[sindohte]

Guess what folks? Sindohte is bored. And when I am bored, questions and thoughts pop into my head. Here's what is on my mind at the moment -

How has your career or hobbies/interests influenced your fanfic writing or reading?

[Viv]

I manage editors for a living. Ergo, I am a scorching beta and an impatient reader. If I see semicolon abuse in the the first paragraph I'm pretty much done reading.

But I get paid to be such a bit... er, snooty person.

In terms of writing, my career requires me to be a perfectionist. Which is why there is so much fic on my hard drive that will never see the light of day.

[BittenBuggy]

Hmm, thats a good question. I taught freshman comp ( ) and a smattering of creative writing classes before I got married. Still, I am about the farthest away from a perfectionist that one could get I just like to have fun writing, if its good, its good, if its not, its not. No stress

I would probably drive poor Viv to distraction

I majored in Shakespearian comedies, and hopefully thats what I'll be teaching (when I go back) because that is my one true love... Well, ok, Tolkien is my one true love, but its much harder to make any money with a graduate degree in Tolkien lit

[sindohte]

I am a therapist, but have always been a people watcher. One of my earliest memories about what got me interested in psychology initially (this will show my age ) was being a kid and hearing the news reports about Jim Jones and all his followers killing themselves in the jungles of South America. I can clearly remember thinking to myself - "Wow, why would these people do something like that just because somebody told them to do so?" So now years and many student loans later, I have a better grasp upon the human psyche.

Writing is my form of therapy, because it allows me to create and then psychoanalyze all of the imaginary people floating around in my head. And if Viv's peeve is punctuation, mine has to be poorly developed characters. While a good story needs to have an engaging plot, you need characters that the reader can connect with and will remember years later.

The Nancy Drew books (which I read faithfully) focused more on solving the mystery, than truly developing Nancy as a character. Now that I think of it, Nancy Drew might have been one of the first Mary Sues. This is in stark contrast to Scout, from the story To Kill A Mockingbird. Now she is a fully realized character imho that I still remember years later.

Okay, time to get off my soapbox

[BittenBuggy]

I could really care less about punctuation, I am a speed reader - I read the first line of a paragraph and the last line. (Not something I think about, its automatic) Character development is important I suppose, but not something that makes or breaks the story. I only have one pet peeve, and that is inaccurate information!

I go crazy... Sind has been witness

[TXFaramirFangirl]

I'm a theatre gal . . .I do the tech and design work, and not only that I've taken playwriting and a creative writing class so my stories tend to have a very cinematic quality to them; like you're watching a movie in your head. I read alot of science fiction and fantasy novels as well and as a result my stories tend to be very rich in description.

My mandatory requirements: A fully realized setting and characters along with a plot that has twists and turns in it. Good dialouge is essential as well. When I edit other peoples stories my suggestions tend to focus on content and elaboration rather than the technical aspects.

My pet peeves: Inaccurate information as well and bad technical form (misplaced punctuation, a wonky format et. al.)

As far as puncuation goes, I tend to make a few mistakes in my stories (grammar has never been a strong suit of mine, and I proof everything multiple times to try and catch them but sometimes I can't.) but it's nothing that a sharp-eyed editor can't catch.

[Mitasova]

My specialization is general linguistics (although it's hard to earn a living by that, so I do a few other things here and there) and therefore an absolute language nut. It's not as much gramma or punctuation or spelling that gets my attention as a creative use of language, unusual sentence or word structure, some innovation that shows thta the writer's not simply puts a set of words on paper (or on screen as a case may be), but understands, not consciously, perhaps, what he's working with, the language mechanics, dynamics, the constant interrelations that are always going on in any language. That's what I get a kick out of: my husband says that I can be utterly turned on by a couple of sentences. He's not far from truth.

Obviously, I can get this kind of satisfaction from Russian better, as I'm familiar with a couple of related Slavonic languages and can understand better how the language developed and interacted throughout its history. But English is compelling for me also (though very different) and I'm trying to gain the similar kind of insider POV here as well.
==

Tanya

[sindohte]

I also forgot to mention that I am a research hag, thanks to my career in the psychology profession. So when BBkins starts beyotching about how someone gave one of Feanor's boys the wrong hair color, I can feel her pain. I am also impressed that she can remember the hair color of the Feanorians. Hell, I am still trying to learn all of their names of the Elves in that particular family.

I will not quibble too much over the hair or eye color of particular Elves. However, I do think writers should know their basic facts, unless something is clearly marked AU. However, it is really hard to use the excuse that you couldn't do some basic research about various Tolkien characters. The Internet is filled with reputable sources of Tolkien info.

Perhaps BB and Andreth could open up a website - Elves & Evil: All That You Wanted to Know About Sauron and First Age Elves, but Were Afraid to Ask

[NancyBrooke]

Reading and writing has always been my primary interest. Was always a voracious reader, and that's pretty much all I did and learned in college - reading and writing about it.

Before child I worked as a fundraiser, seeking support from fdns/corps for various non-profits. Although it was very rewarding work in general, it was the puzzle of putting words together in a convincing and interesting way that jazzed me. Essentially, with words I had to make someone care enough about what we did to open a checkbook. It was cool.

Like Tanya fics that grab me have a fresh point of view and express it in some unique way. "Make it new" we say in the biz; it's all pretty much the same story, the human experience, the trick is to see it with fresh eyes and engender fresh feelings. The stories I get most satisfaction from do this.

Of course, as a writer I don't always succeed, but ...

[artanisoflorien]

I'm a technical writer/editor, writing mostly computer documentation, online help, and computer-based training. At work, my goal is to write as briefly, clearly, and 'non-wordily' as possible. 'Click here'… 'Scroll there'… Blah, blah, blah! This is about as much fun as a root canal for someone who has a creative streak! However, it does pay the car payment!



I think that, as a direct result of being a bit stifled in my work, I tend to go a little adjective/adverb and description crazy in my writing. My beta is always having to say, "I think four adjectives are a few too many to describe one tree." Yet occasionally, I get a word of praise for my 'word paintings', as she calls them.

On the plus side, I'm a planning and organization freak when it comes to writing anything…even the fun stuff. This habit stems directly from having to write things that are consice and well-thought-out at work.

[SilverMoonLady]

Well, between cultural anthro and early childhood ed, any professional training I've had has been about what is in people's heads, and for me the story is about what makes people tick. I haven't yet met a subject I couldn't read and research the heck out of just for fun *library rat* I'm a stickler for detail, whether technical or factual.
The truth is though, that I fell in love with storytelling from my dad, who could spin a tale or two with the best of them. From epic to limerick, making words sing is just a pleasure...

[Losille]

My love of writing and Tolkien doesn't seem to have anything to do with my chosen career path. Sure, I am still in college, but studying to become a veterinarian is far from what I would call 'conducive' to writing. Usually I am just so tired from clinical rotations that I never find time for writing, unless it is during an extended break.

However, I have always had a healthy interest in reading (Tolkien, Crichton, most classics except anything written by Hemmingway, etc.) My love for wriiting seems completely incongruous with my life as it is... my household growing up was never one to explicitly foster writing, but my mother always said I could do anything I wanted...

In school, I took the alloted six credit hours of composition English required for veterinary school, and never looked back on it. I find that I could never write for a career/school. I enjoy this as a form of 'therapy' rather than turning it into an actual business venture.

Anway, I have started to ramble, so I will stop here.

Losille

[Hathor]

History all the way, despite meanderings into politics and a worrying love of media due to a certain DVDs info on special effects making me sound knowledgeable. *grins*

The history side... well, that was there before fanfiction. However, it's useful. History tells you why. I love stories that have backstory and explanations and the whole 'why?' aspect to characters. I love Tolkien for this reason - it's history! (Sort of.)

Blah. It fits and it doesn't. To be blunt, the skills are very similiar. Lots of research and a surpirisngly entertaining backstory.

[Ellbee]

My major in school was finance, and I've worked in finance/accounting for every professional job I've had. In fact, I used to say that I didn't have a creative bone in my body. I stumbled across fanfiction about 3 years ago, and I read it voraciously, but at first it simply never occurred to me to write. But there really is a lot of bad, baaad writing out there, and something made me say to myself, "I'm no writer, but I'll bet I could do better than that." So, actually, there's no good reason for me to even be writing fanfic.

But I love writing, more than almost anything else I could do with my time (almost ). I probably don't have the imagination or skill to make a career out of writing, but it really would be my dream job.

-Ell

[Viv]