Aw, crap.

[agilebrit]

I have a deep and abiding inability to just let things goAs I may have mentioned in a previous post, I got into a small argument with the writer GoH, Michael Stackpole, during a CONduit panel this weekend. The argument was whether you can learn anything by writing fanfic. I, of course, am firmly in the camp that you do. I maintain that I would

Comments

[myfeetshowit]

I can see both sides of the argument.

I used my fanfiction, myself, to experiment with writing that I knew wouldn't be sellable in today's market because it was old-fashioned, and I learned many things I wouldn't have, attempting to please an editor.

Even more than the writing, I think betaing fanfiction has helped me. I was able to see problems in other people's work, and realize I was committing the same sins myself.

[agilebrit]

Beta-reading and writers' groups are a freaking godsend. It's still hard for me to step outside my own writing and figure out what's wrong with it, but I've gotten better at it the more I crit other writers. At least I'm figuring out the questions to ask.

[texanfan]

That is a ridiculous attitude for a writer of professional fanfic.

[agilebrit]

I know! I wanted to look at him and go "Are you serious? Seriously serious? Because...dude."

[desdemonaspace]

I think he's mistaken. I look at my own fic epic, and the improvement in technique from beginning to end is obvious (it was almost four years in the writing).

Sounds like he's talking out of his ass.

[agilebrit]

Yeah. It's the absolutist statement that rubs me the wrong way, I think. That and the fact that a tie-in writer said it.

[mermaidrain]

I've been an original writer since childhood. I didn't know what fanfic was until a few years ago when a friend introduced me to it and challenged me to write some of my own (in fact, that was how I got into writing fanfic at all). But I don't see anything wrong with writing it. I think it IS good practice and a good learning field. As long as you don't let it be all you write (I have a friend who spends copious amounts of time writing fanfic and nothing else, because of fear I think) and you actually DO use it to learn something about writing (unlike some of these people that just use it as some sort of weird copulatory experience for their fantasies). Obviously it worked for you. If there's one thing I've learned as a writer and reading about writing it's that there is NO steady rule about writing and how writers approach the craft. Everyone has a different method. Sounds like this guy is .. confused about what it is he does though. LOL! ;)

[agilebrit]

I'm sure he's a nice enough guy. He just has a blind spot when it comes to this subject--as many do.

You know what, though? I'm not going to tell anyone what they "should be" writing. If they're happy writing masturbatory fantasies, go, them. It's not my personal cup of tea, and I won't read it, but at least they're writing. It's (usually) only when they get bratty about concrit that my claws come out. Not everyone wants to be a professionally published writer, just like not everyone who carries a sketchpad around wants to be an artist with a gallery opening somewhere.

[mermaidrain]

Well, it's those 2nd writers I was talking about. LOL! ;) There is a market for erotica after all, and there's some very well written slash. I'm talking about the 12 year olds who just write it for whatever reason and don't want the concrit to learn to improve. I remember some comments in your LJ about such writers and some of the dreck they managed to put on paper (or cyberspace as the case may be). BUT I've never critiqued them either, so I too am not saying what should be written. As a former English teacher, I firmly believe that ANY writing is good writing. ;)

FanFic

[janchristensen]

Says Log out at the top of my screen. I assume this means I am logged in. Apparently you have forgotten or blocked out that you wrote a whole novel, derivative, i admit, when you were in high school. You talk about the critiques--you can get those without writing fanfic, without the distraction of what people might think you are doing to the characters as they see them. Do you really think if you spent 10 hours on fanfic, or 10 hours on original fic when learning that you would learn more with the fanfic? I can see that it might be a good jumping of point for some people. I'm not saying that you can't learn from using it. I just think it takes longer to learn that way. How much do you learn about characterization (making your own characters) and settings (making your own) if you use someone else's)? How do you develop your own voice? I would guess you can learn a lot about plotting. And from what I've read on your blog, and about this guy who wrote fanfic and is now deriding it, it appears that people who write it can be

Re: FanFic

[agilebrit]

Yay for being logged in