Good advice abounds, but I recommend begining with Catherine Rain's essay, "Fanfic Is Hard To Write." Rain has her fantasy fan fiction archived here, but her advice could apply to any genre. This essay explores why fan fiction communities are such tough readers. Like the flaming site I wrote about earlier today, these communities produce strong storytellers...
"Many of your readers are reading fanfic because they know the original source very well already and they're looking for more-- but they know the source so well that they're capable of spotting and picking at any flaw. That's natural; they love the source, right? So if they see something that violates the source, THEY ARE GOING TO NOTICE. And it's going to bug them, more than it would bug them if they didn't love the source, because the writer is spreading badwriterness on a thing they love. They're going to expect that a good fanfic be really awesome, because it's a homage to something they love, and to be a good homage it had better be worthy."
Hello,
My name is Zo and I write fan fiction. Primarily I write Buffy & Angel stories, and my stories are mostly rated NC-17.
I completely agree that this is an obsession. I am not a professional writer nor did I take any kind of writing classes. I've always enjoyed writing. As a teenager I wrote alot of poetry and even attempted to start a short story. But as with a lot of teenagers other things occupied my time and the writing was put aside.
Now since I've started writing fan fiction I am completely obsessed with writing...anything! I now find myself wondering if I have enough skills to write professionally. Personally I don't think I'm a bad writer but then again I don’t think that I'm novelist material either. But my hope is that my writing improves with every story that I write.
Which leads me to your post on 'Fan Fiction is Hard to Write'. Again I agree with you. Fan fiction readers are very astute reviewers and can be at times very harsh. However, I for one applaud it because without honest critiques a writer cannot improve on their skills, which is what most fan fiction writer’s want.
Fan Fiction communities in general can be wonderful and welcoming. They can also be extremely catty and cliquey, which I do not like and has recently led me to re-consider the extent of my involvement within the community.
But overall, it is a wonderful place to learn to write, or to better your writing skills, and most importantly become comfortable with publishing what you're writing.
:)
Posted by: Zo | March 9, 2006 11:28 AM | Permalink to Comment