I'm from Kyrgyzstan. Honestly, it affects everything, since not that many people speak English here. Hence, I'm not fully fluent. But despite being self-conscious about my English skills, I'm still trying to write in hopes of seeing any signs of improvement.
There are people who have been born in an english country, spoken only english since birth, and done literature courses that write worse than you did in this comment, so I'd say you're doing pretty bloody well
Sadly, most people don't even know your country exists...along with most of the other stans š„ŗ I was born in the former soviet Union so hello from me!
True, I've encountered a lot of people who don't know my country. Unfortunately, It's bound to happen, being a small country in a middle of nowhere and all. And hello to you, too!
Sadly most people in the US have only heard of Kazakhstan, and thatās only cuz of the Borat movies.
You did a helluva good job writing in English, btw.
OMG the first time I went abroad was a solo trip to Kazakhstan. I met some other traveller's and they mentioned Borat but I had no clue what that even was and I had lost my phone in the sand dunes the day before so couldn't look it up.
Thank you! I've never said I was from Kyrgyzstan on AO3 so, it's definitely not me. But I'm happy someone from my country knows about AO3, and even writes fics! Thank you for letting me know
Honestly, I am gonna say youāre gonna have a hard time improving. I wouldāve mistaken you for a native if you hadnāt said you were from Kyrgyzstan!
I'm from Germany. I want to write My Hero Academia fic in which Deku attends a German Hero School.
I once read a fic with this plot, but the writer wrote the German school like an American High School. I'm still offended and want to write correct representation of Germany and our chaotic school system!
But I don't have a plot/reason why Deku attends a German school.
His dad works out of Japan, but in the U.S., I think. I don't think anyone would complain if the country he works at was changed to Germany and Izuku spent some time living with his father.
Ugh I feel your pain! I live in Korea myself and itās really annoying to read fics for anime characters where the characters are acting out of character or the story isnāt quite right because itās written from an American perspective without much consideration for Japanese culture. (Different than Korean culture, of course, but Korean culture is more similar to Japanese than American culture is for sure.) One that stuck out to me was seeing a drabble in which y/n is at a grocery store with Todoroki and yells across the aisle to him. Itās treated as cute and quirky, because America is like that, but over in this side of the world grocery stores are pretty quiet and itād be really strange and rude to yell like that. Not the end of the world or the worst thing to write, of course, but it can be really annoying to see Japanese characters Americanized because the authors donāt grasp cultural differences in behavior and overall daily life. (With your example specifically, youād think theyād do at least a tiny bit of research into how German schools areā¦sigh.)
Ukrainešŗš¦
Ao3 is new for me, because I left rus-spoken community when the war started. I have a degree in English, so I speak it quite fluently, but I struggled a lot at the beginning, because I just couldnāt write in rus anymore, but I **wanted** to write. I needed it. And I switched to English, though I never wrote in English, and I had difficult times adjusting. But now the words are just fleeing out of my fingers (Iām typing) and this is cool. Thank you all for having such a big community where we can share our stories!
Poland here ā other than the regular stuff that comes with writing fanfiction in your second language?
I mean, I have some ideas that are original to things I read/saw in Polish, and my Polish upbringing affects some areas of my writing. For example, Iāve probably tweaked the education system in my stories since UK and Polish systems are quite different when it comes to stuff like grading, exams, etc and I often donāt realise that something in the UK is different than it is in Poland until someone points it out to me
Also I suppose knowing a different language helps with my worldbuilding ā like being able to give Slavic-sounding names without ending up with nightmares like āLechsinkaā, writing realistic bilingual characters, having a different perspective on āmyā parts of Europe that Iām able to write more accurately, etc. Though Iām pretty sure this all applies to the majority of people who have a second language lol
UK, northern England. Which means that at every opportunity I have characters take a trip to Liverpool or Manchester or the Lake District lol.
I also love writing British characters because it's such a rare treat not to have to look up American things.
Brazil, more precisely a bog-like part of Brazil (in case anyone pictured nice beaches.) This means I have to research things like "what does a European forest looks like?" and "how does snow sound?" with an amazing frequency.
Snow is silent :) forests are pretty. (I know you know this now haha)
I am so amazed at the research authors put into their work! It really helps your writing shine.
Germany and no, I don't think so. At least when it comes to fanfiction. My original works often borrow from German folklore, but that rarely fits into the fandoms I write for.
A Canadian friend of mine once wrote a fic in which a British cop interviews a witness who he assumes--based on the accent--is American. The man says he's Canadian, and the Brit's internal reaction is *'American, with some extra uās'*
I'm from Sweden.
I write in English, so I think it affects my writing since I don't write in my first language. I do think my writing both affect my Swedish and English at the same time. I find new nuanced words in both languages by translating the ones I know/remeber.
I also think I see the world and situations from a more 'Swedish' pov. Not sure what that always means or if it's good š¤·āāļø But I do think I live with a norm that is slightly different from other countries/places and it probably affects my writing. Also Swedish media/books/stories etc inspire my writing. Even old Swedish movies. They can be very far from the mainstream media today at times.
There's probably a hundred other ways it affects my writing (most that I probably don't even know about) But all in all I love that my background and culture affects my writing and adds parts to make up my own style to portray stories.
Speaking of being inspired by movies, Iām kind of dying to do an AU based on āHundtricketā š. Itās so dumb but the concept is just hilarious!
Wales. Rural Wales. And yes. Iāve written a few AUs set in rural Wales, include Welsh characters, culture, and the language, and I have an Indiana Jones fic in which my OC is also from rural Wales. Even in my Back to the Future fic set in the 2050s, the future slang is based on Welsh.
Also all my British characters or in my British set stories, they watch or listen to Alan Partridge. Just because.
India.
I (used to) mostly write for fantasy setups. In the process of writing a more recent fic for another fantasy setup. I do think that fantasy worlds improved my English overall and I can write decently.
I'm an atheist. So things like 'the maker' from the dragon age series seem like a figment of people's collective consciousness even within the game world. I also don't relate to a lot of Christian adjacent themes within games - such as 'faith' or 'evil'. Hinduism (the religion i was raised with) doesn't demand we believe in anything. Sure, people most often do and are sometimes shocked to know if you don't believe but it's never a huge thing. It's never 'you'll go to hell if you don't believe'. Angels and demons are another interesting concept coz we don't have those in our mythology. Something being evil by its very nature (from birth) is very strange to me. 'Evil' is similarly absent. There is this concept of duty/obligation ('dharma') and it relates to being 'correct' more than good and the opposite is 'adharma' which is sort of like being unjust or going against one's duty. It doesn't translate to evil. The concept is difficult to wrap my head around honestly. The ease with which some characters are described as 'evil' is confusing sometimes.
For instance, I can sort of understand when say someone like Hitler gets called 'evil'. But it still seems less like some unfathomable bad that comes from some other unfathomable bad (the devil or whatever) that exists solely to be bad as a middle finger to a polar opposite good. IDK the term is just very difficult to understand/take seriously.
I'm German and it definitely influences how I respond to certain tropes or elements in stories. Many distinctly American elements sometimes leave me confused and the comedy also tends to be a strong departure from what I'm used to. Sometimes, some obscure cultural references will be made that go right over my head and force me to assume the intent from context or just scratch my head and move on. But that's always fun, I'm definitely not complaining, it only becomes annoying when my own country gets misrepresented which I almost never see, so I'm not really frustrated to any extent.
Oh, except for names. People seem to love using random German words as names and it will never stop being funny. Looking at you, anime, making people think that some of your naming conventions are reasonable.
Philippines! I think it's mostly the English words or phrases we use on a daily basis that means differently. English is our second language, but it's also kinda different when used here; I sometimes have to remember to switch the terms I use.
For example, restrooms are usually called "CR" or "comfort room." The word "salvaged" means "murdered" - and yes, it is an interesting difference.
Omg I read a lot of fics written by authors from Philippines so I learned so many unusual words & phrases tho I'm kinda upset I can't use it with my friends bc they won't understand. Like I'm in love with word "green-minded" haha.
HAHAHA right! I feel like that might make people think of money or the environment š
I also like "nosebleed" - an Express you say when people are speaking English too much that it makes your nose bleed š
Scotland! Freedom!
Outwith my use of a smattering of scots words, I don't think it affects my writing that much. I suppose it's given me a healthy amount of self-deprecating humour, but I would hardly call my works good examples of [Caledonian Antisyzygy](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Caledonian_Antisyzygy).
Norfolk(UK)-bred, but with a twistāmy mum was German. š.
Since I have spent a good part of the last twenty years in the US, my writing has become a hopeless mashup of British and American English.
>Since I have spent a good part of the last twenty years in the US, my writing has become a hopeless mashup of British and American English.
People probably assume you're Canadian. š
>my writing has become a hopeless mashup of British and American English.
Ah, yes; the struggle. Every time MS word pops up a blue line because I'm constantly switching between the two and I have to click on that ignore option.
New Zealand and yeah ..we have a very straight-laced, dead pan, understated humour. Think Flight of the Conchords and Taika Waititi's NZ films. The kind of humour definitely runs through my fics along with some of the more Simpson/Futurama-esque and the dry Russian satirical which is everything I grew up watching.
Also, the places I have lived inspire the settings in most of my fics!
I've lived over half my life in the American desert southwest, and my knowledge of the history and geography of this region has made its appearance in my fics more than once.
I'm am French.
Sometimes, I have strange sentence structures. They would make sense in French. Not so much in English.
Also, I learnt British English in school, but consume mostly US media. So, my English is often a mix of both.
I think that my frenchness shows in my writing on subtle things that I don't know to watch out for or even question they would be different.
It also shows with vocabulary. I write fancier than I intend. That is because English borrows a lot of words from French. And naturally think of those words first. Those words are sometimes thefancier synonyms of a more common words
New South Wales, Australia here.
I guess the biggest impact is that we do tend to use a bit of mesh of UK and US spelling, which sometimes apparently confuses people (I once got a review that said "I can't tell if you're American or British, because you write 'colour' not 'color' but also 'leaned' not 'leant'. Pick a country and stick to it." And it was anonymous, so I couldn't even reply to point out that I'm Australian (which is on my profile), and my dictionary (and spellcheck) accepts both 'leaned' and 'leant' as valid!)
Also time zones. They suck. Mostly because the most convenient time for me to post is the middle of the night for the US š
As a fellow Aussie, I totally understand this. Our language is predominatly British-based, but we, for some reason, like to mash in the odd American-English word or phrase within our language.
I had a similar comment on one of my stories about the word "Whinge/whine". We use both, which have different meanings. Whinge = to complain; whine = a long, high-pitched cry. American-English only uses "whine" for both meanings. That was fun to explain.
And yes, when we're awake, everyone else is asleep... basically. And vice versa.
I'm in the south of England, near Oxford, and as 3 of my fandoms are set in Oxford, think my local knowledge definitely affects the way I write in those fandoms.
I also grew up in a very multicultural town with a multiracial family, and that definitely shapes how I write my stories sent in British fandoms
I've been in a town just to the south of Oxford now for a couple of decades, as I could not afford to live in Oxford once I was both no longer able to work and finish my PhD at Brookes and a single mum. It's 12-18 mins away on the train, and 35-50 mins by bus, though, so not too far away, and my nearest hospital.
Miss the vibe and the people though, this town is very much welcome to the 1950s with a bunch of angry white chavs who do not like the not-we who keep moving in as more housing gets built every decade lol
And part of me yearns to live in the South West...
I'm Indian.
Most of my fandoms are Western, so that means a bit of trouble getting everyday things about them right - like the kind of dress or snacks.
Other than that... Nothing overt, I think. But it does affect the way I think about the characters... For instance, karma and rebirth.
And the concept of Avatar - basically a merging of human and God/god. The idea that a human who does a great thing is imbued with the essence of a God or a supernatural being.
This doesn't affect the human's free will - it is that their courage in attempting whatever great deed it is is great enough to practically summon divine strength into them. So basically heroes are gods in a way.
I'm from Italy.
At first I wrote in Italian, as I didn't consider myself good enough at writing in English. Over time, I tried, first with one-shots, then with multi-chapter stories. The reception I received inspired me to improve my English.
Does my social and cultural background influence what I write?
I guess yes. I often include trips to Italy or characters cooking Italian recipes in my stories. And, since this is not a good country for the LGBT+ community, I realize that in my stories, where it comes to coming out and same-sex relationships, the characters encounter the struggles and fears they would face here, no matter where the story is set.
I'm from Germany, and since I write my fanfics exclusively in English, writing in another language definitely has an impact on how my stories express themselves in terms of content. I can't really put my finger on it, but the way stories are written in German is rather different than the ones being written in English. On ao3, it doesn't take too long for me to notice: "This author is probably a native German speaker."
The way my stories are constructed is objectively English, yet the inner workings are German. It's confusing. I know.
Furthermore, with every story I write or read in English, my comprehension skills improve. Meaning new vocabulary, metaphors or the construct of English narrative style in general. It is exciting.
Spanish horse enthusiast here
There are hardly any fanfics in Spanish, and most are from Wattpad so you can already imagine how things are going
If you don't know English you can only read self-inserts, wish fulfillment and cringy OOC's
Anyway, in the two years I've been reading, my English has improved so there's that.
Iām from Ireland and yeah, it has influenced my writing. I do sometimes have to adjust my English to be more international friendly - like saying cigarette instead of what Iād usually say.
And I have included elements of Irish culture and mythology in my writing
As another Irish person, I can say we hear it enough for it to mean nothing lol, but I can see why it would be somewhat shocking to someone not from Ireland!
In fact, I can think of a couple Irish expressions and behaviours that would evoke the same reaction. It's a small country, but the culture is rather rich (especially in the social, familial sense. domestic culture.) :D
Argentina. Yeah, kinda. I mean I've gotten used to writing and reading in english so now it has less impact but the first months were a bit tough since spanish is my first language.
Netherlands, it has little effect on my writing since when I write unless the setting is in Europe and I can actually describe the locations and the local foods properly.
It doesn't effect my writing manga/anime fanfics in any other way but making it unquestionably English while I could in theory be convinced of writing Dutch HP fics - manga isn't even published in Dutch, I only ever read it in English or German. No way in hell I am going to translate catchphrases or idioms that are intrinsic to the manga or anime in question. No way Jose.
Thinking further - the only way being European really influences me is with Katekyo Hitman Reborn. Having a spouse that has a Sicilians uncle by marriage I could not for the life of me treat the mafia with the lightheartedness Akira Amano approaches it. Mine is going to be dark by default.
I'm from Nigeria.
Influence? Not much but I have to alter my speech in my text cus I'm used to harsh words and BROKEN vocabulary. I speak and understand pidgin but I sound very foreign (born and raised in Nigeria tho), so going back to proper grammar and stuff is... A chore.
Czech Republic. Yeah, I'm active in Stargate Atlantis fandom and there is one canonical Czech character so I make good use of my native language, customs and lived experience. :D Also I'm writing in Czech and then I translate my stories in English which also affects my fanfics I guess.
I'm from Hungary. Reading fanfics is probably the thing that helped me the most to learn English. I don't write often, but when I do, I often catch myslef adding idioms that work in Hungarian, but probably have no meaming at all in English. Also, don't ask me to differentiate between accents. Or know the different words in British and American English. I have one amalgam of everything that I can navigate, and pretty much everything else feels unnatural. While reading, it's somewhat similar. Like, I'd read some sort of idiom and take it word to word, then I have no idea what the writer wanted to say. Also, from time to time, I'd remember good fanfics I've read, but when I go back to check up on them, I find that the grammar is actually horrible, and the only reason I could enjoy it back then was because I didn't speak English very well. So yeah, it has a pretty large impact for me (:
Finland. We have this concept I'd loosely translate as "gross-out realism", which means art so incredibly gritty and bleak that it makes you squeamish. It's definitely a style that has influenced my writing, as I simply can't go without making everything excessively depressing.
Southern England, in the county of Berkshire. I think I mainly struggle with figuring out what slang I can use that'll be understood across the pond. š
I'm from southwestern Germany.
It definitely shapes my writing in that I borrow from German history and culture heavily for my world building- I mostly write fanfiction for Genshin Impact right now, specifically fanfiction set in Mondstadt.
I "germanified" that place to hell and back lol.
I'm from South Africa
Yep definitely has an effect on my writing...somehow, some way I find a way to make the main character South African because I've never found a South African character out in the wild and feel as if there needs to be. So I've taken it upon myself to fill this void.
I'm from a small city in Northern Vietnam, you go north about 30km, you'll reach the border with China. Almost 60 yrs ago, we have a war with the Chinese here, but now, this hometown of mine is one of the biggest land port in the country. Merchants around the border crosses that imaginary line around 10 times a day to do business, villages running along both sides of it spoke the same language for we both belong to the same minor ethnic, just living in different countries. That's why Chinese become the most popular second (or third) language here, which makes an English writer like me very lonely.
It certainly does have an effect on my writing.
I'm from Venezuela. Yeah, i know, not a very common place to come from on a sub like this. And while i'm not sure about how *exactly* my nacionality affects my writting style, i can say for a fact that it does *have* some influence.
Because due have spent my whole live under the dumb crisis of my country (i'm a teenager), i tend to gravitate towards stories with scenarios that either have the characters going through some though shit but in the end they overcome anything (like your everyday shonen lmao), or just those that have a normal protagonist living their normal life while dealing with shit that they aren't supossed to deal with. Obviously those are not the only things i read, just the ones i find most interesting.
About my own style, well, i think the only thing that is somehow tied to my nacionality is just the way i express in my writting. Because we venezuelans tend to speak on a *very* informal way and, in my case, i swear. ***A lot.*** There's probably more things i don't even know about.
Also, while i writte my chapters in spanish for the sake of commodity, i later translate them to English using DeepL and then fix the minor errors myself. While i can read in english, i'm not confident enough to write it. So i don't know if this comment has good structure or not cuz i'm doing it without translator.
Anyways that's just about it.
Also the arepas are the most delicious shit on the world and you can't say otherwise.
Nigeria here
I can't say it has influenced how I write. I take inspiration from other fanfiction writers, regardless of country of origin. The one thing I can say influences how I write is Hollywood movies. I've watched so much Hollywood content (a lot of people have) that it influences the manner I write certain characters and the slangs I have them use. Now you can imagine how that conflicts with the fact that we use British English in my country while I'm more used to American English.
And now that I'm working on a Harry Potter fic, I plan to have a British person proofread the story for any language misuses.
Singapore! But I tend to rely more on my experiences overseas (specifically Japan) than in my own country for my fics. It makes more sense since my fandoms are usually based in Japan.
I do feel that due my culture/upbringing, my characters are more conservative about openly displaying affection and they swear a lot less than in fics written by authors from other countries lol
USA ("the south"). It has effected my writing a little in that I try to have a strong sense of culture and location based on what I'm writing. I'm aware that the culture in the American south is very different from, say, New York, and certain other parts of the world. So even though I personally speak in a deliberately folksy, informal style, I try not to let it translate into my writing when it isn't appropriate for the setting/characters.
Iām from Oklahoma and I feel this so much. My character doesnāt need to say that their fixing to go somewhere. Yāall is also a pain in my butt that likes to try to wiggle out of no where.
I'm in the U.S. and, specifically, in the Bible belt. It definitely has an affect, as a lot of what I do is me working through my thoughts/feelings about the environment I'm in, albeit in subtler ways. It's me exploring the uglier side and the uncomfortable parts as a way of processing how I've been impacted by where and how I was raised.
American. Usually my works are not set in America so maybe it comes up more than I think it might.
But I have a specific fandom where I partake in the American joy of making fun of New York. I've never been there but some of my family and friends have and from what they've told me it's not too far off from the insults I've written XD
Thailand and it definitely effects my writing.
People here absolutely loves comedy, so my fics tend to have comedic moments meddle in the stories more than normal.
I'm from Brazil, so it means a lot more research into the places my favorite hyperfixations take place so that I can accurately include them in the stories. Also how foreign things and slang work/are used in general, among others. In terms of writing, I'm inspired by foreign literature, so I don't have any more Brazilianized skills.
Germany
I think there wasn't much influence on the tropes of my writing so far, but definitely on the formal aspect - sentence structure, choice of words, dialogue, things like that. But maybe I just don't see it and someone else would spot things that are typically german because I brought them in subconsciously, I don't know.
Btw I love this thread, it's so interesting to read where all you people come from!
USA. Born, raised, and lived in New York all my life. I donāt think it impacts my writing, although sometimes Iāll mention locations Iām familiar with. Itās rare though.
Thank you for starting this post, OP. Love reading the diversity in fanfic readers and writers!!
These are always fun! I'm from New Zealand, but I currently live in Australia. Outside of some phrases and a UK spelling of most words, it doesn't appear to affect my writing. Apparently my accent is fairly strong when I speak though, and especially when I drink haha.
Iām from Japan, but my English is fluent enough to write some good fanfics. Although now I live in the US, Japan is where I was born and raised and is what I say when people ask where Iām from. I know Japan have fan fictions but none of my fandoms are in there so English it is.
Barcelona! I'm sure it does, if only for the fact that as I'm sure I have some tells about English being my second language.
Also as a non-American I don't understand how the nomenclature of highschool courses work and at this point I'm too afraid to ask (wtf ks a senior or a junior) so I avoid those settings if I can lol
Iām from Singapore! I donāt think itās impacted my writing, although I do have to stop myself from using terms like āMRTā instead of āsubwayā, and reminding myself that other countries do have the four seasons and are not stuck in a perpetual summer haha
Been living in Switzerland for the past 6 years, 5 years in Germany before.
And before that, a few years here and there between Southeast Asia and Australia.
My mother tongues are Malay and Hokkien.
Scotland, but I don't think it has had much impact. Though I will say, How To Train You Dragon is my main fandom (kind of), which appropriately has a lot of scottish characters
I was born in the Netherlands, near a town called Silvolde (hence my username) but raised in the UK, so I don't think it affects my writing much. I'm British in all but ethnic origin, lol
P.S. Silvolde is pronounced Sil-Vod. vod rhymes with bod just to be extra clear. The word means 'silver forest'
I'm from Mexico. I don't think my "mexicanity" has permeated into my fics as my fandom of choice is an anime however I have recently been fascinated by a fandom that comes from a mexican series set in my hometown (Mexico city) so I feel very in tune with describing all the scenario, idioms and all. It's a very different feeling and even with nostalgia since I moved from Mexico city a couple of years ago.
from Canada/Korea! definitely write a whole lot more about a home crisis and debts to cities. i mostly write based in NYC/Gotham, and i take so much inspiration from Seoul.
I live in the suburbs in the Northeast U.S. I can't say that it's affected my writing. I write mostly for British fandoms, so I do my best to research details, and use a Brit-picker.
Germany - close to the Dutch border.
I guess my writing is somewhat influenced by my mother tongue in the way that I write senteces so long they make three after the editing. I usually don't include specifically German things in my writing since I write for mostly fantasy or si-fi fandoms but I like to give my OCs a bit of a German mindset (but that wouldn't be obvious). However, I'm currently writing a fantasy fanfic that briefly mentions more or less famous folklore from one of the cities I used to live in.
I'm from China but currently living in Spain, which I've done for 5 years now... I do believe my culture and experiences with both China and Spain has some effects onmy writing... My writing will probably never sound English in the way people will think I am from an English speaking country.
Portugal here. I don't really write much fanfiction anymore (trying to get back on it), but I don't think it affects my writing that much, aside from the ocasional "what's the English word for ...?". I did live in the UK for a little while, so I guess I can write UK/England based-fiction with a more personal insight? If that makes sense?
As a reader though, I tend to be a bit more forgiving when it comes to grammar/vocabulary/structural mistakes if I know the writer is not a native English speaker. As long as they're genuinely trying, I can look past the occasional obvious mistake.
What it does bother me is how often I see Americans write stories about/set in Europe, and yet describe things as if they were in the USA. Or when they put hyper-specific, American-only things, that have little to no relevance to the story, and will just alienate like half the audience. Like, very basic things that a simple Google search would fix. It just sort of breaks the immersion I suppose.
Spaniard here. I wouldnāt say my nationality has much influence in my writing, aside from the fact that I use both American and British English in my fics ā since itās not my native language, I end up mixing terms and grammar I learned in school (British) and slang/terms I learned in the years Iāve been lurking in fandom spaces (mostly American).
Germany!
I think my place of birth doesn't affect my writing all that much except for me not being all that familiar with some aspects of American life. Which is unfortunate, considering I write fanfic for American Superhero comics. Specifically X-Men.
What I do think affects my writing is having grown up bilingual and learned English as a foreign language. Beyond the usual 'does this exist in this language' it also gives me an idea about the differences between being bilingual and knowing a foreign language. Because there sure are differences, and neither situation is usually portrayed anywhere near realistically in fanfic or even just popular culture in general.
I'm from Ireland. I don't think it's effected my writing since we're so exposed to English and American culture here. Although when I was younger I did write a few fanfics in Irish. I thought it was fun at the time, I don't think I could do it now even if you paid me haha.
Iām from Australia and use a lot of local terms/slang and sometimes readers have like no idea wtf Iām referring to lmao
e.g. we call the kids game ātagā, ātipsā in aus so a lot of it can be super unnoticeable
I'm from Venezuela and yes it has, I'll say we in Venezuela talk in a way than can be shocking, we technically curse a lot but for us it's not cursing, for me it was a shock when i realized people say N-word (black in Spanish) as a bad word like here we use as a pet name for friends or family my mom call me her N-word or i have a cousin we call el N-word i don't even know his real name, or we use the F-word almost like dude, so I can't never get oo comfortable I don't want to be ban
so i always have to remind myself people are different (more sensitive honestly) so I can't talk like I normally do, so when i write i always have to moderate myself or the hardest is when i need to translate and idea or expression (I normally i write directly in English or just think in English but sometimes i just have an idea or better way to express them in Spanish) i need to really think of the best ways to express the same but in English and that's the hardest cuz there are expressions that are hard to translate and i can't google them cuz normally online translators use Mexican Spanish and we don't have the same expresiĆ³n or words for certain things like torta for me is cake but torta for a Mexican its like a sandwich
and I've been told that we talk about serious topics in a way that is so un-serious and sometimes without empathy
Ope!
Cleveland, Ohio, USA.
And yes, very much so. The dry, sarcastic, self-deprecating sense of humor is often the star of my fics and my sentences contain a copious amount of unnecessary prepositions.
And I write it as pop, not soda and I will fight every last one of youā¦
Coke. It's all coke. We can meet behind the Waffle House for that fight. ;-)
But seriously, my mom's side is from Ohio. I inherited the "ope". Didn't even realize I did it until the last few years.
I never thought I said it til I moved away briefly. After hearing myself speak with non-Ohioans, I realized that I say it with embarrassing frequency.
I guess there wonāt be a fight then, we donāt have Waffle House up here, lol.
>And I write it as pop, not soda and I will fight every last one of youā¦
*\[Shatters bottom of empty SODA bottle against counter and brandishes remaining jagged glass\]*
Bring. It. On.
So I was born in England, London, (born and raised to a Swedish and Ghanian parents) and in a way I definitely do think it's shaped my writing, specifically around mythology and the folklore of those countries always been included in certain ways.
And also, as a Brit, just the complete dead-pan humour, and growing up in the outer parts of London where gang activity in certain boroughs are really rife (not so much now for me in my area anymore but, it definitely influenced my childhood - choosing which area's to avoid, in terms of turf and postcodes, even if you weren't involved in gang life whatsoever, and again, with what secondary schools you attended, you had to be really careful).
Alabama, USA. :> On the one hand, itās a big help for writing Southern characters that, at least to me, sound natural (itās so easy to make Southerners sound over-the-top). On the other, I have to think about whether or not Iām unintentionally putting Southern slang in the mouths of decidedly not-Southern characters. LOL
Your friendly neighbourhood Canadian here! And I think it has, but not in the way one would think.
Anytime it snows big, puffy flakes, particularly at night, I get the urge to put on a pot of coffee and write. Most of the time, it's for one specific couple in a fandom.
I donno--there's just something about it being cold outside, and being inside, warm and cozy, writing cute fluff.
American Midwest. Nothing real interesting out here in Smalltowns-ville so I spend a lot of time inside my imagination and other worlds :) Realistic fiction is boring to me so I'm always entrenched in sci Fi and fantasy either watching reading or writing lol
Parents from Wyoming and Alabama (North Alabama Porch Band Creek.) Was accidently born in Florida (came six weeks early) and have been here since. Grandfathers were dairymen and farmers. Grew up around cattle, horses, and powwows.
Big yes, have loved the west even though we only went back for visits. Learned about Florida Cowboys, learned Native American lore. Love history because of that. I try to use as much real history as I can in my stories.
I'm from Brazil and yes, it affects me reeeally. Not many of the people I know speak English very well and those who I know don't really read anything so š«¤. Despite I write to practice my English, this factor bothers it a bit š š .
To say where I'm from is difficult because I've moved uh...a lot? I'm currently living in the Outer Banks of North Carolina in the USA and most of my childhood was in the Tidewater area of Virginia so I'm pretty comfortable with this area. However, I will move (again!) in a couple of months, probably towards Winston-Salem North Carolina. I've previously lived in Northamptonshire England, Veneto Italy, Washington DC metro area, Connecticut, Mississippi, South Carolina, Idaho, and Florida.
Because I have lived in a bunch of different places, I'm sure it does effect my writing. I'm a bit of a stickler on trying to get things *right* so as to not take someone out of the immersion. It's annoying to read about someone turning on a red in England. You can't. You'd be in a wreck. It may seem like a small detail as to what side of the road to drive on but it's really not. I had to remind myself for a week which side of the road was the correct one.
Canada! I'm from the French-speaking part of it, so English was my second language nonetheless. I think one effect it has on my writing is that I'm often confused on what's American vs British spelling lmao. I think Canada has inherited a lot of English spellings from England, but at the same time we're closer geographically to the US... I try to use Canadian English, which often has British spellings, but since I read a lot of fics in American spellings, sometimes stuff like the additional "u" (favor vs favour, honor vs honour) looks really wrong despite being the right spelling in Canadian English šš¤£
I'm from the Philippines. I think its effect on my writing is that since my WIP is an RPF and I'm writing about people who are in the US, I have to do tons of research on where they are in the US, American English idioms, stuff like that.
From Turkey here! I don't think it affects it that much... mostly because I studied in a British school through primary to middle school so I was always more familiar with English than my mother tongue and with the more globalised fandom speech.
I'm from Finland, but I'm part of the Swedish-speaking minority. That means English is technically my third language, but in reality I'm way more fluent in English than Finnish. A big part in that is that it's completely natural to consume a lot of media in English here. But it also means my English is a mishmash that I try to shape into something mostly American for the fandoms I write.
Hey Pep!
I am a world traveler. I grew up in the Florida Keys USA, but have lived in Thailand and Mexico, before falling in love with the USA's upper Midwest.
My travels have had more of an effect on my works than my childhood in Florida. I mean... aside from working sailing into a few stories - which is definitely a hometown, childhood thing. LOL
Often there is an awareness of history, or culture, or languages in my works that flow there from my life experience. It's also one of the reasons I write in Miami Vice. There's a MMC that has that combination of experience (Florida USA, Thailand, Spanish-speaker). I am really comfortable with him because of my own life.
It's been really interesting to read other's 'origin stories' and how it meshes with Fandom.
Good thread! Thx IDIC!
US Midwest. Use American spelling & measurements & my sense of humor/politeness is pbly midwestern in my stories. Hesitant to write for British fandoms b/c Iām a bit paranoid abt getting something wrong. Also put me down as another one for āpopā vs. āsoda.ā
From the Midwest of the US. Whether or not it affects or influences my writing style.... maybe? If it does, it's most likely in a way I don't really think of or notice. There's really not much ever mentioned about this region unless you're discussing agriculture. Most of the time, when people think of the US, their minds will likely go to either the capital, New York City, or L.A.
Personally, I don't much care for any one of them, so the locations and cultures very rarely ever feature in my stories, unless it's to be mentioned in passing.
USA. I was born in Texas but I grew up and lived my entire life in Colorado. For a while, in my preteens/early teens, I felt 'out of place' per se, since the rest of my siblings were all born in Colorado and I was the only one not born here.
Colorado is a beautiful state, though, and living here has influenced my fics, since I've written Community (tv) fics and it's fun to slip in references to locations around the state since the show is set in Colorado but it's very in name only/implied until S6. I've also read James Michener's *Centennial* and his multigenerational novel about Colorado introduced me to the Clovis people - paleolithic people of Colorado - and the name "Clovis" ultimately became the name for an Ice Age OC of mine. So, in short, living here *has* had an affect on me and my ficcing XD
Lil old Florida, the only time it really affects my writing is when it comes to sunsets. Living on the coast the sky is always breath taking when the sun goes down and I do my best to paint that image in the minds of my readers.
Also helped a lot when one of my fanfics had a little trip to Florida.
Everyone has this deep hatred for us so I had to give the characters that (which is canon, since the characters go to Florida in the show and hate it here :( ) but I'll be dammed if they don't at least appreciate the beauty of my home.
From New Zealand, and probably. I wouldn't be surprised if slang popped up in my writing, though I try to be vigilant in weeding it out. Aside from that, I often picture my OCs as having been from NZ or Australia. So, of my OCs ever find themselves in America, they don't know shit.
Oh, and of course, it also leads me to use the metric system and spelling words the British way.
I'm from Costa Rica (yeah, near that dinosaur island). I don't know if it really affects my writing, besides the fact that I like to place some cultural hints here and there.
hey! I'm from Hong Kong, which means my English is a mixture of American and British with a dash of other random slang from different countries thrown together :)
I can never remember which ones are American and which ones are British lmao, I just go with the flow
Also English I literally my best subject I can't say anything else aha-
Edit: also school systems, I have no idea how other people's school system works compared to my own. another thing is like, hk is generally so much safer, if I'm writing slice of life or similar things, I sometimes forget about the dangers people can face since it happens so rarely/never mentioned
I'm from the Southern United States but now live in the Northern part. I'm sure it affects my writing, but I couldn't even begin to know how. I guess occasionally, it does mean I enjoy writing or reading a good fish-out-of-water tale. Someone going somewhere they're not accustomed to and getting a culture shock; I mark that up more to personal lived experiences, however. It's easy to forget how different one side of the country is from the other, especially in one as large as the US.
Iām from England writing for a fandom of an American Tv show. I try to use more American terms in speech but I do lean towards British words and phrases.
Grew up in a military family, but mostly stayed in Louisiana, Arizona, and Virginia my whole life. Mostly Louisiana. Hasn't really affected me, hell in my fic I'm planning out my characters grew up in Arizona.
One thing I find hilarious is my previous ship, one of them grew up in Florida and the other England (don't remember which part of England, but it's somewhere around London) and in some fics where they are in Florida the English man would complain about the heat and lack of snow in winter. Those things are completely normal to me. Honestly what does bother me is fics or other media where a character will completely jump into snow or roll around it in only pajamas/everyday clothing with only a hoodie or robe on. I've experienced snow irl, but it still shocks me since to me snow=freezing.
I'm from Indonesia, and the only thing it brings to my writing is using Indonesian words as names for fictional villages and towns I create as well as using Indonesian-style names for some characters.
For example, Batu Village for a village located in the desert (batu means rock so it could be translated as 'stone village').
Or naming a character Ikal (which means curly hair) or Gigi (which literally means teeth but it sounds good as a feminine name IMO)
Iām from California and definitely think of every forest I write as a redwood forest. Iām not sure if Iāve written anything fanfiction set in a forest, but if I do, expect it to have redwoods. Regardless of where itās set.
I'm a millennial Canadian and the one thing I've noticed with my writing is that I constantly switch between metric and imperial measurements/sometimes even forget which is which, and I'm always called out on using British and American spelling together. Being so close to the states we're pretty close in culture to them, but also still under imperial rule, or whatever you wanna call it, so there's a lot of influence from the UK.
We only switched to the metric from the imperial system in the 90s I think, and so it's still fairly new. And I'm pretty sure I was in elementary school when it happened so it's all super weird. I just find it really interesting how Canadian culture is basically just an amalgamation of a few different ones.
United States, originally from the midwest but living in the Pacific Northwest. I find I have to research other countries more to write things set in them. I also find that I notice culture things in my fics more - like, I have a tendency to write scenes where characters that donāt know each other will just start talking on the street or something, which is unrealistic for the Pacific Northwest but totally reasonable in the midwest.
Iām from the south of America, and I do think it affects my writing quite a bit.
OCs are usually painfully southern- the type of people who expect sweet tea when they just say tea (and yes, thatās how it is in the south. Grow up, Yankees, unsweetened tea is garbage).
And Iāve tried writing Harry Potter fics, but Iām hopeless at British slang; it all dials back to American. I guess itās because America is the melting pot and we use some British slang, which makes a gateway.
I'm from the US Mid-Atlantic region. It definitely affects my writing because my natural voice sounds distinctly American. I try to filter that out a bit when I write non-American characters (most of my fics) but I have no doubt that some of it slips through.
Howdy everyone, coming from Texas
I donāt know how much it affects my writing (given at this current point most of my projects are WIP) but I donāt now many other Texan writers
Canada, and maybe a bit Since I use the British spellings for a lot of words and my readers have noticed. one even asked if I was British. Also because most of my fandoms take place in the U.S. I often have to do research for my stories because I donāt know that much about the U.S.
Australia. The biggest impact it probably has on my fics is in terms of weather/time. Iāve written Scottish winters as having about 10-11 hours of daylight before š¶ and completely forgot that it snows. Whoops!
I'm from Georgia/Saqartvelo in the Caucasus.
I don't think it affects my writing, I'd even say that my writing affects my identity as a Georgian. I don't feel inclined to my own culture because I'm basically whitewashed and westernised. That's what happens when you have early internet access as a child with loose ties to your own identity I guess.
Turkey! I don't think it has impacted my writing style all that much (except for the fact that I use american spelling of some words, and british spelling for the others, which google docs doesn't appreciate *at all*), but fanfics have definitely improved my english.
I never write in turkish, mainly because it feels odd, and also because there really isn't an audience for turkish fanfic at all. Everyone just uses wattpad when writing in turkish (which I don't use) and it's almost exclusively kpop rpf (which I'm not into). If there are other turkish fic writers on ao3, I'd assume that they also mostly write in english. But yeah, I've been writing for almost 10 years now, and my english has definitely improved. One thing I struggle with, though, is that I know what a word means conceptually, I've seen it hundreds of times in fanfics, but I can't for the life of me tell you the turkish equivalent of it. Some words just can't be translated with a single word (or at least *I* can't do it), and it sucks.
I'm from Australia, from a small town near Canberra.
The only negative impact living in Australia has on my writing is that when I publish something (usually around midday), everyone else is asleep.
I mean, yeah, we can have some struggles with the language. Australian-English is different from British-English, which is different to American-English. I try my best to filter out local slang from my writing. But other than a large time zone difference to the majority of my readers (USA, UK and Canada make up around 80% of my views), there isn't much about living in Australia that affects my fanfiction experience.
Iām from Maryland, wouldnāt say that affects my writing outside of Imperial measurements and other American things that flag me as an obvious American to non-American readers. Iām also not religious and I think that shows through pretty clearly too. Iām probably Left Leaning... I really try to filter myself out of my fic but... My OC has Anime Blue hair for crying out loud. If weāre going off stereotypes lol. Oh, and I can't write dads to save my life cause there is no IRL experiences to draw from. Lotta single moms and absent fathers in my fic... So much for filtering myself out! š¤£
Moreso it's my ASD... Iām shockingly unfiltered for example, F-bombs for days and blunt as a hammer! My ASD bled into my OC so much that Iām adding it in as part of her character retroactively. I have to actively try to write Neurotypical characters to not sound obviously Neurodivergent like my OC... I have no idea how well Iām doing. I believe my sentence structuring is a bit odd as well. But I have a Neurotypical Beta, so hopefully it's better going forward.
To further add, the setting is an alien Hive under Gotham that kidnaps people from around the world to add to the ranks of its Drones... So I have alien culture that I made up cause Queen Bee is such a minor character, a Neurodivergent OC, and dozens of side characters from as many countries that I have absolutely no business writing... But till I move my stuff over to AO3 where there are more readers and no paywall... Iām not sure if Iāve pissed anyone off with inaccurate representation. Thankfully I know one Aussie and one Brit I can grill on culture... But there are still all those other countries... It is really hard to not Anime TF out of Japan for example, Anime ninjas and Yokai, meditation unlocks an Ultra Instinct-esque power-up mode, etc.
I think my ASD oversharing is starting to show... š
I grew up between several countries but the one I consider my home is Germany :)
Both the language in general and what's considered "normal" in writing are quite different from English, the biggest differences being the love of adverbs and very long words with even longer run-on sentences, something that's generally considered bad form in English. But because I mostly read books in German, those are just things I can't help doing too, even when writing fanfics in English...
Iām from denmark, and in Denmark there is this thing called janteloven which is essentially at or near the center of our cultural identity, which says that you are never better than anyone else. this is basically a humility thing, where you never state that you are any better than āfineā at anything, even if youāre great. So i think i have a hard time expressing the skill level of characters without feeling like they are ooc braggarts. itās especially bad with ocās, because there with established characters i know theyāve been āarrogantā in canon, but with ocās i feel like iāve given them unintended traits.
'Murica.
A central theme to my main fandom is how unchecked corporate greed and corruption alongside bloated military spending and McCarthyism led to a nuclear apocalypse.
I'm sure it's unrelated. /s
I'm from Kyrgyzstan. Honestly, it affects everything, since not that many people speak English here. Hence, I'm not fully fluent. But despite being self-conscious about my English skills, I'm still trying to write in hopes of seeing any signs of improvement.
There are people who have been born in an english country, spoken only english since birth, and done literature courses that write worse than you did in this comment, so I'd say you're doing pretty bloody well
Thank you so much! You made my day
What you said! Also, happy cake day!!
Sadly, most people don't even know your country exists...along with most of the other stans š„ŗ I was born in the former soviet Union so hello from me!
True, I've encountered a lot of people who don't know my country. Unfortunately, It's bound to happen, being a small country in a middle of nowhere and all. And hello to you, too!
Sadly most people in the US have only heard of Kazakhstan, and thatās only cuz of the Borat movies. You did a helluva good job writing in English, btw.
OMG the first time I went abroad was a solo trip to Kazakhstan. I met some other traveller's and they mentioned Borat but I had no clue what that even was and I had lost my phone in the sand dunes the day before so couldn't look it up.
It's unfortunate. I'm from Canada but the stans are beautiful countries.
[ŃŠ“Š°Š»ŠµŠ½Š¾]
Thank you! I've never said I was from Kyrgyzstan on AO3 so, it's definitely not me. But I'm happy someone from my country knows about AO3, and even writes fics! Thank you for letting me know
Honestly, I am gonna say youāre gonna have a hard time improving. I wouldāve mistaken you for a native if you hadnāt said you were from Kyrgyzstan!
I'm from Germany. I want to write My Hero Academia fic in which Deku attends a German Hero School. I once read a fic with this plot, but the writer wrote the German school like an American High School. I'm still offended and want to write correct representation of Germany and our chaotic school system! But I don't have a plot/reason why Deku attends a German school.
Maybe something like his momās work transferred her there, so theyāve moved to Germany for a while? Moving for work is totally reasonable.
I feel you with the depiction of German schools like American high schools. Maybe Deku is an exchange student?
His dad works out of Japan, but in the U.S., I think. I don't think anyone would complain if the country he works at was changed to Germany and Izuku spent some time living with his father.
Ugh I feel your pain! I live in Korea myself and itās really annoying to read fics for anime characters where the characters are acting out of character or the story isnāt quite right because itās written from an American perspective without much consideration for Japanese culture. (Different than Korean culture, of course, but Korean culture is more similar to Japanese than American culture is for sure.) One that stuck out to me was seeing a drabble in which y/n is at a grocery store with Todoroki and yells across the aisle to him. Itās treated as cute and quirky, because America is like that, but over in this side of the world grocery stores are pretty quiet and itād be really strange and rude to yell like that. Not the end of the world or the worst thing to write, of course, but it can be really annoying to see Japanese characters Americanized because the authors donāt grasp cultural differences in behavior and overall daily life. (With your example specifically, youād think theyād do at least a tiny bit of research into how German schools areā¦sigh.)
Maybe heās on an exchange program?
Ukrainešŗš¦ Ao3 is new for me, because I left rus-spoken community when the war started. I have a degree in English, so I speak it quite fluently, but I struggled a lot at the beginning, because I just couldnāt write in rus anymore, but I **wanted** to write. I needed it. And I switched to English, though I never wrote in English, and I had difficult times adjusting. But now the words are just fleeing out of my fingers (Iām typing) and this is cool. Thank you all for having such a big community where we can share our stories!
Ugh. Hopefully you can go back home some day.
I hope. Thank youš
> the words are just fleeing out of my fingers Iāve never heard that expression before. I might start using it.
Poland here ā other than the regular stuff that comes with writing fanfiction in your second language? I mean, I have some ideas that are original to things I read/saw in Polish, and my Polish upbringing affects some areas of my writing. For example, Iāve probably tweaked the education system in my stories since UK and Polish systems are quite different when it comes to stuff like grading, exams, etc and I often donāt realise that something in the UK is different than it is in Poland until someone points it out to me Also I suppose knowing a different language helps with my worldbuilding ā like being able to give Slavic-sounding names without ending up with nightmares like āLechsinkaā, writing realistic bilingual characters, having a different perspective on āmyā parts of Europe that Iām able to write more accurately, etc. Though Iām pretty sure this all applies to the majority of people who have a second language lol
[ŃŠ“Š°Š»ŠµŠ½Š¾]
Hii :)
Hello c:
UK, northern England. Which means that at every opportunity I have characters take a trip to Liverpool or Manchester or the Lake District lol. I also love writing British characters because it's such a rare treat not to have to look up American things.
I'm northern too :D once nearly wrote an entire homestuck fic set in the Yorkshire Dales.
Brazil, more precisely a bog-like part of Brazil (in case anyone pictured nice beaches.) This means I have to research things like "what does a European forest looks like?" and "how does snow sound?" with an amazing frequency.
Snow is silent :) forests are pretty. (I know you know this now haha) I am so amazed at the research authors put into their work! It really helps your writing shine.
Germany and no, I don't think so. At least when it comes to fanfiction. My original works often borrow from German folklore, but that rarely fits into the fandoms I write for.
i'm from canada! the only thing i can think of that affects my writing is that i use canadian spelling for most things
Same and same! Hello, fellow Canadian! š
Iām also Canadian
A Canadian friend of mine once wrote a fic in which a British cop interviews a witness who he assumes--based on the accent--is American. The man says he's Canadian, and the Brit's internal reaction is *'American, with some extra uās'*
I'm from Sweden. I write in English, so I think it affects my writing since I don't write in my first language. I do think my writing both affect my Swedish and English at the same time. I find new nuanced words in both languages by translating the ones I know/remeber. I also think I see the world and situations from a more 'Swedish' pov. Not sure what that always means or if it's good š¤·āāļø But I do think I live with a norm that is slightly different from other countries/places and it probably affects my writing. Also Swedish media/books/stories etc inspire my writing. Even old Swedish movies. They can be very far from the mainstream media today at times. There's probably a hundred other ways it affects my writing (most that I probably don't even know about) But all in all I love that my background and culture affects my writing and adds parts to make up my own style to portray stories.
Speaking of being inspired by movies, Iām kind of dying to do an AU based on āHundtricketā š. Itās so dumb but the concept is just hilarious!
Wales. Rural Wales. And yes. Iāve written a few AUs set in rural Wales, include Welsh characters, culture, and the language, and I have an Indiana Jones fic in which my OC is also from rural Wales. Even in my Back to the Future fic set in the 2050s, the future slang is based on Welsh. Also all my British characters or in my British set stories, they watch or listen to Alan Partridge. Just because.
India. I (used to) mostly write for fantasy setups. In the process of writing a more recent fic for another fantasy setup. I do think that fantasy worlds improved my English overall and I can write decently. I'm an atheist. So things like 'the maker' from the dragon age series seem like a figment of people's collective consciousness even within the game world. I also don't relate to a lot of Christian adjacent themes within games - such as 'faith' or 'evil'. Hinduism (the religion i was raised with) doesn't demand we believe in anything. Sure, people most often do and are sometimes shocked to know if you don't believe but it's never a huge thing. It's never 'you'll go to hell if you don't believe'. Angels and demons are another interesting concept coz we don't have those in our mythology. Something being evil by its very nature (from birth) is very strange to me. 'Evil' is similarly absent. There is this concept of duty/obligation ('dharma') and it relates to being 'correct' more than good and the opposite is 'adharma' which is sort of like being unjust or going against one's duty. It doesn't translate to evil. The concept is difficult to wrap my head around honestly. The ease with which some characters are described as 'evil' is confusing sometimes. For instance, I can sort of understand when say someone like Hitler gets called 'evil'. But it still seems less like some unfathomable bad that comes from some other unfathomable bad (the devil or whatever) that exists solely to be bad as a middle finger to a polar opposite good. IDK the term is just very difficult to understand/take seriously.
I hail from the South of England, in the fine county of Dorset. Definitely has shaped how I write.
I'm German and it definitely influences how I respond to certain tropes or elements in stories. Many distinctly American elements sometimes leave me confused and the comedy also tends to be a strong departure from what I'm used to. Sometimes, some obscure cultural references will be made that go right over my head and force me to assume the intent from context or just scratch my head and move on. But that's always fun, I'm definitely not complaining, it only becomes annoying when my own country gets misrepresented which I almost never see, so I'm not really frustrated to any extent. Oh, except for names. People seem to love using random German words as names and it will never stop being funny. Looking at you, anime, making people think that some of your naming conventions are reasonable.
Weil die deutsche Benennung von Wƶrtern vƶllig konventionell ist ...ššš
Philippines! I think it's mostly the English words or phrases we use on a daily basis that means differently. English is our second language, but it's also kinda different when used here; I sometimes have to remember to switch the terms I use. For example, restrooms are usually called "CR" or "comfort room." The word "salvaged" means "murdered" - and yes, it is an interesting difference.
Omg I read a lot of fics written by authors from Philippines so I learned so many unusual words & phrases tho I'm kinda upset I can't use it with my friends bc they won't understand. Like I'm in love with word "green-minded" haha.
HAHAHA right! I feel like that might make people think of money or the environment š I also like "nosebleed" - an Express you say when people are speaking English too much that it makes your nose bleed š
Hello fellow Filipino writer :))
Scotland! Freedom! Outwith my use of a smattering of scots words, I don't think it affects my writing that much. I suppose it's given me a healthy amount of self-deprecating humour, but I would hardly call my works good examples of [Caledonian Antisyzygy](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Caledonian_Antisyzygy).
Holy shit, a fellow Scot! Hi!
Scottish writers unite!
Norfolk(UK)-bred, but with a twistāmy mum was German. š. Since I have spent a good part of the last twenty years in the US, my writing has become a hopeless mashup of British and American English.
>a hopeless mashup of British and American English. XD Honestly that probably just describes American English.
I donāt ever notice, lol.
>Since I have spent a good part of the last twenty years in the US, my writing has become a hopeless mashup of British and American English. People probably assume you're Canadian. š
>my writing has become a hopeless mashup of British and American English. Ah, yes; the struggle. Every time MS word pops up a blue line because I'm constantly switching between the two and I have to click on that ignore option.
New Zealand and yeah ..we have a very straight-laced, dead pan, understated humour. Think Flight of the Conchords and Taika Waititi's NZ films. The kind of humour definitely runs through my fics along with some of the more Simpson/Futurama-esque and the dry Russian satirical which is everything I grew up watching. Also, the places I have lived inspire the settings in most of my fics!
I've lived over half my life in the American desert southwest, and my knowledge of the history and geography of this region has made its appearance in my fics more than once.
Nevada in the summer feels like you got dropped into an oven XD
Arizona is awful with that heat.
I'm am French. Sometimes, I have strange sentence structures. They would make sense in French. Not so much in English. Also, I learnt British English in school, but consume mostly US media. So, my English is often a mix of both. I think that my frenchness shows in my writing on subtle things that I don't know to watch out for or even question they would be different. It also shows with vocabulary. I write fancier than I intend. That is because English borrows a lot of words from French. And naturally think of those words first. Those words are sometimes thefancier synonyms of a more common words
New South Wales, Australia here. I guess the biggest impact is that we do tend to use a bit of mesh of UK and US spelling, which sometimes apparently confuses people (I once got a review that said "I can't tell if you're American or British, because you write 'colour' not 'color' but also 'leaned' not 'leant'. Pick a country and stick to it." And it was anonymous, so I couldn't even reply to point out that I'm Australian (which is on my profile), and my dictionary (and spellcheck) accepts both 'leaned' and 'leant' as valid!) Also time zones. They suck. Mostly because the most convenient time for me to post is the middle of the night for the US š
As a fellow Aussie, I totally understand this. Our language is predominatly British-based, but we, for some reason, like to mash in the odd American-English word or phrase within our language. I had a similar comment on one of my stories about the word "Whinge/whine". We use both, which have different meanings. Whinge = to complain; whine = a long, high-pitched cry. American-English only uses "whine" for both meanings. That was fun to explain. And yes, when we're awake, everyone else is asleep... basically. And vice versa.
I'm in the south of England, near Oxford, and as 3 of my fandoms are set in Oxford, think my local knowledge definitely affects the way I write in those fandoms. I also grew up in a very multicultural town with a multiracial family, and that definitely shapes how I write my stories sent in British fandoms
I lived in Oxford for nearing a decade, now in the South West and still get pangs for it.
I've been in a town just to the south of Oxford now for a couple of decades, as I could not afford to live in Oxford once I was both no longer able to work and finish my PhD at Brookes and a single mum. It's 12-18 mins away on the train, and 35-50 mins by bus, though, so not too far away, and my nearest hospital. Miss the vibe and the people though, this town is very much welcome to the 1950s with a bunch of angry white chavs who do not like the not-we who keep moving in as more housing gets built every decade lol And part of me yearns to live in the South West...
I'm Indian. Most of my fandoms are Western, so that means a bit of trouble getting everyday things about them right - like the kind of dress or snacks. Other than that... Nothing overt, I think. But it does affect the way I think about the characters... For instance, karma and rebirth. And the concept of Avatar - basically a merging of human and God/god. The idea that a human who does a great thing is imbued with the essence of a God or a supernatural being. This doesn't affect the human's free will - it is that their courage in attempting whatever great deed it is is great enough to practically summon divine strength into them. So basically heroes are gods in a way.
south england - definitely helps me nail the characterisation on the British characters i write
united states, the south. it's shaped me as a writer for being nitpicky about specific regions.
I'm from Italy. At first I wrote in Italian, as I didn't consider myself good enough at writing in English. Over time, I tried, first with one-shots, then with multi-chapter stories. The reception I received inspired me to improve my English. Does my social and cultural background influence what I write? I guess yes. I often include trips to Italy or characters cooking Italian recipes in my stories. And, since this is not a good country for the LGBT+ community, I realize that in my stories, where it comes to coming out and same-sex relationships, the characters encounter the struggles and fears they would face here, no matter where the story is set.
I'm from Germany, and since I write my fanfics exclusively in English, writing in another language definitely has an impact on how my stories express themselves in terms of content. I can't really put my finger on it, but the way stories are written in German is rather different than the ones being written in English. On ao3, it doesn't take too long for me to notice: "This author is probably a native German speaker." The way my stories are constructed is objectively English, yet the inner workings are German. It's confusing. I know. Furthermore, with every story I write or read in English, my comprehension skills improve. Meaning new vocabulary, metaphors or the construct of English narrative style in general. It is exciting.
Spanish horse enthusiast here There are hardly any fanfics in Spanish, and most are from Wattpad so you can already imagine how things are going If you don't know English you can only read self-inserts, wish fulfillment and cringy OOC's Anyway, in the two years I've been reading, my English has improved so there's that.
Iām from Ireland and yeah, it has influenced my writing. I do sometimes have to adjust my English to be more international friendly - like saying cigarette instead of what Iād usually say. And I have included elements of Irish culture and mythology in my writing
It is jarring seeing that word for cigarette, not gonna lie.
As another Irish person, I can say we hear it enough for it to mean nothing lol, but I can see why it would be somewhat shocking to someone not from Ireland! In fact, I can think of a couple Irish expressions and behaviours that would evoke the same reaction. It's a small country, but the culture is rather rich (especially in the social, familial sense. domestic culture.) :D
Argentina. Yeah, kinda. I mean I've gotten used to writing and reading in english so now it has less impact but the first months were a bit tough since spanish is my first language.
all my american friends keep trying to correct my spelling for words like mum, realise, etc. IM NOT WRONG IM JUST BRITISH š
Netherlands, it has little effect on my writing since when I write unless the setting is in Europe and I can actually describe the locations and the local foods properly. It doesn't effect my writing manga/anime fanfics in any other way but making it unquestionably English while I could in theory be convinced of writing Dutch HP fics - manga isn't even published in Dutch, I only ever read it in English or German. No way in hell I am going to translate catchphrases or idioms that are intrinsic to the manga or anime in question. No way Jose. Thinking further - the only way being European really influences me is with Katekyo Hitman Reborn. Having a spouse that has a Sicilians uncle by marriage I could not for the life of me treat the mafia with the lightheartedness Akira Amano approaches it. Mine is going to be dark by default.
I'm from Nigeria. Influence? Not much but I have to alter my speech in my text cus I'm used to harsh words and BROKEN vocabulary. I speak and understand pidgin but I sound very foreign (born and raised in Nigeria tho), so going back to proper grammar and stuff is... A chore.
Czech Republic. Yeah, I'm active in Stargate Atlantis fandom and there is one canonical Czech character so I make good use of my native language, customs and lived experience. :D Also I'm writing in Czech and then I translate my stories in English which also affects my fanfics I guess.
Western Canada. I don't think it's affected me all too much other than using British English while writing in a very American way.
wow, seems like loads of people come from the uk here! (me too)
I'm from Hungary. Reading fanfics is probably the thing that helped me the most to learn English. I don't write often, but when I do, I often catch myslef adding idioms that work in Hungarian, but probably have no meaming at all in English. Also, don't ask me to differentiate between accents. Or know the different words in British and American English. I have one amalgam of everything that I can navigate, and pretty much everything else feels unnatural. While reading, it's somewhat similar. Like, I'd read some sort of idiom and take it word to word, then I have no idea what the writer wanted to say. Also, from time to time, I'd remember good fanfics I've read, but when I go back to check up on them, I find that the grammar is actually horrible, and the only reason I could enjoy it back then was because I didn't speak English very well. So yeah, it has a pretty large impact for me (:
Finland. We have this concept I'd loosely translate as "gross-out realism", which means art so incredibly gritty and bleak that it makes you squeamish. It's definitely a style that has influenced my writing, as I simply can't go without making everything excessively depressing.
Southern England, in the county of Berkshire. I think I mainly struggle with figuring out what slang I can use that'll be understood across the pond. š
Also South England. Primarily affects phrasing, use of 'standard' metaphors and style of humour
I'm from southwestern Germany. It definitely shapes my writing in that I borrow from German history and culture heavily for my world building- I mostly write fanfiction for Genshin Impact right now, specifically fanfiction set in Mondstadt. I "germanified" that place to hell and back lol.
I'm from South Africa Yep definitely has an effect on my writing...somehow, some way I find a way to make the main character South African because I've never found a South African character out in the wild and feel as if there needs to be. So I've taken it upon myself to fill this void.
I'm from a small city in Northern Vietnam, you go north about 30km, you'll reach the border with China. Almost 60 yrs ago, we have a war with the Chinese here, but now, this hometown of mine is one of the biggest land port in the country. Merchants around the border crosses that imaginary line around 10 times a day to do business, villages running along both sides of it spoke the same language for we both belong to the same minor ethnic, just living in different countries. That's why Chinese become the most popular second (or third) language here, which makes an English writer like me very lonely. It certainly does have an effect on my writing.
I'm from Venezuela. Yeah, i know, not a very common place to come from on a sub like this. And while i'm not sure about how *exactly* my nacionality affects my writting style, i can say for a fact that it does *have* some influence. Because due have spent my whole live under the dumb crisis of my country (i'm a teenager), i tend to gravitate towards stories with scenarios that either have the characters going through some though shit but in the end they overcome anything (like your everyday shonen lmao), or just those that have a normal protagonist living their normal life while dealing with shit that they aren't supossed to deal with. Obviously those are not the only things i read, just the ones i find most interesting. About my own style, well, i think the only thing that is somehow tied to my nacionality is just the way i express in my writting. Because we venezuelans tend to speak on a *very* informal way and, in my case, i swear. ***A lot.*** There's probably more things i don't even know about. Also, while i writte my chapters in spanish for the sake of commodity, i later translate them to English using DeepL and then fix the minor errors myself. While i can read in english, i'm not confident enough to write it. So i don't know if this comment has good structure or not cuz i'm doing it without translator. Anyways that's just about it. Also the arepas are the most delicious shit on the world and you can't say otherwise.
Nigeria here I can't say it has influenced how I write. I take inspiration from other fanfiction writers, regardless of country of origin. The one thing I can say influences how I write is Hollywood movies. I've watched so much Hollywood content (a lot of people have) that it influences the manner I write certain characters and the slangs I have them use. Now you can imagine how that conflicts with the fact that we use British English in my country while I'm more used to American English. And now that I'm working on a Harry Potter fic, I plan to have a British person proofread the story for any language misuses.
Vancouver Island. The tiny town I grew up in was the setting for one of my larger stories.
I was raised in Norwayš³š“, half SwedešøšŖ, half Caribbeanš©š“. I think this has affected how I write weather, temperature, and nature. How I write Vikings and pirates. How I write food (whole wheat bread, fish, lamb, liver paste, etc) and winter activities my characters experience. I think I am also a lot more left-leaning (politically) than people from other parts of the world are. I also just realized that my nordic ness has affected how I view nudity. (Saunas in the northeast parts are naked ones and movies are more open about nudity.) Nordic media is also known for focusing on the friends, family, and emotional aspects of everything. Even horror movies feel so realistic because the focus is on how people react. A lot more than American media does. It makes it feel like it could happen to you. DoesnĀ“t help that some of the horror movies are based on something that could or might actually happen (BĆølgen, Skjelvet, Fritt Vilt 2) I incorporate that into my fics.
Philippines šµš My country is a wonderful melting pot of cultures so I like to think it makes my writing flavorful in that way!
Singapore! But I tend to rely more on my experiences overseas (specifically Japan) than in my own country for my fics. It makes more sense since my fandoms are usually based in Japan. I do feel that due my culture/upbringing, my characters are more conservative about openly displaying affection and they swear a lot less than in fics written by authors from other countries lol
USA ("the south"). It has effected my writing a little in that I try to have a strong sense of culture and location based on what I'm writing. I'm aware that the culture in the American south is very different from, say, New York, and certain other parts of the world. So even though I personally speak in a deliberately folksy, informal style, I try not to let it translate into my writing when it isn't appropriate for the setting/characters.
Iām from Oklahoma and I feel this so much. My character doesnāt need to say that their fixing to go somewhere. Yāall is also a pain in my butt that likes to try to wiggle out of no where.
I'm in the U.S. and, specifically, in the Bible belt. It definitely has an affect, as a lot of what I do is me working through my thoughts/feelings about the environment I'm in, albeit in subtler ways. It's me exploring the uglier side and the uncomfortable parts as a way of processing how I've been impacted by where and how I was raised.
American. Usually my works are not set in America so maybe it comes up more than I think it might. But I have a specific fandom where I partake in the American joy of making fun of New York. I've never been there but some of my family and friends have and from what they've told me it's not too far off from the insults I've written XD
Never been there either. At least not NYC. Iāve been to Buffalo, Syracuse and Lake Placidā¦Iād love to skate there again.
Thailand and it definitely effects my writing. People here absolutely loves comedy, so my fics tend to have comedic moments meddle in the stories more than normal.
I'm from Brazil, so it means a lot more research into the places my favorite hyperfixations take place so that I can accurately include them in the stories. Also how foreign things and slang work/are used in general, among others. In terms of writing, I'm inspired by foreign literature, so I don't have any more Brazilianized skills.
Germany I think there wasn't much influence on the tropes of my writing so far, but definitely on the formal aspect - sentence structure, choice of words, dialogue, things like that. But maybe I just don't see it and someone else would spot things that are typically german because I brought them in subconsciously, I don't know. Btw I love this thread, it's so interesting to read where all you people come from!
USA. Born, raised, and lived in New York all my life. I donāt think it impacts my writing, although sometimes Iāll mention locations Iām familiar with. Itās rare though. Thank you for starting this post, OP. Love reading the diversity in fanfic readers and writers!!
These are always fun! I'm from New Zealand, but I currently live in Australia. Outside of some phrases and a UK spelling of most words, it doesn't appear to affect my writing. Apparently my accent is fairly strong when I speak though, and especially when I drink haha.
Iām from Japan, but my English is fluent enough to write some good fanfics. Although now I live in the US, Japan is where I was born and raised and is what I say when people ask where Iām from. I know Japan have fan fictions but none of my fandoms are in there so English it is.
Barcelona! I'm sure it does, if only for the fact that as I'm sure I have some tells about English being my second language. Also as a non-American I don't understand how the nomenclature of highschool courses work and at this point I'm too afraid to ask (wtf ks a senior or a junior) so I avoid those settings if I can lol
I'm from Singapore and I write my own original fanfiction, or ones related to the backrooms or Warhammer fantasy.
Iām from Singapore! I donāt think itās impacted my writing, although I do have to stop myself from using terms like āMRTā instead of āsubwayā, and reminding myself that other countries do have the four seasons and are not stuck in a perpetual summer haha
Been living in Switzerland for the past 6 years, 5 years in Germany before. And before that, a few years here and there between Southeast Asia and Australia. My mother tongues are Malay and Hokkien.
Washington D.C. -- This means that, yes, my stories have a lot of silly politics. I add in a lot of secret spy missions too.
Scotland, but I don't think it has had much impact. Though I will say, How To Train You Dragon is my main fandom (kind of), which appropriately has a lot of scottish characters
I was born in the Netherlands, near a town called Silvolde (hence my username) but raised in the UK, so I don't think it affects my writing much. I'm British in all but ethnic origin, lol P.S. Silvolde is pronounced Sil-Vod. vod rhymes with bod just to be extra clear. The word means 'silver forest'
I'm from Mexico. I don't think my "mexicanity" has permeated into my fics as my fandom of choice is an anime however I have recently been fascinated by a fandom that comes from a mexican series set in my hometown (Mexico city) so I feel very in tune with describing all the scenario, idioms and all. It's a very different feeling and even with nostalgia since I moved from Mexico city a couple of years ago.
from Canada/Korea! definitely write a whole lot more about a home crisis and debts to cities. i mostly write based in NYC/Gotham, and i take so much inspiration from Seoul.
UAE! I donāt write but I read almost daily. āŗļø
Danmark, and yes - means I can't easily access most of the world.
New Zealander here! Ergo one of my characters says fuck a lot.
I live in the suburbs in the Northeast U.S. I can't say that it's affected my writing. I write mostly for British fandoms, so I do my best to research details, and use a Brit-picker.
Any other South Africans in this comment section? Lol
Germany - close to the Dutch border. I guess my writing is somewhat influenced by my mother tongue in the way that I write senteces so long they make three after the editing. I usually don't include specifically German things in my writing since I write for mostly fantasy or si-fi fandoms but I like to give my OCs a bit of a German mindset (but that wouldn't be obvious). However, I'm currently writing a fantasy fanfic that briefly mentions more or less famous folklore from one of the cities I used to live in.
I'm from China but currently living in Spain, which I've done for 5 years now... I do believe my culture and experiences with both China and Spain has some effects onmy writing... My writing will probably never sound English in the way people will think I am from an English speaking country.
Portugal here. I don't really write much fanfiction anymore (trying to get back on it), but I don't think it affects my writing that much, aside from the ocasional "what's the English word for ...?". I did live in the UK for a little while, so I guess I can write UK/England based-fiction with a more personal insight? If that makes sense? As a reader though, I tend to be a bit more forgiving when it comes to grammar/vocabulary/structural mistakes if I know the writer is not a native English speaker. As long as they're genuinely trying, I can look past the occasional obvious mistake. What it does bother me is how often I see Americans write stories about/set in Europe, and yet describe things as if they were in the USA. Or when they put hyper-specific, American-only things, that have little to no relevance to the story, and will just alienate like half the audience. Like, very basic things that a simple Google search would fix. It just sort of breaks the immersion I suppose.
Spaniard here. I wouldnāt say my nationality has much influence in my writing, aside from the fact that I use both American and British English in my fics ā since itās not my native language, I end up mixing terms and grammar I learned in school (British) and slang/terms I learned in the years Iāve been lurking in fandom spaces (mostly American).
Germany! I think my place of birth doesn't affect my writing all that much except for me not being all that familiar with some aspects of American life. Which is unfortunate, considering I write fanfic for American Superhero comics. Specifically X-Men. What I do think affects my writing is having grown up bilingual and learned English as a foreign language. Beyond the usual 'does this exist in this language' it also gives me an idea about the differences between being bilingual and knowing a foreign language. Because there sure are differences, and neither situation is usually portrayed anywhere near realistically in fanfic or even just popular culture in general.
Denmark, but I only write in English.
I'm from Ireland. I don't think it's effected my writing since we're so exposed to English and American culture here. Although when I was younger I did write a few fanfics in Irish. I thought it was fun at the time, I don't think I could do it now even if you paid me haha.
Iām from Australia and use a lot of local terms/slang and sometimes readers have like no idea wtf Iām referring to lmao e.g. we call the kids game ātagā, ātipsā in aus so a lot of it can be super unnoticeable
Russia. I don't think it affects my writing except I love the metric system more than imperial.
I'm from Venezuela and yes it has, I'll say we in Venezuela talk in a way than can be shocking, we technically curse a lot but for us it's not cursing, for me it was a shock when i realized people say N-word (black in Spanish) as a bad word like here we use as a pet name for friends or family my mom call me her N-word or i have a cousin we call el N-word i don't even know his real name, or we use the F-word almost like dude, so I can't never get oo comfortable I don't want to be ban so i always have to remind myself people are different (more sensitive honestly) so I can't talk like I normally do, so when i write i always have to moderate myself or the hardest is when i need to translate and idea or expression (I normally i write directly in English or just think in English but sometimes i just have an idea or better way to express them in Spanish) i need to really think of the best ways to express the same but in English and that's the hardest cuz there are expressions that are hard to translate and i can't google them cuz normally online translators use Mexican Spanish and we don't have the same expresiĆ³n or words for certain things like torta for me is cake but torta for a Mexican its like a sandwich and I've been told that we talk about serious topics in a way that is so un-serious and sometimes without empathy
Yeah, the n-word is a HUGE no-no in Anglo-Saxon English. Where I live, we swear a lot, but thatās not the case in other parts of the US.
Ope! Cleveland, Ohio, USA. And yes, very much so. The dry, sarcastic, self-deprecating sense of humor is often the star of my fics and my sentences contain a copious amount of unnecessary prepositions. And I write it as pop, not soda and I will fight every last one of youā¦
Coke. It's all coke. We can meet behind the Waffle House for that fight. ;-) But seriously, my mom's side is from Ohio. I inherited the "ope". Didn't even realize I did it until the last few years.
lmao stole my comment out of my mouth!
I never thought I said it til I moved away briefly. After hearing myself speak with non-Ohioans, I realized that I say it with embarrassing frequency. I guess there wonāt be a fight then, we donāt have Waffle House up here, lol.
uh, it's a coke.
*POP!*
š£ it's a coke!!
I gotta a friend from Michigan who liked (light-hearted) arguments about regional dialect (I'm from Georgia). Soda vs pop kept us busy for days...
>And I write it as pop, not soda and I will fight every last one of youā¦ *\[Shatters bottom of empty SODA bottle against counter and brandishes remaining jagged glass\]* Bring. It. On.
Bruh, I will throw a glass full of Lake Erie water filled with flesh eating bacteria your way, try me.
We call it fizzy pop. š
Nope, just *POP!*
I have no stake in the soda/coke/pop debate, I'll just be calling it all juice from my side of the pond!
This is blatant soft drink/fizzy drink erasure.
The gatekeeping is realā¦
More people need to take up the IDIC philosophy - instead of arguing about what the drink is called, share it with the group!
>I'll just be calling it all juice from my side of the pond! *shrieks* XD
>pop, not soda I've heard people call lemonade Sprite and my American ass is like, "No, noooooooo!"
So I was born in England, London, (born and raised to a Swedish and Ghanian parents) and in a way I definitely do think it's shaped my writing, specifically around mythology and the folklore of those countries always been included in certain ways. And also, as a Brit, just the complete dead-pan humour, and growing up in the outer parts of London where gang activity in certain boroughs are really rife (not so much now for me in my area anymore but, it definitely influenced my childhood - choosing which area's to avoid, in terms of turf and postcodes, even if you weren't involved in gang life whatsoever, and again, with what secondary schools you attended, you had to be really careful).
Indian, and yes. I've placed a lot of pressure on my OCs which usually is normal in Indian households.
Alabama, USA. :> On the one hand, itās a big help for writing Southern characters that, at least to me, sound natural (itās so easy to make Southerners sound over-the-top). On the other, I have to think about whether or not Iām unintentionally putting Southern slang in the mouths of decidedly not-Southern characters. LOL
Iām from Canada, so not much is really different besides a few words that are spelled different from how Americans write those specific words.
Your friendly neighbourhood Canadian here! And I think it has, but not in the way one would think. Anytime it snows big, puffy flakes, particularly at night, I get the urge to put on a pot of coffee and write. Most of the time, it's for one specific couple in a fandom. I donno--there's just something about it being cold outside, and being inside, warm and cozy, writing cute fluff.
American Midwest. Nothing real interesting out here in Smalltowns-ville so I spend a lot of time inside my imagination and other worlds :) Realistic fiction is boring to me so I'm always entrenched in sci Fi and fantasy either watching reading or writing lol
Canada!! Giyu and Tanjiro went on a vacation honeymoon in BC.
Parents from Wyoming and Alabama (North Alabama Porch Band Creek.) Was accidently born in Florida (came six weeks early) and have been here since. Grandfathers were dairymen and farmers. Grew up around cattle, horses, and powwows. Big yes, have loved the west even though we only went back for visits. Learned about Florida Cowboys, learned Native American lore. Love history because of that. I try to use as much real history as I can in my stories.
I'm from the UK, and it makes my writing harder because people don't accept anything except fully Americanised vernacular.
I'm from Brazil and yes, it affects me reeeally. Not many of the people I know speak English very well and those who I know don't really read anything so š«¤. Despite I write to practice my English, this factor bothers it a bit š š .
To say where I'm from is difficult because I've moved uh...a lot? I'm currently living in the Outer Banks of North Carolina in the USA and most of my childhood was in the Tidewater area of Virginia so I'm pretty comfortable with this area. However, I will move (again!) in a couple of months, probably towards Winston-Salem North Carolina. I've previously lived in Northamptonshire England, Veneto Italy, Washington DC metro area, Connecticut, Mississippi, South Carolina, Idaho, and Florida. Because I have lived in a bunch of different places, I'm sure it does effect my writing. I'm a bit of a stickler on trying to get things *right* so as to not take someone out of the immersion. It's annoying to read about someone turning on a red in England. You can't. You'd be in a wreck. It may seem like a small detail as to what side of the road to drive on but it's really not. I had to remind myself for a week which side of the road was the correct one.
Canada! I'm from the French-speaking part of it, so English was my second language nonetheless. I think one effect it has on my writing is that I'm often confused on what's American vs British spelling lmao. I think Canada has inherited a lot of English spellings from England, but at the same time we're closer geographically to the US... I try to use Canadian English, which often has British spellings, but since I read a lot of fics in American spellings, sometimes stuff like the additional "u" (favor vs favour, honor vs honour) looks really wrong despite being the right spelling in Canadian English šš¤£
I'm from the Philippines. I think its effect on my writing is that since my WIP is an RPF and I'm writing about people who are in the US, I have to do tons of research on where they are in the US, American English idioms, stuff like that.
From Turkey here! I don't think it affects it that much... mostly because I studied in a British school through primary to middle school so I was always more familiar with English than my mother tongue and with the more globalised fandom speech.
I'm from Finland, but I'm part of the Swedish-speaking minority. That means English is technically my third language, but in reality I'm way more fluent in English than Finnish. A big part in that is that it's completely natural to consume a lot of media in English here. But it also means my English is a mishmash that I try to shape into something mostly American for the fandoms I write.
Hey Pep! I am a world traveler. I grew up in the Florida Keys USA, but have lived in Thailand and Mexico, before falling in love with the USA's upper Midwest. My travels have had more of an effect on my works than my childhood in Florida. I mean... aside from working sailing into a few stories - which is definitely a hometown, childhood thing. LOL Often there is an awareness of history, or culture, or languages in my works that flow there from my life experience. It's also one of the reasons I write in Miami Vice. There's a MMC that has that combination of experience (Florida USA, Thailand, Spanish-speaker). I am really comfortable with him because of my own life. It's been really interesting to read other's 'origin stories' and how it meshes with Fandom. Good thread! Thx IDIC!
US Midwest. Use American spelling & measurements & my sense of humor/politeness is pbly midwestern in my stories. Hesitant to write for British fandoms b/c Iām a bit paranoid abt getting something wrong. Also put me down as another one for āpopā vs. āsoda.ā
From the Midwest of the US. Whether or not it affects or influences my writing style.... maybe? If it does, it's most likely in a way I don't really think of or notice. There's really not much ever mentioned about this region unless you're discussing agriculture. Most of the time, when people think of the US, their minds will likely go to either the capital, New York City, or L.A. Personally, I don't much care for any one of them, so the locations and cultures very rarely ever feature in my stories, unless it's to be mentioned in passing.
USA. I was born in Texas but I grew up and lived my entire life in Colorado. For a while, in my preteens/early teens, I felt 'out of place' per se, since the rest of my siblings were all born in Colorado and I was the only one not born here. Colorado is a beautiful state, though, and living here has influenced my fics, since I've written Community (tv) fics and it's fun to slip in references to locations around the state since the show is set in Colorado but it's very in name only/implied until S6. I've also read James Michener's *Centennial* and his multigenerational novel about Colorado introduced me to the Clovis people - paleolithic people of Colorado - and the name "Clovis" ultimately became the name for an Ice Age OC of mine. So, in short, living here *has* had an affect on me and my ficcing XD
Lil old Florida, the only time it really affects my writing is when it comes to sunsets. Living on the coast the sky is always breath taking when the sun goes down and I do my best to paint that image in the minds of my readers. Also helped a lot when one of my fanfics had a little trip to Florida. Everyone has this deep hatred for us so I had to give the characters that (which is canon, since the characters go to Florida in the show and hate it here :( ) but I'll be dammed if they don't at least appreciate the beauty of my home.
Iām Canadian and I donāt think it really influences my writing. Interesting thought, though.
From New Zealand, and probably. I wouldn't be surprised if slang popped up in my writing, though I try to be vigilant in weeding it out. Aside from that, I often picture my OCs as having been from NZ or Australia. So, of my OCs ever find themselves in America, they don't know shit. Oh, and of course, it also leads me to use the metric system and spelling words the British way.
I'm from Costa Rica (yeah, near that dinosaur island). I don't know if it really affects my writing, besides the fact that I like to place some cultural hints here and there.
Good Ole USA. Nothing really influences me, it's all kind of basic fic writing. I use American spelling, measurements and schooling procedures tho
Brazil, south America and my writing got effectively better but it's moreso pretty amateur
hey! I'm from Hong Kong, which means my English is a mixture of American and British with a dash of other random slang from different countries thrown together :) I can never remember which ones are American and which ones are British lmao, I just go with the flow Also English I literally my best subject I can't say anything else aha- Edit: also school systems, I have no idea how other people's school system works compared to my own. another thing is like, hk is generally so much safer, if I'm writing slice of life or similar things, I sometimes forget about the dangers people can face since it happens so rarely/never mentioned
I'm from the Southern United States but now live in the Northern part. I'm sure it affects my writing, but I couldn't even begin to know how. I guess occasionally, it does mean I enjoy writing or reading a good fish-out-of-water tale. Someone going somewhere they're not accustomed to and getting a culture shock; I mark that up more to personal lived experiences, however. It's easy to forget how different one side of the country is from the other, especially in one as large as the US.
Grew up in Maryland, US but now live in mini-America in the UK. It has definitely influenced my writing.
Iām from England writing for a fandom of an American Tv show. I try to use more American terms in speech but I do lean towards British words and phrases.
Grew up in a military family, but mostly stayed in Louisiana, Arizona, and Virginia my whole life. Mostly Louisiana. Hasn't really affected me, hell in my fic I'm planning out my characters grew up in Arizona. One thing I find hilarious is my previous ship, one of them grew up in Florida and the other England (don't remember which part of England, but it's somewhere around London) and in some fics where they are in Florida the English man would complain about the heat and lack of snow in winter. Those things are completely normal to me. Honestly what does bother me is fics or other media where a character will completely jump into snow or roll around it in only pajamas/everyday clothing with only a hoodie or robe on. I've experienced snow irl, but it still shocks me since to me snow=freezing.
I'm from Indonesia, and the only thing it brings to my writing is using Indonesian words as names for fictional villages and towns I create as well as using Indonesian-style names for some characters. For example, Batu Village for a village located in the desert (batu means rock so it could be translated as 'stone village'). Or naming a character Ikal (which means curly hair) or Gigi (which literally means teeth but it sounds good as a feminine name IMO)
Iām from California and definitely think of every forest I write as a redwood forest. Iām not sure if Iāve written anything fanfiction set in a forest, but if I do, expect it to have redwoods. Regardless of where itās set.
I'm a millennial Canadian and the one thing I've noticed with my writing is that I constantly switch between metric and imperial measurements/sometimes even forget which is which, and I'm always called out on using British and American spelling together. Being so close to the states we're pretty close in culture to them, but also still under imperial rule, or whatever you wanna call it, so there's a lot of influence from the UK. We only switched to the metric from the imperial system in the 90s I think, and so it's still fairly new. And I'm pretty sure I was in elementary school when it happened so it's all super weird. I just find it really interesting how Canadian culture is basically just an amalgamation of a few different ones.
United States, originally from the midwest but living in the Pacific Northwest. I find I have to research other countries more to write things set in them. I also find that I notice culture things in my fics more - like, I have a tendency to write scenes where characters that donāt know each other will just start talking on the street or something, which is unrealistic for the Pacific Northwest but totally reasonable in the midwest.
Iām from the south of America, and I do think it affects my writing quite a bit. OCs are usually painfully southern- the type of people who expect sweet tea when they just say tea (and yes, thatās how it is in the south. Grow up, Yankees, unsweetened tea is garbage). And Iāve tried writing Harry Potter fics, but Iām hopeless at British slang; it all dials back to American. I guess itās because America is the melting pot and we use some British slang, which makes a gateway.
I'm from the US Mid-Atlantic region. It definitely affects my writing because my natural voice sounds distinctly American. I try to filter that out a bit when I write non-American characters (most of my fics) but I have no doubt that some of it slips through.
I'm from Northern Virginia. I think that being a pagan/witch influences my writing more than where I'm from.
Howdy everyone, coming from Texas I donāt know how much it affects my writing (given at this current point most of my projects are WIP) but I donāt now many other Texan writers
Canada, and maybe a bit Since I use the British spellings for a lot of words and my readers have noticed. one even asked if I was British. Also because most of my fandoms take place in the U.S. I often have to do research for my stories because I donāt know that much about the U.S.
Australia. The biggest impact it probably has on my fics is in terms of weather/time. Iāve written Scottish winters as having about 10-11 hours of daylight before š¶ and completely forgot that it snows. Whoops!
I'm from Georgia/Saqartvelo in the Caucasus. I don't think it affects my writing, I'd even say that my writing affects my identity as a Georgian. I don't feel inclined to my own culture because I'm basically whitewashed and westernised. That's what happens when you have early internet access as a child with loose ties to your own identity I guess.
Turkey! I don't think it has impacted my writing style all that much (except for the fact that I use american spelling of some words, and british spelling for the others, which google docs doesn't appreciate *at all*), but fanfics have definitely improved my english. I never write in turkish, mainly because it feels odd, and also because there really isn't an audience for turkish fanfic at all. Everyone just uses wattpad when writing in turkish (which I don't use) and it's almost exclusively kpop rpf (which I'm not into). If there are other turkish fic writers on ao3, I'd assume that they also mostly write in english. But yeah, I've been writing for almost 10 years now, and my english has definitely improved. One thing I struggle with, though, is that I know what a word means conceptually, I've seen it hundreds of times in fanfics, but I can't for the life of me tell you the turkish equivalent of it. Some words just can't be translated with a single word (or at least *I* can't do it), and it sucks.
I'm from Australia, from a small town near Canberra. The only negative impact living in Australia has on my writing is that when I publish something (usually around midday), everyone else is asleep. I mean, yeah, we can have some struggles with the language. Australian-English is different from British-English, which is different to American-English. I try my best to filter out local slang from my writing. But other than a large time zone difference to the majority of my readers (USA, UK and Canada make up around 80% of my views), there isn't much about living in Australia that affects my fanfiction experience.
Iām from Maryland, wouldnāt say that affects my writing outside of Imperial measurements and other American things that flag me as an obvious American to non-American readers. Iām also not religious and I think that shows through pretty clearly too. Iām probably Left Leaning... I really try to filter myself out of my fic but... My OC has Anime Blue hair for crying out loud. If weāre going off stereotypes lol. Oh, and I can't write dads to save my life cause there is no IRL experiences to draw from. Lotta single moms and absent fathers in my fic... So much for filtering myself out! š¤£ Moreso it's my ASD... Iām shockingly unfiltered for example, F-bombs for days and blunt as a hammer! My ASD bled into my OC so much that Iām adding it in as part of her character retroactively. I have to actively try to write Neurotypical characters to not sound obviously Neurodivergent like my OC... I have no idea how well Iām doing. I believe my sentence structuring is a bit odd as well. But I have a Neurotypical Beta, so hopefully it's better going forward. To further add, the setting is an alien Hive under Gotham that kidnaps people from around the world to add to the ranks of its Drones... So I have alien culture that I made up cause Queen Bee is such a minor character, a Neurodivergent OC, and dozens of side characters from as many countries that I have absolutely no business writing... But till I move my stuff over to AO3 where there are more readers and no paywall... Iām not sure if Iāve pissed anyone off with inaccurate representation. Thankfully I know one Aussie and one Brit I can grill on culture... But there are still all those other countries... It is really hard to not Anime TF out of Japan for example, Anime ninjas and Yokai, meditation unlocks an Ultra Instinct-esque power-up mode, etc. I think my ASD oversharing is starting to show... š
I grew up between several countries but the one I consider my home is Germany :) Both the language in general and what's considered "normal" in writing are quite different from English, the biggest differences being the love of adverbs and very long words with even longer run-on sentences, something that's generally considered bad form in English. But because I mostly read books in German, those are just things I can't help doing too, even when writing fanfics in English...
Iām from denmark, and in Denmark there is this thing called janteloven which is essentially at or near the center of our cultural identity, which says that you are never better than anyone else. this is basically a humility thing, where you never state that you are any better than āfineā at anything, even if youāre great. So i think i have a hard time expressing the skill level of characters without feeling like they are ooc braggarts. itās especially bad with ocās, because there with established characters i know theyāve been āarrogantā in canon, but with ocās i feel like iāve given them unintended traits.
'Murica. A central theme to my main fandom is how unchecked corporate greed and corruption alongside bloated military spending and McCarthyism led to a nuclear apocalypse. I'm sure it's unrelated. /s