[CONTENTID1]Writing Help 101[/CONTENTID1]

[CONTENTID2]Step One: Getting Motivated[/CONTENTID2]

[CONTENTID3]

I know I said that "planning" is the very first step to take, but I lied. If you are serious about succeeding as a writer, you need to take your time and begin right at the grass roots. Writing a fanfic is not a race...

If you are willing to work as hard as it takes for as long as it takes - without forgetting to enjoy yourself along the way, of course - you could go far.

How do you prepare for the journey ahead?

First and foremost, you need to ask yourself this question:

Why do I want to write?

As you know (or as you're about to find out), it takes hard work to write a fanfic – and with no guarantee that people will read it, that it will win a writing contest, it will get featured, etc. So what is the payback? What are the perks? Heck, why bother writing a fanfic at all?

The motivation for writing will be different for everyone...

For some, it will be fame that they seek (or even internet celebrity!). Me, I'm perfectly happy out of the glare of the spotlight, thank you very much.

Some seek to turn their fanfics into published novels. Several writers got their starts in fanfiction:

EL James (The Fifty Shades series) Cassandra Clare (The Mortal Instruments series) Meg Cabot (The Princess Diaries) Neil Gaiman (American Gods, The Graveyard Book)

And let’s not forget that some members of the AFF community are published authors!

Rubi Rose (PrincessViVi) – The Classified Accounts of Ami Hwang Priscilla Wu (Aishmin) – True Beauty L.B. Jorgensen (EimiNuest) – Turn Up the Bright Lights Esther Lac (SkyeLin) – The Stargazer’s Scrapbook

Other people will seek the respect and kudos that would surely come from publishing a well-reviewed fanfic.

Are any of these things the driving force behind me when I write fanfics?

Nope. Not that they wouldn't be welcome if they came knocking on my door, you understand, but they really don't motivate me. They aren't the perks of writing that I am seeking.

Why not?

Because all of these things are rewards you receive only after your fanfic is published. Before that can happen, you face weeks, possibly months, sometimes years of hard work - and with no guarantee whatsoever of success.

No, if fame and fortune and all the rest of it were the only reasons to write, none of us would stick at it for more than five minutes.

So what else is there? For what it is worth, here are a few things that motivate me to write...

1. The Challenge

"Writing a book is a horrible, exhausting struggle, like a long bout of some painful illness. One would never undertake such a thing if one were not driven on by some demon whom one can neither resist nor understand."
- George Orwell

"It is necessary to write, if the days are not to slip emptily by. How else, indeed, to clap the net over the butterfly of the moment?"
- Vita Sackville-West

Nothing in life that is worthwhile comes easy. In fact, it is precisely because something is difficult that makes it worth the effort.

Why? Because with something simple, like boiling an egg, there is little payback - you just get an egg.

But to write a fanfic is tough, not easy.

Consequently, the payback is more than just a completed piece of fiction - you also get an incredible sense of achievement and feeling of self-pride.

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