On Writing Outside your Comfort Zone · 8:24am Feb 18th, 2018
Warning! Rambling blog post about writing ahead! If that isn't your thing, you've been warned!
Okay, now that we've cut our audience by 90%, let's talk about writing things we suck at.
After almost seven years in this fandom, I think I've gotten pretty good at writing fanfiction, specifically fanfiction about ponies. It's a writing space that's pretty comfortable for me, and even when I'm not writing with the familiar, canon characters, it's still an easily navigable world. I can be as creative as I want, but something about writing in this setting feels safe. Whether I'm writing a comedy or an adventure or something darker, the end result (almost) always feels good. Like there's an intuitive sense that "Hey, this is a pretty good thing I wrote."
But when I write outside that comfort zone – specifically, original fiction, regardless of the genre – I have a harder time feeling like I wrote something good. I suspect lots of people feel this way when they're writing outside their comfort zone. Say, when you write a romance even though you prefer action stories. Something about it just feels off.
I've written quite a few original pieces for The Writeoff, and always they feel a little clumsy to me. They don't have quite the same sense of coherence to them, like they're a complete, polished piece. Even when they've done well in the contest, taking first or second place, I can't help but re-read them with a critical eye and heart.
They seem too fast, too short, too lacking in description. Except in the places where they're too long, where they drag, where there's no tension and no interest and I find my eye skipping across the paragraphs, ignoring them because I don't care what they have to say.
In other words, it feels like my composition skills have somehow slid backward by a few years whenever I'm writing about humans. This is especially annoying because of my writing motto: "Stories about ponies are stories about people."
So, why does it seem that writing about people is harder than writing about ponies, after all? What have I been doing wrong?
The other week I wrote another work of original fiction for the latest Writeoff contest, The Many Graves of Gul Hamid Wan. It's a pretty personal story, and it serves as a fictional answer to a question I asked myself after a suicide bombing during one of my early deployments: "What happened to the suicide bomber's body?"
For the first time in writing almost a dozen original stories, this one really seemed to gel. It actually felt like the kind of story you might read in an actual literary journal or, lord help me, something like the New Yorker. I've thought about this story for the past few days, trying to figure out what's different about it, and why it actually feels somewhat professional.
Pony stories feel comfortable to me because I know them inside out. I know the setting and the world very well, and if there's ever any details that need filled-in, you can just invent them on the spot. After all, who's going to say you're wrong?
You can't do that with the real world. You can't even do that with fake worlds, half the time! One of my original stories was science fiction, and believe me, if you ever want to draw out the nitpickers and quibblers among your readers, try writing science fiction. I never realized there were so many experts on light-speed and quantum physics among my readership until I dipped my toes into spaceflight.
But, writing about Afghanistan? Writing about wars in Afghanistan? That's a more specific field of knowledge, one that I happen to have. And it feels like when I'm writing it, that I'm able to convey that sense of authenticity. It's enough, perhaps for the reader to simply take in the experience without feeling the need to question it.
There's an old bit of writing advice, "Write what you know." Someday I'll figure out how to apply that to science fiction and fantasy, which by definition stretch the boundaries of the knowable. Ponies feel knowable to me, probably because I've been writing with and about them for so long that the setting feels almost instinctive, and any gaps can be plugged with invented details that seem believable because they're in sync with the rest of what we know about the show.
I guess I'll close this blog post out by tossing out a question for readers: What kinds of stories do you feel uncomfortable writing? Are they genres/subjects you just haven't had much practice with, or do you think some genres of writing are objectively more difficult than others? I've said before in this blog that I think fanfiction is inherently easier to write than original fiction, but several people disagreed with me and offered convincing reasons for their position. I'd like to hear what more people have to say.
Finally, because it's topical, I want to again plug my awesome friend GaPJaxie's "The Next Generation" writing contest, with $350(!) worth of prizes! You can read all about it here, and the Writeoff website, which is hosting the contest, can be found over here. If you've ever wanted to try your skills with original fiction but needed something to give you a little push, maybe this contest is the answer!
You know what the real problem is? What's really holding you back? You care about what you write significantly. You want it to make sense, somehow. You want it to be coherent in a relatable way. When you write for the real world it's another set of rules, rules being familiar with would require more dedication.
Fanfiction follows a different set of rules, ones you can set if they're not clear. Their logicality reaching as far as you're willing to take it before saying "Fuck it. It's magic/friendship".
Authors create new worlds not just because of their great imagination or whatever (you can, and always will find plotholes), but because of how their characters interact/react with/to the world. The emotional impact we engage in through characters is the strongest pull to any story ever. Really, slice of life is somewhat niche, moreso when you get that the world is as malleable as a character's reaction to it, because the focus is an unfeeling entity that simply is (at least it should be).
This was utterly fascinating because you are absaloutley spot on.
The very though of writing original fiction shudders me to my core. I've thought about making publishable content and my mind has always drawn a complete deep end where I can't touch and it scares me. I always say that original fiction is a thing that belongs in my future but has no place now...
The thing is...
Why?
Whenever i drew an image of original writing i came to this whole that it has to be something different and something flawless, somethung out of the water of what i want to write. Well, upon reading that I took a look at these images of writing space or knights in shining armour and I replaced them with images of writing about leaving home or disagreeing with someone you love or about masculinity and I'm filled with ideas and passion.
I have this whole idea that I need tethering to be able to write, everyone does. Why else would we write? We need something to say and then we say it, And my little pony gives me this added security, this added tethering/safety net mentality that allows me to put my pure heart and soul on paper. But when I tear away that net I realise that heart and would can be in anything you write as long as there is a tethering there that puts it there in the first place.
There is so much more to writing than princesses and frogs and I for one might give real life a try!
I think the key to writing these types of genres (correct me if I'm wrong) is not to make sure what you write is right, but to convince your readers that it's right. You can include some truly unbelievable aspects of your world, or some mundane nuggets that no one cares about, but at the end of the day it all comes down to the cohesiveness of your worldbuilding that offers the grounds for people to accept that, yes, that could actually happen in this story - regardless of what they might think of real life.
Romance, for one. I've also not gone very deep into horror/dark fiction, but I like to think I enjoy exploring things I've never done before. Sometimes comedy feels more difficult than anything else, and other days it may be a walk in the park depending on how I feel.
I guess what I'm trying to mean is never stick to one thing. Always try things you're not good at or know you can't do and give it your best. Even if you fail, there's always something to bring out of it, and the extra experience will invariably bounce back to other applications you're already good at.
I haven't even gotten my toes wet in the original fiction pool in far too long. I definitely agree with you on fan fiction being easier. The setting and characters are preestablished for both myself and the audience, which cuts through a lot of preliminary baggage. It's quite intimidating to take the world building training wheels off, especially when setting something in the real world. As you noted, there's a lot more objective right and wrong in this reality as compared to Equestria.
As for difficult genres... Well, some ideas I just don't want to write, dark and depressing ones that I won't enjoy fleshing out. But one genre I've never even had an idea for would be mystery. I just don't think or plan in the fashion necessary to create a working mystery with clues and suspects and a self-contained puzzle to solve.
Not a writer, but I have a theory- fan fiction is easier to write because you can draw on a pre-existing universe and characters.
You have the ability to concentrate more on the actual topic and do not have to spend the time fleshing the people out when they are first introduced, allowing the actual story and character progression in the story to take importance over explaining backstory for a character we already have somewhat of an understanding of.
I have a few original fictions under my belt. A couple of them are even pretty large. Heck, the first 'long' story I ever wrote and finished was an original fiction that stretched out to over 300,000 words. Now that I'm so successful with horsewords, I find that when I try to write original fiction it's troublesome. But here's the thing, it's not that the stories feel of poor quality. It's not that I don't like the end result. What it is is a lack of enthusiasm n my part. Original fiction today just does not interest me as much as ponyfic does.
I feel that the biggest difference is personal investment. Today I am very much invested in MLP characters. I love exploring them and growing them and learning more about them, even when I've already done it dozens of times before. I simply don't have that level of investment in the characters I create from scratch in original fiction. And since an emotional connection with the characters is a large chunk of my driving force as a writer, that makes things challenging.
I've recently jumped back into original fiction, this time with intent to publish. But if I can't rekindle that magic connection with the character I'm creating, I fear anything I produce will be average at best. But I won't let myself stop, because I know those connections won't form out of nothing. If I keep going, I figure I'll eventually re-discover the joy that made my very first original fiction such an engrossing project.
This is interesting, because I feel pretty much the opposite on the object level (comfortable writing original fiction, uncomfortable writing fanfiction) for almost exactly the same meta-level reasons. Whenever I try to write fanfiction, there's a little voice in my head going "you're getting the characterization wrong", telling me to go rewatch the entire show to make sure I have all the details of the world right, et cetera. When I write original fiction, none of that is there; I know the characters and world better than anyone else does, and insofar as what I write ends up differing from my initial conception of them, I can just change my conception without needing to worry about contradicting any preexisting source material.
Putting it like that, I'm now kind of curious what will happen when I try writing a sequel to something I've already written.
The scary thing about original fiction is that you begin with no common ground. There are no shortcuts, there is no shorthand. In ponyfic you can start a story with "Celestia looked out at the early morning sun" and there is this heap of understanding that comes with that. The readers know who she is, and why looking at the sun holds special meaning for her, and they also already quite like her, probably. I've been doing original fiction lately, and six chapters in I'm still revealing and setting up things about my characters and world that I need in order for the later parts to pay off. It's a lot of work! I've gotten very positive feedback about how well it's going so far, but it's quite different from writing pony.
Must agree with 4799670 to an extent. It's easier to work with fanfiction because there is a pre-existing world, cast of characters, and set of rules. The building blocks are there for you to start with. Granted, others can tell you what you do with those blocks and how you build upon them are wrong, but at the end of the day, they're working with the same base as you are. It only takes so much work to build upon an already-built foundation.
Original fiction on the other hand - sci-fi and fantasy especially - the foundation as well as everything else comes down to you. Like a game of Tetris, you need to stack the blocks in a neat fashion or it'll be filled with holes and lost opportunities. The foundation is the beginning and arguably the hardest part of fiction, and that need is removed with fanfiction.
Both fan and original fiction come with their own unique challenges (appeasing fans with fanfiction and garnering fans with original fiction, for example), but if we're looking at it from an effort basis, original fiction requires more effort and forethought.
You're going to find this when you jump fandoms, one of these days. I've written in half a dozen and you *always* sit there with the first one going, "Fuck, how do they talk here? Why can't they be like my old fandom, where I knew them?"
I get this exactly. But it's more frustrating than a simple, "I believe my original fiction is bad when it isn't." After all, sometimes it is bad, in whole or in part. It's more that my ability to evaluate what makes it good or bad becomes impaired.
With pony fiction, I'm more relaxed. I can read a story I wrote and say that A was good and B was bad and overall it's pretty okay. But with original fiction, I get nervous. I feel like everything is "off" somehow. And when everything feels wrong, nothing feels right, and it becomes impossible to tell what about your story was good or bad. Which in turn makes it hard to improve, and frustrating to even finish.
This is like looking into a mirror.
I'm struggling with this right now with the sci-fi story I'm writing, since it takes place in the near-future. Things like the details of how weapons work the details of police procedure, and how specific laws are enforced need to be at least fairly realistic. I've done a decent amount of research and will do more as it goes, but the fear that I'm getting something wrong feels paralyzing.
One of the nice things about MLPs universe is that as long as it's well justified in your story, nearly anything can happen. Other settings are not like that, and it can make the writing process feel anxious.
4800278
Actually:
Stories about humans have always been the ones I have the most difficulty writing. In the mid 1990s, in fact, after I'd sold three stories to Asimov's SF magazine, Gardner Dozois, the editor at the time, wrote in a rejection letter, "Not everything you write has to have talking animals in it, y'know." I respectfully disagreed with him, and I haven't sold a story to Asimov's since...
But since I come at this whole topic backwards, let me suggest this even just as an exercise. Take one of your Pony stories, one that you know already works, and change the things in it that're owned by Hasbro into things you make up for yourself. Unicorns can stay unicorns, pegasi can stay pegasi, and earth ponies can just be regular talking horses, or you can make bigger changes: when I de-Ponified Half the Day is Night and turned it into Morning, Noon & Night, I changed the unicorns into humans, the earth ponies into talking dogs, the pegasi into either talking eagles, talkings hawks, or talking crows, and Spike into a talking cat.
You'll likely find yourself having to add a lot of backstory, too: I wrote an additional 26,000 words and changed both the beginning and the ending of Half the Day is Night in order to insert the bracings that the story needed to hold itself up once I'd pulled out the Pony stuff. This could maybe make things tricky in a short story, but just off the top of my head, "The Glass Blower" probably wouldn't need much work to replace the Hasbro-owned parts. And the process might give the both of you insights into what it is that seems different in your minds about your Pony stories and your original work.
Just a thought!
Mike
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A lot of sci-fi writing tries to explain it's science, which is always a little risky. Most people probably know little to nothing about the details of their tech anyways, why is that different in stories? (Imo this is why most sci-fi is just magitech.).
Some food for thought.
It seems that the difficulty in fanfiction writing comes more from figuring out how to express an idea, and the difficulty in original fiction writing comes more from figuring out how to get the audience to focus on the right idea. One is more about setting up camp in a given territory, and the other is more about setting up territory around a given camp.
I expect that the difficulty with original fiction writing will be that a lot of the easy camps are taken, and the remaining territory requires a lot of taming. Before that, it might be worth asking yourself what exactly it is that you get out of writing. If building big camps is the fun part, then maybe fanfiction isn't so bad. If you prefer taming territory, then original fiction may be better.
I guess you've spent a lot of time expanding and settling Pony territory, and you want to go explore the less-charted parts of the world.
Comments:
This is really interesting and timely for me. I haven't written any fanfiction in months, and even then I haven't written any good fanfiction in years, if ever. And I have these wonderful, exciting ideas that I finally feel are truly worth telling as well as I can possibly tell them... but every time I sit down to write it, I panic.
I think a weird part about "comfortable" writing is that it feels very limiting. Maybe it's not. The best example I can give to explain myself is that I want to write a fantasy story with a very specific setting that I can see in my head. It's in a huge clearing in an even huger forest. But I've never lived anywhere near a forest. I have no idea what that's like, or what words people would use to describe it, or how they would feel about living there. It would be much easier to set my story in a place that's a lot like Italy or the deserts of Washington, where I have lived and do know about.
I can't decide if changing the setting is cheating, being disloyal to the original idea which really excites me, or if it's more authentic to write about something I have actually experienced. Hard to say, hard to say.
You've made some great points here and I always love reading your thoughts. Where can we read The Many Graves?