To which you should have replied: I'm getting experience for when I do start writing professionally.

Real subtle, aren't I?

 

Subtle? You mean their was a hidden message?

 

I keep it semi private. My immediate family knows I read/write it, but none of my friends do. I told my ex it was just amateur writing when she saw it on my comp and never let her read anything I wrote.

That reminds me. My sister recently decided she was going to try writing a novel. She barely passed high school and one of her favorite series is Twilight. :facepalm

So, because she knows that I know a fair bit about writing, she's trying to make me proof read her shit. The plot goes something like this:

- Super awesome and speshful princess is born, her mother dies at birth
- Father remarries for some bullshit reason, step mother has super speshful princess abandoned in the forest for some gay reason.
- Super speshful princess is found by three Witches who were banished for some gay reason, but they're actually GOOD witches!
- After 15 gay ass years of this kid growing up to be some kind of wild ninja or some shit, she leaves home to go clear her three mothers names, or some gay shit like that.
- Turns out some douche named The Wanderer is following her, and he's actually the exiled prince of another land who was kicked out cause he wanted better lives for his subjects or some gay shit.
- Anyway, after a lot of vague and stupid crap happens, speshful princess and the misunderstood prince go back to rule his land.

Some other stupid crap happens, but that's pretty much it.

I had to listen to this crap for like forty minutes, and I don't think I've ever been so close to beating a woman.

Know what's funny? She thinks she could actually get it published. Know what's horrifying? If I actually edited the shit out of it, it probably could, knowing current reading trends.

Edit:

Gross. Can't believe that was my 200th post. I feel dirty.

 

Did you tell them what you wrote? And I don't mean the pedo stuff, just Harry Potter fanfiction?

 

I just brought it up on a blind date I had last night. She was silently judging me, but I turned it around on her by sending her a link to nonjon's Brown Coat Green Eyes (She's a firefly fan.)

I received one response immediately afterwards saying "Nice try."

I then received one the next morning:

"what have you doooonnnneeeeee to me... cannot stop reading... ಠ_ಠ"

*laughs*

 

If you really want in her pants, link her to Forward.

 

Really interesting and insightful thread.

Personally, a few friends know but family does not. My ex-gf got into it because of a story I was writing many moons ago, and it's pretty hard to keep it from someone who you're living with. Not writing at the moment, and haven't told my current girlfriend, but still... I don't think she'd care one way or the other. She likes facebook, I like fanfiction. Neither is able to understand the draw of some of the other's interests.

It depends what social group I am with too - friends of mine in the armed forces, for example, would find it ridiculous, whereas friends of mine who are writers would probably understand the creative appeal.

But I agree with Dark Minion in that it's mostly a Private thing because the people here take it very seriously. This is one of the most intense and diverse communities for a topic like this, which is incredible when you think about it.

Regarding the 'come out of the closet' argument - I'm surprised at how many Brits there are in DLP. I've probably met at least one of you without realising it.

 

I keep it private. There's a real stigma, even if it's unspoken. I tell someone that I like to read and write fan-fiction and even if they don't care at all, a part of me is still thinking that they're judging me and imaging me at Comic Con's and otaku cosplay orgies, because I myself am embarrassed about it.

Fanfiction is such a guilty pleasure for us insecure people.

 

My randomly assigned freshman year roommate at college at least lurks here if he doesn't have an account. For the first month or so we would both be sitting on our beds reading fics and the forums without knowing the other was doing the exact same thing. One day I happened to notice what website he was on and commented.

He told me he was surprised I was so open about it. I told him it was just fanfiction and I didn't see what the big issue was. This thread has shown me otherwise.

 

Some of my closer friends know about me reading HP fanfiction and my sort-of best friend lurks on this site aswell, I introduced him to fanfiction and the site about a year back. I generally try to keep my HP-related interests under the wraps though, yet I doubt many would care too much about me being interested in wizards and magic.

Still, the fewer people know about me reading fanfiction, the better.

 

I've always kept it private. Even my girlfriend of 9 months had no clue I read it. But then I kept my folder with everything I wrote hidden in layers deep of things so even if she tried it would take a few minutes for her to find it and I would obviously she what she was up too. I've never really met anyone who reads it other then me in real life.

Not trying to sound like a pompous asshole but I've always hung out with the more jocky type of people. All my good friends were either on the baseball or soccer team. And all the stupid prep girls (my girlfriend included) don't strike me as the fanfiction type. I am not embarrassed by it. I've just never brought it out in the open.

 

Neither public nor private, really. It's not something that I spread around, but several of my closer friends know (some of whom read fanfiction, but I don't think are on DLP). I think it helps that the "crowd" I hang around is more of the intellectual/quirky and thus doesn't care as much about "social norms"... I mean, some of them play MtG! =P

 

Oh, Sesc...it's fall now. I hope you grace us with Unatoned soon!! :awesome