:-) There was a time when I wanted to be a writer when I grew up, but after much messing about I found I couldn't handle both characters and plot. Fanfic helps tremendously with both.
I'm super impressed by writers. I'm terrible with deadlines and I can't imagine having to write a fully fledged book. Hell yeah, fanfiction - solving all our writing problems ;)
The longest stories I've done are ~25,000 words, and they've taken months and months. My general observation is that, when you double the size of a story, you quadruple the effort.
One of the things that drives me crazy about fanfic critics is that they think we think we're doing the same thing as authors of original fic. And - no, we're not, and I know it! Doesn't make our craft any less real (the joys of nailing a voice, of coming up with a nice turn of phrase, of saying something about life you want to say), but I can knock off a 1,000-2,000 story in an afternoon (plus later rereads and fact-checking), and I can't imagine doing that with something original, unless I was filing the serial numbers off of real life or something.
I think I tend to forget how much hard work writing is when I'm reading fic more than I'm writing. But it really is a tremendous amount of work, and I have much respect for people who can get long, plotty fics done.
Original work requires more explanation, because your readers aren't familiar with the characters or the world you've created. Even in non-Stargate AU's, readers understand that Rodney is sarcastic and John is laconic and so on. We fic writers don't have to start from scratch. But fanfiction is work too and I hate when people imply that it's not real writing.
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One of the things that drives me crazy about fanfic critics is that they think we think we're doing the same thing as authors of original fic. And - no, we're not, and I know it! Doesn't make our craft any less real (the joys of nailing a voice, of coming up with a nice turn of phrase, of saying something about life you want to say), but I can knock off a 1,000-2,000 story in an afternoon (plus later rereads and fact-checking), and I can't imagine doing that with something original, unless I was filing the serial numbers off of real life or something.
Reply
Original work requires more explanation, because your readers aren't familiar with the characters or the world you've created. Even in non-Stargate AU's, readers understand that Rodney is sarcastic and John is laconic and so on. We fic writers don't have to start from scratch. But fanfiction is work too and I hate when people imply that it's not real writing.
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