Benefits of writing fanfiction.

Yes, that is a trait of fanfiction. Are you really supposed to be in it for some "end"? It's fun during the writing and it's fun to share your ideals inside a scenario. A secret pleasure I had is observing my 'vibe' (like how every film Steven Spielberg makes, they carry a 'Spielberg' vibe if you pay attention enough) and how others react to it. Often, I get told my writing is dream-like and almost surreal, and that makes me glee inside.

In fanfic writing, you can develop your own merits along the way.

I want to try re-writing your fanfic one day. However technically competent you are as a writer chi, you can do with an infusion of emotion.

edited 18th Nov '11 5:56:06 PM by QQQQQ

Thinking about this, it makes me feel bad, because I had a fanfic with a bit of a following and I haven't updated it in forever despite it still gaining followers...

Not at all. But the specific subject of this thread is "benefits of writing fanfiction", and having a ready-made audience is something I frequently see considered as one of those benefits. I was listing my reasons why I don't think it should be.

Yeah, getting criticisms are a lot easier. If it's not a very popular series, though, it may not be the case.

@Q5: Go right head. One reason why it failed was because I thought way too big. In a way, Manifestation Files is a bit simpler, as I'm not aiming for the intrigue Death Note had.

But I think I connect with the protagonist of that work, Justin, a bit better. He had been put on the sidelines while Bryan and Finn, along with Blue, occupied my mind's fantasies, which are various, but if I ever go back to that project, I'll have a better grip on his personality.

Wait, did you read through the entire fan-fic? Yeah, thinking back to it, it was a bit dry. Justin isn't really emotional, which was one of the reasons why he failed. But if I come back to him, he'll probably have more of a cold and cunning edge, than a subdued and down one.

edited 18th Nov '11 6:12:01 PM by chihuahua0

I find one of the benefits of fanfiction is the world and character are already there and you just take them and run with them making planning much easier.

A bit off topic, but one of the things I enjoy doing when writing fiction the most is to tweaking the character. I always try to make unlikeable characters in canon more likeable, within their characters.

I really, REALLY, hate when people uses fanfic to bash characters they don't like. :/

Because it can't be both. You can improve fanfiction by working on your core writing skills. But trying to improve your writing skills by working on fanfiction is like trying to improve your knowledge of a sport by going to the local bar and asking around.

If you get advice that is in any way sound, that person is likely to pinpoint problems they see in your writing skills, like characterization, pacing, description, internal consistency. It will not be relevant to any fandom-specific trait.

You're still writing in fanfiction. You're just working with someone else's material, and in doing so you have the opportunity to take a look at the intricacies of their canon — moreso than if you just watch it. (From these intricacies, you can apply them to your own original writing.) Thus, it can both be serious and a hobby if you want. (A serious hobby.) I get the feeling Leradny, in your conceptions, if it's writing - it's serious business. But if you're writing fanfiction, it's just a fun hobby. Reminds me of the Animation and Sci Fi Ghetto.

Oui.

edited 19th Nov '11 11:46:36 AM by QQQQQ

Seeing as fanfiction writers rarely if ever get paid to write fanfiction no matter how astoundingly good it is, and writers of original material can get some really terrible stuff published, that is correct.

If people here want to improve their writing, they need to work on stuff that can actually get published on their own merit, instead of hoping that the creative team will see their fanfiction and hire them to collaborate on the next work.

Are you suggesting that our writings is made to be published? Is that supposed to be the goal of the writings? I can agree with wanting to improve our writing in general, and yes, you can do this also for the sake of producing better fanfiction. But implicit in our writing is the yearning to affect someone else with what we see in our imaginings, and fanfiction is also a valid way to realise this.

Getting published only provides the means for wide distribution of our writings, and making a profit from them. Some people brag about their University degrees that hasn't done them jack in getting a job and a goodly life. I wouldn't mind if I hit this stage, yet I will continue to write for that yearning — even if publishing is beyond me.

edited 19th Nov '11 12:11:57 PM by QQQQQ

Most people who have gotten far enough in their writing to gain an audience, and have the desire to write stories which will affect that audience, will make the shift to writing original work anyway.

And they do that because it's impractical to continue putting in hours improving their writing skills and desiring to affect hundreds of people with words, only to get a positive response and the sense of satisfaction.

The first thing people will do when there are time or stress-related issues such as getting a job (writing or otherwise), having schoolwork pile up, moving house, personal issues, or simple loss of interest.

One can't do that with original writing that has gotten attention from a publishing house, but—as cynical as it sounds—if a writer has the option of working for free next to working for pay, they will reach a point in their life where priorities demand that they choose the latter if they are going to do it at all.

Mhm. And I would still write fanfiction for my yearnings.

For the rest of your points, if you wish to talk practicality - it's not impossible to make a living by day designing Draconian characters for Bioware Inc., while at night you indulge your id and write stories for your friends and strangers. It's steady enough should you find a lapse in this art. Money from your writing is a plus, it would be nice to to earn something for your passions.

But if all you mostly care about is getting published and the monies in the writing..

edited 19th Nov '11 12:59:42 PM by QQQQQ

RE the video: There are more than enough books and courses and lectures and forums on "the process of writing", with roughly 35% of them being quite good.

What most writers don't have a clue about and what trips them up most is "the process of publishing books", like how to find reliable and trustworthy agents, how to write a query letter to those agents, what happens if you're rejected, what happens if you're picked up, what to look out for when reading contracts, how to refrain from taking criticism as a personal insult, how to market your work to the audience you want, when and how to bring up sequels.

I had to learn all of this from trawling through websites and author's interviews, which took months due to all the information being scattered far and wide across the Internet.

My point was that the vast majority of people won't have a lot of time or energy to simply consume media once they're out of college with a job and a place of their own, let alone expand on those mediums. There's a reason most fanfiction writers are generally below the age of 25.

Why are we talking about making a living off our writing, when we were wondering about the merits in writing fanfics? If you want to, I might be interested in a thread about publishing your work. For now, kindly get off your high horse about it's better to make your writing into $$$. It's bullshit if all writers have to wind up as commercial products, I apologise if I have you sidetracked about 'practicality' from my comment about "publishing as a means."

Because for me, just having touched a heart is enough, impracticality be damned.

edited 19th Nov '11 5:26:18 PM by QQQQQ

And how about we teens who end up having too much time in our hands at the end of the day? Not a lot of teens (like some of us) have the ambition to establish a writing career early, so writing fan-fiction for fun and the experience is just fine.

Ja.

27 and got started on his fanfiction career in earnest after leaving college crew checking in.

Really, though, it's very simple. He who writes for an audience, but not his self, has lost his soul. He who writes for himself, but has no audience, will cease to write: for it is as if his writing never was.

Fanfiction provides easy access to both things; one has an audience and one may write in something they desire. The lonely road of getting published has broken far more writers on the second problem then it has helped in any way, be it financially or technically. Getting published holds out a faint hope of compensation in exchange for ten thousand rejection form letters and years of frustration.

The one would ever take, much less defend, a stance so mercenary as "being paid makes it more legitimate" indicates it may also cause issues with the first problem.

edited 19th Nov '11 6:20:59 PM by Night

This statement seems incredibly weird to me—comparable to saying that it's pointless to draw sketches when you could be making drawings that are good enough to hang in a gallery. The more sketches you've drawn, the better you'll do at creating gallery-worthy material!

(The stuff I write isn't fanfiction, but much of it's similarly unpublishable, so I have some concept of this. For instance, after writing a story that hinged on two lovers' personalities complementing each other, I've started to make more of an effort to show why characters are attracted to each other.)

edited 19th Nov '11 9:47:47 PM by feotakahari

Wrong. Provided that you got a reliable beta, you can be informed of many errors (which, unless you are a really good writer already, you will make) you make and get them corrected. As you get feedback and fix your mistakes and continue it, your writing skills do improve.

Make up your mind.

Any writing helps your writing skills. There may be debate over the degree to which writing fanfiction helps you compared to writing original work, but saying that writing practice which happens to be fanfiction doesn't help your writing is ridiculous.

I, myself, write fanfic because it's fun and many of the stories banging on the inside of my head are fanfics. I don't particularly care about getting published, at least not yet.

Writing fanfics help. However, the degree depends on how much effort you put in there and how willing you are to listen to criticisms.

If you are intending to improve your writing skill and write a decent fanfic in general, it is ABSOLUTELY NECESSARY for you to get a beta reader.

Meh. I've never had anything betaed, and by reception mine is at least decent. I'm hypersensitive to technical errors in general, though, so unusually good at catching them.

For higher-level stuff? Well...I don't know. My usual criterion for 'good' is "I can go back after a week or so to get it out of my head and enjoy reading it myself", but my standards are strange.

Oh, in that case you are one of the few exceptions who don't need beta. Most people, however, aren't and need betaing. Like me. XD

My chance of not catching an error is comparatively low (if I'm allowed to edit according to my own style), but it's nonzero, so I for one would recommend beta readers just in case. (From reading Sessalisk's stuff, I'm beginning to suspect that beta reading itself also helps your writing—he has a very different style from me, and although he's had a lot less practice than I've had, I may still be able to pick up a trick or two from him.)