Personally, what gears me to write is the challenge to see something
Hmm. I see two impulses at work here, the fannish and the writerly, which aren't quite the same.
The Fan wants to see the characters: more of the characters, inside the characters, the characters doing things not shown in canon. The Writer wants to do technical things involving the characters: a Jiip POV, a story about the space between, something that incorporates the image of a field of yellow flowers.
Best case scenario the two work in tandem: the writer writes happily because she gets to see more of the characters. Here the writer's skills feed the fan's love for the characters. Hence we get that missing scene from vol 6, or What Happens After, or the minor character brought centre stage. But when the fan has finally seen enough the writer starts doing more if not most of the work. Then we get into the drabble challenges and theme challenges, and also I think into the more bizarre scenarios. There the fan's love is feeding the writer's inspiration. I wouldn't write a drabble about just anything but I'm happy to try it if it's these guys.
Just-- the slow cooling of our chivalrous fannish passion (such a useful man at times, Pound) eventually leaves the writer still wanting to write but without the original fannish ardour to inspire her. Then one resorts to more intellectual challenges, to phrase it positively. The thud to the gut inspiration becomes a thing of the past.
To me it's obvious that the Fan's passion cools faster the more people there are to feed that first fannish need. And that's why new fandoms or obscure ones will provide more fodder for longer periods- the Fan is kept fasting so the Writer needs to keep feeding her. Reduction of intake has been proved to extend longevity, and fandom is no exception.
no subject
Hmm. I see two impulses at work here, the fannish and the writerly, which aren't quite the same.
The Fan wants to see the characters: more of the characters, inside the characters, the characters doing things not shown in canon. The Writer wants to do technical things involving the characters: a Jiip POV, a story about the space between, something that incorporates the image of a field of yellow flowers.
Best case scenario the two work in tandem: the writer writes happily because she gets to see more of the characters. Here the writer's skills feed the fan's love for the characters. Hence we get that missing scene from vol 6, or What Happens After, or the minor character brought centre stage. But when the fan has finally seen enough the writer starts doing more if not most of the work. Then we get into the drabble challenges and theme challenges, and also I think into the more bizarre scenarios. There the fan's love is feeding the writer's inspiration. I wouldn't write a drabble about just anything but I'm happy to try it if it's these guys.
Just-- the slow cooling of our
chivalrousfannish passion (such a useful man at times, Pound) eventually leaves the writer still wanting to write but without the original fannish ardour to inspire her. Then one resorts to more intellectual challenges, to phrase it positively. The thud to the gut inspiration becomes a thing of the past.To me it's obvious that the Fan's passion cools faster the more people there are to feed that first fannish need. And that's why new fandoms or obscure ones will provide more fodder for longer periods- the Fan is kept fasting so the Writer needs to keep feeding her. Reduction of intake has been proved to extend longevity, and fandom is no exception.