to write.

 

[VisionGuy]

Well, I've been a writer ever since my pre-school teacher stuck a pencil in my hand and showed me how to write the letter "A." I'm serious. In first grade, my writing journal was full of fictional stories about fictional characters rather than with entries about my birthday party of my favorite food.

I used to do the same thing when I was young. I wrote stories about a lot of my favorite shows and even came up with my own animated series concepts that I wanted to put on TV when I grew up. I also used to keep a journal of how my day went up until I started college. That's when I got too busy to keep writing in it. 🙁

 

[Cordelia Chase*]

I always loved to write. One of my hobbies. I got notebooks full of stories. But Buffy encouraged me to write my Buffyverse stories. Which i do have alot of.

 

[Rowan Hawthorn]

I've been a writer for my own entertainment since... oh, jeez, around 1965 or thereabouts. Never did any fanfiction, and haven't really done anything in several years, although, after seeing the hack job that was done to the Season 7 "novelization", I was seriously tempted to give it a shot again. Don't think I could have done any worse than that one, at any rate...

 

[Rebecca]

I used to love writing when I was younger but as I've grown up I've got much more critical of myself and now whenever I attempt to write anything I just think its stupid and give up after 10 minutes 😛

I've never tried writing any buffyverse stories.. I might have a go sometime.. If I can think of anything to base it on.....

 

[Blondie Bear]

I've been a writer since I learned to read. When I was a kid, I'd constantly make up stories about my stuffed animals and sometimes write them down. I tried my hand at comic books, but I couldn't draw worth a crap. I read so much that I absorbed narrative theory, formatting, grammar, etc. through osmosis. When my 4th grade teacher decided to let us write stories to teach us about paragraph breaks, I was way ahead of her (and knew that you don't break paragraphs when "your character is ready to have a new adventure").

It wasn't until I was in 8th grade--and again assigned to write a short story--that I really fell in love with writing and started doing it NON-STOP. At first I (badly) imitated Anne McCaffrey, but eventually I came up with my own ideas.

Now I have two finished novels that I'm seeking representation for and about 6 finished, polished short stories, one of which is due out in the May 2008 edition of Trail of Indiscretion (plug plug).

I don't write fanfic; I've never been comfortable borrowing other people's characters. But I do glean ideas from everything I read and watch. There is NOTHING new left to write, but I can always try to add a twist or a character that makes it seem new.

Wow, if I'd known I was going to go on this long, I probably would have brought some water. But I love talking about writing and how I started.

 

[TabulaRasa]

I don't write often, and it's nothing serious, it's just for me. But when I do actually write, it means something has inspired me that day. I can't just sit down and do it.

 

[GATEGOD]

I have too many Ideas to write anything! Compacted with my addiction to the computer and movies. Plus my laziness factor and then there's my 'this will take forever' impatience mentality. ^_^ Rpg's are cool though 😛 So I guess I write in them...

 

[Kean]

Like many of you have said since I was child I would always make up strories, I would create these whole other worlds and just get lost in them. I can't describe the satisfaction I get out of creating a story, its just fantastic when it all comes together. My problem though is that I'm a perfectionist anI tend to approach my writing like a poet, I want every word to fit just right and let the language flow, when that doesn't happen (which is ALOT) I end up leaving the material until I get that spark of inspiration, so it takes me FOREVER to finish anything! Buffy has encouraged me though for reasons unknown! It put an impetus into my writing that I had lost.

 

[Mesektet Ra]

I've written my whole life. When I learned to write, when I learned to read, probably even before that. Which probably makes no sense, but whatever.

Anyway, I've always written. It's something I do - probably the only thing I think I'm any good at. ANYWAY.

As far as Buffy goes, basically, it's given me something to write about. I love creating original characters - it's so much fun, to build a person from scratch. I'm always finding ways to get my original charries to fit into the Buffyverse somehow. I rarely ever finish a story, but the concepts are all there.

It does seem to me that being a Buffyverse fan encourages creativity. Mostly in writing, but I've met a lot of really awesome artists who are inspired by the Buffyverse. It's interesting to see.

 

[Lyri]

i've been a 'writer' since my high school days. i always wrote short stories for classes, and any creative writting assignments we had, mine were known to be hundreds of words longer than what was required. i'm a very creative person in general, so writing just came natural to me...not that i'm saying i'm any good at writing, but i do write a lot.

since i've been watching Buffy, i have written a number of fics based on the shows, and i've lost count of how many fics i have rattling around here. there has to be at least 5...soon to be more when i can get off my lazy ass and finish the project we're working on.

BTVS has encouraged me to keep writing when i might have stopped after i left high school, but i wouldn't i definitely wouldn't say that BTVS encouraged me to start.

 

[ILLYRIAN]

I never used to be able to write anything more than three or four lines, then in Dec 1999 I had a brain tumour removed, guess they touched the wrong bit 'cos since then I can't stop writing.
When the Buffy series ended I wrote a few stories for my daughter, about nineteen so far. Then there's the sci-fi stories [two] the supernatural fiction, the non fiction, short story's, novels [60,000 words], and a few over 100,000 words. Myths, legends, folklore, I like to take a story I've written and make a new story of it.
I've found that what-ever series, there is there's usually somewhere that has fanfic for it. it.

 

[Joyce Summers]

Yes, I'm a writer- freelance mainly but who knows? Maybe one day I'll put pen to paper for the numerous novel plot lines taking over my brain.
And just like many of you have already said on here, I've pretty much been well, maybe not a writer, but 'into' writing if you get what I mean, since I was in elementary school. I was a child of many fantasies and I loved writing stories (Mostly Princess oriented when I was very young as I will admit I was very much a girly girl) just as I love writing now.
I think the Buffyverse is a fantastic cure for Writer's Block. The characters are so multi-layered and multi-dimensional that each and everyone of them is wonderful to play with and can really help get your creative juices flowing, even sparking other non-Buffy ideas.
As for whether there's a correlation between writers and fans of Buffy I'm not sure whether Buffy fans do tend to be writers in some form. But maybe the show does reach some form of creativity within each of us, be it writing, fanart, videos etc.

 

[Old Master 3.0]

I was never a writer (or in my case, "writer") until I started watching the shows and became a member here.

I guess watching the show and then reading all the great stuff written by other BB members (plus a push from a former member) jarred my imagination enough to give storytelling a try. Giles is my favorite character out of all, so all of my stuff tends to be Giles-related. I haven't written in a long time, though, as I am prone to a lack of focus and never finish any of the fics I start. Bad OM!

I still have some of that old stuff floating around in the Watchers Diaries. I'll probably give 'em a finish one day if the mood ever strikes me again....