On (Fan) Fiction
Aug. 21st, 2003 02:49 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
scottishlassAlmost everyone I know is either heavily involved in one fandom or the other and/or writes fanfiction. May it be for S:AAB, Farscape, LotR, Orli etc. Most of my friends are awesome writers and sometimes I really ask myself why they are not already established writers because I really 'fall' into their fics.
During my time as web archivist for two fanfiction archives (S:AAB FanFic Flightdeck and m.i.t.m.) I have come across a lot of stories and authors. I had the pleasure to see fledgling writers evolve and also established writers to run full circle and become published in real. That is the good side.
The down side is, I have also seen writers ... or so called ones who are too recalcitrant to learn anything about the craft of writing, let alone use beta readers at their disposal :s
Luckily in S:AAB there are some awesome writers, probably because they are more mature and because of the subject matter. Space: Above And Beyond is a well written, well paced and well plotted series with strong characters. The writers of that fandom are the same. Their skill and craft shines through their fiction. It is both a pleasure to read and archive.
Same goes with Farscape, also mature fans and brilliant writing.
Unfortunately, that is not true for other fandoms ... e.g. LotR (though I don't read much of that - I only make exceptions with friends even though they know that if I don't like what I read I tell them and stop reading) and Orlific ... Now, because of the subject matter (OB) this fandom has a lot of teenagers. Nothing wrong with that, but when these teenagers try to write and think they have written something akin to Joyce, Woolf or Hemingway and their work shows that they definitely have not ... then I have a HUGE problem. I really don't care how mature or immature a writer is as long as the story produced is spelled correctly, good grammar, has coherent plotting & sentences, and stays in character. Alas, some writers can't even follow the first two, not to mention coherency or characterization. What is really bad is that I have given up on telling writers that they should at least run a spell checker over their stories or get a beta reader. I know it is bad, but after over a year as archivist for an OB fanfic archive, I somehow have lost my zest for making mediocre writers better. After reading and converting the umpteenth fic with bad spelling, bad grammar, bad plotting and incoherency, I have given up. Literally. One skimmed look over a story and I shrug and up it goes onto the site. No quality check; however no bleeding eyes either :)
At first, I felt really bad about it, but nowadays I have discovered that I really don't have the energy anymore to even bother. Bad, bad Una ... but I can't help it.
Same as a reader ... if I don't like a fic (both fan and pro-fic) from the first two pages, I close it and never open it again. Am I too hard on writers? Too arrogant? Or just too full of useless knowledge from my studies at university?
Do you also have these hard feelings about fanfiction? Or am I way off?
------
Chatting to
elfnut ... she is at home because her doctor suspects her to have meningitis. ... Even thought o sound like an old LP on repeat: Elf, LAY DOWN!!! TAKE IT EASY!!!
'Nuff said for now - I should either start on tomorrow's m.i.t.m. update or write a bit more ...
During my time as web archivist for two fanfiction archives (S:AAB FanFic Flightdeck and m.i.t.m.) I have come across a lot of stories and authors. I had the pleasure to see fledgling writers evolve and also established writers to run full circle and become published in real. That is the good side.
The down side is, I have also seen writers ... or so called ones who are too recalcitrant to learn anything about the craft of writing, let alone use beta readers at their disposal :s
Luckily in S:AAB there are some awesome writers, probably because they are more mature and because of the subject matter. Space: Above And Beyond is a well written, well paced and well plotted series with strong characters. The writers of that fandom are the same. Their skill and craft shines through their fiction. It is both a pleasure to read and archive.
Same goes with Farscape, also mature fans and brilliant writing.
Unfortunately, that is not true for other fandoms ... e.g. LotR (though I don't read much of that - I only make exceptions with friends even though they know that if I don't like what I read I tell them and stop reading) and Orlific ... Now, because of the subject matter (OB) this fandom has a lot of teenagers. Nothing wrong with that, but when these teenagers try to write and think they have written something akin to Joyce, Woolf or Hemingway and their work shows that they definitely have not ... then I have a HUGE problem. I really don't care how mature or immature a writer is as long as the story produced is spelled correctly, good grammar, has coherent plotting & sentences, and stays in character. Alas, some writers can't even follow the first two, not to mention coherency or characterization. What is really bad is that I have given up on telling writers that they should at least run a spell checker over their stories or get a beta reader. I know it is bad, but after over a year as archivist for an OB fanfic archive, I somehow have lost my zest for making mediocre writers better. After reading and converting the umpteenth fic with bad spelling, bad grammar, bad plotting and incoherency, I have given up. Literally. One skimmed look over a story and I shrug and up it goes onto the site. No quality check; however no bleeding eyes either :)
At first, I felt really bad about it, but nowadays I have discovered that I really don't have the energy anymore to even bother. Bad, bad Una ... but I can't help it.
Same as a reader ... if I don't like a fic (both fan and pro-fic) from the first two pages, I close it and never open it again. Am I too hard on writers? Too arrogant? Or just too full of useless knowledge from my studies at university?
Do you also have these hard feelings about fanfiction? Or am I way off?
------
Chatting to
elfnut ... she is at home because her doctor suspects her to have meningitis. ... Even thought o sound like an old LP on repeat: Elf, LAY DOWN!!! TAKE IT EASY!!!'Nuff said for now - I should either start on tomorrow's m.i.t.m. update or write a bit more ...
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
no subject
Date: 2003-08-21 01:34 pm (UTC)Dear Una,
God knows that I am as new in fanfiction writing, reading, archiving business as many others (yeah, didn't go near the internet before the year 2000) but I have also taken the live and let fester attitude towards many authors and stories I come across in the 3 fandoms I still frequent.
I have to say that it was you and SD who got me into writing (for which I will be forever grateful!) and taught me a lot of the small fraction I know about writing. Still, I am now a full fledged Beta-addict (and addict to my betas as well, huggles Viv and Una) and I have been and keep on learning. best example is my own fanfiction. In 14 months of work you see teh evolution into another person writing the same story.
Anyway, I think that writing and going public implies you make yourself vulnerable to criticism, but also open to learn from your failures and improve your writing and yourself, as a person.
And no, I would never dream of going pro. But, heck, one puts such a lot of time, love and effort into what one writes, that I think we should at least try to do it the best possible.
Hmmm, english is a tough language ....
Love,
Elf
no subject
Date: 2003-08-21 03:48 pm (UTC)You have a lot of novels inside you :)