Stance on Writing Fanfiction · 8:38am Sep 9th, 2014
- It's just fanfiction about colorful horses. You're not going to get paid for it. It's never going to amount to anything. Why bother getting so serious or worked up about it? FIMFiction fame is nothing but piss in the wind. Slap something together in a couple of hours, post it, and let the comments fly. By the way, comments mean jack shit. It's hilarious when someone writes a thousand word comment to criticize you when you're just writing for fun. That reader must have no life.
- If you're going to submit a story, you better think it through. Have a plan for the whole thing. Have a team of pre-readers look it over before posting. Then, have editors comb it over. Take meaningful comments into account. Take the time to go back and fix stuff if someone points something out. Any story you post should represent your best effort. Being recognized as a good writer on a fanfiction site does carry some meaning.
Where do you find yourself between these stances?
I think there is a place for stupid and irrelevant joke stories and I don't believe that you need to be ultra super srs about every piece of more legitimate fiction, but I think that if you're not going to try to write decent stories then you shouldn't put them on the internet. Making your work publically available to view is implicitly asking readers to spend their time on it, and if I'm giving someone my time then I'm annoyed when they waste it.
Definitely in the option two camp. I will openly admit my first story had no editors to speak of, but I tried to make it readable, and everything I have written since then has done exactly as you mention here: team of prereaders, multiple editors. The only thing I write without such heavy editing is the shipping prompt stories for specific pairings, and that's only because those are supposed to be quick little blurbs.
I have always been of the opinion that I since I come here to read high quality stories, I should at least try to contribute in kind. Not just for my readers, but writing seems to be the one thing I'm legitimately good at in life, so I want it to be my best work.
PS. No, I have never posted a troll story that hurt people to read
Edit: in case it isn't clear, I'm firmly in camp two. Look at my latest stories and you'll see multiple editors and at least five other prereaders.
I think of it as practice. I don't take fanfics seriously as "works of literature" regardless of content, but find them to be excellent opportunities for one to improve their skills in prose.
My stance can be summed up in one phrase; anything goes.
What this means is simply that I firmly believe that in fanfiction there are no real rules or regulations. Except of course the ones you impose on yourself. Which is fine. There's nothing wrong with setting standards for yourself, following personal guidelines, and drawing the line on where you'll let yourself go in terms of what you write.
Its all, really, just play. Or practice. Or both.
That doesn't' mean a fanfiction isn't a legitimate story. All published novels are, really, is fanfiction someone convinced other people to buy. What it does mean though is that unlike published works which you got to convince other people to like enough to invest in, you don't have to convince anyone of anything with fanficiton. You can write whatever you want as long as you are willing to own your work and take the fact that anyone at any time can say whatever they want about it.
Want to write a anthro futa clopfic about Princess Celestia masturbating with her morning toast? Fundamentally just as legitimate as a 1,000,000+ word magnum opus about searching for the meaning of life through the adventures of colorful candy horses.
For me the important factor is to just enjoy myself and accept all the good and all the bad. I accept that I'll cry over some fanfiction that's so good, with characters so believable, that I feel honest to goodness emotions that rival anything I might have felt reading a published work. I also accept that I'm gong to run across some real uncomfortable material that will make me question my own sanity and that of some of my fellow humans. I accept that the stories I write might get people who like them, or people who hate them. I might get useful criticism that helps me grow as a writer, or I might just get a silent downvotes or angry hate PMs about how I'm a horrible person because I like Trixie.
And it's all fine. All part of the huge, unending, messy playground that is fanfiction. I accept it all and love it. I love getting bent out of shape when I read a chapter that pisses me off. I love it when I read a chapter that touches my feels. I love it when I bang my head against the keyboard for hours trying to write a measly thousand words, and I love it when I finally finish a chapter and get it posted. I love small comments, I love big comments. I love upvotes. I love downvotes. I love everything that happens that helps me examine my thoughts and emotions and why I do what I do and how I can be an even better writer, bit by bit.
In short, I love fanfiction. And in fanfiction; anything goes.
Option two, absolutely. That way we'd have less of the garbage that clutters most of the site.
Man i wish i had a team of pre-readers and editors
Guess one must earn that
I think writing fanfiction can be a legitimate form of writing. Yes, you are playing around with someone else's world and their world's governing rules but on the whole it's the restrictions the world gives you that can bring forth stories that are perhaps better than they would have been if the author decided to take the idea and make a proper book out of it.
When done through fanfiction rather than what we would call a 'proper' book the author is allowed to get clever in ways normally not available. The author of fanfiction is giving a set of rules (on FiMFiction those rules are dictated by the show and how things are and how they work in the show must be the same in the fanfiction. Otherwise you get things that don't make sense or that seem too out of character) and with these rules you can see how someone who takes it seriously bends them to his/her own desires. Do they bend it too far, causing the story to snap beneath the weight of shoehorned excuses? Or can the author take it far enough away from the shows original intent without the change being too jarring or obvious?
Visiden, I'd say you do this fairly well with Upheaval. The narrative that seems to belong on paper but instead you reached out using a fandom as a medium and made the show's setting your own. Writers who strive to make these such 'epics' should be able to make the magical land of Equestria seem like it was written to be part of their story, not the other way around.
On the other end of the spectrum we have what might very well be the main advantage fanfiction has over books. There are countless stories I've read on this site that I found either genuinely funny, sweet, or just had a really cool idea that, lets be serious here, would never get published. The author wrote something they wanted to write that they liked and frankly some of the best things come from that concept alone (the video game "Portal" comes to mind). Doing it for fun allows them write unobstructed from the doubt and self-loathing that (unfortunately) seems to plague many newer writers. And in this bit of fun comes so truly unique stories.
Considering all the crap that gets featured nowadays, I'm going with option two.
I lack the ability to incorporate proper personality, my view on other people; including cartoons, is way off. This causes misinterpretation and I put the wrong personality on the known characters. I can develop separate personalities for my own design, but lack proper ability to separate them properly. I have considerable imagination; most of the time, but lack the ability to write such things down when It needs to be written down. I'm willing to put a lot of work and determination into literature and art, but I need training or guidence before so. Judging on these qualities and faults. I'd say I'm more towards option two, my inability to focus on a single task and the urge to be driven to write, has me more to the first option. (My work is sloppy in areas and awesome in others.)
Opinion two is something I'm going for. It'll help me in life.
I think the more basic and integral question here is: Why do you write? That's a question that I struggle with. Why do you write? Why does anyone write? Why should I write? I feel that if a whole bunch of writers on Fimfiction came together and answered this question, it would provide valuable insight for everyone else, and may help inspire some people to write stories of there own. The examples you listed above are attitudes that can reflect on the reasons why a person writes, as well as that person's approach to writing. The reasons themselves are more important to me, personally. Do people write fanfiction for popularity? Recognition? Do they write to improve themselves? Do they write to please others?
I want to find my own reason to write, if I am capable of writing at all. And I think a lot of other people here could do with a little inspiration as well.
I'm more in the latter camp, myself. If nothing else, then it's still an exercise in writing, which can either help or hurt you. Yeah, it's just for fun, and it's probably not going to go anywhere, but that doesn't mean I can't improve my skills while I do it.
That being said, really great stories can eventually be rewritten to a wider audience. Just because they started out as fanfiction doesn't mean they can't become something greater.
Either mind set is fine. If you want to write a high quality story then follow the second mindset. If you are just throwing something together for giggles then the first is fine. Most people prefer the second. There are some fantastic stories out there that would be a mess without all the effort that went into them.
Sure fanfiction is for fun, but it doesn't mean it should get a free pass. It's like anything. Saying 'It's just for fun' doesn't and shouldn't deflect criticism. If it is bad, it's bad. Criticism is important, especially from an outsider. How something plays out in your head, doesn't necessarily play out the same way on page. To you it might be obvious, but it might not be so clear to another person. I guess you could call it writer's bias. See, this is why editors are important. Also, how do you improve as a writer without constructive feedback?
I lean more toward the second stance as most of the great stories I've read on here I can't see the writer as having been one to follow the first stance yet produce such quality work. I would say though that it's not a requirement to have the whole story planned from the get go. A general idea and perhaps major events is important but taking into account reader feedback or suggestions can give you some good ideas. Some stories are also so big I can't imagine having the entire thing planned out before you start posting and instead write it as you go (looking at you Austraeoh series).
Personally I just enjoy the process of any creative endeavor. There is something amazing about having a bunch of people collaborate and encourage each other to reach new heights. The sense of satisfaction of seeing the finished product and releasing it to the rest of the world is always exhilarating.
So I guess I fall into the second camp. Mostly because anything worth doing requires hard work. If art is the manifestation of one's soul and creative passion, no one actually invested in a project is gonna half-ass it. As it would be a poor reflection of one's self.
Honestly? I need to return to writing actively again, and going through your story is reminding me why: I want to entertain others.
I don't have this ability to entertain hundreds of people in reality that I do with fanfiction, and more so since I want to make people laugh. I want to make them forget about any problems that they've had that day, or stress, or money issues, and just sit down and laugh. The people complimenting me on those abilities naturally feel good. Writing a novel of my own has made me realize that one story will still be read, somewhere, by someone, in some form, once a day. To think that someone out there ten years from now might read my stories makes me feel... happy. I've entertained. That makes me happy.
And I entirely agree with the second paragraph. My biggest enemy is I edit my own writing too much, to the point my production is nearly nil. Maybe I need to change my writing style and crank things out, then go back and fill in the holes later. I might write fifty times faster that way.
I would say that when reading stories, you should try to have the first, and when writing, you should try to make something that has at least some value
2440547 is right on track with the true value of fanfiction sites
2440631 I got some by answering a call for prereaders, then writing a story in their universe
I came to comment, but this guy pretty much said what I was going to.
Unless someone is really going to be a better person in some way from reading something, it's not worth reading, therefore is not worth posting.
I lean towards the second option, but fundamentally none of us are getting paid for this and we do it in our free time if at all. I'm there with everyone else when someone posts a lazy piece of shit like To Thaw My Cold Heart or The Scent: Lust of Mares (the title alone justifies all downvotes). That said, I do feel like we should let people get away with things we wouldn't tolerate from a published author, such as awkward pacing or clumsy romance scenes. A lot of people here are on their first attempts at writing anything longer than a few pages, so I try to be forgiving of their stumbles if I think they could write something better down the line. I'm also a lot more receptive to alternate universe and other things you generally only see in comic books, because what's the point of fanfiction if we can't screw around with the established setting?
That said I'll still tear a story apart for terrible characterization and other things like it. I can empathize with someone who struggles with things like when to use dialogue or summarize, where world building turns into needless padding, and other technical sides of writing. I can't stand it when the writer honestly thinks that what their story needs is for Celestia to spend a chapter gushing about free market economics and the evils of taxes, or for Applejack to continue insisting that Rainbow Dash is wrong and so is everyone that isn't a farmer. Those are flaws that anyone should be able to see, so I'll criticize them a lot more harshly than something minor like clunky dialogue.
2440566
It would be in the featured box for like three days.
2446657
Honestly I'd say that's a conservative estimate.
I look at it this way. Should you be obsessed with writing the next Hamlet? No. Should you just slap together some spur of the moment idea and call it Literature? While you can you should at least make an effort. If yourself wouldn't read it then that's a good indication you should put more work into it. I guess what I want to say is: take pride in your work and put as much effort as you deem appropriate into it. If you want to just write a quick comedy and post it that day? Fine. If you want to make an epic novel like story with intricate world building that requires editors? Hell yeah. So long as your proud of it and feel you gave your best effort.
T
Is this site a job? No. Do you get paid for it? No. Then again, it is a good training ground for when you are ready to move on to original writing. I personally think that if you're going to do a thing, you might as well do it right. I haven't always stood by that mentality and some of my stories reflect this, but it is a good start.
Well if you're going to do something in your spare time; it might as well be something you enjoy doing.
If you enjoy writing; chances are your passion and pride will show through in your work anyway.
If you're hobby is producing content for others to enjoy, then naturally you'll take pride in the quality of your work to ensure a return on the enjoyment you share with others.
If you're a troll[fic writer]; put some effort in.
I personally don't mind being the butt of a joke as long as its a good joke.
I'm mostly in the option two camp, but I can forgive less thoughtful stories if there's something I really like about them.