Becoming a fanfiction writer

Hello FIMFiction world!

As you probably know from my introduction, I'm a researcher at the University of Washington AND a MLP:FIM fan. I'm part of a team and our goal is to conduct an ethnographic study of fanfiction writing, particularly mentorship. If you are familiar with ethnography, you know that it is a research method requires immersing oneself in the culture that you seek to study. So, I've seen every episode of MLP:FIM. I've read a bunch of fanfiction, enjoyed a ton of fan comics and fan art and even fan videos. (I LOVE YOU FLUFFLEPUFF!) I'm interested in interviewing authors and am starting to observe group activities on the sites.

But that's not enough, is it? To really be immersed in this culture, I need to write my own fanfiction. Eep! The last time I tried to write fiction was about 20 years ago. I've occasionally felt an urge to try fiction, but haven't followed through. So I'm nervous, obviously. And a lot of you have written such clever things, that makes me a bit intimidated. My son suggested that I write about a new person landing in Equestria, but I'm not feeling the inspiration on that. Since Pinkie, Twilight, and Fluttershy are my favorites, I'm thinking about letting them have an adventure of some kind.

Hopefully, by next week, I will have jumped in and come up swimming.