I’ve always been more comfortable writing nonfiction than fiction. I think that the issue is fear of having people criticize work that I’ve made up. The only attempts I’ve made at nonfiction are poetry (as an angsty teenager) and playwriting. I loved writing plays, and since it was during college, other students acted out my scenes. It’s great fun to watch people act out something you’ve written. Sadly, despite being very cool, it didn’t seem like something that could sustain me financially. Writing original stories, or a fictional book, seemed crazy. What if people hated it? Could I handle that rejection?
I create stories in my head constantly. Why not put them down on paper? I’m finally working on writing fiction, and it’s more fun that I’d expected. It’s a pleasant change from the academic writing I work on several days per week, and I can already see progress. Part of the process for me is working on improving my craft and reading about writing. For months I’ve struggled with forcing myself to write blog entries, and apparently what I needed to do in order to gain motivation was get outside of my comfort zone.
I’ll be honest; I’m not working on a great masterpiece. In fact, I’ve started out by writing Harry Potter fan fiction, which I can’t make money on and will go nowhere other than possibly making people who love fan fiction happy. However, I can post it on fan fiction websites and get feedback, which I love. It’s fun to have instant gratification from people about my story. It’s different than a professor’s comments about a paper I write for school. It’s nice to hear when I’ve done a good job on a paper, because the papers are usually technical and take a great deal of research. But I’ve been writing academic papers for so long it’s hardly a challenge anymore.
There’s a story I’m working on that isn’t Harry Potter-related, so I am moving toward something more serious and long-term. It’s difficult, but satisfying as well. My plan is to keep writing as much as I can in order to improve my work. I spend nearly all of my free time reading and writing, and I can only hope that it’ll pay off in the long run. Not necessarily in a financial sense (although that would be nice), but a personally rewarding one. It’ll also be good for my academic writing. If there’s one tip about writing that everyone seems to know, it’s that the only way to become a better writer is to write.
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Hey, I’d love to review your stuff. I’m a likewise nonpublished fiction writer, though I feel about the opposite you do: I find fiction much superior to nonfiction, usually. Mostly because I find fiction writers are more honest, but that’s a whole new topic I could rant on forever.
As far as writing goes, I’m addicted and you can’t get me to stop. Check out my blog, and we’ll talk about stuff, if you ever want to talk to a fellow writer.
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