INTRODUCTION
Hello, my lovelies! Today, I want to talk about the latest writing challenge I gave myself: I decided to write a fanfiction novella, also known as a variation.
A fanfiction, or variation, is when fans of a particular fictional world create their own writings about said world to keep it alive. Examples include: Pride and Prejudice, Star Wars, Doctor Who, Harry Potter, Sherlock Holmes, The Lord of the Rings, Game of Thrones, Vampire Diaries, Marvel, My Hero Academia, BTS, Final Fantasy, etc.
In this article, I will explain the story idea for my fanfiction/variation piece, how long it took me to write, and the method I chose to publish this piece through, in hopes that this will inspire you to finish your story and get it published.
THE STORY IDEA
The story idea, for this piece, came to me from listening to audiobooks. I don’t have a lot of free time because I’m a mom of two toddlers, and I work a 9-5 job. I especially don’t have time to read a physical book, so I depend on audiobooks. I listen to them at work–because I work in front of a computer all day–and I listen to them when I’m doing the chores at home.
I was listening to Jane Austen’s Pride & Prejudice (P&P) and discovered other variations of P&P by various authors. Sure there’s Pride & Prejudice and Zombies, Death Comes to Pemberley, but there are also smaller authors who have fantastic variations. I especially enjoyed the novellas because I didn’t have to commit to a full 8-hours-plus of an audiobook.
This inspired me to try a variation, or fanfiction, writing challenge myself. I wanted to see if I could write not only fanfiction but a novella. So I had two challenges in one.
The reason I chose a novella is because it would be a shorter writing project, and honestly I find short stories to be harder to write because I am limited in the amount of words I get to use. I normally prefer long pieces and novels because I write a lot.
So this was definitely a challenge for me.
The end result was this:
I completed the writing challenge! AND I published it! I am now an author!
I had so much fun writing this. Go get a copy and read it today HERE.
HOW LONG IT TOOK TO WRITE
I started the challenge on May 22nd of 2024 and completed it on May 31st. Then I spent the next several days just editing and researching the publishing route I wanted to take.
In terms of completion, I was able to complete the challenge in a short time frame by doing two things: 1) writing every evening and 2) listening to P&P and variations and other historical romance novels in the regency period.
Historical romance is actually one of my favorite genres. This was very easy to do.
When it comes to the writing piece, every author out there will tell you to “just write”. Jodi Picoult, a romance novelist, says something along the lines of “you can’t edit a blank page”, meaning you can’t edit or improve as a writer unless you write. So I wrote.
I even found myself up at 2:00 am, one of the days, writing because I woke up to pee and couldn’t fall back to sleep. Honestly, that early morning was my most creative, possibly because I was very refreshed from several hours of sleep prior already. That gave an energy boost.
Again, this writing challenge was a lot of fun to do. The reasons being: I’m writing about characters that have already been created by Jane Austen, and I am building off of a world that has already been created by said writer—characters and a world that the majority of the world already knows about and that many of us love. It was a lot of fun to build off of Austen‘s characters and her world.
MY PUBLISHING ROUTE
I originally considered posting this story on a fanfiction domain, but then I chose the indie, or self-publishing, route because I would like to profit as a writer. I know, we all love free stuff, but we also have to pay the bills.
Between indie and traditional publishing, I chose indie because this writing project was just something fun to do. I was not serious about it. And since I’m a small writer, I highly doubt a big publisher will take me on. Yet.
There are so many self-publishing corporations out there. It was a headache doing the research.
I learned that some corporations help you with create your book, but at a cost; some take their cut after a sale; some have terrible service and may remove your book for no reason, and then you’re at a loss, etc.
My biggest concern and determinant was money. I don’t have money to pay a publisher or others—because you gotta spend money to make money—and I only have my time and my energy. So again I chose indie.
In the end I was able to publish it on my own doing three things: 1) Create my manuscript on Reedsy, 2) create my cover on Canva, 3) and combine them to publish through Amazon’s KDP program.
CONCLUSION
Did this take a lot of time? Yes! But it was worth it! I gave myself a challenge, completed the challenge, and published the writing piece.
I’m an author!
AND, this writing piece will not be a stand-alone novella. I am working on four-to-five other characters from the Pride & Prejudice world and focusing on their love stories. Join my blog so you don’t miss out on the upcoming books in the series.
Again, you can obtain a copy of this novella HERE.
I really hope that the information I have provided will inspire you to finish your own story and get it published. Best of luck to you all!
WATCH THE VIDEO HERE: