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Inspiration
Feb. 14th, 2014 12:47 pmI've just finished the book Writing Alone and With Others by Pat Schneider, and found it to be wonderfully inspirational. I also thought that a lot of her beliefs on writing belonging to everyone, and how to encourage the beginner to write, have a ton in common with fandom - but that's a post for another time. Right now, I want to highlight one of the many things I marked as inspirational:
This reminded me of the Hummus Essay, aka: Slash Fiction Is Like a Banquet ("the hummus essay") by Arduinna:
I've always loved that description of fannish writing - there is room for all kinds of storytelling, and kinks, and characters, and story types. There is room for me, who may not write exactly like XYZ BNF because I am not XYZ BNF. But I don't have to be her to write wonderfully. I don't have to sound like anyone else in the world except like the best version of myself that I can possibly manage. This is true for fanfic, and I believe it is also true for original fic. This is a heartening belief.
"There is a vitality, a life force, an energy, a quickening which is translated through you into action, and because there is only one of you in all time, this expression is unique. And if you block it, it will never exist.
~Martha Graham, p. 60 of Writing Alone
This reminded me of the Hummus Essay, aka: Slash Fiction Is Like a Banquet ("the hummus essay") by Arduinna:
Slash fiction is like a banquet. It's wonderful. A big, pot-luck banquet. There's everything from appetizers to mashed potatoes to curries to stews to green-bean casserole to peanut-butter sandwiches (apologies to the UK fen who just cringed) to fifteen different kinds of pasta to cookies to cheesecake to soup to bread to couscous to smoked salmon to black forest cake to tuna salad to BLTs to.... you name it. Wonderful food. Some of the dishes are just basic, hearty comfort-food; others are exotic and heavily spiced; others are spiced so delicately you can't even tell why you're reacting to it the way you are, you just know it's wonderful; others are sweet and smooth and hit that sugar craving perfectly. People who come to this banquet are welcome to just wander around the table and eat, or to bring their own favorite dish (i.e., write a story and put it on the "table" for others to enjoy).
I've always loved that description of fannish writing - there is room for all kinds of storytelling, and kinks, and characters, and story types. There is room for me, who may not write exactly like XYZ BNF because I am not XYZ BNF. But I don't have to be her to write wonderfully. I don't have to sound like anyone else in the world except like the best version of myself that I can possibly manage. This is true for fanfic, and I believe it is also true for original fic. This is a heartening belief.