The lessons of writing fanfiction

Fanfic is how I relax. It's writing purely for the pleasure of it. No pressure, no worrying whether my characters suck or my worldbuilding is too sparse or my plot is stupid. I mean, I do put effort into my fanfiction, but ultimately I know I'm not really writing for an audience, or an editor, or an agent. It's just for me. Just spilling my headcanon onto the page.

Sometimes, when I'm totally blocked and frustrated, it gets the writing wheels greased.

Kevin Nelson said:

That's why I've never been very interested in writing fanfic. It would just prevent me from doing what I'm best at! And then I would still have to struggle with the most difficult part, devising a plot.

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Your post was really interesting to me because I'm a little similar--I don't have your comfort with setting, which is partly the appeal of fanfic, but coming up with characters is my favorite part of original fiction, and it comes very easily.

But that's actually part of why I like writing fanfic. It's given me a better understanding of plot by letting me play with it in a low-pressure way. But it's also helped me work on characterization, because it can be hard for me to be objective about my own characters. I think it's helped me temper my emotional connection somewhat, which was something I needed.

I think that's what's cool about fanfic: the benefits (or lack thereof) are very individual.

Writing fanfic is definitely stress relief for me. It doesn't need to be perfect, I have no obligation to finish it or write a new chapter on time. I can practice write perfectly stress free.

Not to mention that, it's so easy to create an audience with fanfic. Write something interesting, update it often enough, and it will be read. Knowing someone out there is reading and enjoying my writing can really help me through writer's block.

Also, I think writing another person's character up to their standard (staying in character, etc.) really taught me about creating a standard for my characters.

I remember writing Harry Potter fanfiction starting when I was in 7th grade. I definitely think it made me a better writer and it was my first real experience with plotting and developing characters. I agree that it is easy to get a lot of viewers and positive reviews, but it was also my first taste of negative reviews--most helpful, but a few of them more cruel than anything else. It helped me tell the difference and develop a thick skin.

I started out writing fanfiction. For me it was a great learning experience. I learned so much about story telling and structure.

My first book has been picked up by a publisher and I can honestly say that if it wasn't for my time writing fanfiction then I would never have developed the confidence to submit it. Though I have to say that I hate when a story gets published that was originally fanfiction and they have just changed the names.

I have around about 10 fanfics out there that are novel length but I would never submit them to my publisher.