the delphic expanse

Have you ever really stretched your boundaries and had it work out better than you expected? I've done it a few times in my writing.

But, since Aquarius and I have been reminiscing about last year's fic exchange, I wanted to share.

I got Aquarius's specs - I volunteered to take them because since she was running the game, the person taking her challenge couldn't be anonymous and I was honestly afraid no one else would do it. After I stepped up, I realized her specs were really leaning toward some sort of light comedy - something I had no confidence in my ability to do. But I thought and thought - and thankfully I figured out that New Year's Eve took place between Bound and Terra Prime (it was a TnT story that wasn't AU). So, I worked in a plot.

I also remembered my mother telling me the story of a classmate who wore mistletoe in her hair to a school dance, and I got to work that into the story since the prompt was mistletoe. And as amazing as it sounds, last year I was very timid in my ability to write smut (I've changed on that, partially thanks to the good reaction I got).

Anyway, I wanted to share that sometimes the stories you think you can't do turn out better than you expected.

Definitely. I don't usually write NC-17 stories at all, and those are kinda still outside of my comfort zone. And "A Pact with Mephisto" is actually my first, um...smutty story which is why the positive reaction to it floored me in the beginning.

Plus, I'm a diehard R/S shipper and having Hoshi and Malcolm not have their "forever ever after" was a change for me too. My Muse is a sensitive romantic (just asked Misplaced) and she was like "NO, NO, NO!" the entire time. LOL

I'm always trying to push myself to try new things in writing. My T'Pol POV of Harbinger was actually a double romp outside of my comfort zone. I'd never tried to explore an episode in fanfiction before and I wanted to test if I could write sensuality without accidentally making it sexual.

Then I had the 3-way marriage of The Understanding that was/is very difficult to convey all of the dynamics of their relationship when I naturally think in terms of TnT. Fortunately, I have a family I once knew as an example.

I also dipped my toe into the very sexual pool.

Then I have another story that showcases lesbians. I know gay (men) couples, lots of heterosexual couples, and have met a few lesbian couples but do not know them well enough for direction. So, that story's kind of a trial and error thing. But that's not going to stop me.

I think if you don't push yourself in writing, you'll end up writing the same thing over and over again eventually.

I have been writing for only two years now. I realize that I have a very narrow fan base but I do have one. My family centered stories don't appeal to some people but that is where my heart lies so there we are.

However, at another board someone said that it would be impossible to write an MU comedy. For some reason that became a quest for me and I wrote my' Funhouse Mirror' stories. I was terrified that no one would think they were funny, but they turned out to be my most popular work. Talk about stretching yourself

That's my story about leaving my comfort zone and it was so worth it!

Well, writing anything was going out of my comfort zone. But I started off with Archer/Trip friendship stories (even if I haven't published anything yet), but now I find myself writing slash with Archer/Trip, Trip/Malcolm, and even a threesome. Albiet they have been drabbles, but they were still a stretch for me. I'm hoping, that along the way, I will have more confidence in my ability to stretch more...

Sounds like you're doing great, paulinem! Write what calls out to you to be written.

Like Paulinem, writing was a huge step for me, well, writing for other people, lol. When I started into Enterprise fandom, I was on the EnterpriseScribbleScrabble Yahoo group -- man, what a fantastic place that was. Very beta-oriented, tons of talented folks, wrote my first sex scene there and was extremely encouraged. Did their July writing boot camp and finished a novella-length story, about 85K. Wow, that lit the fire, I'd never ever thought I could write something that complex and long.

Moving forward to TrekSoap, and something that started with just a fun, crazy, nutty bunch of stuff became lots more. I got my slash goggles there, and omg you would not believe how COMPLETELY nervous I was simply typing the word "cock" in "public" (as opposed to a story on my hard drive) for the first time! It was painful! Now, it's nothing, lol!

Biggest stretch? When I submitted two stories to Strange New Worlds. Neither one made it in, but I got one back with positive comments, which remains one of the highlights of my life.

Stretching is good. It takes brainpower, though, and that's something I'm gradually getting back. *crosses fingers*

crystalswolf wrote:I think if you don't push yourself in writing, you'll end up writing the same thing over and over again eventually.

That is so true! For me, some of the thrill of writing is doing something new.

It's also kind of a Catch 22 situation, though. I developed a following that liked the R/S stories I started out with. As I moved into other pairings and plot lines, I seemed to lose a some of those readers. But as someone once told me about fan fiction, the most important person to please is yourself. Otherwise, you'll never be happy.

The most I ever pushed my boundaries was when I worked with the Virtual Season project for three years with Warp 5. The first season I had several stories to write. The second two seasons, I was one of the mods. In addition to those duties, I was still writing stories for the project. And on top of that, we really, really wanted to stick to our deadlines, keep the seasons going on schedule. Unfortunately, some of our writers, for whatever reason, couldn't do that, even though they sometimes had a couple of months to do a story, which had been plotted out in advance. I wound up finishing stories other people had started, or even writing entire stories, in a very limited time. Whew! But you know something? I think it's some of the best writing I ever did.

In another area, I was very leery of writing anything smut-like, and stayed away from it for a long time. When I finally did try it, I found that it wasn't that difficult to write. It was trying to put the smut in the context of a story, to give it some meaning, that was difficult.

bluetiger wrote:However, at another board someone said that it would be impossible to write an MU comedy. For some reason that became a quest for me and I wrote my' Funhouse Mirror' stories. I was terrified that no one would think they were funny, but they turned out to be my most popular work. Talk about stretching yourself

That's my story about leaving my comfort zone and it was so worth it!

:notworthy http://www.fanfiction.net/s/5677810/1/I ... r_b_Darkly

paulinem, you stretch at your own pace. Sometimes the motivation is internal and sometimes its external. Sometimes you will want to paddle in your calm waters for a while and sometimes you'll have your eye on the choppy waters.

It's interesting - when I was writing the challenge fic for Aquarius last year, I thought it wasn't going to work because romantic comedy often depends on the characters being kind of stupid. And T'Pol is not stupid, and it was going to be her POV.

But then, it dawned on me. T'Pol is not stupid, but even after four years on Enterprise, she was still going to carry some of her preconceived notions about humans, especially when it came to mating. Also, she was inexperienced, so what she knew about romantic relationships was either from movies or scientific research. So, as smart a woman as she is, it was not unrealistic to think she would miss some details here and there.

And one of the things I dislike in fanfic is the impulse (which I think we all have) to idealize the characters we like - and forget that what makes them interesting is their flaws. So, I had a good time with T'Pol, despite being in love with Trip, being a total snot about human males and what she thinks they need from their mates and having it sort of blow up in her face.

So, by writing a screwball comedy, it really helped me make the characters more nuanced.