My (started) FanFic. Should I continue?

[Warpwind]

I think I agree with both of you (arigatomyna and sixstop) but I'm just going to elaborate on a couple of things.

Yes absolutely impossible to come at fanfic or indeed any fiction without some preconvieved notions.

Yes fanfics are for the most part using a short cut (you don't have to create your own characters and world) but that doesn't really excuse poor writing or skipping things like characterisation (especially considering no two people would veiw a character in the same light). A good writer would be able to characterise and not bore someone who is already familiar with the subject. Basically you want your characterisation for the most part to be so woven into the story that you barely notice it and it just adds to the whole experience.

and the primary reason I have yet to find some fanfics I really like is simply that I was disenchanted early on and haven't really looked for any since.

But all that said I'm not sure why people produce fanart or fanfics in the amounts that they do. I mean at best all your hard work and effort can do is complement the original author and at worse get yourself sued. So while I accept that's it's fun and people enjoy it (myself included) I do think that all that effort would be much better placed in original works. That way if it is really good you can actually get some recognition. Like sending it in to get published in short story mags and such things.
And with all that said I find it ironic that I'm saying this in a amv forum where we simply cobble togeather other peoples work

[Arigatomina]

But all that said I'm not sure why people produce fanart or fanfics in the amounts that they do. I mean at best all your hard work and effort can do is complement the original author and at worse get yourself sued. So while I accept that's it's fun and people enjoy it (myself included) I do think that all that effort would be much better placed in original works. That way if it is really good you can actually get some recognition. Like sending it in to get published in short story mags and such things.

And with all that said I find it ironic that I'm saying this in a amv forum where we simply cobble togeather other peoples work

Heh, you pretty much have the best summary of my position I've seen. I was huge in the fanfiction scene while I was in school - it was good practice with catering to a set audience, and it was *fun* instead of something that had to 'make the grade.' But then, I haven't written much for fun since I decided to make money off of it, so I've started to abandon the hobby. The great thing about fanfiction for me is that you *can't* make money off of it - so there's no pressure and it can remain a passtime.

I feel the same way about amvs, though they don't take nearly as long to create since you can't get feedback until they're finished (at least a rough draft) and some fanfics can have so many parts they take a long time to finish.

Anyway, I encourage people to write fanfiction, and to see it as more than just an easy way around doing real creation. What they are is a nice step into the art of storytelling - and I've yet to see a fanfic writer who didn't get better with each fic if he/she actually put effort into them. Getting criticism is the best way to do this.

And on that note, if you want people to go over your fics, you might try a certain yahoo group I was on a few years back - I think it's still around. Just go to http://groups.yahoo.com and do a search for fanfiction (maybe criticism as a key word) - they specialize in giving constructive feedback for people who want to improve their work. The last time I stopped by, it was still a good place to start.

[madmallard]

you better watch yourself. I've been doing this for almost 12 years now, and thats just because I had the internet. There are people who were on paper mailing lists doing this with typewriters in club circles even before internet clubs found out about eachother. And what you call "play Type" fiction is actually called "Scripted," and I've read scripts that simply eclipse what you've submitted to us here.

Script writing isn't lazy, it's even harder than 1st person limited prose. While your thinking is developed, your overall fanfic community experience is clearly limited. I'd suggest you hook up with a crew, maybe one that came before Yahoo, before you pontificate on writing styles, forms, and compositions like you just did.

And you also contradicted yourself.

? I don't think you should encourage people to be lazy writers just because fanfiction gives you an opportunity to leave things out. What fanfiction *does* is give you a chance to write for a set audience, using characters you like - to have fun while also practicing a good skill. Sure, you could just do original fanfiction, but the reader base isn't there - and chances are it'll be more of a chore than a fun (and useful) hobby.

you -are- a lazy writer/reader by writing/reading fanfiction. You're working from someone elses backdrop and someone elses cast. It -is- a shortcut that fanfiction uniquely gives you and to not use it is, well. . . .silly. and you just said in that paragraph :

you could just do original fanfiction, but the reader base isn't there

Thats the exact point. You're borrowing someone elses reader base in fanfiction. And if you're not, why bother writing fanfiction?

You can't have it both ways.

and chances are it'll be more of a chore than a fun (and useful) hobby.

If writing original work is more of a chore, then you've got other issues, too.

[Arigatomina]

First, scripting may be an official writing style, and for some people you can do it if you have the dialogue function in telling the story (ex: what the characters are doing/feeling is described in the dialogue) but few and I mean *very* few fanfics managed this when they write in script form. I can submit over a thousand fanfics in this form and you won't find a single one of those having any worth when it comes to using the format properly. Sure, some playwrites can actually pull it off, and I've studied a few myself, so I can appreciate how hard it is. But when it falls into fanfiction, it *is* the easiest way out of - as you said - an easy situation. All you do is use the names, you don't have to worry about descriptions, you don't have to worry about characterization, it's just names and dialogue with a few stage directions tossed in. And no, few fanfic writers can make it worth reading.

As for what I said, I see no contradiction in what I said. When I referred to 'lazy writer' I clearly defined that in previous paragraphs as being someone who doesn't use the proper methods of story telling. To me, a lazy writer is one who doesn't tell a story, but merely writes words using a few given characters - nothing worth reading. Sure, compared to original fiction, fanfic writers are lazy, but if they are good writers it is only laziness on the 'creation' level - it has nothing to do with how they actually do the stories, only with the starting point. The difference between fanfics and original fiction is the characters used (or the storyline used if you're not doing AU) - from the moment you set those characters into your story it is just another story and can be written as well or poorly as original fiction.

And if writing original fiction was as easy as writing fanfiction, no one would write fanfiction. The simple fact is that you can make money off original fiction - and at least in America, making money doing something you like is a huge motivator. If everyone who did fanfiction could make money off their writing, I can guarantee there would be few fanfics out there. It's the fact that writing for submission is a *job* - you may enjoy yourself, but you cannot write for pleasure or even for personal enjoyment. Once you're writing for a living, you have to give people what they want, at least on the basic level. Fanfiction doesn't have that sort of limit, so yes, I see fanfiction as something more fun to do. It is inherently a self-driven activity since you get *nothing* from it aside from personal enjoyment. Any original fiction that gives you the same is ruined the moment it moves from being a hobby into being a profession. And no, I wouldn't do what I did in fanfiction when it comes to my professional writing. They're two completely different worlds - one for pleasure, one for profit.

I've yet to meat a person who didn't enjoy writing for himself more than he enjoyed writing for the masses. I seriously doubt I'm the only person who feels this way.