Fanfiction is not synonymous with bad
How has the word 'fanfiction' become synonymous with 'bad'?
"I hate fanfiction, it's crap!"
"It's just published fanfiction."
"It reads a lot like fanfiction."
Etc.
As a fanfiction writer myself, as someone who started writing BY writing fanfiction, it's extremely frustrating to hear these things. My friend's ex-boyfriend had the mindset I mentioned above. "Ugh, fanfiction is terrible" is what he said, I think, to which I kindly corrected him that "some fanfiction is terrible. Just because all you've read is crap, doesn't make all of it crap."
Yes. There are a lot of bad fanfictions. Yes, a lot of people who write fanfiction are teenage girls with a poor grasp on good writing. Yes, the other 1/4 of fanfiction is shameless purple prose. But that last 1/4 is most often amazing, and is sometimes better than the original the fanfiction is based on.
It's a lot like comparing every book to Twilight, just because Twilight is (was?) popular. It doesn't make sense. Just because 80% of the fics you find, be it on ff.net or LJ are less than stellar, please don't go around comparing every fanfiction to the crap you've seen, just because that crap is the norm. It's insulting to the people who actually write good stuff, and even to the people whose stuff isn't so great. And who started great, anyway? I didn't. Everyone improves. But by telling people "bah, fanfiction sucks" isn't going to help anybody.
The minute I tell some people "yeah, I write fanfiction" they go "oh, well, I don't really like fanfiction." To which, again, I'd basically summarize my thoughts above.
I just. Ugdfjh. I hate it so much. I don't get this stigma about fanfiction/fanfiction writers, when I KNOW I write good fanfic, and I've seen some fics which are good, if not better, than some of the published books I've read.
"I hate fanfiction, it's crap!"
"It's just published fanfiction."
"It reads a lot like fanfiction."
Etc.
As a fanfiction writer myself, as someone who started writing BY writing fanfiction, it's extremely frustrating to hear these things. My friend's ex-boyfriend had the mindset I mentioned above. "Ugh, fanfiction is terrible" is what he said, I think, to which I kindly corrected him that "some fanfiction is terrible. Just because all you've read is crap, doesn't make all of it crap."
Yes. There are a lot of bad fanfictions. Yes, a lot of people who write fanfiction are teenage girls with a poor grasp on good writing. Yes, the other 1/4 of fanfiction is shameless purple prose. But that last 1/4 is most often amazing, and is sometimes better than the original the fanfiction is based on.
It's a lot like comparing every book to Twilight, just because Twilight is (was?) popular. It doesn't make sense. Just because 80% of the fics you find, be it on ff.net or LJ are less than stellar, please don't go around comparing every fanfiction to the crap you've seen, just because that crap is the norm. It's insulting to the people who actually write good stuff, and even to the people whose stuff isn't so great. And who started great, anyway? I didn't. Everyone improves. But by telling people "bah, fanfiction sucks" isn't going to help anybody.
The minute I tell some people "yeah, I write fanfiction" they go "oh, well, I don't really like fanfiction." To which, again, I'd basically summarize my thoughts above.
I just. Ugdfjh. I hate it so much. I don't get this stigma about fanfiction/fanfiction writers, when I KNOW I write good fanfic, and I've seen some fics which are good, if not better, than some of the published books I've read.