writing fanfiction is just. i’m being so creative and original. i’m plagiarizing everyone by accident. i’m a genius. i’m cringe. i’m too angsty. i’m too cheesy. this is not in character. it doesn’t matter that it’s not in character because these are my characters now. i love my hobby. this is the worst possible use of my time. i’m seeking validation. i’m projecting my own personal problems onto this story and i’m barely hiding it. i know so many words and i’m using all of them wrong. im on tumblr posting about it instead of writing it.
When your story out grows your scene and now you need to write ANOTHER one to fit the scene in it’s basically the writing equivalent of a sourdough starter.
Do regular commenters know just how valued they are? I mean, obviously ALL commenters are valued, but as a fic writer when you’ve got a group of familiar usernames and profile pics who pop up again and again like old friends to share their thoughts and appreciation on one of your fics, that’s so special. I hope my regular commenters know that I remember them, and I recognise them each time they come back, and I am so incredibly grateful for them not only leaving comments, but leaving them time and time again. I hope they know they’re making someone, somewhere, smile.
Sweet dreams are made of regular fanfic commenters.
Steve looks at the four foot tree in the middle of the street. It’s the only one yet to be decorated for Christmas. The school’s name is on a sign next to it, proudly proclaiming Kaiser Middle School, but the tree is dressed worse than a Charlie Brown tree. He supposes that it’s his fault no one volunteered to decorate it for the contest, seeing as it was a last minute decision to try to win the five hundred dollar prize for the best decorated tree.
He puts his hands on his hips and sighs. He’s an art teacher, not a decorator. He looks down at the meagre box of ornaments he was able to scrape together from the dollar store, and picking up the one that looks the least broken, places it on the tree. It’s a start. He’s about halfway done with the box when someone startles him.
“Are you Steve?” the voice asks. “I didn’t mean to startle you.”
Steve turns to find a man with a box of decorations in his hand. Gooddecorations. Not the cheap ones Steve has.
“Yeah, I’m Steve.” It’s then that he takes a look at the man. Dark hair tucked behind his ear, blue eyes, and a hint of stubble with the prettiest pink lips Steve has ever seen. “What uh…what can I do for you?” He takes notice when the man huffs at the unintended innuendo.
“My sister sent me. Becca Barnes? Her kids are at Kaiser and she couldn’t make it to help decorate the tree. I’m Bucky.” He holds out a hand which Steve takes.
“Oh, yeah. The Barnes twins. Good kids.”
Bucky barks out a laugh. “Goodisn’t exactly the word for those two.” Steve nods, but doesn’t say anything. “Anyway. I’ve got a box, and I’m here to help.”
“That’s actually really great,” Steve says. “These cheap ornaments aren’t really going to get us to win the contest.”
“Have no fear,” Bucky says, putting the box on the ground. “You and I are going to have the best tree on the block.”
They work in relative silence, making minimal small talk. True to his word, Bucky manages to make the tree look beautiful. He even makes a large, puffy bow for the top of it. Steve has never seen such a sight. By the time they’re done, the tree is covered in ornaments from both of their boxes, and it manages to stand out from the trees directly next to it.
Steve takes notice that Bucky’s cheeks have pinked up in the chilly air, and he figures, what the hell? “Thank you for your help. The tree looks great!”
“My pleasure. I like decorating.”
“So, um. If you’re not busy right now, would you like to go get a cup of coffee?”
Bucky stares at him for a long moment and for a second, Steve thinks he’s going to get punched for even asking, but then Bucky breaks into a wide smile and says, “Make it a hot chocolate, and you’ve got a date.”
Steve Rogers gets into more trouble than the average human being. One night, Steve is saved by a man in black tactical gear and a mask covering the lower half of his face, thus begins Steve’s obsession with drawing the man and his beautiful but haunted eyes. When the man walks into Steve’s office to have a new logo designed, Steve is certain the man is there to kill him.
2. Let me look up real estate listings, so I can plot out subway routes and schedules and see if this walk really is long enough for them to have this conversation.
One thing I hear a lot here at WQA is, “I Googled such and such topic and I didn’t find anything.” Regardless of what the topic is, I know that’s not true because there’s a ton of information about every topic imaginable on the internet, all of it accessible via a simple Google search. So what’s happening here? Simple: people aren’t sure what they’re looking for, don’t know how to find what they need, or they’re overwhelmed by the pages and pages of results.
But, honestly, researching your topic via the internet isn’t that difficult. Here’s what you need to do…
1) Know what you’re looking for.
The first thing you need to do is create a small summary of exactly how your topic fits into your story. For example, “My story is about a woman who survives a laboratory accident, but she becomes permanently blind due to eye trauma experienced in the accident. Now she must learn how to cope with losing her eyesight and learn how to navigate her world without it.”
2) Break it down into sub-topics.
Now that you have your topic sorted out, break it down into sub-topics that will make the research easier to do. In the above summary, there are three obvious phases of this woman’s situation. There was the initial trauma where the eyesight is lost, there’s coping with learning that her eyesight is lost, and there’s learning how to live without her eyesight. So, the sub-topics would be:
- losing eyesight due to trauma
- coping with lost eyesight
- learning to live with lost eyesight
3) Identify keywords, key phrases, and key questions.
The next thing you want to do is boil your topic summary and sub-topics down to keywords, key phrases, and questions that will help you find information. Start by underlining the important things in your summary:
My story is about a woman who survives a laboratory accident, but she becomes permanently blind due to eye trauma experienced in the accident. Now she must learn how to cope with losing her eyesight and learn how to navigate her world without it.
Keywords:
Blind/blindness eye trauma eyesight loss
Key Phrases:
Coping with loss of eyesight Living with blindness
Key Questions:
How do people learn to live with blindness? What happens when someone becomes blind? What is it like to permanently lose eyesight? What is it like to be blind? How do you adjust to being blind?
4) Go to Google and search.
Go to Google and type in your keywords, key phrases, and key questions. Not all at once, obviously, but one at a time. It works best if you tackle one sub-topic at a time. Sift through the first few pages of results and use “right-click, open in new tab” to open the most promising links.
Here are some of the results for “what is it like to be blind?”
Just on the first half of the first page there are already resources that would be very handy, including videos, an in-depth article, medical information, and a forum thread which may have some firsthand experience.
6) Read, watch, and take notes.
Now it’s time for the hard work. You need to go through the most promising results, read through them, watch the videos, and take notes. Remember to focus on one sub-topic at a time. You may want to get a multi-subject spiral notebook with folder dividers, which will allow you to organize your notes by sub-topic, and if you want, you can print out any interesting articles and highlight the important details. Be sure to take notes while watching videos, too. You may want to create a folder in your browser where you can bookmark articles/sites/videos you’ll want to refer back to.
7) Resources to look for…
Articles - online newspapers, magazines, and news sites often post in-depth articles about a variety of topics. These articles often boil topics down to their most important elements. Sometimes they zero in on specific points of a topic, which can be really helpful when doing research.
Reference Sites - there are lots of different online references that cover a variety of topics. Encyclopedias, like the Encyclopedia Britannica, are available online. There are also wikis like Wikipedia, and topic specific wikis like TV Tropes and recipe wiki.
Educational Sites - lots of topics, especially those having to do with health, lifestyle, and medical issues, have web sites dedicated to educating the public about that topic/issue. For example, the American Heart Association has a site dedicated to teaching people about heart disease and heart health.
Enthusiast Sites - sometimes, enthusiasts of a particular topic will put together a whole website dedicated to delivering information about that topic.
Blogs - blogs dedicated to a particular topic can be an incredible resource. For example, if you’re writing about a character who is living on their own for the first time, I guarantee you can find blogs written by people who are living on their own for the first time, all about their experiences and the ups and downs.
Forums - forums are another great place to find information. Not only are there forums dedicated to just about every topic imaginable, but if you have a question about that topic, odds are good someone has had a similar question and asked it. When you can find a forum dedicated to your topic, you can do a search there on your keywords or your specific question and see if someone already posted about it.
Videos - YouTube, Vimeo, MetaCafe and others offer videos on every topic imaginable. Sometimes you can find actual documentaries on your subject. Other times you can find overview videos. You can also find panels, exposes, lectures, and other videos about various topics.
Google Maps and Google Earth - if your topic relates to a place, viewing it in Google Maps or Google Earth can give you lots of interesting information. Not only can you get a street view of the location, but you can also get pictures and other important information. Some places like museums and historical sites even have online walk-throughs.
Online Exhibits - if your topic is something related to arts, science, or industry, there’s a good chance you can find an online exhibit relating to your topic via a museum online. For example, the fashion and textile museum has a digital collection you can look through. The Dittrick Museum of Medical History has several online exhibits an photo collections.
Digital Books and Magazines - sometimes you can find digital books and magazines dedicated to your topic. For example, if you’re writing about an 1800s whaling captain, you may be able to find digitized books about whaling, sailing, and life in the 1800s.
8) Other places to look.
Although this post is about doing internet research, remember that there are other places to look for information about your topic. Here are some to keep in mind:
The Library - whether it’s your school library or your local library, libraries are still one of the best places you can go to get information about any topic. Not only are the chalk full of books, references, and other resources, they’re staffed with knowledgeable people who are trained to help you find the information you need. Even if you plan to research your topic online, don’t hesitate to stop in your local library for supplemental information. Librarians want to help you! That’s what they’re there for!
People - the people in your life have had a variety of different experiences and learned all different things. Look for people in your life who might have firsthand information about a particular topic. For example, maybe your friend’s grandfather is blind. Perhaps you could ask for an interview, or talk to her family members about what they know about his experience.
Books - obvious, I know, but you’d be surprised how rarely people think of finding books about their topic. The library is obviously a good place to start, but sometimes you can find pertinent information in books already on your shelves. If not, see what’s available on Amazon. Sometimes you can get used copies at a reduced price. Or, go see what’s available at your local bookstore.
TV Shows and Movies - while you should certainly never assume something you see on TV or in a movie is real or accurate, they can still be a great place to go to get a general overview about a particular topic. Watching a movie about a blind person can give you insight that will help make your research a little easier, because the topic will be more familiar to you.
Museums, Historic Sites, and Other Locations - if you can learn more about your topic by visiting a place, and if you can get to that place, go! If you’re writing about a noble woman who lives in a big manor house, nothing beats visiting an actual manor house for an idea of what that might be like. Even if the manor house (mansion, estate, etc.) you have access to isn’t quite like the one you’re writing about, just being there can still give you vital details that will help make your story more authentic.Or, your museum might have an exhibit on furniture from the Edwardian era. Getting a look at all that fancy furniture will help you recreate those details in your story’s manor house.
The most important thing of all is to not get frustrated. Take the time, do the work, and research can be the most rewarding part of writing your story! :)
