What Fanfic Can Teach You About Writing
ฝัง
- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 12 ธ.ค. 2017
- I LOVE FANFIC! I am a proud former fanfiction writer, and I honestly think writing fanfic can teach you a lot about writing, and prepare you to write good original fiction. A lot of great authors got their start in fanfic.
So I'm talking about the specific things I think fanfic writers can do really well b/c of our fannish backgrounds. This isn't all universal! Not every fanfic writer is amazing, or develops deep craft skills, but a lot do! It's also 100% OK to write fic for fun, and not to practice to become a professional writer.
I should add: fanfic wasn't my ONLY exposure to writing education, training and becoming a professional writer. I have a degree in Journalism and experience in that form of writing, as well as marketing. I also read A LOT (reading is a very important part of learning structure and craft!). But fanfiction was my ONLY experience with fiction before I wrote a novel. My first novel did get me an agent, so I say fanfiction served me pretty well! YMMV.
Verbal messiness: I mean civil discourse, not civic haha! And, hey, turns out transmogrify isn't wrong! But really I meant "transplant" :D
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Canon: The source material.
Cannon: A really big gun.
Both of them sink ships.
This is officially my favourite comment on TH-cam.
I sent this to my friend but gun corrected to fun, now we’re spamming Heathers lyrics
omfg
this... doesn't seem to be stolen from anywhere
wtf what is this
remi the accident Actually I think I saw it somewhere on a tumblr post-
Some of the fanfic I've read is as good if not better than books by actual published authors
Me too...
That gives me hope.
@bad boys don't smile
Same, one of my all them favorite writers is actually a fanfic writer. I've learned so much just be reading the way they structure their stories and the technicalities of their prose.
@yuki Care to share? :) I’m really curious about this persons writing now :)
I can enter a bookstore and check a hundred books and I can assure you I will find 99 of them boring, formulaic and mediocre. When I enter Ao3, I find masterpieces all over the place. Writing fanfic is something you do out of sheer passion because you don't aspire to get published and it translates into the pages. Fanfic writers have original or alternative writing styles, because it's a snob-free place.
I can understand why George R. R. Martin, Diana Gabaldon and Anne Rice would dislike people writing about their own characters, I don't like people touching my characters either, as Martin put it, "they are my children". But to say writing fanfic is useless or bad for you as a writer is plain ignorant.
I would love it if someone wrote fanfic about my characters
I feel the exact same way
me: *sees the big words formulaic and mediocre in the first sentence*
also me: *likes the comment because it makes me feel like i understand smart language*
@@amarachiisaac9420 Exactly! It would be the biggest compliment that someone cares so much about your characters and fictional world that they would put in the time to write fanfic.
I adore Ao3. Reading stories with my favorite ships or in my favorite worlds brings me so much joy! I wrote both original and fanfiction, and I would probably explode with happiness if someone wrote a fanfic about my own characters.
My ultimate goal in life = write original fiction that inspires good fanfiction. If people care enough about something I wrote to extend it by writing fanfiction using my characters and my world, I can die a happy woman.
Good.
But (one but) without reading or writing fanfictions, you will miss a market, a fast-changing market with a young audience. And think of my words in some years, when games are truly acknowledged as art ;-).
Writers underestimate the gaming industries and the story or characters from it. Look at Andrzej Sapkowski Witcher books. They went famous through the games (sorry Andrzej, you write like an accountant, but your content and characters are great). Now after Witcher 3, every fan of the games is reading the books. Mainly through Witcher 3 and the DLCs, witch hat a lot of good stuff and nice characters (vampires... and a good one, not a sparkling Eduard). And because of the fame and the fact that Sapowski had finally a deal with CDPR Studio about the licence, they got the author for the Netflix series. So his books sell even more now, despite the harsh man-hating female roles in his book and despite a world without racial diversity (skin color). His last book at all published 2011 (he started writing 1979), the last DLC of the game published 2016 (blood and wine DLC, which got awards, so not at all nerd-stuff) and got ported to a new console 2019 (50 million game copies sold till 2020 at all - imagine the fanbase of this universe.).
I dare say that the author would not be that famous without other media and the fanfiction community, which are craving for new stuff. The Witcher story is nearly as holy as the catholic church in Poland for example.
And this gaming studio brought out Cyberpunk Nov. 2020 (dystopic, original cyberpunk stuff) and fu**ed this game up (bugs technical issues), but the community is there and thirsting for the genre. But a lot of fanfic-writers do a crossover from the witcher-world and CDPRs new genre cyberpunk. This is quite inspiring - a high SciFi-Magic crossover like the Technomancer in the Pen and Paper Shadowrun. Imagine you would write a stunning book or a couple of short stories about cyberpunk... You would satisfy all the fans of the whole cyberpunk genre (up to 50 million potential readers - or at least 10 million, if you dare to say that gamer won't read books).
Same for Dmitri Alexejewitsch Gluchowski - Metro 2033 - 2035 (post-apocalyptic, dystopian live of the survivors in the Moscow metro). The books are hard to read (even harder than Tolkiens Silmarillion or Dune), but the story, the world and the characters are awesome. They became pretty famous (in Europe) through the videogames Metro Redux till the newest Metro Exodus.
And you can find really inspiring fanfiction about the main character Artiom till now.
Fanfictions about Mass effect: the best sci-fi games with a story that brought grown man to cry literally and inspired musicians to write music for it - yeah the great shepherd will watch us and protect us from the reapers.
And assassins creed is there as well: a crazy genre crossover from sci-fi and old Egypt fantasy. Who can imagine that?
Yeah FF writers do make a lot of mistakes while writing (sure, they are not professionals), but they invent a lot of good creative stuff, stuff you writer wouldn't dare to imagine (because they are not forced to sell it) and they build bridges from other media. Fanfictions have a lot of advantages even for you writer.
You needn't write FFs, but at least read fanfics to know what is the hottest stuff, the people want to read?
(sorry for my English, no native speaker)
@@thecakeisalie652 Um, she never said anything about not reading or writing fanfiction herself, just that she hopes that one day she writes a piece of fiction that can inspire others to write fanfiction about it. There is nothing in her comment that called for an essay about why fanfiction is good....
Personally I don't think fan fiction is a compliment to the cannon world and cannon character. Fanfics twist characters into something they're not>'(
@@lucifer_333_bones7 that depends on the fanfic.
@@NovelistVampireGirl I suppose...I guess all the one's I read twisted the characters and that's why I don't like them.
WHERE'S MY PRO FANFIC CREW AT?!?!
cloudgirl150 when you say pro...? Didn’t even know that was a possible thing XD
Right here! Started writing in 2011 and still writing. Seen vast improvement in my writing, but it's no where close to perfect.
I've started writing fanfictions when I was 9. Now I'm 23 and close to finishing writing my first book !
@@wegonfindyouwegonfindyou4355 please, tell me Suga stays for Sugawara Koushi ❤
Hai, just got done writing a chapter before watching this for my fanfic
I totally agree. Writing is writing. It is great practice. I don’t understand when people put others down for practicing their craft.
TomeTimeTea my parents hate fanfiction because they think that since no real recognition comes from it, it’s not real writing. But I think it’s a great starting point! With fanfic, you don’t have to worry too much about characterization, and plotting is easier because presumably you’re writing in your favored fandom. So really it helps you develop sentence structure, grammar, style, and all the nitty-gritty stuff. Plus it’s super fun and indulgent :D
And it isn't just valuable in that it's practice, it's valuable in itself
Fanfic doesn’t get enough credit. I’ve spent tons of time researching and planning and putting immense effort into my fics, just as an author writing original work was. I’m glad someone is here to give props to us :) I love seeing published authors that start as fan fiction writers. It gives me hope that I too can be published one day! Also YES au’s are my favorite to write
Crack fics are good since it's like a warner cartoon the stupider the better
Without fanfic I wouldn't feel like I was good enough to write original works. Getting comments and constructive criticism from other fans over the years has strengthened me as a writer and boosted my morale. I was kind of a bnf in a small fandom like 10 years ago when I was in middle school and that came with a lot of comments of all varieties, which was great because I grew a thick skin early on. Without that I would crumble under the pressure of "oh no, what if nobody likes my work!?" But since I did go through that, I can just reply, "I'd like to see them do better."
I completely agree, I am a reader turned writer. I was venting to talented fanfic writers about a story that disappointed me(without naming it). I was very surprised with the hostility, I was told things like I was entitled, writers owed me nothing, or I should have gratitude for the free fandom. Basically they thought my comment was a personal attack on the fanfiction community. I thought everyone could talk or rant about stories, peeves or anything about fiction that fellow writers and readers participate in. Having a thick skin was something I learned as a writer, and I am surprised lately how fanfic writers have become very aggressive about criticism.
JKR was definitely better at world building than at creating a consistent magical system. The world is great for building on in fanfiction.
I agree with you one aspect but not the other. As I spend hours writing Harry Potter fanfics. I am currently writing two Harry Potter Fanfics based around the Draco/ Hermione fannon pairing. As I despise the idea of Ron and Hermione being together. Not into that coupling. The world of Harry Potter has such a huge array of fans and the fans want to the keep the fandom alive. I grew up reading and watching Harry Potter so I count myself blessed to be part of writing anything in the fandom.
Before I got into fanfiction writing I was pretty much incapable of finishing a project. Writing fanfic taught me why that was, how I grew bored with my characters because they weren't well rounded enough and I felt the project was aimless because I'm naturally more suited to planning out my story. I went from barely able to scrape through 5k words before giving up to writing 50k word fanfictions with a sequel fully planned out before it was even finished. The craft shouldn't be sniffed at
Wow that crazy I'm the exact opposite, I recently started a fanfiction after years of failing to finish anything for years. I was always lucky to get 5,000 words in and would get too caught up in the details and quit. My recent story just hit 10,000 words (only my second time ever doing that! And I lost my first 10,000 word draft entirely years ago) I always though I had to outline and plan or I could never get anywhere but I went into this story with just the characters and general theme and this is the most fun I've had with writing in years😁
I love hearing writers talk about their own methods. We’re all so different, aren’t we?
YES! Finally someone that agrees with my view point. Fanfiction takes dedication and a lot of these fanfic writers are putting out novel length stories or series length fanfic in a year or less.
OR EPICS, ACTUALLY.... IN THE HOUSE'S MEDICAL HOMICiDE IS 300K WORDS, wow that is long.
Honestly...I used to look at some fanfic and think: "woah...that's longer than actual books! How do you have so much dedication!"
Meanwhile I'm watching the word count on one of my "small passion project" fanfics creep into the 50-60k word count range
Not to mention the friends and teammates you earn through writing styles like this. I did a fanfic on a request with one person who couldn't find the words themselves and we bounce off ideas through it all. It was fun and really enlightening. By the third chapter, another person, a fan to the story at the time, wanted to be our editor. We were one hell of a team the three of us to the end. I miss them.
Nice to see an author be positive about fanfiction. I'm working on a HP crossover story myself, but I like to make it as good as I can make it and pick up stuff from videos about story structure, character development, etc. I'm not really working up to becoming an author; I've never come up with an original character or story in my life, but I just like hanging around in the world of Harry Potter.
Definitely pro fanfic and of course I was those naughty teenagers who clicked "yes" to being over 18 🤫 lol thanks for the video!
That's definitely a mood...
Lol same 😩😂
Didn't we all
Ikr, lol we all do that
So does everyone
Old lady here. Not giving away my age. I read manga with my kids, who read fanfics all the time. I started writing a fanfic offline (never was brave enough to post it anywhere) and ended up writing several, trying to insert an OC as a love interest for the evil MC. After several iterations I realized there was no way to make a HEA between them, so I created a second OC as a rival. I liked the pair so much that I ended up creating a completely original mythos for the pair of them. Now the only thing my universe has in common with the original is time period and locale. I doubt anyone would guess what manga inspired them.
I too love the creativity fanfiction gives us ^^! Using creativity to achieve writing a story, I like it
Publish please
That's really cool of you to read with your kids. I'm a teenager and I love it when my parents show interest in what I'm watching. Not them secretly trying to find out if it's appropriate or them doing it out of obligation, but them showing a genuine interest.
Victoria T Same! I introduced my dad into Marvel and he was generally into it, which made me really happy.
I see this a lot in Undertale fandom, and they're still supported. I say you try! :)
Couldn't agree more! Especially on the first point. Fanfiction is soooo good for really getting in depth into character development. Not even just writing it, but even reading it. I've read so many fanfics that I didnt enjoy because the character wasnt written well (i.e., the author tried to write the character as cannon but didnt do a good job of it). Having that thought of "this isn't good" makes you ask the follow up question "why isn't this good?" And then you dissect the character deeper and realize the tiny little things that make them who they are.
Good example: I recently read a Supernatural Fic where the author made Dean totally misogynistic-sounding. He kept calling girls "sweet cheeks" and stuff like constantly, and it was so weird and not Dean at all. Noticing that that detail was weird and off showed me that there is a delicate balance between coming across as a ladies man or charming and being gross and demeaning. Dean is the former, definitely not the latter, but the author blurred that line too much.
This makes me really miss writing fanfic, and kind of want to get back into it again.
Do it, do it and tell us that account name so we can all read them and support you
I, myself had seen fanfics longer than GoT and written extremely well. Some had at least seven squeals and counting. Many were even better than many pro books that come out theses days.
It takes me 1 whole day of writing one chapter. I put a lot of research into my chapters and my character. I use the fandom wiki, videos and information I can get from the creator/writer/director. I make sure my character is true to the universe has a tragic flaw or past and can fit into the fandom verse. I draw inspiration from canon characters the show/video game/tv show etc.
how long are your chapters? (as in how many words)?
Damn it takes me like 10 months to write a single oneshot how are you managing one chapter per day teach me your ways
Even without all the research I do, it usually takes me half a week for one chapter. But I do write long chapters and edit as I go along.
Damn it takes me at least a few days to write a chapter >.>
#1 thank you no one appreciates the world of fanfiction and it’s good to see an ally
#2 ur makeup is really pretty and I appreciate it
I watched an interview with GRRM and he was saying about how when it first began, fan fiction was original fiction written by fans of serialised stories (comic books etc) submitted to magazines, and how it's only recently that it's become using established characters. Hopefully the shame attached to fanfic will pass. There's been enough talent come out of the community after all.
I’m commenting on this super late but I’ve always had an interest in writing but could never find the motivation until fanfiction! I feel like it’s great for starting out with existing characters, kind of like dipping your toes into the waters of writing. The community and support is a huge help for a beginner and the support helps to push you if you might be feeling unmotivated to start writing. I would always get writers block and just give up after a few hundred words but the community in the fandoms inspired me to continue writing and I managed to write over 150k words for a single fanfic this year! Now I am branching out into alternative universes, in the hopes that one day, I will feel motivated enough to create my own completely original story with original characters. Writing fanfiction has taught me so much about writing and it will always hold a special place in my heart. And I have a great appreciation for other fanfic writers. Whether it’s purely for fun or with the intention to become published authors. They provide amazing content.
Hello... Any user-friendly fanfiction site you could recommend for a complete beginner?
Honestly this video makes me so happy. I started writing fanfiction when I was about 17. I started doing it just for fun, and because the fandom I was in at the time, the two characters that I loved the most had like NO fanfics about them, so I decided to change that and write about them myself. I had no writing experience prior to this and basically just went in blind. Flash forward to 8 years later, and I am currently in the process of writing my own original fiction story. I can honestly say that had it not been for fanfiction, I never would have discovered my gift of writing. I've always loved to read and I always had the fleeting thought that yeah it would be cool to have my own story, but fanfic is what gave me the confidence to try to make that dream a reality.
Thanks to fanfiction I know how to make characters instantly lovable to different types of people, create gut wrenching scenes, make ships irresistible, and pull on heart strings.
Fanfiction is the best teacher.
this whole speech about its benefits and how fun it is makes me want to write fanfiction again. Literally haven't done that since I was 19. somewhere along the road I convinced myself I wasn't good enough and just stopped. Those were fun times. I miss it now
I teach writing classes for kids occasionally and I always encourage fanfiction writing. I think it's a really great way to start because it removes a lot of the intimidation. You don't have to come up with your own characters or world since they are already there. All you have to worry about is the plot, so you get to focus on making a good plot. Then you eventually move on to adding original characters or doing an AU where you make your own world, etc. These things will just come naturally as your plots become more complex.
It's like a starter kit for writers.
You are a blessing
Thank you so much for saying all of this, I couldn't have said it better myself! You touched on some really great points; it's hilarious how hypocritical people are regarding fanfiction when classic works such as Pride and Prejudice, Sherlock, Treasure Island etc. are rebooted and retold all the time! Isn't that a form of fanfiction? Smh
Yaaaaassss!!! I also did a video about the benefits of fanfic, although slightly repetative, I'll be real 😂😂 I owe my growth as a writer to fanfic, so thank you for making this!
Amanda Wilmot do you have a link to your video ? Would love to see it
Current fanfic writer here. There are so many great fanfics in many genres. You can’t always go by the number of reviews a fic has, like that one Harry Potter fic that’s so bad it got over ten thousand reviews, but many good stories do have thousands of reviews. Naruto also has a lot of fics with reviews in the thousands.
One thing I didn’t hear you mention are fixits. As in when a movie or book does something very wrong, it can be cathartic to write a fixit fic. Fixits are pretty popular in the transformers movie section on ff.net.
I came up with a Harry Potter fanfic that follows a fan character about 13 years after book 7 and the antagonist is basically the opposite of Voldemort, hates purebloods and loves muggle borns.
I love writing fanfic! It's great practice and fun 😃
I’m fourteen years old, have been writing on and off since I was eight. I started writing fanfics when I was thirteen. I looked really much up to you since my dreams is to publish my own book once and just be a writer. Your videos are a huge help for me to learn how to write and how not to write. I wanted to ask you how to write something you feel is boring more interesting but don’t feel like you can write it in a different way (if you know what I mean)
I'm a fanfic writer (do alot of HP Crossovers) and it certainly helped me to improve my writing.
I used to write fanfiction a lot, and i can 100% confirm that it helps SO MUCH with writing. I could never get into writing original stories, and writing fanfiction helped me form my own ideas and storylines. Not to mention it helped me with so much more writing elements such as detailed descriptions while not coming off too obnoxious, decent character development, and pacing (though i still sometimes struggle with that, and it's why i work best with short stories). Just keep writing, it's inevitable that you'll improve!
I wish I'd known about fanfic when I was younger. It sounds like so much fun!
It's never too late to get into it. Not everyone in fanfic communities is young.
@@VioletEmerald Agree, I am over 32 and writing fanfictions. You can start at any age
@@thecakeisalie652 And I'm 31 and planning to get back into writing fanfic this year! I started around age 20 myself but have not always been that active in fanfic communities!
I love to write fanfiction. I often felt it helped with creating a character. I often like to add an original character to my story or taking a minor character, and expanding upon them. I feel it's more creative and it's better than just sticking to the straight canon storyline.
I'm incredibly late, but still watching the videos I just found! I may not write fanfic in the sense as you mentioned but I have roleplayed in established worlds (Star Trek and Harry Potter in written format, Dungeons and Dragons in tabletop format) since I was 8 (I am almost 45 now). That is basically collaborative writing in which you have to roll with what others throw at you, work on plots together, bounce things off each other, react appropriately and 'realistically' what others write and also sometimes throw your darlings into the deep end and find ways out of it again. And of course all while you respect the existing lore and find ways to fill gaps for the things that were not deeply established. I have learned quite a lot from that, like being more flexible, risking more, thinking outside the box, examining ideas from fellow writers you would have never thought of and more. I cannot imagine not writing like that with my friends. Many of the things I have learned during these decades came from other people and by pushing boundaries of said collaborative writing/storytelling. I think it is very undervalued how much you can learn though fanfic or roleplay writing.
It's thanks to you (and Jenna Moreci) that I was able to write a 78,000 fanfic. I watched your videos and treated it like a novel. Not too sure I'll ever be confident enough to write my own original story, but I learned a lot completing what I did. Thanks again.
You're still a fanfic writer. 😘 You keep saying "we." I'm loving these videos! I may or may not freak on my role players when they do not do the characters justice; hence, an accurate portrayal. i.e. "Blank" would not react that way. You do have to know your characters inside and out! And the "rules" of what realm or world your characters are living within. My mother Once Upon a Time Facebook group started off as a literary group and is named "Living in Storybrooke."
I am learning how to write and fan fiction is super fun to write and helps me a lot, It makes me motivated to pay attention in english hehe
Yay I feel less of an unoriginal freak now :3
I write novel/novella length fanfics for myself every couple of years (I only shared one), and when I got interested in writing something original I had all these thoughts telling me I'm not good enough.
Even though, to be honest, I usually change so much about the world and the characters that it's hard to believe that's where I started and I make them my own..
Thank you for this video!
FILE the serial number of that fic.
Personally my favorite part of fanfic is taking the tertiary or secondary characters to dive deeper into. Harry Potter fanfic girl here too!
I wrote tons of One Direction fanfic as a youngling, and I also roleplayed constantly with one of my good friends in the HP world, The Vampire Diaries world, and The Hunger Games world. I never thought I had the creativity to create my own world and my own characters, but I'm currently working on the first book in my fantasy series!
Are you a veteran of Yahoo IMs?
Your video just made me so happy. Often I hear so many negative comments about fanfiction, like it's taboo. People often hear about the crazy fanfiction, but often they can be amazing if not better than some published authors. Ao3 really is a magical place.
Currently writing a Supernatural fanfic.... ;p
Right now, I’m just getting back into writing ✍️. Even though I usually write original works, I found myself just recently beginning fanfic stories. But yeah, fanfiction should never be hated on.
I love your honesty and insight. There were so many things in this that I needed to hear. THANK YOU! :) Most of all I was touched by the part where you said writing FF is valid even if you don't want to be a professional writer. I wasted several years of my life trying to write a (terrible!) novel because everyone said that was a better use of my time than fanfiction. Thankfully, I finally learned to listen to myself. Turns out, I'm perfectly happy just writing fanfiction and it is inherently fulfilling to me in itself to (I feel) expand upon and hopefully enrich an already existing literary universe rather than working myself to the bone to create one from scratch. It's also nice to have an aspect of my life where I don't feel the pressure to try to become a professional (I'm trying to become a singer and actor, and I'm willing to undergo the intense criticism and rejection necessary for that, but for some reason, with writing, it just wasn't worth it to go through that - one rude rejection letter left me a total mess). Writing in this way has become a refuge. I've made a couple really, really good friends, found a positive community, connected with people around the world, grown in my writing skills, discovered rich new literary interpretations, and hopefully brought something positive into people's lives. I'm so glad I finally got up the self-confidence to venture into this world. :) I can't wait to check out Jane Eyre in Space!
I have been writing since I was fourteen and fanfic is where I fell in love with writing. Now I am working on my own original work and I hope that one day that I can see it on a shelf.
I love fan fiction, you and other FF writers are proof hopeful writers can go from fan to pro.
fanfiction is a great way to get out of your comfort zone as a young writer, and is fun, and not as stressful (for me anyway). it helps build your creativity as a writer, and gaining the confidence when it comes to writing your own book. I 100% hope more peole will see fanfiction as a possitive impact instead of this "waste of time" most people assume it to be. Love this video! go fanfic!!!
I really love fanfic! Sure, lots of works may not be super polished, but I've read fanfics that were just as great as any published book. I haven't written a lot of it myself, even as I'm in the process of co-writing my first book, but just reading fanfic has given me loads of ideas for angles and helped tremendously with language (as reading traditionally published works have). And when you're writing in your second language (English for me), it's another great source to tap into.
Thanks for reminding me I need to continue writing my fanfic... >.
One of my go-to examples whenever I'm talking pro-fanfic at all is this insane work in the "Supernatural" community called 'Redemption Road'. Anybody not in the SPN fandom, it's one of the best places; people are so cool and collaborative and they really take how the actors encourage fandom to be a kind of family. So, in the hiatus after season 6, a huge community of immensely talented authors and artists and editors got together and decided to write their own season 7 as one giant collaborative piece of fanfiction where each chapter was handled by varying authors/artists but they were following a general plot that they'd all mapped out together. The end result was a staggering feat of wordcraft that is longer than Tolstoy's "War & Peace". It was *amazing* and extremely well-written, well-drawn, and well-researched. It was a labor of love that produced what really is a sweeping romantic horror novel set in a universe and with characters that these creators obviously adored.
Fanfiction is so great as a playground to learn to write in if that's what you want from it, or as an expression of love for a fandom or for characters or for a particular romantic pairing. It is honestly one of the most flattering things a movie, TV show, book, etc. can have, because it shows the depth of devotion that the fans, the ones who are the reason that any of the above media gets made/has a paying audience, have for a particular work. I will never, ever, ever forgive Anne Rice after learning how viciously she attacked her own fanbase, pursuing people in court, sending cease & desist letters, shutting down cosplaying communities, and just generally bullying people until her own writing started sucking so bad she resorted to attacking her own negative reviewers on Amazon. Like, seriously, just do yourself a favor and Google 'Anne Rice fanfiction'; it's a wild ride how hard she tried to torpedo her own fanbase.
Before i started writing fics, I only knew how to create characters and tried writing my own stories. When I started writing fics, i struggled a lot with plot and narrative nad balancing the emotional and physical. Now, going at my latest attempt at writing an actual novel-length story with original characters, ive learned that i know how to plot.
So fanfiction has taught me how to plot and balance things out.
Tl;dr--I'm pro fanfiction, and agree with everything in this video :)
I didn't start reading fanfic until maybe five years ago, at the very least. I never really seen any that I liked.
During those years, I started to wish I did get into fanfiction when I was younger, because I saw it as a gateway to writing your own novels or fantastic practice. So I'm pro fanfiction :)
I'm curently writing a one-shot now, and the process of studying the characters, and the world they love in is a whole lot of fun 😊
I struggled a long time to write my own novels, really just writing short stories. I struggled with world building, falling in love with my own characters, and trying to make something from nothing. I did want to try fanfiction, but I had low-confidence until I watched an analysis series on TH-cam about a ship from a series I liked.
Fanfiction now has two functions for me: 1) stress free writing practice with experimenting and learning about characters and dynamics
2) having an excuse to analyze, and study a story I love and apply it to writing along with an original idea I had :3c to keep in mind all the conventions of dynamics, tropes, and other things to keep in my back pocket when I write my original fiction 😊
I forgot to mention I want to contribute to the fandoms I love. Never really interacted much past the "I like this fanart" =w= I want to be a part of the community more.
You are so spot on with this video!!! I relate so much to everything you said. I've developed a fanbase of around 4,000 readers so far with my fanfic writing and I greatly value their feedback and criticism as I work toward turning my fanfic writing into something that I hope will be professionally published someday. Binge watching your channel and taking notes. Thank you for sharing your experience and knowledge with us!
Great video. Very in-depth on the benefits of writing fanfiction. I love these kinds of discussions.
This was one of the best affirmations of the worth of fan fiction I have ever heard. I, for one, would love to read your fan fiction. I wrote HP fan fiction too. I think it was seven stories in total with two being novel length. One of the things I miss about fan fiction is the possible feedback you can get from readers at the end of every chapter. My stories were originally posted on harrypotterfanfiction.com under the name Edward Ollivander. They can also be found on fanfiction.net under the name EdwardO. I wrote all of them for fun, and I have since self published a three part novel series called Finding the Sky. It was nice to hear you say happy writing at the end of your video, because I used to write happy reading at the end of all of my replies to comments on my fan fiction. Happy writing.
What kind of stories have you written?
New sub! I've been binge-watching your vids for the past hour or so. lol Just wanted to say that yes, I am a former fanfic author as well. My current WIP is a YA paranormal thriller series that, in a previous life, was a fanfic series on my blog back when blogs and the internet were still fairly new things. I drew my inspiration from a series of Monkees fanfic I stumbled across during my very first trip down the cyber rabbit hole. (Wow, I feel old now. lol) I will never forget how well-written that series was. The stories read like full-fledged novels. To this day, I am so impressed with how the authors took a silly sitcom from the 60s and turned it into a captivating drama/action-adventure/paranormal fantasy series.
After I devoured those stories, I decided it would be fun to try my own hand at it, and so my own fanfic series was born. Soon after that, my best friend was sucked into my world, and together we wrote about six or seven novels' worth of material. We poured so much of our time and effort into the writing that we eventually decided to turn the series into our own truly original work. We'd already created some original characters, so it was simply a matter of morphing the other characters into originals as well and developing a completely new storyline. Several years and thousands of revisions later, the first book in the MIDNIGHT DAZE series is finally close to being finished! :D
I totally agree that writing fanfic helps you hone your skills as a writer, and so does reading it. That novel-quality Monkees fanfic taught me that it's possible to create something truly unique from any source material. That's one of the most valuable lessons fanfic can teach us as writers.
Speaking of novels, sorry for the novel-length comment. I tend to get pretty wordy with these things sometimes. lol
I had no idea remixes and pastiches were a thing, something I've done for years with plugging OCs into canon stories and retelling the story differently by the impact they would make, all while trying to emulate the original style. Back in the early days of FFN (and even now) I've been told OCs are cringey and bad, so it's wonderful to know that my style of writing is legitimate. I love your videos so much, and as a fanfic/aspiring writer, you've really inspired me!
In English, my teacher always assigns us to do character analysis essays, and because I always write fanfics I always do pretty well in those essays. So it has helped me a ton.
Fic is glorious! It has helped me so much over the years and I am so happy I started writing it. Between the friends I've made in fandom and the practice I've had in making words happen, I have zero regrets in regards to having started writing fic.
I just got my first accepted short story submission today and I know for damns sure i would not be there without fanfic and I am just all around grateful for it and all the things it has taught me.
Its been years since I wrote my first fanfics and im still writing them! Its super fun to pass the time, and it makes you feel so great when someone complements your work! I'm currently working on a si-fi/fantasy world that I've had in my mind and as drawings for about a year now!
Hello! I found your channel today - and I am so glad I did! You are encouraging, informative, and enthusiastic!
I am an amateur author and a fanfiction writer, and EVERYTHING you have said resonates so well and deeply with my developing skills.
Thank you, and you've earned a subscriber today!
Yeeeeesssss! I love writing fanfiction and it is the best thing that has ever happened to my writing. I go back and forth writing my fanfiction and my original works when I get stuck so I'm always working on multiple projects. I use fanfiction mostly for experimentation with style, but also with character study (that's the actor in me lol). Happy to know that there are other fanfic writers getting published.
I'm glad you talked about this. I write my own stories but I still write fanfiction for fun. But I find it helps with other aspects of writing when you're not focusing on developing characters such as grammar, POV, sentence structure and story tense.
Yes! I love this video. I’m trying to go traditional, and learned so MUCH from writing fanfic. Especially about developing that thick skin and learning to take criticism. I’ll tell you I started out so terrible, but with the help of betas, feedback, and not giving up, I think I’m a pretty good writer. And I will probably continue to write fanfiction until the day my inspiration for my OTP dwindles (I don’t see that happening anytime soon. Lol) Thanks got the video. This was a great topic.
I can't believe I only now ran into your channel! I got into fandoms maybe 15-ish years ago and started writing 2 years ago. It was a joke - a one-shot smut fic I'd written on a dare because I didn't have any background or confidence in going further than that. But earlier this year, I began a novel-length fic for another fandom. I'm an engineering grad student - the breath of my writing skills are strictly restricted to technical writing and research. So learning how to build and edit my creative works has been really fun, and your videos really helped!
I just started watching your videos recently and I'm already such a huge fan. You're so insightful and respectful across the board. I really appreciate how you approach the topics you cover. You're wonderful :')
Thank you for this so much. I'm in the middle of making the leap from ff to my own original work. This gives me hope.
Kristina Grinton good luck hun. Make sure you jump onto a few writing pages with like minded people. Never give up and keep at it.
What's funny when you say "not writing a novel" is that a book is usually restricted to around 300000 words for epic novels in trad publishing, but there are multiple fanfics I have loved and have reread multiple times that are well over half a million words, some of which are still being written. Crazy, but awesome.
Preach! Fanfic teach us so much about writing, so much about what kinda stories we will love working on, so much about ourselves as creative people... fanfic is amazing! I can't believe there are people out the that still don't see it.
But it's not important. Thanks, Alexa!
I'm actually turning a fanfic of mine into an original work because all I used was the world and species. (Mass Effect)
JulianGreystoke same here :) I was writing a Smallville fanfiction about Lex and Lana (my OTP) and I decided to adapt it into an original story, because it's one of my favorite things I've ever written, and I want it to be bigger than just a fanfic.
Kinda same? I basically just used the location and characters of a BNHA AU with my OCs.
Uiii - where can I buy it? Where can I follow you? Have you finished it? I am waiting for the remastered version of the games this year. I think the Mass Effect fanfictions will boom I'm summer.
Im honestly using fanfiction to develop ideas for an original book I want to write. This fanfic isn't the actual story I want to write but I'm using the fanfic in order to get my ideas and world building straight.
Yes ma'am. Everything I learned about writing I learned from fanfic. It's incredible. I'm getting all nostalgic. I wrote x men evolution (Romy) and avatar the last airbender (everything)
Thank you! I had just started to read and write fanfics and this video is very encouraging. I have learned a LOT about my writing style by writing fanfics even if they are centered around one trop or category. I am very glad that you agree that fanfiction writing can just be for fun. It doesn't always have to lead to writing original fiction.
Since 2017, I had been writing fanfiction, starting in my mid thirties. It's not easy, considering I am not a native English speaker (I still insist on using it for my writing) and my teaching job is taxing.
In addition, I am a complulsive reader, my house is overflowing with books, but from the moment l have discovered fanfiction, I couldn't stop reading it.
That said, fanfiction has thought me how punctuation works in English (it's really the opposite in my native language!), it helped me actualy understanding and reading in English original books like Game of Thrones or Philip Roth's novels, it showed me that dialogue tags should be "normal" tags, it made me digest that without perseverance and constance in posting schedule I couldn't go anywhere. It taught me to be patient and bear the burn of rejection, to accept that the one work I wrote quite only to appeal the audience is the one which received more hits and kudos out of my 9 other works 😅 I understood how much visibility and constance and craft are key to talk to your publicum. Because, I am surely writing for myself, but it's so sad when I can't reach anyone.
I think the thing that scares me the most about trying to write my original story is the loss of the direct feedback fandom gives you.
Seriously, your videos are so helpful! And I just love your passion.
Thank you so much for making this video!! It gave me the push I need to try fanfiction. I've always watched shows or read books and asked myself "what if" but told myself there wasnt enough time. "I have a 17 book series planned in my head I have to write" I'd always say. "I'm 23 so I'm running out of time" I would think. And what I just realized is that is ridiculous. When you said you wrote fanfic through your 20s a weight lifted off my shoulders. Theres nothing wrong with enjoying the craft without the pressure of it having to be original and publishable. I bet my stories will improve even more when I'm 30 and have more life experience. I've watched your videos forever and really enjoyed them but this one was my favorite. You may have changed my life. Thank you so so much!!
Ps. My first writing experience was HP fanfics so I feel like maybe I was meant to find this video. Full circle!!
Just found your channel. Not gonna lie; I was frantically searching for your opinion on this lol I’m still so embarrassed about wanting to write fan fiction that I don’t write nearly as much as I should. Definitely trying to figure out a routine that will best work for me.
Fanfic is way more prevalent than you realise.
Almost every Marvel universe comic book is a fanfic, now that Stan Lee has died. Most of it were actually fanfic even before his death, when you think about it.
Same goes for a big part of Star Trek, The DC universe etc. although also oficially licensed, the same thing can be said about Star wars.
In my country during the 70's and 80's a lot of the Donald Duck magazines had stories in them that were written by fans and then drawn by Disney. A lot of school teachers had a loooot of fun with sending Scrooge, Donald and the 3 nephews on Indiana Jones like expeditions through time looking for valuable ancient treasures among for example the Mayans and the Azteks and such. They also seized the opportunity to make small subtle comments and obsevations about modern society without it being hamfisted political statements. :)
Donald Duck magazines gave me my first glimpse into the story of the sword of Damocles.
Well, Carl Barker was the original and the rest were, licensed or not, for all intents and purposes just fanfics.
Stieg Larsson is dead but someone else is still writing stories about Lisbeth Salander. I'm sure you can come up with a lot more official fanfic stories and universes.
Shades of Grey started as a Twilight fanfic and is now a multi million dollar franchise. Who knew.
One of our teachers once told the press: "I dont care what you start out reading, War and Peace or Donald Duck - as long as you're reading something, I can work with that..." I agree with both him and you. I dont care what you are writing - we can work from that. reading and writing should be fun and inspiring.
I needed this video! I write fanfiction but I always feel bad about myself because I feel like I'm "not a real writer". I always reassure myself that I am but hearing it from someone else made me feel so much better about what I do.
I love this so much because I really do feel that fanfiction improves your writing so much. I’ve been writing fanfic for years. I’m in love with the way we can write and interpret characters, build on worlds, and THE TROPES, I love them with my entire soul. The feedback I get is wonderful and so, so helpful and the community is so kind as well: they give as many compliments as they give advice, but they break you in for disappointment and accepting rejection.
You are very encouraging. Thank you.
i love fanfic, i started in 2016 and have been writing my own fanfic off and on since then it is a great outlet and it has helped to improve my writing style and helped boost my confidence in my writing ability.
Makes me wish I've gotten into fanfic 15-20 years ago :)
I love your elaborate enthusiasm! Thanks for this vid!
I didn't start with fanfic, but I've definitely written a few. And it taught me about what moves readers and how to mantain their attention.
I actually started writing through rpg forums. I don't know if that is a thing on english speaking countries, but back in the day we (the spanish-speaking countries) had a magnificent rolplaying community through the Internet and it made me pay attention to the inner consistency of the characters I had created. It was a wonderful experience! And I am grateful I had it because I think it made me a better writer.
I started with HP fanfic also, and I feel I learned all the things you mention. It was such a wonderful and fun learning period! Sometimes I have to pay attention not to use the bad habits I got from writing fanfic, but after 15 years I can easily identify when I'm giving in to these habits.
You have the same energy as my literacy coach and one of my high school teachers from way back when, which makes me binge-watch your videos faoshdfasdf
I have been writing fan fiction and original writing simultaneously pretty much since before there internet and I cannot say enough how much it has helped my writing. I grew up and am still poor and couldn’t afford the tools I needed to learn how to be a writer professionally and fan fiction has been my number one tool. I don’t need expensive classes, I just need fan fiction. The professional writing industry can seem classist and elitist and now something for us in the lower classes, but fan fiction helps us break into it, and it’s all 100% free. It’s the world’s cheapest hobby that can actually lead to being a professional writer. I mean I started writing fan fiction with a pencil and a notebook. I honestly can’t say enough amazing things about fan fiction. I am a rare-pair writer in my fandom so my work isn’t very popular, but what I’ve learned is more valuable. I’m 36 and I pretty much never plan to stop writing both my own fiction and fan fiction.
I love fan fiction! I'm 14 and I started reading fan fiction last year. Before that, I wouldn't read books, but ever since I read that one Ryden fan fiction from Quotev, I read more and more than fictions and I even wrote my own and writing one rn. I told my mum about fan fictions and she said she doesn't care because I'm reading and it's helping me with my writing in my English class. Reading and writing fan fiction helped me to read and do better in school!
As a 20 something year old ith english as their second language- fanfic is a big part of why I know grammar rules now and now to effectively communicate! Keep doing what you're doing!
The best part of this video was the completely accurate use of the word "transmogrify" in a natural, adult sentence XD
13 year old me was a purist and would only write original works to avoid being “cringe”
Now I’m in my early 20s and not only shamelessly writing fanfic but still taking my writing seriously! Fanfic doesn’t have to automatically mean the writing is bad.
Literal character development 😂
I love fanfic as well. Have done for about 16 years. Thanks for all those kind and thoughtful points.
your eye makeup is on point and matches your book and i just wanna let you know its everything
Totally agree! I was one of those snobbish people who looked down on fanfic and wrote my own original stories. However, once I found some great fanfics and started writing my own, I find that writing fanfics really is helpful. They really help me understand characters better and craft more rounded OCs. They help me practice writing opening lines too (which I'm really bad at). Most important however is the feedback I receive from readers. I've been too focused on my flaws that I never notice my strengths and the comments really help me realize that 😊
I love the part where you talk about writing "novel length fanfic" Aha. I watched your video about how long novels should be when submitting to be published because I'm currently writing a fantasy, and realized that all of my fanfics are so much over the usual amount. My longest fic was 170k, which is a HUGE amount!
Thanks for doing this video, I couldn't agree more. While I have yet to complete an original fiction, the experience I have gained from writing in the ffnet world has given me the confidence to know that have what it takes to draw readers into a story and keep them there. One extremely important tip I discovered is that you must write your story in the way it needs to be told, not worrying about length. I just finished up a 260,000 word novella "Halls of Stone and Iron" last month. It took me 8 years to complete (I have already sworn that I will not devote a chunk of time like that to fanfiction again, but I was already started and it needed to be written). I think those of us who either write in an obscure fandom or with side characters have an advantage in transitioning to original fiction because we KNOW we have to write well to get and keep readers. Not only is my main fandom pretty much dead (Dukes of Hazzard), but I don't write 'redneck'. My main character of choice is Enos who I put in real life, serious crime scenarios. As WENN9366 on ffnet, I have a core of about 50 dedicated readers and others who come and go which is wonderful considering my fandom. Anywho, congrats on your success, I'll have to read Burning Brightly since I love Jane Eyre!
Great video. Takes the shame away from fanfic writing. I’ve been in the camp of not wanting to admit I’m a fanfic writer even though my fics have a strong following. Thanks for your perspective.
I would add to that. Not just fanfic, but collaborative fanfic. It's part fanfic, part roleplaying, part improv. We work on a story together as well as throw curveballs to surprise each other. We write a little everyday. Lots of stories get written. Every now and then we have something we can copyedit into a novella. Picking a well-known IP means we all have a solid foundation to work with.
I remember when i loved fan fiction!!! (:
I think it is funny to learn that you wrote fanfiction because retellings is probably the closes thing to fanfic.
Yep, it's one of the reasons I'm happy to be open about my background with fanfiction, because I truly feel it helped me get to this point! A genre-mashed retelling is more or less just like writing a remix or pastiche, which I always enjoyed doing in fanfic. The ability to take something familiar and make it fresh is a skill, and I think fanfic can be instrumental as a building block for many writers!
I've been thinking about writing fanfic for a book I love recently. I've been in a lot of fandoms and my favorite OC's are loosely based off some of the characters I loved in the shows and movies I watched. This video has actually encouraged me to give a shot at fanfic more. I am still hesitant because I'm scared of not doing the book I love justice but, I think it'll be fun. And that's the point, right?
hank you for this video.