Sunshine 2019: Prompt 2

[scripsi]

I’ve had an online presence since 1999, but when I started to write fanfic I didn’t want to use the nicks I already have. To start writing was an overwhelming experience for me, and I suddenly found myself writing some rather disturbing things, and I didn’t want the online friends I had to know what I did. At the time I was very good at putting different parts of my life in separate boxes, with lots of space in between. Just the thought of overlap between my boxes was enough to trigger panic attacks. Not to mention if any of my online personalities would be connected to my real life.

So I created an LJ called dancingsalome for discussing things I feel I couldn’t talk about with my other friends and posted my fanfics on comms. The name was not picked on random. I’m a huge fan of Rita Hayworth, an as a small child my mother gave me her movie star trading card collection. The most beautiful and precious one to me was a picture of Rita Hayworth as Salome. This one, to be, exact, only in colour.



I’m also a fan of Oscar Wilde and his play Salome is an old favourite.

Eventually, I started to post my fics to various fanfic archives, and the nick Dancingsalome followed me there, and I use the picture above as an avatar on AO3. About the same time, I realised that posting fics directly to comms was a bit cumbersome, and I decided to start a journal solely for fanfic. I can’t really remember why- probably because not all my LJ friends was into fanfic, and I didn’t want to clutter up their feeds. But a large part was due to those separate boxes. At this point in time I was also writing a lot- constantly writing fics, and also a lot of other posts- So another LJ was born; scripsi, and it later followed mere here to DW. It’s Latin for “I write”.

And a few years passed, and for a number of reasons I stopped writing personal posts on LJ, and almost completely stopped writing fanfic, producing perhaps a fic ever twelve months, or so. Until late 2014 when I suddenly started to write at a steady pace again. At this point, almost all of old friends on dancingsalome had drifted away, so I just posted my fanfic on scripsi. Little by little, I found new fandom friends and more and more personal posts were written and posted on scripsi too. Now I have a much more relaxed attitude on letting various aspects of me mingle online, and even if they are kept to access only I can even post a picture of myself on occasion.

I choose my default icon, and the only icon I really use nowadays, because I feel like that most of the time. I have a lot of responsibilities in my life, and I know that people who meet me in person often think I’m rather reserved and strict.

English is not my first language, but when I started to write fanfic I didn’t know where I could find people to interact with if I kept to my native Swedish. I’ve studied English at university, so It wasn’t so strange to write in it, and writing so much has definitely made my grasp of English much better. I spend a lot of time editing my fics to try to make sure there are as few mistakes as possible, but I’m a bit more relaxed about it when I write ordinary posts.

And if you have any questions I’d be happy to answer them!

Comments

[enemytosleep]

I used to have a friend whose username was Salome-centered, so it was nice to learn more about who and why that might be. The old photo is stunning! And I'm always crazy-impressed when folks write English fanfic and it's not their native tongue. Thanks so much for sharing.

[scripsi]

Well, in Sweden it's mandatory with English in schools from a very early age- and then most media are from USA or UK, so it's easy to have English around. Nowadays even more so than when I was a kid- my son was completely fluent in English when he was eleven, which I found out to my slight shock when we went to London. :)

[verdande_mi]

I used to keep my RL out of LJ as well, but I have slowly gotten more comfortable to share more.

[scripsi]

It's been slow progress, but I'm getting more and more comfortable about merging all aspects of me. :)

[trepkos]

I very much admire anyone who can write in a language which is not their first. And that is a beautiful picture of Rita Hayworth!

[scripsi]

Well, English is mandatory in Swedish schools from very early one, so Swedes, in general, are pretty good at it. Though I am better than most, which I can thank writing fanfic for. :)

Isn't it+ My trading card is long gone but I'm on a constant lookout to find it again.

[thethirdseventh]

Also have English as a second language, I can relate to the fandom loneliness, specially for niche fandoms. And I know it's been said, but yay for Rita Hayworth!

[scripsi]

I seem to have a knack for falling in love with small and obscure fandoms- or small and obscure corners of biger ones, so I would probably have been very alone if I had written my fics in Swedish. :)

yay for Rita Hayworth!

<3

[a_phoenixdragon]

This is a beautiful post - and I remember dancingsalome! I love fic under that nick (and under your own 'non-fanfic' ElJay). :D

*HUGS*

[scripsi]

Thank you! *hugs back*

[alessnox]

Nice to meet you.

[scripsi]

Nice to meet you too!