Down the rabbit hole

[hazliya]

I did it.

I joined fanfiction.net.

I told elenuial I was doing it, and though he teased me about writing fanfiction, he commended me for being totally unapologetic about it. And, naturally, reminded me that he had suggested I try my hand at it years ago.

I found an awesome beta who was happy to give my story the once-over, and I posted it after a few rounds of revision and creating a blurb.

Me at 5:00: OHMIGOD I JUST POSTED SOMETHING I WROTE ON THE SITE OMG OMG I FINISHED SOMETHING WHAT IF NO ONE LIKES IT WHAT IF NO ONE READS IT I DON'T KNOW WHAT TO WRITE ON MY BIO

And then I went to buy ingredients for dinner. I came back to my browser to check the recipe I was trying, and saw a notification in my FFnet filter.

Me at 5:15: OHMIGOD SOMEONE ALREADY READ MY STORY AND REALLY LIKED IT AND LEFT AN AWESOME REVIEW AND ADDED IT TO THEIR FAVORITES :D :D

I was, and still am, fully aware that this is what people do on that site. But 15 minutes? And added to her short list of favorites? I hummed to myself as I cooked, bouncing through dinner, and PMing my beta reader to share my excitement. She said I was super cute and I could pretty much hear her laughing at me through the text. Or it could've been elenuial actually laughing at me from my left. But I didn't care. Because it kept coming.

Me at 7:00: SOMEONE ELSE ADDED IT TO FAVORITES AND TWO PEOPLE SUBSCRIBED TO ME BASED ON ONE STORY AND THAT MEANS PEOPLE ACTUALLY WANT TO READ WHAT I WRITE SHOULD I LEARN TO WRITE SMUT NOW THIS IS SO COOL :D :D

I didn't think anyone would actually read anything I posted. I thought it would be like LJ, where friends who shared the fandom would go to hang out. The idea of a total stranger who is not obligated to be nice to me actually taking the time to read my story?

Pretty fucking great.

Something really small and dumb to be excited over, but this is new and fun and really silly. And I'm sure the novelty will wear off eventually.

But for now?

Me five minutes ago: ANOTHER REVIEW AND SHE REALLY REALLY LIKED IT

elenuial: Huge. Dork.

Me: :D

Comments

[laura47.livejournal.com]

Yay fanfic!

I super super.reccomend doing yuletide to both of you, it is like the best thing in fandom in my opinion. :) it is a fanfic exchange that is only for rare or obscure fandoms! Everyone gets assigned someone to write for.anonymously, and they all go live on christmas and then names get revealed on new years. It is SO AWESOME. Check out what I've gotten, it includes.hamlet slash and harvard/mit slash http://archiveofourown.org/users/laura47/gifts


Also archive of our own is the.beeeeest and you should crosspost everything there :)

[artful-username.livejournal.com]

I once had this terrible (brilliant!) idea after many hours by myself in a car on the way to Dragon*Con one year based off of 1776. North Carolina/South Carolina slashfic: "North Carolina respectfully yields to South Carolina." I don't think I'll ever write that, but it made me giggle at the time and your Harvard/MIT slash comment reminded me of that. I wonder if someone would ever write that fic. Just because.

[laura47.livejournal.com]

Anthropomorphic state fic is a totally valid fandom. You should nominate that!

[juldea.livejournal.com]

*sputter with laughter*

Excellent idea!

[hazliya.livejournal.com]

There's a popular artist on DeviantArt who does that with countries! =)

[in-water-writ.livejournal.com]

I kind of adore that you wrote FEMINISTHULK fanfic. It's so cute.

[laura47.livejournal.com]

It was a whole lot of fun to write. I even went to San Francisco and wrote it in places that FH visited. I swear it was research and not a plan I'd already had in place!

I just got my festivids (yuletide for vids) assignment like 5 minutes ago and am overflowing with excitement and fear. I swear, these exchanges are SO AWESOME

[hazliya.livejournal.com]

I haven't really poked around that site - what makes it different from ffnet?