Things you're tired of telling non-fanfiction-writers

A sort of spin off to "Things you're tired of telling non-comic fans."

What are you tired off telling people who a) read but don't write fanfiction, b) don't read or write fanfiction, or c) write and read non-fanfiction but have heard that you write it. Or, hell, what are you tired of telling other fanfiction writers?

For me:

"It's not all porn/smut. I mean, yeah, there's certainly a LOT of it, but there is a lot of general or romantic stories that DON'T have sex in it. You know, like a normal collection of books."

All fan fictions are terribly written and are just made to make their favorite characters stand out in unrealistic ways.

Not so. I've read a lot of fan fictions that were very well written, some even better than the main cannon and some fan fictions I think the fans were trying to complete a story arc or write a story that would help develop the characters rather than just make them stronger or dumber.

Fanfiction is legitimate literature. You have to look harder to find the good stuff, but the tradeoff is access to all the nonstandard stories that publishing companies filter out.

But honestly, I don't really talk to people who don't read fanfic about fanfic.

If people are going to provide examples of bad fanfiction to mock the entire genre, they should at least choose ones that aren't deliberately bad.

Believe it or not, not all fanfics are at the level of "John Freeman who was Gordon Freeman's brother..."

I'm tired of telling people to not put author notes in the middle of the text.

There is such a thing as good fanfiction.

This is naturally the very first barrier, but is also the biggest. I've had a cousin denounce all fanfiction as "hentai garbage", and any attempt to explain otherwise just went in one ear and out the other. Others I knew from my high school days didn't have such an extreme mindset, but they weren't exactly enthusiastic of the option when it came up in English assignments.

Interestingly, my immediate family seems pretty accepting of the whole idea. My sister has dabbled a little bit in it, my mother basically accepted it once I made it clear that Wicked counts, and my father was a geek long before it was cool.

edited 13th Mar '14 8:11:01 PM by Watchtower

That no, I am not "wasting my talent" when I'm "good enough to write original work." I DO write original work. Guess what? I've not gotten to a point where I'm famous or able to make a living at it and what I put up online for free barely gets read/doesn't get acknowledged.

I write fan fiction for fun. Sometimes, I get ideas about a specific thing and want to fill in holes in the world or explore possibilities. My fan fiction does get read and I do get feedback.

Things don't have to make money to be valuable, nor do things have to be pure, incorruptible pure-pureness original work from the heart to be FUN. Original or fan fic, that is why I write. I'm creatively driven and write to make the ideas in my head shut up.

edited 16th Mar '14 4:18:22 PM by Shadsie

Fanfiction is a different critter from original fiction. I can't just rename the characters and pretend they're mine, because if I've done my job well, it would be obvious who they really were.

Who cares if I can't get paid for it? I don't write because I want money. Money is nice, but so is exploring the extended lives of characters I love.

I normally don't argue, but "there are good fanfiction, you just have to search through 666 bad ones to find them" would first on my list. what is funny is that I regularly deal with people who want to animate children to read more, and they also like every concept which encourages them to deal with literature...this includes a site which is basically a controlled version of fanfiction.net, geared towards children. They are all praising ideas like this, or children who make flash animation based on famous poems or whatever...but you can bet that they consider fanfiction beneath them. I don't get it, but it's amusing to watch.

"It's not all slash (M/M)." A sizable chuck is, yes, but not all.

Also, liking slash doesn't mean I don't like Heterosexual relationships, that I have no respect for the canon material, that I have any problem at all with the woman in question.

The male characters that I ship just tend to be more fleshed out and/or have a noticeably closer relationship in canon than the canon love interest does. I want to flesh that out.

(The same goes for the other way around, writing a het pairing for a mostly slash fandom)

This sums it up for me pretty well, with the obligatory addon of "No, not all fanfic sucks, it's just harder to filter out the good stuff".

"There's nothing wrong with A Us." In fact, some of the best written fanfiction (and all fiction really) is Alternate Universe versions of some other work.

And, along with that, a work being an AU doesn't automatically mean all of the characters are OOC. (There are lots of works, both AU and "in universe" that make the characters OOC and many of both that don't.)

You worldbuild. You worldbuild a lot. And it's not easy like it is with original works. You don't get to just make up whatever you want. You've got to make it fit. It's ten times as much of a pain in the ass, coming up with new bits and making sure they tie into the old bits without contradicting them.

I have had people tell me I'm wasting my time and talent, which, ugh. I have fun with it. that's all that matters. I have had people email to say I made them cry, I've had people tell me I should /write for canon/, I have had people say they /forgot what I wrote wasn't canon/....If I can get that kind of reaction from someone, and I can feel pride in my work, I honestly don't see why It's a waste. is it because I didn't "come up" with the characters? I sure as hell came up with backstory that the movie didn't give, wove it in to what we know. or is it because I don't make money on it? I don't make money on the poetry I put on my blog, or the novel sitting in my desk unedited, so ????

Woldbuilding is probably my favorite part of writing fan fiction. It's like there's this huge puzzle with a lot of pieces missing and I'm trying to make the pieces that are missing fit in with the rest of the puzzle. Good times.

When people tell me fanfiction is really bad and disturbing and all that rot, I usually go "Yes. And it is gloriously so.", and enjoy their reactions to that.

Also, I tend to call them out on being prejudiced fucks, but then again, I'm just looking for a reason to insult people, most of the time.

Worldbuilding is also great fun for AU stories because it's a challenge of how much of the original character you can express in the terms of the new setting you've dropped them into.

It's also a great challenge in Nature v Nurture, and how much circumstances affect people and their choices. A Us and What-Ifs are my jam.

I'm tired of telling non-fanfic writers that there are fanfics which are novel length and better than canon, or basically epics that are on par with or better than a lot of normal fiction. Yes, it takes a lot of digging, but the fact that fics are written solely for passion and creativity means that you can get much more interesting concepts than original fiction, or exploration of themes that mainstream would never touch on, or at least not in a profound way.

I don't like rationalizing why I ship what I ship.

Like my main ship atm is Shinji/Rei, and some dude had the gall to be like "this ship is weird because [X]". Thank you, random user, but I'm well aware of my ship's failings and I ship it regardless. Please don't come in like "this is weird", it's insulting and there's enough fanfic out there for you to read without having to comment on mine.

edited 23rd May '15 1:01:02 PM by MrMallard

The only time you should pay attention to people talking about your ship, is when they tell you it makes no sense and they explain why.

Now that you know that, you can go and address those things to make it actually work.

"no, I don't get paid for it, no, I can't get paid for it, yes, I'm ok with that, I like to do it, you don't get paid to plant roses in your back garden or to browse tumblr all day, this is my hobby."

More like "No, I don't get paid for it, yes, I could get paid for it, but it would be illegal and I'd get slapped with a cease & desist. Also nobody would buy it if I sold it."

I actually have had somebody offer to pay me to write a fic after I told him the basic premise.

I had to turn him down because I'm an ethical person/.

I don't see anything wrong with accepting something like that. Artists get to make commissions, why shouldn't writers? You're not selling the brand, you're selling your skill.