Fanfiction as a writing tool

By w176 · Nov 4, 2010 · ·
  1. A girl at my writing class had an interesting approach to fan fiction. First of she wasn't ashamed that she enjoyed wring and reading it which I admire, standing up for something thats often considered really low status writing, and she was one of the writers in class I was most impressed with. As a writer and as a really charming person. But that's beside the point.

    She pointed out to me if you want huge amounts of feedback, reviews and comments on your writing. Just to develop, you should write fan fiction. It might not be exactly the feedback you looking for always (“That characters so hot!” and “Oh that's so not canon!” and so on). But you do get a lot of feedback.
    It was intriguing standpoint, and she had gotten to the point that the authors whose books she had written fanfictions about wanted her in their next anthology is she provides original work.

    Someday I will try writing fanfiction just to try her thesis of the huge loads of feedback.

Comments

  1. Melzaar the Almighty
    People like geeking out over stuff. :p Fact. It is a great way for anyone to get into writing because they can learn some of the most vital skills with pre-constructed characters and world, then move onto the harder parts later. Some people with wacky, amazing imaginations just can't get their writing right, perhaps because they're so caught up on telling their ideas they forget the needs of the story. I've seen it before. Writing fan fic is a more brutal market, because of the preconceptions the piece recieves, but on the internet obviously you get a much bigger audience instantly because people will look for subject first, then the writing only after they've said, "Ooh! Franchise!" and clicked to see what's happening. I don't think I'd write fan fic myself, or read it, but it's a great thing for people to write.
  2. w176
    I think i can be a great thing for people to write. I can be taking on someone else shoes and walk a mile or two intellectually to try to write in the spirit of someone else work.

    I need to give i a try someday.
  3. Ashleigh
    I've only ever written one piece of fan fiction, and it was of The X-Files. I got nothing but compliments, even though the piece had alot of issues and I was still learning.

    It was a great confidence boost, but not a very helpful excersize. I think people tend to get too caught up in fan fiction simply because they're worried people won't enjoy their writing unless it's about their favourite characters. Also, I don't really like it when people have single ideas that they can't let go of, especially when they're using someone else's stuff. I'd only ever consider tham to be hobby writers if they didn't know how to branch out.

    I dunno, I'm not against it, but it's not for me.
  4. DaWalrus
    My wife loves fan fiction. She claims, that one could learn much by reading it: one quickly learns to spots various stylistic errors.

    That's the annoying part of one's own writing: some problems with it are only obvious to other people. :mad:
  5. DaWalrus
    My wife loves fan fiction. She claims I could learn much by reading it: one quickly spots various stylistic errors.

    That's the annoying part of your own writing: some problems with it are only obvious to other people. :mad:
  6. Cogito
    I would rather have quality feedback than quantity.

    Writing fanfiction is usually like writing with training wheels. I say "usually" because there is a commercial niche for writing to franchises like Star Wars, Star Trek,and Buffy the Vampire Slayer.

    By training wheels, I mean the fledgling writer has a milieu predefined - settings, background, and stock characters - so the writer can concentrate on a storyline without having to come up with these elements on his or her own. The downside is that the writer doesn't build experience in these elements, nor does he or she learn the satisfaction from creating them.
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