botherd | (no subject)

So, on Wednesday I graduated! I now officially have a BA (Hons) in English with Study in North America, but I've yet to put it to good use and find a job. (And now I'm back living with my parents, KILL ME NOW.) The graduation ceremony was awesome, because FLOELLA BENJAMIN. I just wish I'd been as brave as some people and asked for a hug.

Random gripe: my degree certificate doesn't have my middle name on it. I like my middle name! I like having the same first two initials as Exeter's most famous graduate! So I'm stupidly disappointed about that little detail. :(

Anyway, life: I had been feeling like I was totally done with university, but now I'm thinking about working at some pointless job for a year and then doing an MA in creative writing. IDK. I just don't want to end up doing some job I'm not that interested in and having it become my career, you know?

... I feel like if I want to be serious about becoming a published writer I should write something that, um, isn't fanfiction, and yet that's all I want to write. I'm working on an 80s AU that I think has a lot of potential to be good. But it's probably going to be longer than my little bang fic, just because more characters have significant parts (so far I have Katie, Effy, Naomi, Cook, Freddie, and maybe JJ; SPOT THE GLARING OMISSION), and that means it's going to take me aaages to write it. Sigh. I need something that's like a pensieve, except instead of turning thoughts into swirly white stuff it turns them into words.

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Ha, if you do an MA in Creative Writing (and indeed even if you become a published writer) you will still have to do some job that probably has nothing to do with writing. Writing doesn't pay the bills, alas. And teaching creative writing is no fun and tends to stop you doing actual writing. Is there a job you *do* want to do? Is there anything you can do that might help you get that job?

Oh, yes, I know - I just meant that I didn't want to end up on some career path that took over my life and never gave me any time to write, because that's what happened to my Dad. I don't really have a dream job or anything like that so I'm mainly just looking for something that I can put up with, sigh.

1. The government has good hours. I mean, this literally influenced my career decision more than anything; I LOVE my hobbies, but none of them make for proper employment, so I looked into what would be the best-paying field with the fewest working hours, and the civil service won by like a fucking landslide.

2. Get the MA. No harm in it, especially not in the current economic climate. It'll always look good on a CV and can (as it did for my ex-girlfriend) be a lead-in towards a totally ridiculously awesome career (political science major with a minor in creative writing and an MA in scriptwriting; she rolled into copywriting for news shows in the US but is currently pitching a pilot about zombies to Fox).

3. I am SO EXCITED ABOUT YOUR STORY. People tell me I remind them of Maggie Thatcher in terms of HIDDEN DICTATORNESS, which I choose to view as a sorta compliment (clearly I look like I'm capable of inventing soft-serve ice-cream, right?), but anyway, that entire era just fascinates me, and you're brilliant so I'm sure it'll be brilliant, too.

Having ended up in horrible dead end jobs myself that wore me out, I'd really advise you to use this time while you can live at home for a bit etc (take advantage of it! it doesn't last forever!) and the job market is poo to think about possible paths you could take that would allow you time to write but not drive you mad in stopgap jobs or tire you out so you don't want to write when the time is there. I wish I'd thought harder about that side of things when I was younger. Hence me doing all the IT study now, because it's something long-term I do enjoy and can do part-time and doesn't make me hate writing and music (whereas running workshops and doing freelance journalism sort of did). A writing MA can always be done part-time and at any point in your life, but there may be other things you can do - even internships etc if not further study - that can push you a bit further with something you are interested in, even if it seems to come a bit out of leftfield. Take advantage of all the funding, courses and support you can still get while you're under 25.

Will definitely look into the civil service. :)

Don't get too excited about the story! Partly because I'm not sure I'll finish it (I've only managed to write about 200 words so far. OF THE EPILOGUE. wtf, self) and partly because it's set shortly before I was born, and I just don't know if I can write about the 80s realistically. Also, while I have the beginning and the end all planned out, I still need a middle. :/

In my experience, middles write themselves through writing; the beginning and end are the hard parts.

Also: TOO LATE.

I think that used to be my experience too, until I realised that I didn't have to write shit linearly. Now I just want to write the good bits and forget about the boring middle parts.

If you're excited it's TOO MUCH PRESSURE. I CAN'T COPE.

OK OK I'M NOT EXCITED.

I'm curious.

And lol, I know exactly what you mean; this is why part 6 of Trans 2 has been in exactly the same state for like two weeks now. I've written the best bits! I DO NOT WANT TO WRITE THE PLOT.

OKAY, THAT'S BETTER. Although now that you've said you're curious I kind of want to tell you everything that happens, but I shouldn't!

lollll, I'm fine if you do!

But I don't want to ~spoil you. IT WOULD RUIN THE INTEGRITY OF THE READING EXPERIENCE, OR SOMETHING.

LOLLL. This means I've had... basically only two sound reading experiences in this entire fandom, both of which are yours already. [Being a beta is HARD BSNS.]

WELL, I was actually hoping you'd beta this (if you'd like!) but I tend not to send stuff to beta until it's basically done, so the reading experience is mostly the same.

I'm fine with whatever approach you want to take and dude, I'd gladly help out.

Disclaimer: being ancient (lol), you may be hoping that I know more about Thatcherite England, but ancient in this case means I was probably like, 3, so FIND SOMEONE OLDER (and more BRITISH). I am here for helpful squeeing and grammar nitpicking. ;)

LOL, no, that's okay, I wasn't expecting that you'd know more about it. I don't know who WOULD, though, so I might just have to cross my fingers and hope no one notices any hideous errors.

YAAAAAAAAAY GRADUATION!!!! I have no career advice - see me, stuck in dead end job! Okay, I far from hate it, but I have no passion for it and no other options. IT PAYS THE BILLS, though! But yeah - the longer you go without making serious decisions, such decisions get kinda made for you and just happen. Being grown up is AWFUL SCARY :(

Unanswerable comment! Yeah, I think 'it pays the bills and I don't hate it' is kind of what I'm shooting for. [/AMBITION]

One thing you could do to bridge the gap between fan-fiction and your own writing, and I know this might sound like a terrible and creatively bankrupt idea, is to tweak things you've already done to become original stories.

I know it'd be impossible with something from a fantasy universe, or with characters who are defined by something very particular to them, but if you think about, say, your Skins stuff, the way that the characters in the show have inspired you to write about that particular relationship isn't much different to the way established writers might base characters on people they know.

Yeah, that sounds like a good idea. One of the stories I submitted for my Short Fiction course at uni started off as fanfiction and then veered into original fic.

Congrads! Also, EmmaThompson was apparently there for her adopted son or something? Good luck with the writing!!

Thanks! And, oh, that's exciting - but there were lots of graduation ceremonies so chances are she wasn't at mine. (I'm going to pretend she was, though.)