kimmiesue13

Just A Silly Blonde Geek

Fannish stuff, mostly hockey (Pens, Stars, Avs).

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Things Fanfiction Has Taught Me

Things fanfiction has taught me

I was chewing on some of these the other day and thought I would make a list. Here’s what I’ve learned specifically by writing fic and probably wouldn’t have learned as well by focusing on original fiction:

How to manage tension. This is such a big one. I never even thought about tension before reading and writing fic. I literally wrote a novel draft in which my main character landed in the middle of nowhere and then had to walk a week to get anywhere. What did I think my readers would read that for? I have no idea!! Fic (at least the kind I write) lets you have a single line of tension that you play out over the course of a story – which, yes, gives you totally misleading expectations for how easy it will be to maintain tension in a story with a more complex plot, but also gives an unbeatable crash course in how to engage your readers and keep them with you. Usually, in my stories, the readers are reading to see two characters get together. Once I’ve gotten those characters together, I can’t keep writing – the tension is dead. If I want to write a sequel, I have to create a new source of tension. (Someone is maybe pregnant? Someone wants to have a kind of sex they aren’t sure is okay yet?)

That surprise isn’t as important as I thought it was. We get so anxious about spoilers in fandom, and that’s fair – sometimes surprise is great. But it’s too easy as a writer to think that nothing in your plot is interesting if your readers know it’s coming. And then you write fic and you actually tag your stories with the pair of characters who are going to end up together, and after a while you’re like, huh, that doesn’t seem to be ruining anyone’s enjoyment any. In fact, people read because of that: because they know those characters are getting together and they desperately want to see it. I read a thing a while back (can’t remember where) about how tension isn’t about mystery: it’s about inviting the reader to imagine the future. If they know something’s coming and they want to see it happen, they’ll keep reading. Pure mystery, on the other hand, is often less interesting than we sometimes think it is. There’s a thing the characters don’t know – okay, sure, but why do we care? It’s only interesting if finding that thing out relates to something we want to see.

How to finish things. No joke. When you’re working on a novel, like I was in my early 20s, it’s so easy to go through version after version after version and never feel like any of them are final. Which is usually true. Novels are so huge and complex and there’s always stuff to fix. But then you feel like you haven’t really made anything. When I started writing fic, I would write something, give it an edit or two, maybe get a beta reader to look at it, and then release it into the world. Would it be perfect? No! But it was usually pretty good, and it started to feel normal to me to move things from idea to draft to sharable creation. I got to appreciate the final product, and that made the whole process of writing more fun to me.

That my life doesn’t depend on a single story. This is related to the above: when you work on a book for YEARS, it can feel like if this book doesn’t succeed, then you are nothing and nowhere and the world is ending. But after you’ve written a few dozen stories, you know there’s another one coming, and you aren’t too fussed if the one you’re working on isn’t perfect or isn’t that well received. Usually when I post something I’m anxious about kudos for the first day or two, maybe longer, but when I start working on something else – and definitely after I post something else – I stop caring so much about the reception of the last thing. This applies during the writing process as well: maybe the thing I’m working on is as crappy as I’m afraid it is. So what? I can always write another thing after this! And I’ve written a bunch of other things in the past, so this one thing doesn’t define my work or worth as a writer. (See also: cesperanza’s doctrine of just keep swinging.) I’ve noticed this coming into play as I work on more original stuff. I want the current novel to be good, sure, but if it’s not, I can always write another one. Stories are abundant.

There’s a larger discussion here about how fic has worth in its own right, and how becoming a better fic writer is an end in itself even while fic can also make you a better original writer. But I think I’m leaving it here for today. :) Anyone have anything to add?

Things Fanfiction Has Taught Me

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