open-ended question as follow-up

[kaigou]

main poll; addendum; and consider this part three:

The phrasing is awkward, but my head is full of wood-glue this morning: generally, I mean that if you have written and/or do write fanfic, then this question applies. If you read fanfic and can think of stories but rarely ever actually write them out and post them somewhere for fandom consumption, then this question doesn't apply because your own disinclination to write is already a large-enough barrier. What I'm looking for here is what stops you from writing when your own laziness or disinclination is not a significant barrier: that is, you'd normally write the fanfic, but some criteria makes you decide not to write, after all.

Assuming all other factors are equal:
WHERE a story otherwise satisfies your personal requirements for prompting fanfic ideas,
AND that you write/have written fanfic and posted it for fandom consumption,
AND that you'd normally sit down and start writing the story in your head...

what makes you not write the fanfiction?

Comments

[mechacharibdys]

This.

I now feel that fanfic limits me too much, when I can just swipe what interested or frustrated me about the material and head off in another direction with it!

Also, if the author of the material asks ficcers not to, or if it's been done better than I could do it. That's stopped me before.

[autohaptic]

I will say this: the only thing I hate about original fic compared to fanfic is the community aspect. There is very little community aspect in original fic on LJ-- all of the communities for original fic are pretty much just a dumping ground for fics. There are no discussions, etc, in anywhere that matters. (Not to say places like powerfic don't matter, but just that they're niche and probably include less than a third of original "fandom".)

I think I count that as a reason to write fanfic, sometimes: there's a much wider audience, usually, and there's a place where you can discuss concepts and ideas and have other people know what you're talking about. There's nothing like that for original fic, and it sucks, but I wouldn't know how to fix that.

[mechacharibdys]

Yes! That is definitely a reason. I am occasionally tempted to write fanfic just because I know I can get more and quicker feedback on it.

[autohaptic]

It would be nice if there were some sort of community for original writers to, like, interact and shit. Share ideas, find betas, discuss trends! Anything, really! (Though, I tend to want to be all, original slash writers rather than original writers in general. y halo thar, bias.)