-Recently,I had begun posting fanfiction online,specifically fanfiction.net and i had gained a steady readership in a matter of three days.For fellow fanfiction writers/online posters,do you gauge your writing prowess on how large your readership is?Is that any valid indication of your skill as a writer if people seem to like your work? Or do you disregard it because it's fanfiction.I also started posting original fiction,old stuff I dug up on fictionpress.com. I had found that having people read and like my work and are eager for more gives me an absolute feeling of elation.It gives me this feeling of happiness that I never had before,it's what I'd been looking for all this time and I believe I would've bypassed years of depression had I done this before.That being said,I am sorting through and deciding which works to stash and which works to show,I do still plan on getting published. I'm basically using the net to test the waters But to the point.Am I over reacting? Am I thinking too highly of the situation? Is internet fandom/or critiquing an adequate way to gauge reaction to my works? Your thoughts ...
Not to crush your dreams or anything, but since you mention it's fan-fiction, I'd guess a lot of them are fans of the characters, the world, etc., first. The only way you'll know is if you start writing your own stuff (recommended anyway) and see who latches on then.
Fanfiction is not an accurate measure, no. Like Jon M said, more than likely they're fans of the world and characters. Try moving to their sister site, FictionPress, and test the waters there.
FFNet doesn't really allow negative reviews. So coupled with the above comments, and the fact that someone opening your story doesn't mean they liked it... However, being a fanficcer myself, I can say that it's a good way to practice your writing and try things out. If you can find a crit group within your fandom (one that actually does constructive critiques), that would be a better gauge than FFNet.
-I actually write both ... this is why I mention fictionpress.com an original fiction site -I also have a tendency of deviating from main plots in my fanfiction.either way, its good to know I'm not horrible at writing
-I actually write both ... this is why I mention fictionpress.com an original fiction site -I also have a tendency of deviating from main plots in my fanfiction.either way, its good to know I'm not horrible at writing I use to be a bad writer so there is a clear difference. I know what its like to have people not like and abandon my work
I used the net to test the waters and I know what you mean. When readers respond well, it is definitely a clue that your writing has a capacity for being published, simply because your storytelling captured imagination and people are reading it. Having said that, fanfiction is different than original fiction. Some people are such mad fans of the characters that they'll read anything and everything that features them, even if it's not well written but also, fanfic gives you half the details - your characters, the setting, main conflicts and the flavour of the story. All you need to do is think of new twists and turns you will put the characters through. Writing real fiction is much, much harder because unless you are ripping someone off, you will have to think of all that by yourself, do it from scratch. In my experience, the path between online posting and a published book is still long. As a rule, the online stuff is not nearly as fleshed out as it needs to be for a novel, and also it is your first real attempt. Safe bet is, by the time you finish your online project, you will expect more of yourself and probably start writing a new, more complicated story for real publication. Also, most publishers won't touch material that's been previously available for free on the internet because that would decrease their profits (why should someone pay for something they can dig up for free from the depths of Google cache.
-this is true.which is why I am working on a novel at the same time. Which really is that much more difficult. A lot more details involved, character sheets, creating a setting, madness but I love it.I just needed to find focus for my novel and I.find this to be helps.I am posting an old original fiction, or at least a draft of one, to see how well it goes.don't plan on publishing it as it is too long and drawn out
It's good because you have the material which you can post without worrying (the stuff you don't plan to publish). I find that even though I learned and improved, critique of my old fiction it still useful to me today. With novels, if you want to do it right, it takes a long time and it's quite a journey, but I figure by the time I complete my third manuscript, I should have enough experience to at least know what I'm doing with the fourth
