My Escape

In my first ever blog, I told you about the reasons I write, but there's one which I haven't mentioned yet, mostly because it wasn't really relevant to anything I've talked about at all so far. Then I watched the series finale of ER. I've been watching it since I was 11 years old, so for 10 of the 14 years it was on. Now, when I was a kid, I was painfully shy. I had a few friends but I was frequently too shy to ask them to play, so as a result, I spent a lot of time watching TV. And that's when it all really started. I would watch my shows and I would be swept away into a land where I could empathize with these characters; feel what they were feeling, feel the affection that they felt for the people in their lives deep down inside, especially friendships. I think this ability to empathize with characters is a large part of why I am (not to toot my own horn) a good writer and I hope this has reflected in my fan fiction writing. Simply, it was an escape from my life. Admittedly, crippling shyness and lack of social life aside, I can't say I had a horrendous childhood, but outside of my love for writing, I can't say I was truly happy then either. Sad? Maybe. But it was all I had and I, for the most part, was okay with it. This...I don't know if it's a song or a poem, but it really describes me back then...not as much the last verse because I wasn't going crazy, but I can even relate to that a bit because, back then, relating to characters on TV was much easier than trying to do it in my own life...

A lot has changed since then; since I graduated high school. I'm no longer painfully shy; for that matter I don't even classify myself as shy anymore. I have little to no problem talking in groups and in class or making friends. Though I was happy with all the time I spent writing, generally all of this has made me much of a more well-rounded person. But as much as I enjoy being with people, I cherish my time alone. My time to be by myself, to think, to write, to appreciate relationships and experiences so different from my own. My time to just be.

I really think that watching the series finale of ER is what made me think of all this. It reminded me of a time where 'my time to just be' was really all I had. After I finished watching it, I felt this sense of awe and love for being alone with my own thoughts and writing them down that I haven't truly felt in a long time, since I became more social, that I felt near constantly growing up. It comes from my ability to become so deeply caught up in these fictional worlds; like I'm part of them. Everybody needs to get away from the world for a while; I just feel it more so than others is all. I know that so many people wouldn't be able to imagine that, but that's what's made me who I am. Writing fan fiction may not be all that I have anymore and I may have changed so much in my life and I'm glad for it, but it will always be a part of me and the part of myself that I cherish most. It's my place where I can just be; my escape from reality. For no matter how social I get or how many friends I make, I will always treasure and need my escape; my world.

Food for Thought - Literally!

Just when I thought I knew essentially everything there is to know about fan fiction, I come across something that teaches me that there are always new things to learn about anything, even in a topic you think you know so well. The thing that brought this realization on was reading this article titled 'Do You Feed Your Muse Well?' A muse is a term invented by writers that basically means the little voice in your head that comes up with your story ideas. One thing I've learned about my muse is that it's become highly ADD since I hit college. This article gave me a theory to why that possibly is. From the beginning of the article, I was able to relate to what the author was saying: I’m either overflowing with fantastic ideas and thoughts about everything under the sun, or I’m staring at a blank page thinking my muse went and died on me. I wasn’t even invited to the funeral. This fits me perfectly. I can't count the number of times I've had a fantastic idea in my head then by the time I have the time to actually sit down in front of my computer to write it, what comes out is typically nowhere near the degree of awesomeness that it was when I wrote it in my head. It's also typical for my muse to come up with a hundred ideas while I'm under pressure from schoolwork and don't have time to write, but the minute a school break hits and I have time to write, I'm sitting in front of a blank Word document trying desperately to remember the amazing ideas I had just a short couple of weeks ago or I jump around from story idea to story idea to story idea never being able to stick to one long enough to finish it.

The author of this article went on to explain how he learned that a lack of eating regularly and/or healthily leads to a lack of energy that causes our brains to come up with great story ideas. This theory makes a lot of sense, especially in my own case. I eat horribly; I admit it. For one thing, I'm a college student balancing two majors plus a plethora of other stuff, which doesn’t leave much time to make healthy meals. I also have a childish belief that I'm not hungry unless my stomach is growling, which stems from a childhood mantra that I developed to 'not eat if I wasn't hungry' because I had a random fear of becoming fat (not that anyone ever told me I was fat-in fact my mom would get mad if I ever said I needed to lose weight, I just had the same body issues most girls have, even when there's no reason to have them), a small appetite, a hatred of most lunch foods and a love of nighttime junk food snacking. I'm not typically hungry at mid day anyway and 'why eat something I don't like when I'm not hungry, thus making me not hungry for dinner and subsequently eating things that I actually like late at night?'

But it's when I do eat three meals a day that I can write better. Back in middle and high school when my meals were regulated partially by school schedule and partially by my mother's insistence on regular, balanced family meals, I would have what I termed my writing "sessions", where I would sit down in front of my computer and be able to type for hours on end, emerging immensely pleased with the results. But since college, I haven't been able to do that, and I've missed it. I dismissed this by assuming it was the combination of more things to do and less time to do them in that comes from being in college and while, admittedly, this might be part of the problem, I now know that it's not the entire problem.

So will I start eating better? I can't honestly say yes, but I'm going to try. The author of the article said that he makes himself eat a bowl of granola and milk every morning whether he feels like it or not, so I think I have to do something like this. I am learning though. As I write this, it is about noon and even though I'm not incredibly hungry, I am eating a sandwich. Bottom line, I can't keep eating, well, like a college student. I may not be overweight, but with my eating habits plus the fact I don't exercise, I'm not exactly healthy either. And most of all, it causes the lack of energy I need to write productively. And while my sweet tooth might hate me for giving up my nighttime junk in favor of a mid day meal, the energy to write that eating better will bring will more than make up for it. Like the article said at the end: "And for seven days straight, my brain was on superpower. Just three weeks in and the results are all systems go. I'm less tired. I write easily. Ideas flow. So do the words. My creative muse wasn't dead. I'd just been starving her - literally. Food for thought, no?

A Little Dose of Reality

This article spoke volumes to me. It was about not letting your fear of the unknown control the situation you put your characters in. Even though I have an ability to easily empathize with my characters, I don't particularly have a problem doing this. My main genre is angst, after all. Though I don't have a problem with what the article was trying to teach its readers to do, I could still relate to it nonetheless.

At one point, the article said: Characters – true, multifaceted characters – are people we care about. We created them, and we shaped them to the perfection of our mind’s eye. We love them. They are parts of our heart, our imagination and our soul. They are parts of us. The pain they’ll experience, be it physical, emotional or mental, is pain we’ll have to experience, too. We’ll feel it as if the wound was our own, and we’ll ache with the people on our pages. And while this is so true, what you, as a writer, need to remember is simply, without conflict, you don't have a story. Without conflict, Scrubs wouldn't be as interesting if JD and Elliot stayed together since the first season like Turk and Carla did and there wouldn't be that dynamic 'Will they, won't they?' tension. Even in Turk and Carla's case, though we all know they're meant for each other, the fact that they had issues the first year they were married shows that not even the most established couple on that show is perfect. And there you have it. Giving your characters conflict shows that they're only human, just like you and me. Turk and Carla's marriage wouldn't be as realistic if they were all happy and "I love you more!" "No, I love you more!" all the time. Sure, someone could argue that we watch TV to escape reality, but without a little reality, you wouldn't be able to relate to the characters.

So the next time you find yourself shying away from giving your characters a little trouble cause you don't want to hurt them (and yourself), my advice to you is don't do it! Break up that established relationship! Put that guy into a coma! Like the article said: Realize that by hurting your own characters, you are not a sadist. You are not deliberately hurting your loved ones merely to watch them suffer. You’re giving a gift. You’re helping them grow and develop. It's the same way in real life. What doesn't kill you does make you stronger, after all. Isn't the happy ending better in the end, once they've learned something from the experience, than the beginning? You can get them back together or fix whatever situation you've put your characters in in the end (we readers would be disappointed if you didn't!), but like they say, the journey is more important than the destination. And in the meantime, watching how your characters react to whatever situation you've put them in plus the anticipation of when and how the situation will get resolved makes for some great entertainment.

Spelling Counts!

It wuz a boring day at NCIS headquarters. Specail Agent Anthony DiNozzo wuz dealing with it by being more annoying than usual. He kept throughing little pieces of paper at his partner Ziva David, then looking away when she terned to glare at him. "Tony, if you do that one more time, I swear I am going to shoot you" "But, Zee-vaa," Tony whined, streching out Ziva's name to annoy her "Its boring here". "Tony, this may be a wierd concept for u to get, but no one cares" snapped Gibbs. "What?" sed Tony "He's saying your arrogant, Tony" put in Timothy McGee.

So what was the point of that, you ask? To illustrate the spelling errors I frequently see when reading fan fiction. And just saying in the author's note "Oh Im a horrible speller, dont get made at me, but enjoy my story neway!" isn't an excuse (FYI: The spelling errors were put there deliberately to further prove my point). Most word-processing software comes with this handy little button called the spell-checker. They put it in for a reason; use it, please! Don't have a word processing program? Well, it's your lucky day! On the home page of fanfiction.net, there are links to download free word-processing programs. Also, there's a spell checker built right into the document manager where you upload your stories. You're using it anyway, so you might as well use that spell checker.

I have one tip that might help you with those pesky contractions that was drilled into me in school and a lot of people don't know it. Contractions stand for something, like "you're" stands for "you are", "that's" stands for "that is", "it's" stands for "it is" and so on. If you're confused as to which to use, then think if the long form of the contraction will make sense in your sentence. If it does, then use the contraction, if not, don't. So to use my example at the top, McGee is telling DiNozzo that he is arrogant. So which one is correct, "You're" or "your"? "You are arrogant, Tony" fits the sentence better than the "Your arrogant, Tony" that I purposely used. "Your" means possession, like if I was referring to "your" mitten. The mitten belongs to you. As an additional note, do NOT under ANY circumstances use chat speak in a story. Like how I used "wuz" instead of "was" in my example. Not to sound rude, but if you can't take the time to put in the effort to spell everything out in non-chat speak words, then why are you bothering putting the time into writing a story? This, even more so then spelling errors, makes you look dumb and most of all, lazy. There is a place for chat speak and this is not it.

Admittedly, I'm a bit of a spelling Nazi, but it's honestly hard to enjoy a story with so many spelling errors. For one thing, it communicates to the reader that you, as the writer, are not that intelligent and they don't take you seriously as a result. They won't read any of your stories and isn't that why you posted them in the first place? Secondly, it's hard to understand what you're trying to say if there are so many spelling errors. Thirdly, and most importantly in my opinion, it ruins the story. I've seen so many stories that seem like they're going to have a great plot, yet there are so many spelling errors, I can't get into them.

Contrary to popular belief, spelling does count. You may not lose points in a grade, but you'll lose readers if you post stories with sloppy spelling. Anything that has the primary purpose of being read by the public take the time to spell everything right and not in chat speak; you wouldn't read them otherwise. The same thing applies for fan fiction. A couple of spelling errors, fine, nobody's perfect, but a whole chapter full of spelling errors and chat speak is inexcusable. Here's a link to a list of some Common Spelling Mistakes. Your story has the potential for greatness and if you just remember the tips I gave you here, you'll turn your adequate, misspelled story into a great one in no time! It make take a few extra minutes to click that little check mark, but if you really and truly care about your story and what people will think of it, then those few extra minutes will be nothing.

The Problem With Time Travel Fan Fictions

A common theme of fan fiction is the "What would happen if..." theme. I've noticed this especially in Lord of the Rings fan fiction. It's also on somewhat of a similar vein to Mary-Sue fan fiction as many people like to do the typical "What would happen if my friends and I were magically transported to Middle Earth?" storyline. Other common "What would happen if..." story lines include "What would happen if there were a 1oth member to the Fellowship?" To be honest, I don't read a lot of this type of fan fictions. I can be as anti-canon as the next person, but there are limits to how anti-canon I am. I don't particularly like stories that throw people from current times into stories set in not current universes. It just doesn't seem right to me to have people talking about cars and the Internet in a Lord of the Rings fan fiction because Lord of the Rings is supposed to have been set eons ago. (I know, it's also odd for a girl who's a fan of Back to the Future to not like time travel stories, but whatever). I can't quite put my finger on why I dislike this specific type; possibly it's because this theme is overdone, or possibly because the few I have read simply retell the story.

And that's my point of the day. I'm sure there are great stories that throw people from current time into the Lord of the Rings universe somewhere out there (if anyone knows of any, please let me know!), but when they just retell the story, honestly, what's the point of reading them? The whole point of fan fiction is to develop your own ideas of something that could happen and use these characters (and some of your own if you like) to tell it.

This concept is different from a story that takes an event that occurred in one of the books (or movies) and shows it through someone else's eyes, for example: the events of what happened in Bree where the four hobbits meet up with Aragorn told through Aragorn's eyes. This is different because, though the scene has occurred in the story, we didn't see it from Aragorn's point of view. It's someone's idea of what Aragorn might have been thinking. It may contain minimal dialogue copied from that scene to get the story going or end it, but it's mostly description; it's mostly Aragorn's thoughts, what he was thinking while watching the hobbits.

A story that simply retells the story of Lord of the Rings with one minor change, is just redundant, actually comes very close to copyright infringement and is another reason why many authors (and others) have issues with fan fiction; because people are taking (near) their exact words and ideas and passing them off as their own. And that's the kind of stuff that give fan fiction a bad name.

Despite my mixed feelings towards throwing characters from current times into Lord of the Rings, there's really nothing wrong with it as long as you do it appropriately. Meaning, COME UP WITH YOUR OWN REASONS FOR PUTTING THESE CHARACTERS THERE! If you want your character to be part of the Fellowship, fine, just, maybe invent another world-saving quest for them to go on where your character is the one who everything depends on, not Frodo, don't just make them the 10th member of Frodo's quest. If you want Legolas to fall madly in love with your character, perhaps have him meet her (or him, depending) before or after Leoglas goes on the quest. Or even nix the time travel idea and just make your character into an elf who's lived in Middle Earth all along (rather than a story I tried to read where 3 girls from present day were sucked into Middle Earth and turned into elves). You can still be you falling in love with Legolas even if you change the time period you're living in. Time travel stories are difficult ones to write and still keep true to the story without sounding childish. If you're going to do one, just please make up your own idea. The Lord of the Rings trilogy has already been written, thanks. If you're interested in checking out some Lord of the Rings fan fiction, click the link and it'll take you to the Lord of the Rings page on fanfiction.net!

Fan Fiction's Positive Affect on My Writing

This article Why Heather Can Write quite frankly was fantastic. I actually read it twice. A lot of the things really hit home for me and allowed me to reflect on my writing in a way that would never have occurred to me otherwise.

What difference will it make, over time, if a growing percentage of young writers begin publishing and getting feedback on their work while they are still in high school? And what happens when those young writers compare notes, becoming critics, editors, and mentors? Will they develop their craft more quickly-and develop a critical vocabulary for thinking about storytelling?

I know for a fact that writing fan fiction has definitely enhanced my writing capabilities. Sure, we did writing in high school; I had to do the term papers and whatnot, but I rarely got the opportunity to write fiction and when I did, I completely ate it up (and not to brag, wowed my teachers). Even at my college there is no creative writing course. I got a bit of creative writing when I took a short story class a couple of years ago, but not a lot. The writing instruction at my high school in general was simply: Write this, not: This is how you write. Rarely got grammar instruction either after elementary school (which would explain my occasional problems with grammar). But it was in writing fan fiction that I got my best chances to really focus on developing my writing skills and I applied what I learned there to not only my fan fiction writing, but my school writing as well, not the other way around. And again, to go back to betas, they can teach you about some aspects of grammar and other aspects of writing that your own education may have missed. Overall, my grammar might be messed up sometimes, but any improvements I have made on it have been through writing fan fiction.

Editing: A Fresh Pair of Eyes

Not only is editing yourself as much as possible key to a successful story, it's also a good thing to have someone else look over your work too. In the fan fiction world, this is called a beta reader. On fanfiction.net, there is a whole section that lists beta readers. Like this awesome article I found says, beta readers will read your stories and give you constructive criticism with an objective eye on everything from characterization to spelling and grammar to story pacing to pretty much anything you can think of. The key of this is constructive criticism. Some people get defensive at any form of criticism, but that's not what the average beta reader is going for at all. They're not saying your story is bad, they just want to help you make the best possible story you can. Sometimes you miss things when you're looking at your own work. You may know what you're trying to say and as a result, your brain may skip over things or add in details you think aren't crucial, but are needed to understand the story. The average reader doesn't have the advantage of being a mind reader or being in your head; they may have no idea and a beta reader can help you with that.

I know having a beta helped me for the brief time I had one while writing Wedding Bells and Bomb Shells. She helped me clear up the issues I have with punctuation and a lot of other stuff. I was quite grateful for all of her help. Unfortunately, in rereading my story a while back, I think I may have accidentally insulted her by implying that her not getting back to me on a chapter was the reason for a long break I had between updates, when it wasn't; I was just busy. So if you ever wrote under the pen name Mirandabelle and beta read a story called Wedding Bells and Bomb Shells and you're reading this, I'm sorry if I insulted you! I didn't mean it like that; I'm just really good at putting my foot in my mouth at times! So yeah, the moral of this particular story is don't insult your beta.

No one likes to read a story with obvious errors (and sometimes even non-obvious ones!) that could have been fixed by simply having another pair of eyes looking at your story. It's not a sign of weakness, it's a sign of having the maturity to want to make your story the best that it can be.

Editing: The Fine Line Between Genius (of a long fic) and Insanity (of a long, overly detailed fic)

I found this article a little while back: Random Thoughts on Writing and I've gotta say that I agreed with pretty much everything the author said. A few things specifically jumped out at me...

Remember word economy; when you've finished your piece, go back and edit ruthlessly. If it doesn't add to the story, the character, the reader's understanding, then turf it. Lose the excess baggage; travel light. A finely crafted short fic can have all the kick – in fact it can have even more – than a longer one because it's concentrated...Know the right starting point in your story; if you start too far ahead of yourself, you risk confusing the reader; start too early and you might just bore them...

This is especially crucial. Honestly, I wish I'd known this when I was posting my first story, a 30-chapter M*A*S*H story called Wedding Bells and Bomb Shells. At the time, I thought it was great. I still do for the most part, but when I re-read it a couple of weeks ago, I found so many things I would take out if I could post it all over again,especially in the first 6 or 7 chapters. The underlying plot is the wedding of Hawkeye and Margaret, but no specific wedding details (minus wedding planning) start until about midway through the story. Some of the non-wedding parts were fine, others weren't needed. Detail and wordiness, have always been two of my major downfalls and not just when it comes to writing fan fiction. My problem is I don't edit nearly as much as I should. Writing this blog has really helped me realize the importance of editing. While I think my writing is, not to brag, pretty good, it'd be great if I looked it over a few times before posting. I think I'm starting to get there but I have a ways to go yet, especially as I seriously begin to approach my next multi-chaptered story, set in the Scrubs universe. Random details and subplots can, on the whole, add to the story, but there is a fine line between this and detail for the sake of detail.

Slash: A Different Way of Looking at it

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A Well-Developed Mary-Sue is a Good Mary-Sue

I've been thinking a lot lately about what it is exactly that bugs me about Mary-Sue. Who is Mary-Sue, you ask? A Mary-Sue is an original character invented by the author of a fan fiction. She usually possesses attributes such as overt friendliness, beauty, etc. This article I found goes into a lot more detail: http://www.geocities.com/betareadg/marysuefam.html. Bear in mind, the following views are my own. I admit that some people like Mary Sue fics. I'm just not one of them. And some others might not be either judging from the lack of reviews I see on these fics.

The perfection of Mary-Sue is what annoys many people. The perfect Mary-Sue is well-loved. Every single character loves her immediately and begins confiding in her their innermost secrets and desires and the characters will always take her advice. And if one character does not like her immediately (thrown in to throw readers off the scent that this is a Mary-Sue), something (even if it's just the rest of the characters begging this character to give Mary-Sue a chance) will happen that will get this character to like Mary-Sue by chapter 2, chapter 5 at the very latest. Perfect Mary-Sue is also all-knowing. If she comes to a Scrubs story set during a season where JD and Elliot are not dating, she will somehow know that they are perfect together, even if it was when they were loathing each other. She is also extremely skilled at something. For example: She is a phenomenal singer, begins singing in a band, and immediately goes solo after being spotted by a talent scout in the audience of her first ever show. She also may have a past full of tragedy. She was an abused child, her parents were killed when their house exploded when she was miraculously not home, she was kidnapped by evil space aliens, etc. (occasionally multiple tragedies can occur for her). But she has always been able to find the strength to look past her terrible childhood with the abusive space aliens who blew up her house because she is just that perfect. People hate Perfect Mary-Sue simply because how the heck can anyone be that unbelievably perfect?

It's the underdeveloped Mary-Sues that piss me off the most. These are the ones that show up with no sort of back story but are somehow ridiculously intimate with the main characters from the story. Or they do have a back story but it involves something quite ridiculous like they are magically sucked into Middle Earth, or they also have a romantic relationship with a musician and get the letter to go to Hogwarts. You see Underdeveloped Mary-Sue especially in Harry Potter and Lord of the Rings fan fiction, but they can show up anywhere. You can almost tell that these Mary-Sues are developed for the sole purpose of giving female fan fiction writers the excuse to put themselves in relationships with Harry, Leoglas, or whomever their heart's desire is. Heart's Desire becomes immediately infatuated with Mary-Sue, despite any previous romance with other characters. Perfect Mary-Sue and Underdeveloped Mary-Sue are, many times, found in the same person.

The key to developing a good original character, and not a Mary-Sue, to play a big role in your story is to give him or her a good back story. Ask yourself these questions: Who is this person? Where were they during the course of the book, movie, etc.? Does their back story fit the background of the universe you're writing about? Is it a realistic back story (aka: not nauseatingly dramatic or painfully surreal) But be careful not to spend too many chapters talking solely about your original character. We are here to read about the characters we already love after all. Sound conflicting? A good happy medium is to spend about half a chapter starting to set the back story of your original character, then check in on what Harry and the gang are up to. Or develop your original character as you go along. Your original character transfers to Hogwarts from Durmstrang and as the story goes on, (s)he gets friendly with Harry, Ron and Hermione and her past is learned through conversations with them. Eventually, a romantic relationship can ensue. You can even be this original character presupposing that you take the time to develop it correctly, and not jump right on the Immediate Infatuation with Mary-Sue boat. If you're having problems telling your original character is a Mary-Sue or a well-developed original character, here's a quiz that I found online: http://www.katfeete.net/writing/marysue.html. Please answer honestly. It may suck to find out that your beloved character is really just an unbelievably perfect, unrealistic character, but it will help you write a better, more down-to-earth, intelligent story that people will love. And that's why we're here, is it not? Sometimes just changing a few details will bring your character back from Mary-Sue Land. It may even help you find a more believable way to get yourself into Hogwarts, after all.

Now I am all for putting original characters into fan fiction. I do it all the time. Done well, an original character can be a welcome addition to a beloved cast. Put all the original characters you want into your stories; go nuts! Just please please please please PLEASE develop them appropriately.

Defending Some Common Misconceptions of Fan Fiction: Part 2

Here's another opinion on fan fiction from an author named Donna Durgin:
"Genre fiction authors aren't as well known. Even the big name pros within a genre can be completely unknown outside that genre, with the rare exception of the Anne Rices and Stephen Kings of the publishing world. Someone coming across fanfic based in one of my universes may well have no idea that the characters and setting =are= mine--or any way to judge how accurately they're represented." (Durgin)

While I do agree with Ms. Durgin in that most people don't know of authors outside of the genres that they usually read, if she thinks that someone who doesn't read a certain genre would mistake a fan fiction for the actual work of an author or scriptwriter, they actually have bigger problems on their hands. Obviously, this person (the figurative person I'm talking about, not Ms. Durgin, that is) is quite delusional. Yes, because someone with the pen names of gayfortinafey or Miranda River like I saw on the West Wing section of fanfiction.net is clearly Aaron Sorkin, the creator of The West Wing. Damn, you got us. Granted, you can find some fantastic fan fiction amongst the grammatically incorrect, underdeveloped fics of varying degrees of canon (which basically means if the story is true to the plot line) out there, but it's hard even then to mistake this story for the real thing. Not to mention the fact that you don't write fan fiction about something you've never seen or read and if you are writing it, you know who created the story that it's based off of anyway, so that makes Ms. Durgin's point moot. It goes back to my last blog about how we're not publishing these things anywhere but on the Internet. Publishing a book and posting something on the Internet are not the same thing at all, so other than the argument that this fan fiction could be Ms. Durgin's next big book that someone stole and posted online as their own work, there's really no way to mistake the two. And honestly, if someone did try to claim that they were the real author, you wouldn't believe them. Or at least I wouldn't.

Maybe these authors don't realize we always put disclaimers on our fics that basically say "THESE CHARACTERS AREN'T OURS. They belong to this fantastic and talented author, whom I have so much respect for, that I'm writing a story based on their characters" Okay, I get that some authors are against fan fiction. That's fine, it's your opinion, and I respect that and especially the fact that you, unlike me, have the drive to write stories for a living. That's why there's a section that everyone who makes a profile on fanfiction.net has to sign listing authors, such as Nora Roberts and Steven King, that do not want fan fiction written about their universes, or you can't make a profile. I understand that writers don't make a lot of money, but it's out of love for your characters that we write fan fiction, not out of some sinister, greedy intent to make money off of your ideas. It's the fact that every series has to end sometime and we're always left wanting more. And if we love your work that much, we've probably bought many of your books, thus giving you money. If you look at it that way, technically, fan fiction is a compliment.

Defending Some Common Misconceptions of Fan Fiction

I was idly surfing the web today and I came across this article about fan fiction and the legal issues that come from it. Here's the link to the article if you're interested http://www.whoosh.org/issue62/ecks2.html. It's kind of long; fair warning. The article is divided into different sections and in this blog, I'm talking about the section titled 'Fan Fiction Based on Novels'

For a little background, fan fiction has gained a lot of popularity in the last few years, so that of course leads to more media attention. The most commonly talked about issue that comes from fan fiction is the potential copyright infringement. This article cited various authors talking about their dislike of fan fiction.

Here's one from an author named Lawrence Watt-Evans:
"And the other thing, which might seem contradictory, is that written fanfic is too close to the original -- it's the same medium. It seems to be stealing some of the original author's market -- and given how little money most novelists make to begin with, that bothers me." (Watt-Evans)

I don't mean any disrespect to Mr. Watt-Evans, but I'd really like to know where he got that idea. Fan fiction is not taking away from the original writer's money. Legally, we can't publish our work even if we wanted to. All characters, etc. out there are protected under copyright, so if someone was trying to publish their fan fictions claiming that the characters are their own, they'd be slapped with a lawsuit. The majority of fan fiction have disclaimers saying that the characters and universes we're writing about don't belong to us to stop that very event from occurring. Granted I don't know how well that would hold up in court, but the proof that none of us are making or attempting to make money off of the stories we write is there plain as day. If anyone ever did try to sell a book using someone else's characters, I would completely agree with Mr. Watt-Evans and all the other authors that share his opinion about fan fiction. That's completely and totally not cool, but as it stands, none of us fan fiction writers are making any money off of our stories.

Fan Fiction vs. Original Fiction

I was reading this article: http://www.articlesbase.com/non-fiction-articles/is-fan-fiction-a-good-writing-practice-71953.html and I've got to say, the things that the author was talking about made a lot of sense to me, but one thing that really did was how she said that a con to writing fan fiction was the fact that you get so addicted to writing fan fiction, CON – I also found I tended to use my best "bits" for such a story, leaving the well dry when it came time to write something more serious".

Reading that made me stop and think; is the reason why I don't write many original stories the fact that I've spent all my time and plot ideas on my fan fiction? In many ways, I'm inclined to say yes. I've had a couple of decent ideas for original stories, but I've always lost interest fast due to a greater interest in writing fan fiction. Would I have more original stories had I not written as much fan fiction?

Realistically, writing has never been more than a hobby for me. I entertained the idea of being a professional writer for a while during high school. My parents' response: "Okay. What are you going to do for money while you're waiting for a story to get published?" So that deflated any inclination I had to try and make it as a writer. From what I've heard, getting published is a lot of work and few even make it that far. So if I had chosen to use my plot ideas for original fiction, rather than fan fiction, I'd have all these stories on my computer and no one to enjoy them, like I have with fan fiction. And generally, my plot ideas have seldom geared themselves towards original ideas, Like I said in my first blog, my ideas come from a desire for more after the credits roll.

While I may have more fan fiction stories than original fiction stories, it's not a big deal. I'm going to be a teacher, not an author. I'm not a professional writer, like this author (hence her worries), I'm a fan fiction writer. In my case, I'm in the right place. :-)

Patience is a virtue...

A few weeks ago, I was surfing some Lord of the Rings fan fiction. Here's the link if anyone's interested. http://www.fanfiction.net/s/3764208/1/Ill_Fortune. I was reading through the story, on the edge of my seat, when I came across something that kind of threw me for a loop. It wasn't even in the story itself, it was in the author's note. For those of you not-fan fiction savvy people, an author's note is just what it sounds like; a note written by the author about the story.

At the time that the author posted this chapter, she hadn't posted for a bit because she had been busy with other stuff in her life. Understandable, right? But she follows up this with a sentence saying "I am not trying to be mean or lazy, but I appreciate it if I stopped getting private messages telling me to update my story soon. I’m glad that you all like the story that much, but please understand that my schoolwork comes first." And that's what blew me away. Now, I love fan fiction, obviously. It's been a huge part of my life for ten years, but as much as I love fan fiction, it's never going to be more than a hobby for me. That's the way it is for most fan fiction writers. It's a fun, creative thing to do and it gives those brain cells a nice work-out, but what it comes down to is we've all got lives outside of fan fiction. We post for fun, so to be bombarded with messages urging you to update is a bit rude.

I've been on both ends of this. I've frequently been on the end of the reader, just getting into a story when all of a sudden, you're left on a cliffhanger, but I could never try to harass the author to update because I've also been on the other end; the end of the author leaving people on cliffhangers. My longest running fan fiction is a 30ish chapter story about the TV show M*A*S*H. It took me 3 years to finish it because, like this author, I was a high-school, then a college student, frequently too busy with schoolwork and other stuff to update as frequently as I would have liked.

Reviews are probably one of the most rewarding aspects of posting fan fiction, but not when they're like the messages that this author was getting. That's the sort of stuff that makes you almost resent writing the story in the first place. Like I told this author in my review of her story, it's more important for you to be happy with your work, then giving your audience a quick chapter that you're not proud of just to shut them up. Sure, the reviews are part of why you write and if you don't update frequently enough, people stop checking your stuff, but the impatient people of today need to realize that, just like they do, sometimes you've got other stuff to do. As important as reviews and the audience are, the main reason you're posting is because you have this story that you want to share with the world, right? It's your story. You need to be the one happy with it at the end of the day.

So to anyone who has ever sent a message bugging a writer to update their story, please remember that we authors aren't here solely for your pleasure. If you love our stories, great! We're so pleased to hear that, but we still have other things to take care of in our lives and sometimes, that might interfere with your next fix of our story, but that's no reason to get pushy. We'll be back, don't worry! But until then, your consideration, respect, and most of all, patience, is greatly appreciated.

Yes, I am a fanfiction writer and I am proud of it!!

So I read a blog where the author is a WoW player and her first blog was about her history with WoW so I thought I would emulate her example and write about my history with fan fiction. Show you all I have some credibility in this. Ohhh do I ever have credibility with fan fiction...

At the ripe old age of 21, I've been writing fan fiction since I was 10 years old. I don't remember if I knew it was called fan fiction at the time, but I'd always be making up some story in my head about some TV show or movie or book that I enjoyed. Soon, I began writing them down.

I do need to clarify one thing; when I say "writing a story", it's not like I've completed hundreds of individual fan fictions. Nowhere close. I've only finished 11, got a couple close to done and who knows how many in progress. My problem is I get distracted easily. And I go on hyperobsessions. Within a month period last December, I began obsessing over Back to the Future, started a story, then a few short weeks later, that movie was forgotten and I was obsessing over Lord of the Rings. When I hit obsessions, I'll watch the movie or TV show, read the book or whatever and suddenly, it's ALL I can think about. So I'll hop onto http://www.fanfiction.net/, and begin reading and writing fan fiction about it. Unfortunately for me, the obsessions never last quite long enough for me to actually finish a story idea I've been so excited about before I'm on a new obsession and getting excited over some new story idea, which is why I have so many unfinished fan fictions on my computer. But I'll work on all that and get all my stories done one day...

For me, what fan fiction is is this sense of always wanting more. I love watching movies, watching TV, reading; always have and always will. I'll see these great characters, I'll really empathize with them, really get into what they're doing and then the movie, show, or book ends and I'm always left with this feeling of wanting more. What's next for them? What would they do in this situation? And thus, I began writing fan fiction.

Have you ever felt like I have? Felt this strong desire for more with these characters you've fallen in love with? Have you even gone as far with these desires as to spend your time thinking about what the characters would do in certain situations? Then do yourself a favor and write it down! And post it so everybody can read it! That's probably the scariest part of all; letting other people read what you've wrote, but the feelings you get when you get a good review are well worth it. And it feels so good to see these words on paper (or a Word document) and know you wrote them. So in that spirit, I'm going to give you a link to my profile on http://www.fanfiction.net/, so you can read my stories. http://www.fanfiction.net/u/366530/AEM1. Hope you like them!