Ideas into Words

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Title:	Ideas into Words
Creator:	Ellen Randolph
Date(s):	1989
Medium:	print
Fandom:	Star Wars
Topic:	Star Wars, fanfiction
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Ideas into Words is an essay by Ellen Randolph. It was published in Southern Enclave #21.

first page of essay

It is about the creative process of writing and why some fans write fanfic; the article includes quotes from Maggie Nowakowska, Jenni Hennig, Jean L. Stevenson, Marcia Brin and Kate Birkel.

Excerpts

Imagination is an odd thing. Some people don't have much; they're called "boring." Some people have an overabundance; they're usually termed "crazy." The rest of us fall somewhere in between....Happily, most of us float around somewhere in the middle of the scale,. If you're reading this, you ,lean toward the "plus" side. Not only did SW capture a slice of your imaginative pie, but you gobble down even, more when you read the zines, speculate about the films, and so on. You are not boring..

Reality is where the creative imagination finds its ideas. Writers, painters, sculptors, and so on perceive what's there, condense it, consider it, and use imagining processes to structure it into a product shared with others. It's no accident that the Disney creative team is called "Imagineers."

A year or so ago I asked some very vivid imaginations to detail the process from spark to fire, as it were. They had some fascinating things to say.

Kate Birkel's GUILDMASTER universe originally came from reaction to other people's work that "kicked my brain into gear, making me speculate." Jean Stevenson echoes this: "In some cases, I'm working to counter someone else's idea... For example, my novel in the STAR TREK universe: I had overdosed on the first KRAITH and then TWIN MOONS and decided neither one showed a Vulcan I knew. So I tried to define my Vulcan." Something itches; the writer scratches it with words.

Now, it may sound incredibly egotistical to see something and think, "I can do better." But there's a distinction here that needs to be understood. The writer is not saying, "I can do what this person did better" but "I can do this better for myself." It's not that the thing viewed is not fine in and of itself; it's that something about it fails to satisfy a particular person. Another way of saying it is that when we write "missing scenes" stories for the films, we don't do it because we think we're more clever than Lucas. We do it because what was presented lacked fulfillment for us in some form or another. "I can do this better in terms of my own satisfaction."

Reactions and Reviews

I loved Ellen Randolph's "Ideas Into Words" article. What a fascinating look at the sources of inspiration in fan writing. This was something I'd never thought about. I guess I just assumed writers just pull their ideas from thin air. It would be neat to see more of that kind of questioning done to fan writers. So often we get their stories in zines cold—no background, sometimes not even a real name. It adds a lot to my enjoyment to know what kinds of things motivate an author—what drives them to write completely gratis, what other fandoms they write in, and yes, where their inspiration comes from.

...I love Ellen Randolph's article on writing...I'd like to see more of that kind of discussion in SE and other letterzines. I have this theory, you see, that there are two kinds of fannish writers: those who have a character they want to play with or some emotional satisfaction, but don't care much about writing as such and those who (while they may indeed do all the above) care deeply about writing as a craft. A craft you have to think about and work at to succeed at, whether it be fannishly or professionally (and both are valid). I'd like to see more from writers who love to write and want to hone their skills, because to me workshopping, i.e., talking shop about writing, is one of the most fun things about fandom.