McAnally's (The Community Pub) > Author Craft
Fanfiction: Is It Real Writing?
the neurovore of Zur-En-Aargh:
--- Quote from: Cyclone Jack on October 25, 2012, 03:50:09 AM ---Of course it's 'real' writing. Every narrative is important, if only to the author.
One word after another is how stories get made. Never let anyone tell you different.
--- End quote ---
I'm not sure being that solipsistic is a win condition; writing purely and utterly as works for you si all well and good if it's therapy, but if you want to connect to people and possibly even make a career of it, a degree of paying attention to the outside world is kind of essentialled as well.
meg_evonne:
Wow, a visit from Cyclone Jack. Welcome back. (Long walk about this time. :-) )
Yes, fanfic is writing. I don't wish to read any myself, but as CJ says, one word after another... It isn't a bad place to begin. In fact, it was my 2nd DF fanfic that I looked at and realized, "Wait. This isn't half bad." After further contemplation and being inspired by JBs writing blog, I decided to become a writer-writer. I joke that it would have been an easier life if JB had just used my ideas and let me get on with mine. Instead, it has been an incredible journey.
So yes, of course, it is writing. Have at it, but be challenged to move into your own worlds, be challenged to expand your horizons, and be challenged to learn, learn, learn.
Compass Rose:
Yep, fanfic is writing. It's just that most of the time you can't make a profit on it. For Avery long time the majority of fiction was more or less fanfic. Endless stories spun off from the Authurian mythos, the Sage of Roland, and the Christian Bible. And if you ate demanding that creating your own universe / world is part of the definition of 'real writing' then all historical and current world fix, especially centering on real people, sorta gets classified as fanfic! And we don't even have to postulate AU as many historical fiction books include events that really happened, not just 'possible recreations' as the babble calls it. Heh - 'Gone With The Wind,' 'Cleopatra,' etc classified as fan fix...lol!
Quantus:
Not to mention anything that takes place in a shared universe, like Star Wars novels, Darkover, Forgotten Realms, anything comic book related, etc. These are all essentially approved and published fanfics.
lynde4:
I started writing with AU fanfiction and found it wonderful for building writing skills. I used a well known fictional universe and played with the characters, adding plenty of my own. It gave me practice and confidence. And courage. Because about halfway through the series, I discovered I had no more use for a canon character. None. So I killed her. The reactions I got were all positive, possibly because I handled the surrounding characters in ways those characters would have reacted, maybe the community realized that I couldn't do anything more with that character. But writing AU fic, also gave me more mobility with the scenes and characters, which was important, because the fanfic idea started with a what if scenario. What if such and such had happened instead of. . .? It worked out nicely, in the end.
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