A Suggestion

You mean I can write how Ron Weasley and Harry Potter are secret lovers and Snape is really a drag queen and that is ok? Yaaaayyyy!!!

I'm totally kidding. (lots of winkie faces so everyone knows I'm kidding)

I never wrote fan fiction but I'm guessing that it would be ok for writing practice. Or, am I completely wrong in thinking that?

I've never done it. I think it's sometimes suggested for new writers since they don't have to worry as much about the main characters, the setting, and the general situation; they can just concentrate on writing a story.

The only time I've done anything similar is write stories and plays based on the characters of Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson. New Holmes stories are published every year by various writers. I did it mostly for fun.

I don't get fanfiction at all. I think it's wierd.

Smells funny too.

A better way, imo, to practice writing is to rewrite chapters from your favorite books. You'll learn a lot, and you won't have the horrible stigma of fanfic attached to you.

I don't necessarily think it's the best way to start, but if it gets you started, I don't see how it can hurt. I think you'll soon find yourself wanting to develop your own characters.

When I was 8yrs old I wrote my first story without even knowing it was fan-fiction. I don't think they had that term back then. It was about Snoopy from the Peanuts gang raising puppies. I still think it's a good idea.

Uh, no.
Write the book that only you could write.
That is the most amazing advice I have ever taken.

I'm not sure

The best way to learn to write is to write. Lots of stuff, whatever interests you. Fan fiction saves you from having to create characters, but it delays you from discovering your own unique and original ideas. If you feel timid about writing, why not begin with descriptions, all kinds of descriptions, of real things, imaginary things, characters, whatever interests you? Descriptions of how they look, feel, smell, and taste. Try describing the same thing from different points of view and from different moods. I was in a writing class once with a fellow who wrote a fairly good story about eight characters and a dog, and failed to name any of them much less describe them. I could scarcely believe it. It was like he was pushing G I Joe dolls around on a table.

There are lots of places to start writing, but I'm not sure writing fan fiction will help you as much as just exploring the world around you. You don't need plots when you start out. There are so many aspects to writing fiction that the best advice I can give you is to write as specifically as possible. If you want feedback, you can get it here on Share Your Work. I find this helpful, but no one can tell you what interests you. If fan fiction is it for now, it is still writing.

It may work as a writing exercise, but I've never written any fanfic myself. I didn't have much trouble conjuring up characters out of thin air for the stories I've written.

However, there is one time I've deliberately set out to write something that copied someone else's work. That's a screenplay script I'm working on, and it is as much a writing excercise as something I plan to sell. Since I'm not too familiar with screenplay formatting, I decided I wanted to adopt a public domain story (one of Nathaniel Hawthorne's) into a movie script to get the hang of it. I had originally planned to make it a scene-for-scene adaptation, but I have found myself adding extra scenes to let the characters express thoughts that Hawthorne could tell the reader but can't be filmed directly. I've learned a lot from this about screenplays adapted from the written word... mostly about why it is that I often like the book better.

But having written something based on works already in the public domain means that if it actually turns out to be half-decent, I can polish it up and try to sell it.

I am going to respectfully disagree. Sometimes, when you start writing, you discover you're a good writer. But then what. You can't publish fanfic. Maybe you start to think, "Gosh, all I can write is fanfic." And you never branch out.

I think fanfic is fun, but I don't know that it's the best way to start out. I think it is more of a nice repreive if you get bored with your own ideas.

Maprilynne

I've written lots and lots and lots of fanfic. I'm writing fanfic right now, in fact, and as per usual, I'm having a hell of a lot of fun. The story I want to tell can only be told in the particular universe I'm dabbling in, with the particular characters I'm using. This story will never be published, and I'm writing an obscure corner of my fandom, so it won't get a lot of readers anyway, but I'm doing something crazy. I'm writing it for fun. Yep, just the sheer fun of it all. Like when you were little and used to play with your My Little Ponies, or G.I. Joes, or when you used to wear your red Power Ranger mask (yeah,I'm a child of the 80s and early 90s). Play teaches children, even when they have the audacity to play in universes they didn't create.

I've also sold lots and lots of original stories, I've got another submission pending, I'm completing a story I plan to submit in the next week, and I'm hoping ot hear from my editor on two proposals. That's fun, too.

Fanfic is the way I started to seriously write. It taught me how to take harsh criticism, it taught me how to finish a work once I started it, it taught me about plot and pacing, and it got the 1 million words of crap out of the way. Instead of spending 4 years struggling with an original idea that isn't original at all (and come on, let's be honest here, the vast majority of first novels are NOT original), I spent 4 years hanging out with people I liked, writing stories I liked, and having a good time while I was learning.
I realize that people on this board want to write professionaly and since it's their job, take it very seriously. I think some people take it too seriously. It's my job, too. I've been working for the past 2 years to make it my full-time job, and it's a slow, uphill battle, but I'm making it. But the attitudes I sometimes find on this board makes me snort and roll my eyes. Writing is fun. Write what's fun to write whether it comes with a stigma or not.

pepperlandgirl said:

Play teaches children, even when they have the audacity to play in universes they didn't create.

Click to expand...

I think the audacious thing for a child of our and later generations to do, would be to play in universes that weren't pre-created.

Fanfic is a natural place to start, but certainly not the best one.

Fanfiction is like riding a bike with training wheels: it can't win you the Tour De France, but it can really help you learn to steer and pedal.

The best thing about fanfiction is the built-in sympathetic audience. In any given fandom, you'll find editors, journalists, English teachers, you name it - who are happy to read your story, happy to tell you where your trouble spots are, and, if you're me, happy to tell you how fucked your dialogue tags are. I don't do it much anymore (haven't posted anything in over a year), but I'm glad I did it.

writerdog said:

I have been working on my own ideas. None of my plotts are working out though. Maybe that is why I feel compelled to do this.

Click to expand...

One thing that helps me plot is studying history. Go back and read some old stories, old non-fiction stories. Real life is stranger than fiction and you can pick up some really cool ideas.

Also, just because you like the plots of certain fiction, doesn't mean you need to jump to that fan fiction. You can rehash your favorite plot, with your own characters, and hopefully give your old plot a new twist with your new characters.

Writing is writing, and being a fanfic author doesn't stop you from exploring the complex themes that the most complex literary fiction does. But there is "good" fanfic and then there is "bad" fanfic, and if you delve into the realm of Mary Sues and twisting around the personalities of currently existing characters to fit your own end, well...that's "bad" fanfic.

Plus, fanfic written on spec (meaning you weren't comissioned to write it, like those authors on the cover of Star Wars and Star Trek novels that cost $6.99 a pop) never, EVER gets published except for on fansites. And since they don't count as publishing credentials then they won't get you anywhere.

Going to write as a hobby with no goals for it being your career? Doing something fun on the side? Just need a mental break? Answering a "what if" question? Fanfic away my friend. Just know that you'll have to follow the rules if you want your work respected by fandom.

If you want to write original stuff and have trouble creating characters, advancing the plot, what have you, then I recommend one of two things:

1) Go to your local Barnes & Noble or Books-A-Million (or Borders, or Virgin Megastore, etc.) and ask where the Writing and Publishing section is at. Pick up Stephen King's On Writing, and then peruse what else is there. You'll find plenty of coaching books.

2) Set your work aside and go on with life. Go out with some friends, catch a matinee, go out for dinner or to the coffee shop...but keep a small tablet and a pen with you. When an idea hits you, jot it down. When you get back home, return to your work. You'll be surprised at how much you think about your work when your not thinking about it.

Okay three things.

3) If you're typing your story, switch to hand-writing it. It slows down your thought process and keeps you from getting ahead of yourself.

I'm still trying to get over that love scene between Captain Kirk and Spock.

Pon Farr - great slash plot device? Or greatest slash plot device?

I'm personally not going to rest until we see a slash story about Master Chief and the Sarge from the Halo video game series.

writerdog said:

All these things are true. I am doing fanfiction for a contest I entered. The comment I made was one I heard from a fellow writer. I was only interested in what others thought.

Click to expand...

I really disagree. I don't think that people who write fan fiction won't go anywhere. Lots of them do. But I don't think it's the best way to start, and I don't see why it would be. Personally, I don't think fan fiction sites are the best place to get objective feedback at all.

In general, I think fan fiction is a trap for new writers. I'm sure there are exceptions, but I know a lot of people who self-identify as writers, but create fanfic stories exclusively and lack the nerve to write with their own characters. Fanfic is safe way to get your feet wet - but maybe a little too safe.

Whoever suggests that fanfiction (or short stories, or novellas, or one act plays) are The Best Way To Start Writing is, I'm afraid, a twit. The best way to start writing is.....by starting to write. It doesn't matter much what you actually write.

As for the merits of fan-fiction, I believe I've just had, this past week or so, an extensive discussion about it somewhere on these 'yere forums, which is why I'm going to completely fail to offer my opinions again here.