Today I decided to do something different and very personal. It's the first time I ever sat down to think about my writing skills. I don't know it's gonna be long, but at least it's gonna have some anecdotes I only knew. The pictures that accompany it might not mean a lot to you, but this is the whole lot of notebooks and stuff around 97% of my stories are written on. And it growns daily, so...bear with me and this retrospective.Unofficially, I've been writing for as long as I can remember. Started doing things that I never ended that later down the line ended up being part of plots for other stories. Officially, it's been 5 years since I started. My first story started out one boring night in 2004, in which I started putting a couple of scenes together for...I can't remember its purpose :). And for as cheesy as it might sound, that pretty much marked the course of what I've been doing. That story was 'Operation: Terror', and was also the origin of my first 'heroine': Marcia Crawford. The story basically is about a group of CIA agents trying to stop a situation. It took me more than a year (from 2004 to 2006, I think) and had a blast doing it :)
The one thing that it's so fun about doing is (and that I'm thankful for) is the chance of meeting people that are my friends and have collaborated by leaving their marks in the stories, or offered imput, critics, opinions and most importantly having to bear with me! This is an instance in which I want to thank each and every one of you for coming to my life this way. I love you all so much!!
Okay...back to it. Once I finished that one, I toyed with the idea of doing a second part of that story and in 2008 I went on doing 'Operation: Terror 2' (currently in progress). Old and new faces showed up, and I've changed Marcia so much from the first to the second, not only physically (brunette, blonde, redhead and then brunette again!), but emotionally. I have in my head how this one is going to end, and when I do I'll be sad cuz doing a third part would be too much, and this is the first and...For now, I just don't want to. And from this 'The Marcia Crawford diaries' came out this year with everything that didn't make the cut and then some more. Guess that will fill the gaps when I finish this :). And finally, this is the only one that has dates on it and has a soundtrack (will share when I find it).
Then came in 2007 my first attempt at fanfiction. I had the idea, but I was too damn afraid to put it in practice. My favorite heroine, Alexandra Barnett came out of this (my dear photographer). I didn't start 'Picture Perfect', my friend Mel (that's the admin of a Kiefer forum...who also writes cool stories) wrote the first three chapters of it by my request. Then I decided to take the challenge and continue it myself. 'Challenge' in the sense that I've never shared anything with strangers, and if they didn't like it, I would've quit. But surprisingly, I got great feedback and met awesome people. After the ending of this (won't spoil any story), my Kiefer/Alexandra stories are 5 up to date: 'Perfect Deception', 'Picture Perfect: Rebirth' 'Bitter/Sweet' & 'Euphoria' (in progress). What I love of this one is that I take real elements and mix them with characters and situations I created, and I can even express things I feel inside. Like 'OpTerror', there's a LOT of things that don't make the cut, and that's why there's a story called 'Fiction Edition' (in progress), and also that it will have a soundtrack soon.
The third 'big' group of stories (that up to date are 17, 8 currently in progress) are my '24' fanfictions. These are split in two stages: My Jack/Morgan trilogy and Jack/Kathryn stories. The first three that had Morgan Callahan in them (actually, Morgan was going to be the main character in 'The Prague Conspiracy', but I changed my mind) are '24: Last Chance', '24: Aftermath' & '24: The Chase'. I left the door open to continue that one day :). Morgan's cool, but I just need to exploit her more (these ones were done between 2007 & 2008, I think). And the second stage features a character I created for the 'never-ending story' with a friend: An assassin named Kathryn Jennings, who I took to two stories so far between 2008 & 2009: ''24: Midnight Assassin' & '24: Humans on Edge' (in progress). I love this heroine too, it's one of the most complex I have written, and I love doing fanfic, because I think sometimes I have more ideas than the show's writers, hehe.
And the fourth 'group' is a mix between author fics and stories that don't fit in any of the above categories. First, there's 'The Prague Conspiracy' (which is the only story that I translated). This was co-written with two friends (started off with one, but that went south) and experimented with a different setting, and the only non-american heroine I have: Natasha Gredenko. Because of the ending, I thought for a while of continuing it, but...no. It's good as it is. This is between 2006-2007... (dude, I really need to find the sheet with the dates). Then, there's 'Unknown Territory' (in progress) that I started in 2008. The title of this one is because I wanted to take out the drama and experiment with humor and stuff, try something lighter: This is a Kiefer fic too, but with a different female: Vania Foster-LeClerc... The inspiration for this story was an old fiction from the 90s I watched on TV, and that I would love to see again :)
Then, there's 'The Other Side of the World' (in progress) that was born because I wasn't happy with the ending of the movie 'Mirrors'. I started off with a friend (now there's two involved) and 90% of characters there are of our creation. Caroline Krauss stands out from my other heroines because she's a lawyer, powerful, with the world at her feet but she's afraid to have a relationship with someone different. Here I got to experiment with horror and things that are out of logic (as an anecdote, I first posted this on halloween 2008). I have the idea that once I have an ending (there's many options), I'm taking Caroline and other characters for a story called 'Insolence City', due in 2010. And last, but not least, there's Sophia Pugh, the star of 'The Day of the Journalie'. This is the most recent I've done (started this year), and it's pretty much based on things that happen to me in and out of college. It's the most personal one, based on true facts and people. Sophia's the youngest heroine I've created, and basically...it's me.
This takes me to the next point: When you ask me if these characters I created have something of me the answer is: HELL YEAH. ALL OF THEM! In a bigger or smaller scale, my writing is something I use to express things I don't feel up to do it any other way. I'm not looking out to be a famous writer or anything, I just take this as a hobby I love doing that has brought me so many joys and that I have to have pen and paper for when inspiration hits, that came come from fiction or everyday life I put out my views on things, I rant, express and even put it to therapeutical use in the bad moments :). With writing I bare my world and let the guard down, and that's why I share them only with people I have a certain level of trust with.
And to finish this LOOONG post, all I have to say is this: I know one day I won't be able to do it anymore, maybe cuz of the pressure of working on 8 simultaneously or just no more good ideas, but for now as long as I have pen, paper and music I can do wonders, not caring if my readers are 2 million or 2 people. It's just a bunch of mental images I put in my mind. From there to paper and finally out there :)
Thank you!
Nicodrina
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