[msstock87]

I always get sad, when good fics go unfinished.

[GardenSirens]

i never read fan fictions. I always get sad when people don't try to become professional authors.

[MistyMountainHop]

Originally Posted by GardenSirens (View Post) i never read fan fictions. I always get sad when people don't try to become professional authors.

Writing fanfic and writing professionally aren't mutually exclusive. People who intend to be professionally published and seriously work at it also write fanfic. In fact, there are quite a few professionally published novelists who write fanfic under pseudonyms because they're into a certain fandom.

Fanfic is a good medium for writers to practice their craft. It's also a medium where people -- who don't care about the craft of writing -- can express themselves creatively and enjoy a community of fellow creatives.

[msstock87]

I have to agree with that Lisa.

Plus, in our case, when a storyline doesn't go well ( ahem season 8) fanfiction can fix it for me.

[gpgenabee]

I feel like writing fanfiction is a good writing exercise. You don't have to worry about world building, you just have to keep continuity and characterization. I know the reason George RR Martin dislikes fanfiction is because it doesn't encourage world building, but if you lack the ability to tell a story eloquently, people aren't going to want to read your work. I find that when the characters are already set up, and you have to manipulate them to do your bidding, that your writing improves much more over time.

I personally have a hard time reading first person fanfiction, as all the works I read are from media that doesn't have a first person narrator. That's my main fault with it. I just have a hard time believing you're in the character's head, you know? You've seen them from outside of their head in their original form.

Speaking of season 8 rewrites, anyone want to help me edit mine? I'm going a lot slower than I wanted to, mainly because I cringe when I realize I wrote this work that I find terrible. I had some good ideas, and I must admit I'm proud of those, but my ability to tell the story I wanted in a clear, concise way was at that of the average young teen I was.

[MistyMountainHop]

Originally Posted by gpgenabee (View Post) I feel like writing fanfiction is a good writing exercise. You don't have to worry about world building, you just have to keep continuity and characterization.

In general, that's very true ... unless you decide to stick the characters into a new world (while keeping them in-character). *cough* Beneath a Shattered Sky *cough*

Originally Posted by gpgenabee (View Post) I personally have a hard time reading first person fanfiction

Same. It's a hard POV to do well. It's a strange construct -- because who goes around narrating their life as they live it? This is particularly true for first person present tense. Most people don't think in a straight line. There are asides and random thoughts that slip in. When reading published books, I have to suspend my disbelief to read first-person POV.

And certain characters just wouldn't narrate their lives. Take Hyde, for instance. Writing him in a first-person POV makes him out-of-character simply because he wouldn't narrate his own story. Even if the narrative sounds exactly like him, narrating his own story is still something he'd never do. But using a very close third-person POV, one can get into his head the same as if writing first-person -- without the narrative POV making it an OOC venture.

Then there are characters like Jackie who would be unreliable narrators. She'd describe people and her own actions through her filter of egoism and denial and fantasy. She'd go off on tangents that are barely related to the main story. To write a "proper" novel (or short story) in her first-person POV, one would have to eschew most of the tangents and focus the narrative in a way that would make her OOC -- regardless if the voice sounds like her.

The two examples I gave are why I have to suspend my disbelieve when reading first-person POV. It's artificial, especially if we're supposed to believe the story is happening while the person is telling it -- not something a person is telling us after the events of the story occurred.

That being said, many professional novelists write first-person POV well, which is why it's not hard to suspend my disbelief. Fanfic authors who are just learning the craft of writing -- or who don't know the craft of writing -- doing first-person POV? Those stories are an automatic skip for me.

Originally Posted by gpgenabee (View Post) Speaking of season 8 rewrites, anyone want to help me edit mine? I'm going a lot slower than I wanted to, mainly because I cringe when I realize I wrote this work that I find terrible. I had some good ideas, and I must admit I'm proud of those, but my ability to tell the story I wanted in a clear, concise way was at that of the average young teen I was.

I barely have time to write my own fanfic. But if you want some guidance, check out these books:

Plot & Structure: Techniques and Exercises for Crafting a Plot That Grips Readers from Start to Finish by James Scott Bell

Revision and Self-Editing by James Scott Bell

Description by Monica Wood

The Scene Book: A Primer for the Fiction Writer by Sandra Scofield

Self-Editing for Fiction Writers by Renni Browne

[gpgenabee]

Originally Posted by MistyMountainHop (View Post) That being said, many professional novelists write first-person POV well, which is why it's not hard to suspend my disbelief. Fanfic authors who are just learning the craft of writing -- or who don't know the craft of writing -- doing first-person POV? Those stories are an automatic skip for me.

I totally agree. I loved the Hunger Games and TFIOS, to name a few incredibly popular first person narrated books.

I had a harder time believing it with Divergent, and by the time the final book came around it was narrated by two narrators:

Spoiler:

I mean, there kind of had to be given that Tris dies... but the addition of a second narrator suddenly thinly veiled her eventual demise...

[MistyMountainHop]

Originally Posted by gpgenabee (View Post) I had a harder time believing it with Divergent, and by the time the final book came around it was narrated by two narrators: Spoiler: I mean, there kind of had to be given that Tris dies... but the addition of a second narrator suddenly thinly veiled her eventual demise...

Yeah. That's a good example of when the first-person POV becomes problematic. But if readers are into the story and characters enough, they're willing to forgive much.

Some of my favorite novels have certain technique issues, but I overlook them (mostly) because the story is so good.

Fanfic is largely the same. If the characterization/plot is good enough, I care less about technique -- as long as the story is readable.

[nannygirl704]

Wow! It had been quite awhile since I've posted on here! Nice to see some familiar faces still here and hi to all the new faces

I hope you all don't mind but I wanted to share with you my new Fanfiction Story. I've been working on it for about a year and just finally started to post it. Was extremely nervous but now it's more like the nervous excited kind of feeling lol

It's definitely different from things I've written before, I think. Here's the info!



Title: If You Ever Did Believe

Summary: The Formans and the group of friends, who grew up in their basement, are living their everyday lives in the new decade of the '80s until something happens that turns everyone's world upside down. Soon it becomes Jackie's mission to help everyone, especially Red, mend broken bonds, get answers, and hopefully find peace again.

Rating: K+

Pairings: Jackie and Red (frienship/family) JH, ED, KB, RK,

Link: https://www.fanfiction.net/s/11959480/1/

Hope if you check it out, you like it Hope to talk to you more soon!

[MistyMountainHop]

Can't wait to read it, Prissy!

[Wickedgreen16]

Originally Posted by MistyMountainHop (View Post) Music is such an individual thing. But when I write fanfic, I try to listen to music the T7S gang would've listened to: Led Zeppelin, the Rolling Stones, Rush, Deep Purple, Jimmy Hendrix, Janis Joplin, the Who, etc.

Me too!

[One Thing Remains]

thanks for all of the amazing fic links in this thread

[msstock87]

There are some amazing ones.

[One Thing Remains]

I would love to read more fanfic. One day my life won't be so hectic and I can

[msstock87]

I try to make time for it when I can.