100 Things I Learned From Writing Fanfiction: #11: There Are Big Old Jerks Out There

Edit: Somehow had this scheduled to post next month instead of last week.  I guess I don't have to write anything new yet! :P

As a counterpoint to my last post about awesome people, I feel I should point out there are also a lot of jerks out there.  I don't know whether it's because the internet gives people the illusion of anonymity or if it's just that there are jerks everywhere, but you will meet them.

I won't name anyone this time because I don't want the post to be about who did what to whom and when.  Anyone who gets involved in a fandom will meet up with jerks.  Sometimes they're forum moderators who're on a power trip.  Sometimes they're just dumb people who are so rabidly involved in their fandom or their particular sub-group of fans that they forget how to respectfully disagree. Sometimes they're just idiots who think that hobby related activity (especially online) means you get to suspend the rules of common courtesy and etiquette.

I don't like Joss Whedon's body of work.  I know, jaws have hit the floor all over the internet now.  I have nothing against the man; I just don't like most of his stuff.  The only exception is the movie Titan AE.  I don't like the new Battlestar Galactica either--although I did at first.  I've been personally attacked by members of those fandoms because I said I didn't like the shows.  (I have plenty of friends who're into Buffy or Firefly or BSG, so I'm not singling out those fandoms.  I'm just talking about my experiences.)

I've also met people who seemed to have no interest in reading (or watching) my work except to leave nasty comments.  (Which is entirely different than leaving constructive negative feedback) Most of those are anonymous but not all.

The most hurtful experiences I've had in fandom have been with people I considered friends.  I've had people suddenly turn on me for something I wrote in a story or said in a fan community that they didn't like.  There have been people who "got bored" or left a fandom for some other reason and seem to have decided that my friendship wasn't important anymore.

What I've learned is that you need a thick skin to be involved in fandom, and an even thicker one if you plan to create fanfiction or fanart of any kind.  It's great fun, and most of the people you'll encounter are wonderful, but you have to be prepared for the occasional jerks.  Try not to take their actions personally, and try to avoid engaging an argument wherever you can.

Kindle Worlds Announces Licensed Fanfiction

A few days ago, Amazon announced Kindle Worlds, a publishing platform for fanfiction authors.  The way it seems to work is that Amazon acquires licenses from the franchise owners and then gets a portion of profits for each sale.  There are only a handful of franchises on board for this, but Amazon promises more to come.

I have mixed feelings about it.  On the one hand, Kindle Worlds has the potential to prove something I've been saying for years: that fanfiction is not just the province of people who lack the creativity to write their own stories, and it has positive effects on media franchises which allow it rather than the commonly held misconception that it somehow equates with "stealing" an author's work and the profits to which the author is entitled.  (Whoo, long sentence.)   On the other other hand, Kindle Worlds raises the question of what exactly constitutes fanfiction.  I think fanfiction is something that fans have always done out of love and enjoyment.  If it becomes about profit and marketing, does it cease to be fanfiction and become a hybrid--some kind of free marketing tool for already bloated media franchises?  I'm not sure.

I am going to keep an eye on this.  I don't know if Amazon will be able to get enough franchises on board with this, but I admit--I would at least try it out if they had a license for anything I already enjoy. Tell me what you think.

100 Things I've Learned By Writing Fanfiction #10: There Are Awesome People Out There

This post was the very first idea I came up in the 100 Things Fanfiction series.   It's probably going to consist of a bunch of shout-outs to my friends, but that's okay.  My friends are the awesome people who inspired it.

Writing fanfiction (and generally being involved in fandom) has allowed me to meet several people that I count among my closet friends.  Some of them write fanfic, some don't.  Usually, we've struck up friendships when they started commenting on one of my stories, although I think a couple of them were on a message board with me about 8 years ago.

Aruna7 and I met when I commented on one of her SG-1 fanvids (which I would link to but I don't think is online anymore.  Little did I know that one innocent comment would lead to multiple ongoing collaborations and  a friendship that (I hope) will be lifelong.

Lhinneill, Cha_aka, and I have roleplayed together, read and helped one another with our stories, and generally shared our lives for almost as long as I can remember.  They're the first people I share anything I write with (except for One Path.) and the first people I think of when I'm stuck in a story.

Polgarawolf and I met through her comments on One Path, and since then we've probably exchanged enough commentary on Dune, Star Wars, and various other franchises to fill multiple books of analysis and criticism.  She's been my sounding board through a lot of story-related problems, and my fridge is full of snarky magnets she's sent me as gifts.

There are other people I've gotten to know on a more limited basis through my fic writing, but who's input and insightful comments on my stories have been invaluable to me.    Teddibear, Nrgbunny and Phantom-Jedi1 all stuck with me through epic-length stories, caught mistakes that even my betas missed, and inspired me to keep going when I might have given up.  I can't mention everyone; the post would start to read like one of those genealogy lists from the book of Genesis.

What I've learned is that fan art means more when you can share it with others.  Doing so will lead you to meet and make friends with people you might otherwise have never met.

100 Things I Learned By Writing Fanfiction #9: Finish Your Damn Story Before You Put It On The Internet

Suppose you are reading book.  You're about a third of the way in, just when it's getting good.  Suddenly, you turn the page, and there's nothing.  Just a blank white space.  You turn the page again and see something like this:

Sorry, I got stuck.  I'm not interested in these characters anymore, so I gave up and moved on to something else.

You keep flipping, hoping that it's a bad joke, but it isn't.  All the other pages are blank.

How mad  would you be at that author?

Why should your fanfic readers be less mad at you for abandoning your unfinished story?

Now suppose you pick up another book, get about halfway through, and you see another note.  This one says:

I realized I made a mistake.  I'm starting over from chapter 4.  Here's what's different.

How confused would you be?  How likely would you be to actually finish the book instead of just putting it down?

Do you think your fanfiction readers would be less confused?


Generally, I post my fanfics a chapter or two at a time as I write them, and I often write out of order, so that I have chunks of material from different time periods that need to be connected to one another.  I'm the last person to tell you that you should complete a whole manuscript before you post anything.

So then what exactly do I mean when I say "finish your story before you put it on the internet?"

100 Things I Learned by Writing Fanfiction # 8: Somebody Will Always Know More Than You

Aruna7 knows more about Star Wars than I do.  She probably knows more about Star Wars than any other person I've met, and she may know more about Star Wars than George Lucas on any given day.  When I first started writing Star Wars fanfiction, I was uncomfortable because I wasn't as well-versed in the GFFA as I would have liked.  I did as much research as I conceivably could, and then I started writing, relying on my friend to help me fill in details and check my characterization.

There are other fandoms where I feel (or have felt) more confident.  Stargate SG-1 is a good example.  (I know, I keep coming back to those two fandoms, but that's because I've spent most of my fanfic writing time in them.)  I'm sad to say I've forgotten a lot of my detailed knowledge of the canon now.  It's been about five years since I stopped writing SG-1 regularly, and my memory is fuzzy.

Even before that though, there were people in the SG-1 fandom who knew things I didn't.  It was great to have them around, but sometimes it presented challenges.  Fans get nitpicky.  Star Trek fans are known for being especially bad about this.  People can be rude, and you will find individuals who have nothing better to do than knock your story because you forgot a detail or made a choice they didn't like. They forget the time when they were new to the franchise and didn't know things either.  Sometimes I ran into people who thought they knew something and knocked my story unfairly.

So, what I've learned is to do my homework until I'm comfortable, then just go for it.   You'll never really know "enough" about a franchise--and you'll probably forget things anyway.   You'll continue to learn more as you go.  Fanfiction should be a labor of love, not a trivia contest. If you let yourself be intimidated or put off by what you don't know, you'll cheat yourself and anyone who might have enjoyed your story anyway.

Fic Rec: Sleepwalker

It's been several years since I've read a really good fanfiction in any fandom.  I found one this weekend and I was both relieved and excited because I was starting to feel alone as someone who enjoys well-thought out, character centered stories that feel like the world in the source material and keep the characters true to the way the franchise portrays them.

Alphalover has clearly put a lot of time, effort, and love into her Masters of the Universe story Sleepwalker.  I'm enjoying it greatly, so if you're an 80s child who loved He-Man and She-Ra, check it out and tell me what you think.

100 Things I Learned By Writing Fanfiction #7-Nobody Knows Everything

I know a lot about Stargate: SG-1.  It's my favorite television show ever.  Even so, it took me a long time to feel like I was capable of writing fanfiction for SG-1.  I didn't feel like I had enough of the characters' life stories or understood enough about the Goa'uld or 'gate technology.  If you don't watch Stargate and have no idea what I'm referring to, then substitute details from your own favorite franchise.

Can you write in the characters' voices and hear them the way they sound on the screen?

Can you remember details of their lives or the things they've said about "how stuff works?"


No?

Well, neither can I--at least not perfectly.  Neither can a TV's show's writers or the script writers for sequels.  (Look at the Highlander film franchise and its huge continuity problems for an a movie-related example.)

I first got involved in the Stargate fandom around 2005.  I met people who were way more knowledgeable about the show than I was, and when I started thinking about writing fanfiction, I asked a lot of questions.  I was probably annoying.  That's okay, because it made my stories better.

There were times, though, when I found that nobody knew what the answer was--or there were so many different answers circulating the fandom that I might as well just pick the one I liked best or make up my own and run with it.

You'll eventually get flack for that.  Somebody will come along and leave a review to tell you what you got wrong.  It may even be someone you know--someone you normally go to when you have questions.  That's one of the things that makes transformative writing different from most other kinds.  The audience gets to interact with the source material and with the new stories that are being created around it.

So am I saying that fanfic authors should just make up whatever they feel like? Not at all, but here's what I've learned from all the questions I asked:

Sometimes the answers you need just aren't available in canon.  If nobody seems to know for sure, pick something, make up as much detail as you need to, and go with it.  Just make sure that what you decide on is plausible, and stick with it.  Also, don't obsess too much about the things you don't know.  Fill in as much detail as you need to and leave the rest alone.  In most cases, nobody else knows either, and fanfiction is supposed to be fun.

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