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d1ta5k | writing_train | 0.96 | I’m used to writing FanFiction that I’m not sure how to write with my original characters. I’ve been writing fanfiction for over a good 8 years and I guess I’m sort of stuck with writing already established characters that I find it hard to write original ones for my own novel. I have done the story outline, and also drawn up a profile template for my main characters, but for some reason, I would feel like I’m not writing enough to flesh out my characters. I know I should at least finish my story before I start complaining about it, but it’s exactly this thinking that made me stop and try to edit the previous few chapters and I just couldn’t continue. I’m not sure if this is a problem, or am I just over thinking, but I’ll appreciate anyone who can share with me about their thoughts on this. | ezqf4k7 | ezpwx3v | 1,568,058,421 | 1,568,050,450 | 5 | 4 | This might not be the best advice, but I think a lot of people do this. I usually base my original characters on people who I know and then expand on them from there. At least in terms of the bones. By the time you get them into context and have them interacting with your world and the other characters, they will develop to the point where they'd become unrecognizable from your original basis. That way, you can kind of think of it as if you are introducing someone you know to your audience. | You might just have to write the story and figure out your characters as you go. That's what I've always done (I started in fan fiction too, way back in the day). | 1 | 7,971 | 1.25 | ||
d1ta5k | writing_train | 0.96 | I’m used to writing FanFiction that I’m not sure how to write with my original characters. I’ve been writing fanfiction for over a good 8 years and I guess I’m sort of stuck with writing already established characters that I find it hard to write original ones for my own novel. I have done the story outline, and also drawn up a profile template for my main characters, but for some reason, I would feel like I’m not writing enough to flesh out my characters. I know I should at least finish my story before I start complaining about it, but it’s exactly this thinking that made me stop and try to edit the previous few chapters and I just couldn’t continue. I’m not sure if this is a problem, or am I just over thinking, but I’ll appreciate anyone who can share with me about their thoughts on this. | ezq3fv7 | ezqf4k7 | 1,568,054,282 | 1,568,058,421 | 3 | 5 | I think it's possible to use your love of fanfiction to help you create an original story. Hell that lady from 50 shades did it and made millions. I don't read Harry Potter Fanfiction, but I know it's a popular one, so I'm just going to use this as an example of the fanfiction that you may enjoy writing. These are different ways you can create an original story by using fanfiction: - Use the Harry Potter characters but put them into a different genre. Maybe they're regular humans with no powers. Maybe they're trying to solve a mystery. Etc. You'd also have to go in and change the characters slightly. Change the names, the looks, and try to put a little twist on the personality. - If you really want to keep it the same genre because you love magical fantasies you can do that, you'll just have to create you're own world to put them in. So think about a magic system, what doesn't work about Harry Potter's magic system that you can do better? Maybe they don't go to a school, maybe they're adults, or maybe they live only in a fantasy world and there is no muggle world. Maybe they do go to school but their school is designed completely different. And of course change the characters some again. So basically you can use the fanfiction universe you love as a building block to create something original. You can just ask yourself a lot of What if questions. What if Harry Potter took place in a world that was more like Tolkien's? What if instead of different houses at one huge wizarding school there were lots of smaller schools that specialized in a particular type of magic. You do have to ask those what if questions for both the world building/magic aspect of the story and the character/plot aspect of the story. Such as also asking What if Harry was adopted by Sirius Black and had to live off the grid? You can also do a Harry Potter meets Hunger Games and that can come up with some pretty different stuff. | This might not be the best advice, but I think a lot of people do this. I usually base my original characters on people who I know and then expand on them from there. At least in terms of the bones. By the time you get them into context and have them interacting with your world and the other characters, they will develop to the point where they'd become unrecognizable from your original basis. That way, you can kind of think of it as if you are introducing someone you know to your audience. | 0 | 4,139 | 1.666667 | ||
d1ta5k | writing_train | 0.96 | I’m used to writing FanFiction that I’m not sure how to write with my original characters. I’ve been writing fanfiction for over a good 8 years and I guess I’m sort of stuck with writing already established characters that I find it hard to write original ones for my own novel. I have done the story outline, and also drawn up a profile template for my main characters, but for some reason, I would feel like I’m not writing enough to flesh out my characters. I know I should at least finish my story before I start complaining about it, but it’s exactly this thinking that made me stop and try to edit the previous few chapters and I just couldn’t continue. I’m not sure if this is a problem, or am I just over thinking, but I’ll appreciate anyone who can share with me about their thoughts on this. | ezqf4k7 | ezq55f0 | 1,568,058,421 | 1,568,054,912 | 5 | 4 | This might not be the best advice, but I think a lot of people do this. I usually base my original characters on people who I know and then expand on them from there. At least in terms of the bones. By the time you get them into context and have them interacting with your world and the other characters, they will develop to the point where they'd become unrecognizable from your original basis. That way, you can kind of think of it as if you are introducing someone you know to your audience. | I would have the complete opposite problem, having never written fanfiction. If I don't have control/command of my characters' traits, I don't know how I'd write them. An easy way to do it would be to take a character you know how to write and 'fanfiction' them into a new character. What if Han Solo lived in a desert all his life, never knew anything about space, and had a lizard buddy (instead of Chewy) that he thinks talks to him, but actually doesn't? What if we mashed together Frodo and Ron Weasley? Do whatever works for you. I've never been able to get any work done with personality tests, so I start with Goals. What is this character's goal? What are they comfortable with? Where do they come from, what do they like doing, what is their worldview, what kind of people do they like and why? Personality assigns itself: If your character isn't comfortable in crowds, they are either an introvert or an extrovert with a quirk/past trauma. Figure out which. Good luck! Hang in there and you'll be able to do it. | 1 | 3,509 | 1.25 | ||
d1ta5k | writing_train | 0.96 | I’m used to writing FanFiction that I’m not sure how to write with my original characters. I’ve been writing fanfiction for over a good 8 years and I guess I’m sort of stuck with writing already established characters that I find it hard to write original ones for my own novel. I have done the story outline, and also drawn up a profile template for my main characters, but for some reason, I would feel like I’m not writing enough to flesh out my characters. I know I should at least finish my story before I start complaining about it, but it’s exactly this thinking that made me stop and try to edit the previous few chapters and I just couldn’t continue. I’m not sure if this is a problem, or am I just over thinking, but I’ll appreciate anyone who can share with me about their thoughts on this. | ezqf4k7 | ezq0isr | 1,568,058,421 | 1,568,052,700 | 5 | 3 | This might not be the best advice, but I think a lot of people do this. I usually base my original characters on people who I know and then expand on them from there. At least in terms of the bones. By the time you get them into context and have them interacting with your world and the other characters, they will develop to the point where they'd become unrecognizable from your original basis. That way, you can kind of think of it as if you are introducing someone you know to your audience. | Well having original characters is a good start at least. I mean you're not coming to the table with nothing. Really writing is writing the story you want to read with the people you want to read about. So what do you want to read about? What do you like? Start there and don't be afraid to be influenced by other media. It's not copying, nothing's original anyhow. | 1 | 5,721 | 1.666667 | ||
d1ta5k | writing_train | 0.96 | I’m used to writing FanFiction that I’m not sure how to write with my original characters. I’ve been writing fanfiction for over a good 8 years and I guess I’m sort of stuck with writing already established characters that I find it hard to write original ones for my own novel. I have done the story outline, and also drawn up a profile template for my main characters, but for some reason, I would feel like I’m not writing enough to flesh out my characters. I know I should at least finish my story before I start complaining about it, but it’s exactly this thinking that made me stop and try to edit the previous few chapters and I just couldn’t continue. I’m not sure if this is a problem, or am I just over thinking, but I’ll appreciate anyone who can share with me about their thoughts on this. | ezpwx3v | ezqfg4f | 1,568,050,450 | 1,568,058,536 | 4 | 5 | You might just have to write the story and figure out your characters as you go. That's what I've always done (I started in fan fiction too, way back in the day). | Some people might consider this cheesy, but if you're *really* into writing established characters, perhaps you could transition by writing original characters that are hybrids of established characters. Go with whatever you find creatively stimulating -- a mashup of two completely different people or an amalgam of two characters already established in similar roles. You'll be producing something original, but you'll still have your feet planted in a derivative process. If a little of that doesn't get you going full-on original in short order, then escalate with melanges of more than two characters or more ambitious attempts to make a mashup coherent. | 0 | 8,086 | 1.25 | ||
d1ta5k | writing_train | 0.96 | I’m used to writing FanFiction that I’m not sure how to write with my original characters. I’ve been writing fanfiction for over a good 8 years and I guess I’m sort of stuck with writing already established characters that I find it hard to write original ones for my own novel. I have done the story outline, and also drawn up a profile template for my main characters, but for some reason, I would feel like I’m not writing enough to flesh out my characters. I know I should at least finish my story before I start complaining about it, but it’s exactly this thinking that made me stop and try to edit the previous few chapters and I just couldn’t continue. I’m not sure if this is a problem, or am I just over thinking, but I’ll appreciate anyone who can share with me about their thoughts on this. | ezqfg4f | ezq3fv7 | 1,568,058,536 | 1,568,054,282 | 5 | 3 | Some people might consider this cheesy, but if you're *really* into writing established characters, perhaps you could transition by writing original characters that are hybrids of established characters. Go with whatever you find creatively stimulating -- a mashup of two completely different people or an amalgam of two characters already established in similar roles. You'll be producing something original, but you'll still have your feet planted in a derivative process. If a little of that doesn't get you going full-on original in short order, then escalate with melanges of more than two characters or more ambitious attempts to make a mashup coherent. | I think it's possible to use your love of fanfiction to help you create an original story. Hell that lady from 50 shades did it and made millions. I don't read Harry Potter Fanfiction, but I know it's a popular one, so I'm just going to use this as an example of the fanfiction that you may enjoy writing. These are different ways you can create an original story by using fanfiction: - Use the Harry Potter characters but put them into a different genre. Maybe they're regular humans with no powers. Maybe they're trying to solve a mystery. Etc. You'd also have to go in and change the characters slightly. Change the names, the looks, and try to put a little twist on the personality. - If you really want to keep it the same genre because you love magical fantasies you can do that, you'll just have to create you're own world to put them in. So think about a magic system, what doesn't work about Harry Potter's magic system that you can do better? Maybe they don't go to a school, maybe they're adults, or maybe they live only in a fantasy world and there is no muggle world. Maybe they do go to school but their school is designed completely different. And of course change the characters some again. So basically you can use the fanfiction universe you love as a building block to create something original. You can just ask yourself a lot of What if questions. What if Harry Potter took place in a world that was more like Tolkien's? What if instead of different houses at one huge wizarding school there were lots of smaller schools that specialized in a particular type of magic. You do have to ask those what if questions for both the world building/magic aspect of the story and the character/plot aspect of the story. Such as also asking What if Harry was adopted by Sirius Black and had to live off the grid? You can also do a Harry Potter meets Hunger Games and that can come up with some pretty different stuff. | 1 | 4,254 | 1.666667 | ||
d1ta5k | writing_train | 0.96 | I’m used to writing FanFiction that I’m not sure how to write with my original characters. I’ve been writing fanfiction for over a good 8 years and I guess I’m sort of stuck with writing already established characters that I find it hard to write original ones for my own novel. I have done the story outline, and also drawn up a profile template for my main characters, but for some reason, I would feel like I’m not writing enough to flesh out my characters. I know I should at least finish my story before I start complaining about it, but it’s exactly this thinking that made me stop and try to edit the previous few chapters and I just couldn’t continue. I’m not sure if this is a problem, or am I just over thinking, but I’ll appreciate anyone who can share with me about their thoughts on this. | ezq55f0 | ezqfg4f | 1,568,054,912 | 1,568,058,536 | 4 | 5 | I would have the complete opposite problem, having never written fanfiction. If I don't have control/command of my characters' traits, I don't know how I'd write them. An easy way to do it would be to take a character you know how to write and 'fanfiction' them into a new character. What if Han Solo lived in a desert all his life, never knew anything about space, and had a lizard buddy (instead of Chewy) that he thinks talks to him, but actually doesn't? What if we mashed together Frodo and Ron Weasley? Do whatever works for you. I've never been able to get any work done with personality tests, so I start with Goals. What is this character's goal? What are they comfortable with? Where do they come from, what do they like doing, what is their worldview, what kind of people do they like and why? Personality assigns itself: If your character isn't comfortable in crowds, they are either an introvert or an extrovert with a quirk/past trauma. Figure out which. Good luck! Hang in there and you'll be able to do it. | Some people might consider this cheesy, but if you're *really* into writing established characters, perhaps you could transition by writing original characters that are hybrids of established characters. Go with whatever you find creatively stimulating -- a mashup of two completely different people or an amalgam of two characters already established in similar roles. You'll be producing something original, but you'll still have your feet planted in a derivative process. If a little of that doesn't get you going full-on original in short order, then escalate with melanges of more than two characters or more ambitious attempts to make a mashup coherent. | 0 | 3,624 | 1.25 | ||
d1ta5k | writing_train | 0.96 | I’m used to writing FanFiction that I’m not sure how to write with my original characters. I’ve been writing fanfiction for over a good 8 years and I guess I’m sort of stuck with writing already established characters that I find it hard to write original ones for my own novel. I have done the story outline, and also drawn up a profile template for my main characters, but for some reason, I would feel like I’m not writing enough to flesh out my characters. I know I should at least finish my story before I start complaining about it, but it’s exactly this thinking that made me stop and try to edit the previous few chapters and I just couldn’t continue. I’m not sure if this is a problem, or am I just over thinking, but I’ll appreciate anyone who can share with me about their thoughts on this. | ezq0isr | ezqfg4f | 1,568,052,700 | 1,568,058,536 | 3 | 5 | Well having original characters is a good start at least. I mean you're not coming to the table with nothing. Really writing is writing the story you want to read with the people you want to read about. So what do you want to read about? What do you like? Start there and don't be afraid to be influenced by other media. It's not copying, nothing's original anyhow. | Some people might consider this cheesy, but if you're *really* into writing established characters, perhaps you could transition by writing original characters that are hybrids of established characters. Go with whatever you find creatively stimulating -- a mashup of two completely different people or an amalgam of two characters already established in similar roles. You'll be producing something original, but you'll still have your feet planted in a derivative process. If a little of that doesn't get you going full-on original in short order, then escalate with melanges of more than two characters or more ambitious attempts to make a mashup coherent. | 0 | 5,836 | 1.666667 | ||
d1ta5k | writing_train | 0.96 | I’m used to writing FanFiction that I’m not sure how to write with my original characters. I’ve been writing fanfiction for over a good 8 years and I guess I’m sort of stuck with writing already established characters that I find it hard to write original ones for my own novel. I have done the story outline, and also drawn up a profile template for my main characters, but for some reason, I would feel like I’m not writing enough to flesh out my characters. I know I should at least finish my story before I start complaining about it, but it’s exactly this thinking that made me stop and try to edit the previous few chapters and I just couldn’t continue. I’m not sure if this is a problem, or am I just over thinking, but I’ll appreciate anyone who can share with me about their thoughts on this. | ezpwx3v | ezqm43j | 1,568,050,450 | 1,568,061,083 | 4 | 5 | You might just have to write the story and figure out your characters as you go. That's what I've always done (I started in fan fiction too, way back in the day). | When I first started writing, I used to model my characters after already famous or established characters or even celebrities. Less so their life stories and more so just their quirks or personality. I was just writing for fun at that point and not about to get published, so it was good practice. As the story went on, I sort of just lost myself in those characters and they evolved to more of my own creations. And now, I don’t find it hard at all to write completely original characters from my imagination. I even sort of forgot I used to do that until I read this post haha. | 0 | 10,633 | 1.25 | ||
d1ta5k | writing_train | 0.96 | I’m used to writing FanFiction that I’m not sure how to write with my original characters. I’ve been writing fanfiction for over a good 8 years and I guess I’m sort of stuck with writing already established characters that I find it hard to write original ones for my own novel. I have done the story outline, and also drawn up a profile template for my main characters, but for some reason, I would feel like I’m not writing enough to flesh out my characters. I know I should at least finish my story before I start complaining about it, but it’s exactly this thinking that made me stop and try to edit the previous few chapters and I just couldn’t continue. I’m not sure if this is a problem, or am I just over thinking, but I’ll appreciate anyone who can share with me about their thoughts on this. | ezq55f0 | ezq3fv7 | 1,568,054,912 | 1,568,054,282 | 4 | 3 | I would have the complete opposite problem, having never written fanfiction. If I don't have control/command of my characters' traits, I don't know how I'd write them. An easy way to do it would be to take a character you know how to write and 'fanfiction' them into a new character. What if Han Solo lived in a desert all his life, never knew anything about space, and had a lizard buddy (instead of Chewy) that he thinks talks to him, but actually doesn't? What if we mashed together Frodo and Ron Weasley? Do whatever works for you. I've never been able to get any work done with personality tests, so I start with Goals. What is this character's goal? What are they comfortable with? Where do they come from, what do they like doing, what is their worldview, what kind of people do they like and why? Personality assigns itself: If your character isn't comfortable in crowds, they are either an introvert or an extrovert with a quirk/past trauma. Figure out which. Good luck! Hang in there and you'll be able to do it. | I think it's possible to use your love of fanfiction to help you create an original story. Hell that lady from 50 shades did it and made millions. I don't read Harry Potter Fanfiction, but I know it's a popular one, so I'm just going to use this as an example of the fanfiction that you may enjoy writing. These are different ways you can create an original story by using fanfiction: - Use the Harry Potter characters but put them into a different genre. Maybe they're regular humans with no powers. Maybe they're trying to solve a mystery. Etc. You'd also have to go in and change the characters slightly. Change the names, the looks, and try to put a little twist on the personality. - If you really want to keep it the same genre because you love magical fantasies you can do that, you'll just have to create you're own world to put them in. So think about a magic system, what doesn't work about Harry Potter's magic system that you can do better? Maybe they don't go to a school, maybe they're adults, or maybe they live only in a fantasy world and there is no muggle world. Maybe they do go to school but their school is designed completely different. And of course change the characters some again. So basically you can use the fanfiction universe you love as a building block to create something original. You can just ask yourself a lot of What if questions. What if Harry Potter took place in a world that was more like Tolkien's? What if instead of different houses at one huge wizarding school there were lots of smaller schools that specialized in a particular type of magic. You do have to ask those what if questions for both the world building/magic aspect of the story and the character/plot aspect of the story. Such as also asking What if Harry was adopted by Sirius Black and had to live off the grid? You can also do a Harry Potter meets Hunger Games and that can come up with some pretty different stuff. | 1 | 630 | 1.333333 | ||
d1ta5k | writing_train | 0.96 | I’m used to writing FanFiction that I’m not sure how to write with my original characters. I’ve been writing fanfiction for over a good 8 years and I guess I’m sort of stuck with writing already established characters that I find it hard to write original ones for my own novel. I have done the story outline, and also drawn up a profile template for my main characters, but for some reason, I would feel like I’m not writing enough to flesh out my characters. I know I should at least finish my story before I start complaining about it, but it’s exactly this thinking that made me stop and try to edit the previous few chapters and I just couldn’t continue. I’m not sure if this is a problem, or am I just over thinking, but I’ll appreciate anyone who can share with me about their thoughts on this. | ezq3fv7 | ezqi8km | 1,568,054,282 | 1,568,059,604 | 3 | 4 | I think it's possible to use your love of fanfiction to help you create an original story. Hell that lady from 50 shades did it and made millions. I don't read Harry Potter Fanfiction, but I know it's a popular one, so I'm just going to use this as an example of the fanfiction that you may enjoy writing. These are different ways you can create an original story by using fanfiction: - Use the Harry Potter characters but put them into a different genre. Maybe they're regular humans with no powers. Maybe they're trying to solve a mystery. Etc. You'd also have to go in and change the characters slightly. Change the names, the looks, and try to put a little twist on the personality. - If you really want to keep it the same genre because you love magical fantasies you can do that, you'll just have to create you're own world to put them in. So think about a magic system, what doesn't work about Harry Potter's magic system that you can do better? Maybe they don't go to a school, maybe they're adults, or maybe they live only in a fantasy world and there is no muggle world. Maybe they do go to school but their school is designed completely different. And of course change the characters some again. So basically you can use the fanfiction universe you love as a building block to create something original. You can just ask yourself a lot of What if questions. What if Harry Potter took place in a world that was more like Tolkien's? What if instead of different houses at one huge wizarding school there were lots of smaller schools that specialized in a particular type of magic. You do have to ask those what if questions for both the world building/magic aspect of the story and the character/plot aspect of the story. Such as also asking What if Harry was adopted by Sirius Black and had to live off the grid? You can also do a Harry Potter meets Hunger Games and that can come up with some pretty different stuff. | Maybe try a slower transition. I find it easier to focus on character development first, then world development, then plot. Of course all those things influence each other, but I find each can be roughed out some what independently before being blended together. To work on characters from fan fiction try to focus on an oc in a fanfic. Write an oc who is basically an NPC the main characters interact with, but rather then following the main characters, follow the oc off on their adventures. Slowly work on learning about the oc until the fanfic revolves entirely around characters you created. Once you get to know a character, try taking them out of the fanfic world. What would they do during your day to day? I have a long commute and often like to imagine what conversations I would have with my characters if they popped into my car. To work on world, it might be helpful to pop your favorite established character into a world you're working on creating. For example, when I was into fanfic, I was into Harry Potter and Avatar. I would ask myself questions like: What would Aang do if he suddenly had to use the magic system in my world? What loopholes would Hermione find? Which political groups would Sokka gravitate towards? Create people for these characters to interact with. What are those people's day jobs? What would be happening here if the character wasn't here? Having people walk around in your world will help you flesh it out and make it feel real. Once you have a character you've fleshed out and a world, put the character in the world and see what they do. Try to figure out what plot naturally falls out of the interaction. What aspects of your world are going to bother your character? What are they going to do to fix it? What do they love in your world? What lengths are they willing to go to protect it? I tend to work an idea over and over. I play the 'what if' game a lot. What if this character had gone down that road instead of this one? What if they'd talked to that person instead? What if they hadn't gone home at the end? I'll often write a few hundred to a few thousand word scenes of these what if scenarios without worrying about consistency between the scenes or even within one scene. The point is to feel out the characters, world, and plot to see what works. Once I have a collection of scenes I like to go back and read them and see if they spark joy. The ones that do spark joy, I try to figure out what I like about them. With those scenes I can work out a plot that feels natural. | 0 | 5,322 | 1.333333 | ||
d1ta5k | writing_train | 0.96 | I’m used to writing FanFiction that I’m not sure how to write with my original characters. I’ve been writing fanfiction for over a good 8 years and I guess I’m sort of stuck with writing already established characters that I find it hard to write original ones for my own novel. I have done the story outline, and also drawn up a profile template for my main characters, but for some reason, I would feel like I’m not writing enough to flesh out my characters. I know I should at least finish my story before I start complaining about it, but it’s exactly this thinking that made me stop and try to edit the previous few chapters and I just couldn’t continue. I’m not sure if this is a problem, or am I just over thinking, but I’ll appreciate anyone who can share with me about their thoughts on this. | ezq3fv7 | ezqm43j | 1,568,054,282 | 1,568,061,083 | 3 | 5 | I think it's possible to use your love of fanfiction to help you create an original story. Hell that lady from 50 shades did it and made millions. I don't read Harry Potter Fanfiction, but I know it's a popular one, so I'm just going to use this as an example of the fanfiction that you may enjoy writing. These are different ways you can create an original story by using fanfiction: - Use the Harry Potter characters but put them into a different genre. Maybe they're regular humans with no powers. Maybe they're trying to solve a mystery. Etc. You'd also have to go in and change the characters slightly. Change the names, the looks, and try to put a little twist on the personality. - If you really want to keep it the same genre because you love magical fantasies you can do that, you'll just have to create you're own world to put them in. So think about a magic system, what doesn't work about Harry Potter's magic system that you can do better? Maybe they don't go to a school, maybe they're adults, or maybe they live only in a fantasy world and there is no muggle world. Maybe they do go to school but their school is designed completely different. And of course change the characters some again. So basically you can use the fanfiction universe you love as a building block to create something original. You can just ask yourself a lot of What if questions. What if Harry Potter took place in a world that was more like Tolkien's? What if instead of different houses at one huge wizarding school there were lots of smaller schools that specialized in a particular type of magic. You do have to ask those what if questions for both the world building/magic aspect of the story and the character/plot aspect of the story. Such as also asking What if Harry was adopted by Sirius Black and had to live off the grid? You can also do a Harry Potter meets Hunger Games and that can come up with some pretty different stuff. | When I first started writing, I used to model my characters after already famous or established characters or even celebrities. Less so their life stories and more so just their quirks or personality. I was just writing for fun at that point and not about to get published, so it was good practice. As the story went on, I sort of just lost myself in those characters and they evolved to more of my own creations. And now, I don’t find it hard at all to write completely original characters from my imagination. I even sort of forgot I used to do that until I read this post haha. | 0 | 6,801 | 1.666667 | ||
d1ta5k | writing_train | 0.96 | I’m used to writing FanFiction that I’m not sure how to write with my original characters. I’ve been writing fanfiction for over a good 8 years and I guess I’m sort of stuck with writing already established characters that I find it hard to write original ones for my own novel. I have done the story outline, and also drawn up a profile template for my main characters, but for some reason, I would feel like I’m not writing enough to flesh out my characters. I know I should at least finish my story before I start complaining about it, but it’s exactly this thinking that made me stop and try to edit the previous few chapters and I just couldn’t continue. I’m not sure if this is a problem, or am I just over thinking, but I’ll appreciate anyone who can share with me about their thoughts on this. | ezqm43j | ezq55f0 | 1,568,061,083 | 1,568,054,912 | 5 | 4 | When I first started writing, I used to model my characters after already famous or established characters or even celebrities. Less so their life stories and more so just their quirks or personality. I was just writing for fun at that point and not about to get published, so it was good practice. As the story went on, I sort of just lost myself in those characters and they evolved to more of my own creations. And now, I don’t find it hard at all to write completely original characters from my imagination. I even sort of forgot I used to do that until I read this post haha. | I would have the complete opposite problem, having never written fanfiction. If I don't have control/command of my characters' traits, I don't know how I'd write them. An easy way to do it would be to take a character you know how to write and 'fanfiction' them into a new character. What if Han Solo lived in a desert all his life, never knew anything about space, and had a lizard buddy (instead of Chewy) that he thinks talks to him, but actually doesn't? What if we mashed together Frodo and Ron Weasley? Do whatever works for you. I've never been able to get any work done with personality tests, so I start with Goals. What is this character's goal? What are they comfortable with? Where do they come from, what do they like doing, what is their worldview, what kind of people do they like and why? Personality assigns itself: If your character isn't comfortable in crowds, they are either an introvert or an extrovert with a quirk/past trauma. Figure out which. Good luck! Hang in there and you'll be able to do it. | 1 | 6,171 | 1.25 | ||
d1ta5k | writing_train | 0.96 | I’m used to writing FanFiction that I’m not sure how to write with my original characters. I’ve been writing fanfiction for over a good 8 years and I guess I’m sort of stuck with writing already established characters that I find it hard to write original ones for my own novel. I have done the story outline, and also drawn up a profile template for my main characters, but for some reason, I would feel like I’m not writing enough to flesh out my characters. I know I should at least finish my story before I start complaining about it, but it’s exactly this thinking that made me stop and try to edit the previous few chapters and I just couldn’t continue. I’m not sure if this is a problem, or am I just over thinking, but I’ll appreciate anyone who can share with me about their thoughts on this. | ezq0isr | ezq55f0 | 1,568,052,700 | 1,568,054,912 | 3 | 4 | Well having original characters is a good start at least. I mean you're not coming to the table with nothing. Really writing is writing the story you want to read with the people you want to read about. So what do you want to read about? What do you like? Start there and don't be afraid to be influenced by other media. It's not copying, nothing's original anyhow. | I would have the complete opposite problem, having never written fanfiction. If I don't have control/command of my characters' traits, I don't know how I'd write them. An easy way to do it would be to take a character you know how to write and 'fanfiction' them into a new character. What if Han Solo lived in a desert all his life, never knew anything about space, and had a lizard buddy (instead of Chewy) that he thinks talks to him, but actually doesn't? What if we mashed together Frodo and Ron Weasley? Do whatever works for you. I've never been able to get any work done with personality tests, so I start with Goals. What is this character's goal? What are they comfortable with? Where do they come from, what do they like doing, what is their worldview, what kind of people do they like and why? Personality assigns itself: If your character isn't comfortable in crowds, they are either an introvert or an extrovert with a quirk/past trauma. Figure out which. Good luck! Hang in there and you'll be able to do it. | 0 | 2,212 | 1.333333 | ||
d1ta5k | writing_train | 0.96 | I’m used to writing FanFiction that I’m not sure how to write with my original characters. I’ve been writing fanfiction for over a good 8 years and I guess I’m sort of stuck with writing already established characters that I find it hard to write original ones for my own novel. I have done the story outline, and also drawn up a profile template for my main characters, but for some reason, I would feel like I’m not writing enough to flesh out my characters. I know I should at least finish my story before I start complaining about it, but it’s exactly this thinking that made me stop and try to edit the previous few chapters and I just couldn’t continue. I’m not sure if this is a problem, or am I just over thinking, but I’ll appreciate anyone who can share with me about their thoughts on this. | ezqi8km | ezqm43j | 1,568,059,604 | 1,568,061,083 | 4 | 5 | Maybe try a slower transition. I find it easier to focus on character development first, then world development, then plot. Of course all those things influence each other, but I find each can be roughed out some what independently before being blended together. To work on characters from fan fiction try to focus on an oc in a fanfic. Write an oc who is basically an NPC the main characters interact with, but rather then following the main characters, follow the oc off on their adventures. Slowly work on learning about the oc until the fanfic revolves entirely around characters you created. Once you get to know a character, try taking them out of the fanfic world. What would they do during your day to day? I have a long commute and often like to imagine what conversations I would have with my characters if they popped into my car. To work on world, it might be helpful to pop your favorite established character into a world you're working on creating. For example, when I was into fanfic, I was into Harry Potter and Avatar. I would ask myself questions like: What would Aang do if he suddenly had to use the magic system in my world? What loopholes would Hermione find? Which political groups would Sokka gravitate towards? Create people for these characters to interact with. What are those people's day jobs? What would be happening here if the character wasn't here? Having people walk around in your world will help you flesh it out and make it feel real. Once you have a character you've fleshed out and a world, put the character in the world and see what they do. Try to figure out what plot naturally falls out of the interaction. What aspects of your world are going to bother your character? What are they going to do to fix it? What do they love in your world? What lengths are they willing to go to protect it? I tend to work an idea over and over. I play the 'what if' game a lot. What if this character had gone down that road instead of this one? What if they'd talked to that person instead? What if they hadn't gone home at the end? I'll often write a few hundred to a few thousand word scenes of these what if scenarios without worrying about consistency between the scenes or even within one scene. The point is to feel out the characters, world, and plot to see what works. Once I have a collection of scenes I like to go back and read them and see if they spark joy. The ones that do spark joy, I try to figure out what I like about them. With those scenes I can work out a plot that feels natural. | When I first started writing, I used to model my characters after already famous or established characters or even celebrities. Less so their life stories and more so just their quirks or personality. I was just writing for fun at that point and not about to get published, so it was good practice. As the story went on, I sort of just lost myself in those characters and they evolved to more of my own creations. And now, I don’t find it hard at all to write completely original characters from my imagination. I even sort of forgot I used to do that until I read this post haha. | 0 | 1,479 | 1.25 | ||
d1ta5k | writing_train | 0.96 | I’m used to writing FanFiction that I’m not sure how to write with my original characters. I’ve been writing fanfiction for over a good 8 years and I guess I’m sort of stuck with writing already established characters that I find it hard to write original ones for my own novel. I have done the story outline, and also drawn up a profile template for my main characters, but for some reason, I would feel like I’m not writing enough to flesh out my characters. I know I should at least finish my story before I start complaining about it, but it’s exactly this thinking that made me stop and try to edit the previous few chapters and I just couldn’t continue. I’m not sure if this is a problem, or am I just over thinking, but I’ll appreciate anyone who can share with me about their thoughts on this. | ezq0isr | ezqi8km | 1,568,052,700 | 1,568,059,604 | 3 | 4 | Well having original characters is a good start at least. I mean you're not coming to the table with nothing. Really writing is writing the story you want to read with the people you want to read about. So what do you want to read about? What do you like? Start there and don't be afraid to be influenced by other media. It's not copying, nothing's original anyhow. | Maybe try a slower transition. I find it easier to focus on character development first, then world development, then plot. Of course all those things influence each other, but I find each can be roughed out some what independently before being blended together. To work on characters from fan fiction try to focus on an oc in a fanfic. Write an oc who is basically an NPC the main characters interact with, but rather then following the main characters, follow the oc off on their adventures. Slowly work on learning about the oc until the fanfic revolves entirely around characters you created. Once you get to know a character, try taking them out of the fanfic world. What would they do during your day to day? I have a long commute and often like to imagine what conversations I would have with my characters if they popped into my car. To work on world, it might be helpful to pop your favorite established character into a world you're working on creating. For example, when I was into fanfic, I was into Harry Potter and Avatar. I would ask myself questions like: What would Aang do if he suddenly had to use the magic system in my world? What loopholes would Hermione find? Which political groups would Sokka gravitate towards? Create people for these characters to interact with. What are those people's day jobs? What would be happening here if the character wasn't here? Having people walk around in your world will help you flesh it out and make it feel real. Once you have a character you've fleshed out and a world, put the character in the world and see what they do. Try to figure out what plot naturally falls out of the interaction. What aspects of your world are going to bother your character? What are they going to do to fix it? What do they love in your world? What lengths are they willing to go to protect it? I tend to work an idea over and over. I play the 'what if' game a lot. What if this character had gone down that road instead of this one? What if they'd talked to that person instead? What if they hadn't gone home at the end? I'll often write a few hundred to a few thousand word scenes of these what if scenarios without worrying about consistency between the scenes or even within one scene. The point is to feel out the characters, world, and plot to see what works. Once I have a collection of scenes I like to go back and read them and see if they spark joy. The ones that do spark joy, I try to figure out what I like about them. With those scenes I can work out a plot that feels natural. | 0 | 6,904 | 1.333333 | ||
d1ta5k | writing_train | 0.96 | I’m used to writing FanFiction that I’m not sure how to write with my original characters. I’ve been writing fanfiction for over a good 8 years and I guess I’m sort of stuck with writing already established characters that I find it hard to write original ones for my own novel. I have done the story outline, and also drawn up a profile template for my main characters, but for some reason, I would feel like I’m not writing enough to flesh out my characters. I know I should at least finish my story before I start complaining about it, but it’s exactly this thinking that made me stop and try to edit the previous few chapters and I just couldn’t continue. I’m not sure if this is a problem, or am I just over thinking, but I’ll appreciate anyone who can share with me about their thoughts on this. | ezq0isr | ezqm43j | 1,568,052,700 | 1,568,061,083 | 3 | 5 | Well having original characters is a good start at least. I mean you're not coming to the table with nothing. Really writing is writing the story you want to read with the people you want to read about. So what do you want to read about? What do you like? Start there and don't be afraid to be influenced by other media. It's not copying, nothing's original anyhow. | When I first started writing, I used to model my characters after already famous or established characters or even celebrities. Less so their life stories and more so just their quirks or personality. I was just writing for fun at that point and not about to get published, so it was good practice. As the story went on, I sort of just lost myself in those characters and they evolved to more of my own creations. And now, I don’t find it hard at all to write completely original characters from my imagination. I even sort of forgot I used to do that until I read this post haha. | 0 | 8,383 | 1.666667 | ||
d1ta5k | writing_train | 0.96 | I’m used to writing FanFiction that I’m not sure how to write with my original characters. I’ve been writing fanfiction for over a good 8 years and I guess I’m sort of stuck with writing already established characters that I find it hard to write original ones for my own novel. I have done the story outline, and also drawn up a profile template for my main characters, but for some reason, I would feel like I’m not writing enough to flesh out my characters. I know I should at least finish my story before I start complaining about it, but it’s exactly this thinking that made me stop and try to edit the previous few chapters and I just couldn’t continue. I’m not sure if this is a problem, or am I just over thinking, but I’ll appreciate anyone who can share with me about their thoughts on this. | ezqm43j | ezqix4j | 1,568,061,083 | 1,568,059,853 | 5 | 3 | When I first started writing, I used to model my characters after already famous or established characters or even celebrities. Less so their life stories and more so just their quirks or personality. I was just writing for fun at that point and not about to get published, so it was good practice. As the story went on, I sort of just lost myself in those characters and they evolved to more of my own creations. And now, I don’t find it hard at all to write completely original characters from my imagination. I even sort of forgot I used to do that until I read this post haha. | Who are those characters whose stories were never able to be told? | 1 | 1,230 | 1.666667 | ||
d1ta5k | writing_train | 0.96 | I’m used to writing FanFiction that I’m not sure how to write with my original characters. I’ve been writing fanfiction for over a good 8 years and I guess I’m sort of stuck with writing already established characters that I find it hard to write original ones for my own novel. I have done the story outline, and also drawn up a profile template for my main characters, but for some reason, I would feel like I’m not writing enough to flesh out my characters. I know I should at least finish my story before I start complaining about it, but it’s exactly this thinking that made me stop and try to edit the previous few chapters and I just couldn’t continue. I’m not sure if this is a problem, or am I just over thinking, but I’ll appreciate anyone who can share with me about their thoughts on this. | ezql62n | ezqm43j | 1,568,060,721 | 1,568,061,083 | 3 | 5 | I don’t know if some people do this, but when I have a character, I like to have a certain actor in mind and that seems to help me visualize them. But maybe also spend some time figuring out a backstory. I think there is a writing exercise where you basically play therapist with your character, that could help | When I first started writing, I used to model my characters after already famous or established characters or even celebrities. Less so their life stories and more so just their quirks or personality. I was just writing for fun at that point and not about to get published, so it was good practice. As the story went on, I sort of just lost myself in those characters and they evolved to more of my own creations. And now, I don’t find it hard at all to write completely original characters from my imagination. I even sort of forgot I used to do that until I read this post haha. | 0 | 362 | 1.666667 | ||
sx3u06 | writing_train | 0.73 | Is there any value to fan fiction? Since the characters and background isn’t yours and it will never be canon in the fantasy universe does it have any value to a writer aside from practicing writing? | hxpujyq | hxpzzy4 | 1,645,373,965 | 1,645,376,169 | 786 | 854 | Monetary value? No. Snob appeal? Not much. This often frees writers to write things that actually appeal to them and perhaps their audience. Worked for me. | In addition to what others have said, I consider the fun of it to be pretty damn valuable. | 0 | 2,204 | 1.086514 | ||
sx3u06 | writing_train | 0.73 | Is there any value to fan fiction? Since the characters and background isn’t yours and it will never be canon in the fantasy universe does it have any value to a writer aside from practicing writing? | hxpzzy4 | hxpr3p6 | 1,645,376,169 | 1,645,372,554 | 854 | 486 | In addition to what others have said, I consider the fun of it to be pretty damn valuable. | Is there any value to fiction? There is if you want it, there isn't if you don't. Same with fan fiction. Life. The universe. And everything. | 1 | 3,615 | 1.757202 | ||
sx3u06 | writing_train | 0.73 | Is there any value to fan fiction? Since the characters and background isn’t yours and it will never be canon in the fantasy universe does it have any value to a writer aside from practicing writing? | hxprgbs | hxpzzy4 | 1,645,372,695 | 1,645,376,169 | 274 | 854 | Monetarily, no. But if you value practicing aspects of the craft, enjoying yourself, bringing joy to others in your fandom, potentially making friends, and having a creative method of literary analysis to explore, there's endless value in it. | In addition to what others have said, I consider the fun of it to be pretty damn valuable. | 0 | 3,474 | 3.116788 | ||
sx3u06 | writing_train | 0.73 | Is there any value to fan fiction? Since the characters and background isn’t yours and it will never be canon in the fantasy universe does it have any value to a writer aside from practicing writing? | hxprode | hxpzzy4 | 1,645,372,789 | 1,645,376,169 | 160 | 854 | Fanfiction is an excellent practice run: - You learn how to treat your characters. - How to work around plots and create new ones. - How to identify worldbuilding errors. - It already has a fandom which can help as an ego booster if your story is well liked, and how to deal with a-holes if is not. Fanfiction are like the training wheels in a bike basically. People has been doing it for centuries. Hundreds of authors have written and published fanfictions, as some works are public domain (like Jane Austen's books, which are all public domain so people can publish fanfics as long as they clarify the original work isn't theirs). | In addition to what others have said, I consider the fun of it to be pretty damn valuable. | 0 | 3,380 | 5.3375 | ||
sx3u06 | writing_train | 0.73 | Is there any value to fan fiction? Since the characters and background isn’t yours and it will never be canon in the fantasy universe does it have any value to a writer aside from practicing writing? | hxpzzy4 | hxpzl9r | 1,645,376,169 | 1,645,376,004 | 854 | 89 | In addition to what others have said, I consider the fun of it to be pretty damn valuable. | I'm a fanfic writer. I could probably write an original novel if I wanted to but I have soo many fanfic ideas that are frankly just more fun for me to work on. I know even if I wrote an original novel I don't have the drive to market it either to an agent or by publishing independently. So for me, fanfic is how I do my creative writing. I've got an audience to share my work with, and none of the hard stuff about publishing an original work. And I don't turn my hobby into a career, which I also wouldn't want. So fanfic has lots of value for me, just not monetary value, which I'm totally ok with. | 1 | 165 | 9.595506 | ||
sx3u06 | writing_train | 0.73 | Is there any value to fan fiction? Since the characters and background isn’t yours and it will never be canon in the fantasy universe does it have any value to a writer aside from practicing writing? | hxpyy8j | hxpzzy4 | 1,645,375,747 | 1,645,376,169 | 56 | 854 | I mean, it's a finished, publishable work. You won't be able to print it or sell it officially, but so what? We're living in an online age, there's literal forums devoted to fan fiction. Shit, there's a subreddit for it as well. A lot of writers built their names and early fanbases off of FF. It's pretty much the best time in modern history to do fan fiction. I guess if you're only looking at it financially, it doesn't have "value". Unless you wait long enough for the characters to be in public domain, then you can do whatever you want with them. Plus, screenwriters do spec scripts all the time and get jobs off of them. Vince Gilligan got to write for X-Files based on a spec script he did. In the film industry it seems to be much more accepted than in literature for some reason. | In addition to what others have said, I consider the fun of it to be pretty damn valuable. | 0 | 422 | 15.25 | ||
sx3u06 | writing_train | 0.73 | Is there any value to fan fiction? Since the characters and background isn’t yours and it will never be canon in the fantasy universe does it have any value to a writer aside from practicing writing? | hxpzzy4 | hxpua86 | 1,645,376,169 | 1,645,373,854 | 854 | 41 | In addition to what others have said, I consider the fun of it to be pretty damn valuable. | YES! It may not be monetisable, but money is not the only measure of value. Myself and tens of thousands of other people have had enjoyable, interesting, and enlightening experiences with Fanfic that are no lesser than published work. If you live writing and reading fanfic, keep doing it. | 1 | 2,315 | 20.829268 | ||
sx3u06 | writing_train | 0.73 | Is there any value to fan fiction? Since the characters and background isn’t yours and it will never be canon in the fantasy universe does it have any value to a writer aside from practicing writing? | hxpzzy4 | hxpsicw | 1,645,376,169 | 1,645,373,129 | 854 | 41 | In addition to what others have said, I consider the fun of it to be pretty damn valuable. | Derivative storytelling has been happening for thousands of years - take a look at the use of mythology in classical fiction or all of Arthuriana. | 1 | 3,040 | 20.829268 | ||
sx3u06 | writing_train | 0.73 | Is there any value to fan fiction? Since the characters and background isn’t yours and it will never be canon in the fantasy universe does it have any value to a writer aside from practicing writing? | hxpq06d | hxpzzy4 | 1,645,372,098 | 1,645,376,169 | 37 | 854 | One, it’s fun Two, if you write fics that are popular you can bring those readers to your original work or your serial numbers filed off version of your fic so you have buyers built in, like E. L. James, whose book made so much money every employee at Random got a 5k bonus just for existing You know, minor, trivial crap | In addition to what others have said, I consider the fun of it to be pretty damn valuable. | 0 | 4,071 | 23.081081 | ||
sx3u06 | writing_train | 0.73 | Is there any value to fan fiction? Since the characters and background isn’t yours and it will never be canon in the fantasy universe does it have any value to a writer aside from practicing writing? | hxpwge7 | hxpzzy4 | 1,645,374,742 | 1,645,376,169 | 23 | 854 | Why do we do most things? It's fun. Plus it's like a starter novel, people cam comment to help you improve. Also you can write some really explicit stuff like rape without getting into trouble. | In addition to what others have said, I consider the fun of it to be pretty damn valuable. | 0 | 1,427 | 37.130435 | ||
sx3u06 | writing_train | 0.73 | Is there any value to fan fiction? Since the characters and background isn’t yours and it will never be canon in the fantasy universe does it have any value to a writer aside from practicing writing? | hxpzzy4 | hxpw13l | 1,645,376,169 | 1,645,374,565 | 854 | 20 | In addition to what others have said, I consider the fun of it to be pretty damn valuable. | "is there any value aside from <value>?" Writing fanfic is excellent practice for screen writing. Whoever is responsible for writing the newest and latest superhero shows and movies doesn't own any of the characters either. | 1 | 1,604 | 42.7 | ||
sx3u06 | writing_train | 0.73 | Is there any value to fan fiction? Since the characters and background isn’t yours and it will never be canon in the fantasy universe does it have any value to a writer aside from practicing writing? | hxpq09q | hxpzzy4 | 1,645,372,099 | 1,645,376,169 | 15 | 854 | For some people, fanfiction can get them through their darkest times. For writers, it feels good to have people enjoy something they wrote and can give them a following for when they publish their own works | In addition to what others have said, I consider the fun of it to be pretty damn valuable. | 0 | 4,070 | 56.933333 | ||
sx3u06 | writing_train | 0.73 | Is there any value to fan fiction? Since the characters and background isn’t yours and it will never be canon in the fantasy universe does it have any value to a writer aside from practicing writing? | hxpujyq | hxpr3p6 | 1,645,373,965 | 1,645,372,554 | 786 | 486 | Monetary value? No. Snob appeal? Not much. This often frees writers to write things that actually appeal to them and perhaps their audience. Worked for me. | Is there any value to fiction? There is if you want it, there isn't if you don't. Same with fan fiction. Life. The universe. And everything. | 1 | 1,411 | 1.617284 | ||
sx3u06 | writing_train | 0.73 | Is there any value to fan fiction? Since the characters and background isn’t yours and it will never be canon in the fantasy universe does it have any value to a writer aside from practicing writing? | hxprgbs | hxpujyq | 1,645,372,695 | 1,645,373,965 | 274 | 786 | Monetarily, no. But if you value practicing aspects of the craft, enjoying yourself, bringing joy to others in your fandom, potentially making friends, and having a creative method of literary analysis to explore, there's endless value in it. | Monetary value? No. Snob appeal? Not much. This often frees writers to write things that actually appeal to them and perhaps their audience. Worked for me. | 0 | 1,270 | 2.868613 | ||
sx3u06 | writing_train | 0.73 | Is there any value to fan fiction? Since the characters and background isn’t yours and it will never be canon in the fantasy universe does it have any value to a writer aside from practicing writing? | hxprode | hxpujyq | 1,645,372,789 | 1,645,373,965 | 160 | 786 | Fanfiction is an excellent practice run: - You learn how to treat your characters. - How to work around plots and create new ones. - How to identify worldbuilding errors. - It already has a fandom which can help as an ego booster if your story is well liked, and how to deal with a-holes if is not. Fanfiction are like the training wheels in a bike basically. People has been doing it for centuries. Hundreds of authors have written and published fanfictions, as some works are public domain (like Jane Austen's books, which are all public domain so people can publish fanfics as long as they clarify the original work isn't theirs). | Monetary value? No. Snob appeal? Not much. This often frees writers to write things that actually appeal to them and perhaps their audience. Worked for me. | 0 | 1,176 | 4.9125 | ||
sx3u06 | writing_train | 0.73 | Is there any value to fan fiction? Since the characters and background isn’t yours and it will never be canon in the fantasy universe does it have any value to a writer aside from practicing writing? | hxpua86 | hxpujyq | 1,645,373,854 | 1,645,373,965 | 41 | 786 | YES! It may not be monetisable, but money is not the only measure of value. Myself and tens of thousands of other people have had enjoyable, interesting, and enlightening experiences with Fanfic that are no lesser than published work. If you live writing and reading fanfic, keep doing it. | Monetary value? No. Snob appeal? Not much. This often frees writers to write things that actually appeal to them and perhaps their audience. Worked for me. | 0 | 111 | 19.170732 | ||
sx3u06 | writing_train | 0.73 | Is there any value to fan fiction? Since the characters and background isn’t yours and it will never be canon in the fantasy universe does it have any value to a writer aside from practicing writing? | hxpsicw | hxpujyq | 1,645,373,129 | 1,645,373,965 | 41 | 786 | Derivative storytelling has been happening for thousands of years - take a look at the use of mythology in classical fiction or all of Arthuriana. | Monetary value? No. Snob appeal? Not much. This often frees writers to write things that actually appeal to them and perhaps their audience. Worked for me. | 0 | 836 | 19.170732 | ||
sx3u06 | writing_train | 0.73 | Is there any value to fan fiction? Since the characters and background isn’t yours and it will never be canon in the fantasy universe does it have any value to a writer aside from practicing writing? | hxpq06d | hxpujyq | 1,645,372,098 | 1,645,373,965 | 37 | 786 | One, it’s fun Two, if you write fics that are popular you can bring those readers to your original work or your serial numbers filed off version of your fic so you have buyers built in, like E. L. James, whose book made so much money every employee at Random got a 5k bonus just for existing You know, minor, trivial crap | Monetary value? No. Snob appeal? Not much. This often frees writers to write things that actually appeal to them and perhaps their audience. Worked for me. | 0 | 1,867 | 21.243243 | ||
sx3u06 | writing_train | 0.73 | Is there any value to fan fiction? Since the characters and background isn’t yours and it will never be canon in the fantasy universe does it have any value to a writer aside from practicing writing? | hxpujyq | hxpq09q | 1,645,373,965 | 1,645,372,099 | 786 | 15 | Monetary value? No. Snob appeal? Not much. This often frees writers to write things that actually appeal to them and perhaps their audience. Worked for me. | For some people, fanfiction can get them through their darkest times. For writers, it feels good to have people enjoy something they wrote and can give them a following for when they publish their own works | 1 | 1,866 | 52.4 | ||
sx3u06 | writing_train | 0.73 | Is there any value to fan fiction? Since the characters and background isn’t yours and it will never be canon in the fantasy universe does it have any value to a writer aside from practicing writing? | hxpr3p6 | hxpq06d | 1,645,372,554 | 1,645,372,098 | 486 | 37 | Is there any value to fiction? There is if you want it, there isn't if you don't. Same with fan fiction. Life. The universe. And everything. | One, it’s fun Two, if you write fics that are popular you can bring those readers to your original work or your serial numbers filed off version of your fic so you have buyers built in, like E. L. James, whose book made so much money every employee at Random got a 5k bonus just for existing You know, minor, trivial crap | 1 | 456 | 13.135135 | ||
sx3u06 | writing_train | 0.73 | Is there any value to fan fiction? Since the characters and background isn’t yours and it will never be canon in the fantasy universe does it have any value to a writer aside from practicing writing? | hxpr3p6 | hxpq09q | 1,645,372,554 | 1,645,372,099 | 486 | 15 | Is there any value to fiction? There is if you want it, there isn't if you don't. Same with fan fiction. Life. The universe. And everything. | For some people, fanfiction can get them through their darkest times. For writers, it feels good to have people enjoy something they wrote and can give them a following for when they publish their own works | 1 | 455 | 32.4 | ||
sx3u06 | writing_train | 0.73 | Is there any value to fan fiction? Since the characters and background isn’t yours and it will never be canon in the fantasy universe does it have any value to a writer aside from practicing writing? | hxpq06d | hxprgbs | 1,645,372,098 | 1,645,372,695 | 37 | 274 | One, it’s fun Two, if you write fics that are popular you can bring those readers to your original work or your serial numbers filed off version of your fic so you have buyers built in, like E. L. James, whose book made so much money every employee at Random got a 5k bonus just for existing You know, minor, trivial crap | Monetarily, no. But if you value practicing aspects of the craft, enjoying yourself, bringing joy to others in your fandom, potentially making friends, and having a creative method of literary analysis to explore, there's endless value in it. | 0 | 597 | 7.405405 | ||
sx3u06 | writing_train | 0.73 | Is there any value to fan fiction? Since the characters and background isn’t yours and it will never be canon in the fantasy universe does it have any value to a writer aside from practicing writing? | hxprgbs | hxpq09q | 1,645,372,695 | 1,645,372,099 | 274 | 15 | Monetarily, no. But if you value practicing aspects of the craft, enjoying yourself, bringing joy to others in your fandom, potentially making friends, and having a creative method of literary analysis to explore, there's endless value in it. | For some people, fanfiction can get them through their darkest times. For writers, it feels good to have people enjoy something they wrote and can give them a following for when they publish their own works | 1 | 596 | 18.266667 | ||
sx3u06 | writing_train | 0.73 | Is there any value to fan fiction? Since the characters and background isn’t yours and it will never be canon in the fantasy universe does it have any value to a writer aside from practicing writing? | hxpq06d | hxprode | 1,645,372,098 | 1,645,372,789 | 37 | 160 | One, it’s fun Two, if you write fics that are popular you can bring those readers to your original work or your serial numbers filed off version of your fic so you have buyers built in, like E. L. James, whose book made so much money every employee at Random got a 5k bonus just for existing You know, minor, trivial crap | Fanfiction is an excellent practice run: - You learn how to treat your characters. - How to work around plots and create new ones. - How to identify worldbuilding errors. - It already has a fandom which can help as an ego booster if your story is well liked, and how to deal with a-holes if is not. Fanfiction are like the training wheels in a bike basically. People has been doing it for centuries. Hundreds of authors have written and published fanfictions, as some works are public domain (like Jane Austen's books, which are all public domain so people can publish fanfics as long as they clarify the original work isn't theirs). | 0 | 691 | 4.324324 | ||
sx3u06 | writing_train | 0.73 | Is there any value to fan fiction? Since the characters and background isn’t yours and it will never be canon in the fantasy universe does it have any value to a writer aside from practicing writing? | hxpq09q | hxprode | 1,645,372,099 | 1,645,372,789 | 15 | 160 | For some people, fanfiction can get them through their darkest times. For writers, it feels good to have people enjoy something they wrote and can give them a following for when they publish their own works | Fanfiction is an excellent practice run: - You learn how to treat your characters. - How to work around plots and create new ones. - How to identify worldbuilding errors. - It already has a fandom which can help as an ego booster if your story is well liked, and how to deal with a-holes if is not. Fanfiction are like the training wheels in a bike basically. People has been doing it for centuries. Hundreds of authors have written and published fanfictions, as some works are public domain (like Jane Austen's books, which are all public domain so people can publish fanfics as long as they clarify the original work isn't theirs). | 0 | 690 | 10.666667 | ||
sx3u06 | writing_train | 0.73 | Is there any value to fan fiction? Since the characters and background isn’t yours and it will never be canon in the fantasy universe does it have any value to a writer aside from practicing writing? | hxpzl9r | hxq8hsz | 1,645,376,004 | 1,645,379,608 | 89 | 100 | I'm a fanfic writer. I could probably write an original novel if I wanted to but I have soo many fanfic ideas that are frankly just more fun for me to work on. I know even if I wrote an original novel I don't have the drive to market it either to an agent or by publishing independently. So for me, fanfic is how I do my creative writing. I've got an audience to share my work with, and none of the hard stuff about publishing an original work. And I don't turn my hobby into a career, which I also wouldn't want. So fanfic has lots of value for me, just not monetary value, which I'm totally ok with. | “Value” Hobbies don’t need to be commodities. People write for all reasons, including for the simple pleasure of writing. So yes, it has a lot of value. | 0 | 3,604 | 1.123596 | ||
sx3u06 | writing_train | 0.73 | Is there any value to fan fiction? Since the characters and background isn’t yours and it will never be canon in the fantasy universe does it have any value to a writer aside from practicing writing? | hxq8hsz | hxpyy8j | 1,645,379,608 | 1,645,375,747 | 100 | 56 | “Value” Hobbies don’t need to be commodities. People write for all reasons, including for the simple pleasure of writing. So yes, it has a lot of value. | I mean, it's a finished, publishable work. You won't be able to print it or sell it officially, but so what? We're living in an online age, there's literal forums devoted to fan fiction. Shit, there's a subreddit for it as well. A lot of writers built their names and early fanbases off of FF. It's pretty much the best time in modern history to do fan fiction. I guess if you're only looking at it financially, it doesn't have "value". Unless you wait long enough for the characters to be in public domain, then you can do whatever you want with them. Plus, screenwriters do spec scripts all the time and get jobs off of them. Vince Gilligan got to write for X-Files based on a spec script he did. In the film industry it seems to be much more accepted than in literature for some reason. | 1 | 3,861 | 1.785714 | ||
sx3u06 | writing_train | 0.73 | Is there any value to fan fiction? Since the characters and background isn’t yours and it will never be canon in the fantasy universe does it have any value to a writer aside from practicing writing? | hxq8hsz | hxpua86 | 1,645,379,608 | 1,645,373,854 | 100 | 41 | “Value” Hobbies don’t need to be commodities. People write for all reasons, including for the simple pleasure of writing. So yes, it has a lot of value. | YES! It may not be monetisable, but money is not the only measure of value. Myself and tens of thousands of other people have had enjoyable, interesting, and enlightening experiences with Fanfic that are no lesser than published work. If you live writing and reading fanfic, keep doing it. | 1 | 5,754 | 2.439024 | ||
sx3u06 | writing_train | 0.73 | Is there any value to fan fiction? Since the characters and background isn’t yours and it will never be canon in the fantasy universe does it have any value to a writer aside from practicing writing? | hxq8hsz | hxpsicw | 1,645,379,608 | 1,645,373,129 | 100 | 41 | “Value” Hobbies don’t need to be commodities. People write for all reasons, including for the simple pleasure of writing. So yes, it has a lot of value. | Derivative storytelling has been happening for thousands of years - take a look at the use of mythology in classical fiction or all of Arthuriana. | 1 | 6,479 | 2.439024 | ||
sx3u06 | writing_train | 0.73 | Is there any value to fan fiction? Since the characters and background isn’t yours and it will never be canon in the fantasy universe does it have any value to a writer aside from practicing writing? | hxq8hsz | hxpq06d | 1,645,379,608 | 1,645,372,098 | 100 | 37 | “Value” Hobbies don’t need to be commodities. People write for all reasons, including for the simple pleasure of writing. So yes, it has a lot of value. | One, it’s fun Two, if you write fics that are popular you can bring those readers to your original work or your serial numbers filed off version of your fic so you have buyers built in, like E. L. James, whose book made so much money every employee at Random got a 5k bonus just for existing You know, minor, trivial crap | 1 | 7,510 | 2.702703 | ||
sx3u06 | writing_train | 0.73 | Is there any value to fan fiction? Since the characters and background isn’t yours and it will never be canon in the fantasy universe does it have any value to a writer aside from practicing writing? | hxq8hsz | hxpwge7 | 1,645,379,608 | 1,645,374,742 | 100 | 23 | “Value” Hobbies don’t need to be commodities. People write for all reasons, including for the simple pleasure of writing. So yes, it has a lot of value. | Why do we do most things? It's fun. Plus it's like a starter novel, people cam comment to help you improve. Also you can write some really explicit stuff like rape without getting into trouble. | 1 | 4,866 | 4.347826 | ||
sx3u06 | writing_train | 0.73 | Is there any value to fan fiction? Since the characters and background isn’t yours and it will never be canon in the fantasy universe does it have any value to a writer aside from practicing writing? | hxpw13l | hxq8hsz | 1,645,374,565 | 1,645,379,608 | 20 | 100 | "is there any value aside from <value>?" Writing fanfic is excellent practice for screen writing. Whoever is responsible for writing the newest and latest superhero shows and movies doesn't own any of the characters either. | “Value” Hobbies don’t need to be commodities. People write for all reasons, including for the simple pleasure of writing. So yes, it has a lot of value. | 0 | 5,043 | 5 | ||
sx3u06 | writing_train | 0.73 | Is there any value to fan fiction? Since the characters and background isn’t yours and it will never be canon in the fantasy universe does it have any value to a writer aside from practicing writing? | hxpq09q | hxq8hsz | 1,645,372,099 | 1,645,379,608 | 15 | 100 | For some people, fanfiction can get them through their darkest times. For writers, it feels good to have people enjoy something they wrote and can give them a following for when they publish their own works | “Value” Hobbies don’t need to be commodities. People write for all reasons, including for the simple pleasure of writing. So yes, it has a lot of value. | 0 | 7,509 | 6.666667 | ||
sx3u06 | writing_train | 0.73 | Is there any value to fan fiction? Since the characters and background isn’t yours and it will never be canon in the fantasy universe does it have any value to a writer aside from practicing writing? | hxpzl9r | hxpyy8j | 1,645,376,004 | 1,645,375,747 | 89 | 56 | I'm a fanfic writer. I could probably write an original novel if I wanted to but I have soo many fanfic ideas that are frankly just more fun for me to work on. I know even if I wrote an original novel I don't have the drive to market it either to an agent or by publishing independently. So for me, fanfic is how I do my creative writing. I've got an audience to share my work with, and none of the hard stuff about publishing an original work. And I don't turn my hobby into a career, which I also wouldn't want. So fanfic has lots of value for me, just not monetary value, which I'm totally ok with. | I mean, it's a finished, publishable work. You won't be able to print it or sell it officially, but so what? We're living in an online age, there's literal forums devoted to fan fiction. Shit, there's a subreddit for it as well. A lot of writers built their names and early fanbases off of FF. It's pretty much the best time in modern history to do fan fiction. I guess if you're only looking at it financially, it doesn't have "value". Unless you wait long enough for the characters to be in public domain, then you can do whatever you want with them. Plus, screenwriters do spec scripts all the time and get jobs off of them. Vince Gilligan got to write for X-Files based on a spec script he did. In the film industry it seems to be much more accepted than in literature for some reason. | 1 | 257 | 1.589286 | ||
sx3u06 | writing_train | 0.73 | Is there any value to fan fiction? Since the characters and background isn’t yours and it will never be canon in the fantasy universe does it have any value to a writer aside from practicing writing? | hxpua86 | hxpzl9r | 1,645,373,854 | 1,645,376,004 | 41 | 89 | YES! It may not be monetisable, but money is not the only measure of value. Myself and tens of thousands of other people have had enjoyable, interesting, and enlightening experiences with Fanfic that are no lesser than published work. If you live writing and reading fanfic, keep doing it. | I'm a fanfic writer. I could probably write an original novel if I wanted to but I have soo many fanfic ideas that are frankly just more fun for me to work on. I know even if I wrote an original novel I don't have the drive to market it either to an agent or by publishing independently. So for me, fanfic is how I do my creative writing. I've got an audience to share my work with, and none of the hard stuff about publishing an original work. And I don't turn my hobby into a career, which I also wouldn't want. So fanfic has lots of value for me, just not monetary value, which I'm totally ok with. | 0 | 2,150 | 2.170732 | ||
sx3u06 | writing_train | 0.73 | Is there any value to fan fiction? Since the characters and background isn’t yours and it will never be canon in the fantasy universe does it have any value to a writer aside from practicing writing? | hxpzl9r | hxpsicw | 1,645,376,004 | 1,645,373,129 | 89 | 41 | I'm a fanfic writer. I could probably write an original novel if I wanted to but I have soo many fanfic ideas that are frankly just more fun for me to work on. I know even if I wrote an original novel I don't have the drive to market it either to an agent or by publishing independently. So for me, fanfic is how I do my creative writing. I've got an audience to share my work with, and none of the hard stuff about publishing an original work. And I don't turn my hobby into a career, which I also wouldn't want. So fanfic has lots of value for me, just not monetary value, which I'm totally ok with. | Derivative storytelling has been happening for thousands of years - take a look at the use of mythology in classical fiction or all of Arthuriana. | 1 | 2,875 | 2.170732 | ||
sx3u06 | writing_train | 0.73 | Is there any value to fan fiction? Since the characters and background isn’t yours and it will never be canon in the fantasy universe does it have any value to a writer aside from practicing writing? | hxpq06d | hxpzl9r | 1,645,372,098 | 1,645,376,004 | 37 | 89 | One, it’s fun Two, if you write fics that are popular you can bring those readers to your original work or your serial numbers filed off version of your fic so you have buyers built in, like E. L. James, whose book made so much money every employee at Random got a 5k bonus just for existing You know, minor, trivial crap | I'm a fanfic writer. I could probably write an original novel if I wanted to but I have soo many fanfic ideas that are frankly just more fun for me to work on. I know even if I wrote an original novel I don't have the drive to market it either to an agent or by publishing independently. So for me, fanfic is how I do my creative writing. I've got an audience to share my work with, and none of the hard stuff about publishing an original work. And I don't turn my hobby into a career, which I also wouldn't want. So fanfic has lots of value for me, just not monetary value, which I'm totally ok with. | 0 | 3,906 | 2.405405 | ||
sx3u06 | writing_train | 0.73 | Is there any value to fan fiction? Since the characters and background isn’t yours and it will never be canon in the fantasy universe does it have any value to a writer aside from practicing writing? | hxpwge7 | hxpzl9r | 1,645,374,742 | 1,645,376,004 | 23 | 89 | Why do we do most things? It's fun. Plus it's like a starter novel, people cam comment to help you improve. Also you can write some really explicit stuff like rape without getting into trouble. | I'm a fanfic writer. I could probably write an original novel if I wanted to but I have soo many fanfic ideas that are frankly just more fun for me to work on. I know even if I wrote an original novel I don't have the drive to market it either to an agent or by publishing independently. So for me, fanfic is how I do my creative writing. I've got an audience to share my work with, and none of the hard stuff about publishing an original work. And I don't turn my hobby into a career, which I also wouldn't want. So fanfic has lots of value for me, just not monetary value, which I'm totally ok with. | 0 | 1,262 | 3.869565 | ||
sx3u06 | writing_train | 0.73 | Is there any value to fan fiction? Since the characters and background isn’t yours and it will never be canon in the fantasy universe does it have any value to a writer aside from practicing writing? | hxpzl9r | hxpw13l | 1,645,376,004 | 1,645,374,565 | 89 | 20 | I'm a fanfic writer. I could probably write an original novel if I wanted to but I have soo many fanfic ideas that are frankly just more fun for me to work on. I know even if I wrote an original novel I don't have the drive to market it either to an agent or by publishing independently. So for me, fanfic is how I do my creative writing. I've got an audience to share my work with, and none of the hard stuff about publishing an original work. And I don't turn my hobby into a career, which I also wouldn't want. So fanfic has lots of value for me, just not monetary value, which I'm totally ok with. | "is there any value aside from <value>?" Writing fanfic is excellent practice for screen writing. Whoever is responsible for writing the newest and latest superhero shows and movies doesn't own any of the characters either. | 1 | 1,439 | 4.45 | ||
sx3u06 | writing_train | 0.73 | Is there any value to fan fiction? Since the characters and background isn’t yours and it will never be canon in the fantasy universe does it have any value to a writer aside from practicing writing? | hxpzl9r | hxpq09q | 1,645,376,004 | 1,645,372,099 | 89 | 15 | I'm a fanfic writer. I could probably write an original novel if I wanted to but I have soo many fanfic ideas that are frankly just more fun for me to work on. I know even if I wrote an original novel I don't have the drive to market it either to an agent or by publishing independently. So for me, fanfic is how I do my creative writing. I've got an audience to share my work with, and none of the hard stuff about publishing an original work. And I don't turn my hobby into a career, which I also wouldn't want. So fanfic has lots of value for me, just not monetary value, which I'm totally ok with. | For some people, fanfiction can get them through their darkest times. For writers, it feels good to have people enjoy something they wrote and can give them a following for when they publish their own works | 1 | 3,905 | 5.933333 | ||
sx3u06 | writing_train | 0.73 | Is there any value to fan fiction? Since the characters and background isn’t yours and it will never be canon in the fantasy universe does it have any value to a writer aside from practicing writing? | hxpua86 | hxpyy8j | 1,645,373,854 | 1,645,375,747 | 41 | 56 | YES! It may not be monetisable, but money is not the only measure of value. Myself and tens of thousands of other people have had enjoyable, interesting, and enlightening experiences with Fanfic that are no lesser than published work. If you live writing and reading fanfic, keep doing it. | I mean, it's a finished, publishable work. You won't be able to print it or sell it officially, but so what? We're living in an online age, there's literal forums devoted to fan fiction. Shit, there's a subreddit for it as well. A lot of writers built their names and early fanbases off of FF. It's pretty much the best time in modern history to do fan fiction. I guess if you're only looking at it financially, it doesn't have "value". Unless you wait long enough for the characters to be in public domain, then you can do whatever you want with them. Plus, screenwriters do spec scripts all the time and get jobs off of them. Vince Gilligan got to write for X-Files based on a spec script he did. In the film industry it seems to be much more accepted than in literature for some reason. | 0 | 1,893 | 1.365854 | ||
sx3u06 | writing_train | 0.73 | Is there any value to fan fiction? Since the characters and background isn’t yours and it will never be canon in the fantasy universe does it have any value to a writer aside from practicing writing? | hxpsicw | hxpyy8j | 1,645,373,129 | 1,645,375,747 | 41 | 56 | Derivative storytelling has been happening for thousands of years - take a look at the use of mythology in classical fiction or all of Arthuriana. | I mean, it's a finished, publishable work. You won't be able to print it or sell it officially, but so what? We're living in an online age, there's literal forums devoted to fan fiction. Shit, there's a subreddit for it as well. A lot of writers built their names and early fanbases off of FF. It's pretty much the best time in modern history to do fan fiction. I guess if you're only looking at it financially, it doesn't have "value". Unless you wait long enough for the characters to be in public domain, then you can do whatever you want with them. Plus, screenwriters do spec scripts all the time and get jobs off of them. Vince Gilligan got to write for X-Files based on a spec script he did. In the film industry it seems to be much more accepted than in literature for some reason. | 0 | 2,618 | 1.365854 | ||
sx3u06 | writing_train | 0.73 | Is there any value to fan fiction? Since the characters and background isn’t yours and it will never be canon in the fantasy universe does it have any value to a writer aside from practicing writing? | hxpq06d | hxpyy8j | 1,645,372,098 | 1,645,375,747 | 37 | 56 | One, it’s fun Two, if you write fics that are popular you can bring those readers to your original work or your serial numbers filed off version of your fic so you have buyers built in, like E. L. James, whose book made so much money every employee at Random got a 5k bonus just for existing You know, minor, trivial crap | I mean, it's a finished, publishable work. You won't be able to print it or sell it officially, but so what? We're living in an online age, there's literal forums devoted to fan fiction. Shit, there's a subreddit for it as well. A lot of writers built their names and early fanbases off of FF. It's pretty much the best time in modern history to do fan fiction. I guess if you're only looking at it financially, it doesn't have "value". Unless you wait long enough for the characters to be in public domain, then you can do whatever you want with them. Plus, screenwriters do spec scripts all the time and get jobs off of them. Vince Gilligan got to write for X-Files based on a spec script he did. In the film industry it seems to be much more accepted than in literature for some reason. | 0 | 3,649 | 1.513514 | ||
sx3u06 | writing_train | 0.73 | Is there any value to fan fiction? Since the characters and background isn’t yours and it will never be canon in the fantasy universe does it have any value to a writer aside from practicing writing? | hxpwge7 | hxpyy8j | 1,645,374,742 | 1,645,375,747 | 23 | 56 | Why do we do most things? It's fun. Plus it's like a starter novel, people cam comment to help you improve. Also you can write some really explicit stuff like rape without getting into trouble. | I mean, it's a finished, publishable work. You won't be able to print it or sell it officially, but so what? We're living in an online age, there's literal forums devoted to fan fiction. Shit, there's a subreddit for it as well. A lot of writers built their names and early fanbases off of FF. It's pretty much the best time in modern history to do fan fiction. I guess if you're only looking at it financially, it doesn't have "value". Unless you wait long enough for the characters to be in public domain, then you can do whatever you want with them. Plus, screenwriters do spec scripts all the time and get jobs off of them. Vince Gilligan got to write for X-Files based on a spec script he did. In the film industry it seems to be much more accepted than in literature for some reason. | 0 | 1,005 | 2.434783 | ||
sx3u06 | writing_train | 0.73 | Is there any value to fan fiction? Since the characters and background isn’t yours and it will never be canon in the fantasy universe does it have any value to a writer aside from practicing writing? | hxpw13l | hxpyy8j | 1,645,374,565 | 1,645,375,747 | 20 | 56 | "is there any value aside from <value>?" Writing fanfic is excellent practice for screen writing. Whoever is responsible for writing the newest and latest superhero shows and movies doesn't own any of the characters either. | I mean, it's a finished, publishable work. You won't be able to print it or sell it officially, but so what? We're living in an online age, there's literal forums devoted to fan fiction. Shit, there's a subreddit for it as well. A lot of writers built their names and early fanbases off of FF. It's pretty much the best time in modern history to do fan fiction. I guess if you're only looking at it financially, it doesn't have "value". Unless you wait long enough for the characters to be in public domain, then you can do whatever you want with them. Plus, screenwriters do spec scripts all the time and get jobs off of them. Vince Gilligan got to write for X-Files based on a spec script he did. In the film industry it seems to be much more accepted than in literature for some reason. | 0 | 1,182 | 2.8 | ||
sx3u06 | writing_train | 0.73 | Is there any value to fan fiction? Since the characters and background isn’t yours and it will never be canon in the fantasy universe does it have any value to a writer aside from practicing writing? | hxpq09q | hxpyy8j | 1,645,372,099 | 1,645,375,747 | 15 | 56 | For some people, fanfiction can get them through their darkest times. For writers, it feels good to have people enjoy something they wrote and can give them a following for when they publish their own works | I mean, it's a finished, publishable work. You won't be able to print it or sell it officially, but so what? We're living in an online age, there's literal forums devoted to fan fiction. Shit, there's a subreddit for it as well. A lot of writers built their names and early fanbases off of FF. It's pretty much the best time in modern history to do fan fiction. I guess if you're only looking at it financially, it doesn't have "value". Unless you wait long enough for the characters to be in public domain, then you can do whatever you want with them. Plus, screenwriters do spec scripts all the time and get jobs off of them. Vince Gilligan got to write for X-Files based on a spec script he did. In the film industry it seems to be much more accepted than in literature for some reason. | 0 | 3,648 | 3.733333 | ||
sx3u06 | writing_train | 0.73 | Is there any value to fan fiction? Since the characters and background isn’t yours and it will never be canon in the fantasy universe does it have any value to a writer aside from practicing writing? | hxpq06d | hxpua86 | 1,645,372,098 | 1,645,373,854 | 37 | 41 | One, it’s fun Two, if you write fics that are popular you can bring those readers to your original work or your serial numbers filed off version of your fic so you have buyers built in, like E. L. James, whose book made so much money every employee at Random got a 5k bonus just for existing You know, minor, trivial crap | YES! It may not be monetisable, but money is not the only measure of value. Myself and tens of thousands of other people have had enjoyable, interesting, and enlightening experiences with Fanfic that are no lesser than published work. If you live writing and reading fanfic, keep doing it. | 0 | 1,756 | 1.108108 | ||
sx3u06 | writing_train | 0.73 | Is there any value to fan fiction? Since the characters and background isn’t yours and it will never be canon in the fantasy universe does it have any value to a writer aside from practicing writing? | hxpq09q | hxpua86 | 1,645,372,099 | 1,645,373,854 | 15 | 41 | For some people, fanfiction can get them through their darkest times. For writers, it feels good to have people enjoy something they wrote and can give them a following for when they publish their own works | YES! It may not be monetisable, but money is not the only measure of value. Myself and tens of thousands of other people have had enjoyable, interesting, and enlightening experiences with Fanfic that are no lesser than published work. If you live writing and reading fanfic, keep doing it. | 0 | 1,755 | 2.733333 | ||
sx3u06 | writing_train | 0.73 | Is there any value to fan fiction? Since the characters and background isn’t yours and it will never be canon in the fantasy universe does it have any value to a writer aside from practicing writing? | hxpsicw | hxpq06d | 1,645,373,129 | 1,645,372,098 | 41 | 37 | Derivative storytelling has been happening for thousands of years - take a look at the use of mythology in classical fiction or all of Arthuriana. | One, it’s fun Two, if you write fics that are popular you can bring those readers to your original work or your serial numbers filed off version of your fic so you have buyers built in, like E. L. James, whose book made so much money every employee at Random got a 5k bonus just for existing You know, minor, trivial crap | 1 | 1,031 | 1.108108 | ||
sx3u06 | writing_train | 0.73 | Is there any value to fan fiction? Since the characters and background isn’t yours and it will never be canon in the fantasy universe does it have any value to a writer aside from practicing writing? | hxpsicw | hxpq09q | 1,645,373,129 | 1,645,372,099 | 41 | 15 | Derivative storytelling has been happening for thousands of years - take a look at the use of mythology in classical fiction or all of Arthuriana. | For some people, fanfiction can get them through their darkest times. For writers, it feels good to have people enjoy something they wrote and can give them a following for when they publish their own works | 1 | 1,030 | 2.733333 | ||
sx3u06 | writing_train | 0.73 | Is there any value to fan fiction? Since the characters and background isn’t yours and it will never be canon in the fantasy universe does it have any value to a writer aside from practicing writing? | hxpwge7 | hxq8net | 1,645,374,742 | 1,645,379,671 | 23 | 31 | Why do we do most things? It's fun. Plus it's like a starter novel, people cam comment to help you improve. Also you can write some really explicit stuff like rape without getting into trouble. | What a rude question. I enjoy writing it; other people enjoy reading it. Of course it has value. Many fanfic writers take their craft just as seriously as those who write "original" works. (Fanfic is original, too.) And I've read fanfic that's far better written than many works on the bestseller list. I recently read a take on Jane Austen's Emma that was absolutely fucking stellar. Not to mention that most fanfic writers are writing for the love of the canon work, and the love of writing, in general. Not many are trying to sell their work the way Fifty Shades of Gray (which was originally a fanfic, though a badly written one.) was sold. Fanfic is a form of art, it speaks to a love of the show/book/etc. This question is in bad faith. I'm not "practicing" -- I'm writing, just the same as all of you. | 0 | 4,929 | 1.347826 | ||
sx3u06 | writing_train | 0.73 | Is there any value to fan fiction? Since the characters and background isn’t yours and it will never be canon in the fantasy universe does it have any value to a writer aside from practicing writing? | hxpw13l | hxq8net | 1,645,374,565 | 1,645,379,671 | 20 | 31 | "is there any value aside from <value>?" Writing fanfic is excellent practice for screen writing. Whoever is responsible for writing the newest and latest superhero shows and movies doesn't own any of the characters either. | What a rude question. I enjoy writing it; other people enjoy reading it. Of course it has value. Many fanfic writers take their craft just as seriously as those who write "original" works. (Fanfic is original, too.) And I've read fanfic that's far better written than many works on the bestseller list. I recently read a take on Jane Austen's Emma that was absolutely fucking stellar. Not to mention that most fanfic writers are writing for the love of the canon work, and the love of writing, in general. Not many are trying to sell their work the way Fifty Shades of Gray (which was originally a fanfic, though a badly written one.) was sold. Fanfic is a form of art, it speaks to a love of the show/book/etc. This question is in bad faith. I'm not "practicing" -- I'm writing, just the same as all of you. | 0 | 5,106 | 1.55 | ||
sx3u06 | writing_train | 0.73 | Is there any value to fan fiction? Since the characters and background isn’t yours and it will never be canon in the fantasy universe does it have any value to a writer aside from practicing writing? | hxpq09q | hxq8net | 1,645,372,099 | 1,645,379,671 | 15 | 31 | For some people, fanfiction can get them through their darkest times. For writers, it feels good to have people enjoy something they wrote and can give them a following for when they publish their own works | What a rude question. I enjoy writing it; other people enjoy reading it. Of course it has value. Many fanfic writers take their craft just as seriously as those who write "original" works. (Fanfic is original, too.) And I've read fanfic that's far better written than many works on the bestseller list. I recently read a take on Jane Austen's Emma that was absolutely fucking stellar. Not to mention that most fanfic writers are writing for the love of the canon work, and the love of writing, in general. Not many are trying to sell their work the way Fifty Shades of Gray (which was originally a fanfic, though a badly written one.) was sold. Fanfic is a form of art, it speaks to a love of the show/book/etc. This question is in bad faith. I'm not "practicing" -- I'm writing, just the same as all of you. | 0 | 7,572 | 2.066667 | ||
sx3u06 | writing_train | 0.73 | Is there any value to fan fiction? Since the characters and background isn’t yours and it will never be canon in the fantasy universe does it have any value to a writer aside from practicing writing? | hxpw13l | hxpwge7 | 1,645,374,565 | 1,645,374,742 | 20 | 23 | "is there any value aside from <value>?" Writing fanfic is excellent practice for screen writing. Whoever is responsible for writing the newest and latest superhero shows and movies doesn't own any of the characters either. | Why do we do most things? It's fun. Plus it's like a starter novel, people cam comment to help you improve. Also you can write some really explicit stuff like rape without getting into trouble. | 0 | 177 | 1.15 | ||
sx3u06 | writing_train | 0.73 | Is there any value to fan fiction? Since the characters and background isn’t yours and it will never be canon in the fantasy universe does it have any value to a writer aside from practicing writing? | hxpq09q | hxpwge7 | 1,645,372,099 | 1,645,374,742 | 15 | 23 | For some people, fanfiction can get them through their darkest times. For writers, it feels good to have people enjoy something they wrote and can give them a following for when they publish their own works | Why do we do most things? It's fun. Plus it's like a starter novel, people cam comment to help you improve. Also you can write some really explicit stuff like rape without getting into trouble. | 0 | 2,643 | 1.533333 | ||
sx3u06 | writing_train | 0.73 | Is there any value to fan fiction? Since the characters and background isn’t yours and it will never be canon in the fantasy universe does it have any value to a writer aside from practicing writing? | hxpq09q | hxpw13l | 1,645,372,099 | 1,645,374,565 | 15 | 20 | For some people, fanfiction can get them through their darkest times. For writers, it feels good to have people enjoy something they wrote and can give them a following for when they publish their own works | "is there any value aside from <value>?" Writing fanfic is excellent practice for screen writing. Whoever is responsible for writing the newest and latest superhero shows and movies doesn't own any of the characters either. | 0 | 2,466 | 1.333333 | ||
sx3u06 | writing_train | 0.73 | Is there any value to fan fiction? Since the characters and background isn’t yours and it will never be canon in the fantasy universe does it have any value to a writer aside from practicing writing? | hxpq09q | hxqrd0r | 1,645,372,099 | 1,645,387,392 | 15 | 17 | For some people, fanfiction can get them through their darkest times. For writers, it feels good to have people enjoy something they wrote and can give them a following for when they publish their own works | “Is there any value to [insert hobby]?” Why does it have to monetisable to have value? | 0 | 15,293 | 1.133333 | ||
sx3u06 | writing_train | 0.73 | Is there any value to fan fiction? Since the characters and background isn’t yours and it will never be canon in the fantasy universe does it have any value to a writer aside from practicing writing? | hxqrd0r | hxqoxed | 1,645,387,392 | 1,645,386,365 | 17 | 13 | “Is there any value to [insert hobby]?” Why does it have to monetisable to have value? | This question can be said about any hobby. Does reading for fun have any value? Does crocheting have any value? Does drawing have any value? This is a kind of degrading question to people who enjoy writing without creating their own ocs (writing fan fiction). | 1 | 1,027 | 1.307692 | ||
sx3u06 | writing_train | 0.73 | Is there any value to fan fiction? Since the characters and background isn’t yours and it will never be canon in the fantasy universe does it have any value to a writer aside from practicing writing? | hxpq09q | hxqxbwv | 1,645,372,099 | 1,645,389,926 | 15 | 16 | For some people, fanfiction can get them through their darkest times. For writers, it feels good to have people enjoy something they wrote and can give them a following for when they publish their own works | This tumblr post said it best and I think about it all the time: > all debates abt the artistic merits of fanfiction fail to recognize the purpose of fic. you don’t write fic to be published or to learn how to construct a narrative although you can use it to develop style. you write it so that your friends will message you “bestie you’re utterly deranged for this one im eating dirt” | 0 | 17,827 | 1.066667 | ||
sx3u06 | writing_train | 0.73 | Is there any value to fan fiction? Since the characters and background isn’t yours and it will never be canon in the fantasy universe does it have any value to a writer aside from practicing writing? | hxqoxed | hxqxbwv | 1,645,386,365 | 1,645,389,926 | 13 | 16 | This question can be said about any hobby. Does reading for fun have any value? Does crocheting have any value? Does drawing have any value? This is a kind of degrading question to people who enjoy writing without creating their own ocs (writing fan fiction). | This tumblr post said it best and I think about it all the time: > all debates abt the artistic merits of fanfiction fail to recognize the purpose of fic. you don’t write fic to be published or to learn how to construct a narrative although you can use it to develop style. you write it so that your friends will message you “bestie you’re utterly deranged for this one im eating dirt” | 0 | 3,561 | 1.230769 | ||
ytjhsn | writing_train | 0.89 | How do you "Re-ignite" your creative process? Greetings! I am an amateur some-what literate human and it has always been my dream to write a series of novels! My issue is I have not written seriously in years, and mostly just read, or engage in MMO gaming. My biggest hurdle it seems is WHAT I want my series to be about. I love to collect fiction books, I read most of them, and there seems to be so many settings and plots that my taste dips into but I cant seem to hone in on a particular setting or plot I really want to write about. A bit about my taste- I am a HUGE DnD nerd, I love star wars, that sort of space opera-esq setting really clicks with me, and I'm a massive Tolkien scholar. I even love the old Victorian history drama type stuff, like the picture of Dorian Grey, or basically anything by Anne Rice. When I list off these fandoms, they seem daunting in world building level scale that went into them. I feel like I have so many ideas that come from so many of these genre's, that it all blends together into one big story mush and I cant seem to decide on a plot/setting. What is a good way to get going? Do you guys know of any good forums for just writing, to get the creative juices flowing? What's a good process to get all your ideas to fall into line? I know I have a great series in my head, just BEGGING to be written down. | iw4lm5x | iw5dhze | 1,668,292,621 | 1,668,305,658 | 4 | 5 | Same. I often feel like drawing the characters and/or some landscapes helps. Maybe if you can organise things so you can start to get your head around all the ideas. Some notepads, or an app, or some software. Then, when one or more of these ideas start to stand out to you, you could write some drafts. Maybe pick a few of your ideas and do some short stories. Prequels, side stories. That kind of thing. So you're practicing and building your worlds without the full pressure of feeling like you're writing a novel and you have to get it right. | You set up your dnd game while waiting for your friends to come over. You get a call from one friend that they all can’t come over due to the terrible thunderstorm. As you hang up, you look sadly at the game setup. Just then, a lightning bolt hits your house and everything goes black. When you wake up, you aren’t in your house anymore. But you are lying on the ground next to a strange cave. Take it from there. | 0 | 13,037 | 1.25 | ||
ytjhsn | writing_train | 0.89 | How do you "Re-ignite" your creative process? Greetings! I am an amateur some-what literate human and it has always been my dream to write a series of novels! My issue is I have not written seriously in years, and mostly just read, or engage in MMO gaming. My biggest hurdle it seems is WHAT I want my series to be about. I love to collect fiction books, I read most of them, and there seems to be so many settings and plots that my taste dips into but I cant seem to hone in on a particular setting or plot I really want to write about. A bit about my taste- I am a HUGE DnD nerd, I love star wars, that sort of space opera-esq setting really clicks with me, and I'm a massive Tolkien scholar. I even love the old Victorian history drama type stuff, like the picture of Dorian Grey, or basically anything by Anne Rice. When I list off these fandoms, they seem daunting in world building level scale that went into them. I feel like I have so many ideas that come from so many of these genre's, that it all blends together into one big story mush and I cant seem to decide on a plot/setting. What is a good way to get going? Do you guys know of any good forums for just writing, to get the creative juices flowing? What's a good process to get all your ideas to fall into line? I know I have a great series in my head, just BEGGING to be written down. | iw6tvho | iw6pyjf | 1,668,341,063 | 1,668,338,009 | 2 | 1 | I indulge in my braindead guilty pleasures in reading — specifically manga — to get light bulbs and joy out of stories made with absolutely unhinged premises and pitches and ideas | If you are a huge DnD nerd I suggest you check out Matt Colville's channel which has a cornucopia of tips for DMs about world building, setting up campaigns and sessions... which I think could be adapted to the process of writing. Colville is a fiction writer himself so watching his videos could be helpful. If not, you'll still learn tons of stuff that could help spice up your DnD sessions anyway. | 1 | 3,054 | 2 | ||
vl7rof | writing_train | 0.87 | How do you deal with mediocre writing? Before anything else, this post isn't really advice on self-esteem. At least, I don't think so? Apologies in advance if I could've titled this post differently. I'm currently writing my very first piece for a zine and can't help but feel like my writing is suddenly mediocre. Not entirely. I just mean the current half that I'm writing feels mediocre in comparison to the first half which I remembered writing more passionately. Have you ever had that moment where you write nearly non-stop and ideas flow into seamlessly? That's how I felt when I wrote the first half of the piece. Now though, I feel like I'm just typing without any real enthusiasm just to get to other parts I'm more excited about. It sucks because I think it reflects on my writing. To add on, the current scene I'm writing is an important one where the two main characters officially meet. It's literally the catalyst for the entire story's prompt, yet I can't really bring myself to be excited about it? Is this something that I just have to power through or is there any advice for dealing with such moods? | idto461 | idtnknm | 1,656,262,039 | 1,656,261,809 | 3 | 2 | For me, it's important to differentiate between: 'I don't think this scene is interesting/exciting', 'this isn't something I'm excited to write right now', and 'subconsciously I know something isn't working. If it's the first one, time to up the stakes. Change the location. Add a new twist or a new character. Combine it with another scene. Make a more dramatic change between the beginning and end, give the character a clearer goal or stronger motivation. Mess around with it until it is exciting. For the second one, to give an example, I just don't like writing dialogue that much. Particularly high-conflict dialogue. It might well be an engaging scene I would love to read if I were a reader, but that doesn't mean I'm going to enjoy writing it, because it's angry dialogue. I'm particularly prone to this mid-book. If this is the case, I opt for 'push through it and fix it later'. It'll get there eventually, you don't have to love writing every part fo the book. If it's both a scene I would find exciting as a reader and something I normally enjoy, often that means that something isn't quite working. Time to brainstorm, pick it apart and problem solve. Once I figure out what's wrong, I can fix it, and the wheels will start turning again. (Kind of as a side note to this, I'm a planner, if I don't have a clear enough idea of what is going to happen is causes this same issue) Hope this helps! | Storytelling is about the story’s effect on the audience, not the storyteller. The two diverge at fairly predictable points (and at other, less predictable ones). In a novel, writing the “messy middle” often feels like trudging down an endless muddy road, with pauses to bang one’s head against the trunks of convenient trees, even when the actual prose and action knock the readers’ totally mud-free socks off. Also, peak moments that we daydreamed as amazingly spectacular disappoint us even if they wow our readers. The solution is to keep forging ahead in a workmanlike manner. Trust that workmanlike scenes work, even if you aren’t feeling it as you write. I keep my target reader in mind. My target reader is on my side because they like reading the kinds of stories I like writing, so they’ll be reasonably satisfied if I don’t dig myself too many holes and fall into them. No need to become anxious about the reaction of a friendly audience. It’s all about using the skills I actually have (or develop during the project) to put on a good show. I don’t worry about perfection because Perfection isn’t a person and can’t read. As you tell each scene as best you can, consider alternative ways of staging it to make it more effective. Sometimes, though, I’m unhappy about how a story is unfolding because I’ve wandered off-course. When struggling with phrasing, this usually means I painted myself into a corner in a previous sentence or paragraph. If I stop wrestling with the current sentence and take in the last few paragraphs, the answer usually falls into my lap. With events, sometimes something nags at me in an ill-formed way. This usually means that I know what the problem is on some level and maybe the solution, too, but I’m being too stubborn to let it into my consciousness. I usually decide to not proceed until I straighten this out (even if I don’t know what “it” is) but I’m going to straighten it out during the current writing session, with optional head-banging. This works more often than you’d think. Good luck! | 1 | 230 | 1.5 | ||
vl7rof | writing_train | 0.87 | How do you deal with mediocre writing? Before anything else, this post isn't really advice on self-esteem. At least, I don't think so? Apologies in advance if I could've titled this post differently. I'm currently writing my very first piece for a zine and can't help but feel like my writing is suddenly mediocre. Not entirely. I just mean the current half that I'm writing feels mediocre in comparison to the first half which I remembered writing more passionately. Have you ever had that moment where you write nearly non-stop and ideas flow into seamlessly? That's how I felt when I wrote the first half of the piece. Now though, I feel like I'm just typing without any real enthusiasm just to get to other parts I'm more excited about. It sucks because I think it reflects on my writing. To add on, the current scene I'm writing is an important one where the two main characters officially meet. It's literally the catalyst for the entire story's prompt, yet I can't really bring myself to be excited about it? Is this something that I just have to power through or is there any advice for dealing with such moods? | idtix86 | idto461 | 1,656,259,815 | 1,656,262,039 | 0 | 3 | What pov are you using? Edit: I mean, you’ve been following both of these characters around, and now your pov may be having trouble blending the two, in a way which makes sense to your narrator instincts. So try this. Write the entire scene from a neutral point of view. Maybe there’s a nearby hotdog vendor, and he’s worried about how he is going to pay his rent, should these two protagonists keep talking instead of ordering hotdogs. Will it work? Maybe—though probably not. What it will accomplish is another perspective, an entirely different vantage allowing you to see the problem you are currently blind to. | For me, it's important to differentiate between: 'I don't think this scene is interesting/exciting', 'this isn't something I'm excited to write right now', and 'subconsciously I know something isn't working. If it's the first one, time to up the stakes. Change the location. Add a new twist or a new character. Combine it with another scene. Make a more dramatic change between the beginning and end, give the character a clearer goal or stronger motivation. Mess around with it until it is exciting. For the second one, to give an example, I just don't like writing dialogue that much. Particularly high-conflict dialogue. It might well be an engaging scene I would love to read if I were a reader, but that doesn't mean I'm going to enjoy writing it, because it's angry dialogue. I'm particularly prone to this mid-book. If this is the case, I opt for 'push through it and fix it later'. It'll get there eventually, you don't have to love writing every part fo the book. If it's both a scene I would find exciting as a reader and something I normally enjoy, often that means that something isn't quite working. Time to brainstorm, pick it apart and problem solve. Once I figure out what's wrong, I can fix it, and the wheels will start turning again. (Kind of as a side note to this, I'm a planner, if I don't have a clear enough idea of what is going to happen is causes this same issue) Hope this helps! | 0 | 2,224 | 3,000 | ||
vl7rof | writing_train | 0.87 | How do you deal with mediocre writing? Before anything else, this post isn't really advice on self-esteem. At least, I don't think so? Apologies in advance if I could've titled this post differently. I'm currently writing my very first piece for a zine and can't help but feel like my writing is suddenly mediocre. Not entirely. I just mean the current half that I'm writing feels mediocre in comparison to the first half which I remembered writing more passionately. Have you ever had that moment where you write nearly non-stop and ideas flow into seamlessly? That's how I felt when I wrote the first half of the piece. Now though, I feel like I'm just typing without any real enthusiasm just to get to other parts I'm more excited about. It sucks because I think it reflects on my writing. To add on, the current scene I'm writing is an important one where the two main characters officially meet. It's literally the catalyst for the entire story's prompt, yet I can't really bring myself to be excited about it? Is this something that I just have to power through or is there any advice for dealing with such moods? | idto461 | idtjw1r | 1,656,262,039 | 1,656,260,231 | 3 | 1 | For me, it's important to differentiate between: 'I don't think this scene is interesting/exciting', 'this isn't something I'm excited to write right now', and 'subconsciously I know something isn't working. If it's the first one, time to up the stakes. Change the location. Add a new twist or a new character. Combine it with another scene. Make a more dramatic change between the beginning and end, give the character a clearer goal or stronger motivation. Mess around with it until it is exciting. For the second one, to give an example, I just don't like writing dialogue that much. Particularly high-conflict dialogue. It might well be an engaging scene I would love to read if I were a reader, but that doesn't mean I'm going to enjoy writing it, because it's angry dialogue. I'm particularly prone to this mid-book. If this is the case, I opt for 'push through it and fix it later'. It'll get there eventually, you don't have to love writing every part fo the book. If it's both a scene I would find exciting as a reader and something I normally enjoy, often that means that something isn't quite working. Time to brainstorm, pick it apart and problem solve. Once I figure out what's wrong, I can fix it, and the wheels will start turning again. (Kind of as a side note to this, I'm a planner, if I don't have a clear enough idea of what is going to happen is causes this same issue) Hope this helps! | It absolutely will reflect in your writing. Imo, you need to jack up your enthusiasm before writing the scene. Writers often feel they "need" to write the boring scenes because it's important to the story. That may be so, but if you aren't enjoying it neither will your reader. But how to fix this? Combine scenes: Look at other scenes you plan to write and see if there is a relatively stand-alone event close by chronologically. Can you make it happen at the same time as the "boring but important" event? Add action: If two characters meeting, or talking, is boring you, look at what they are doing. Stuff should always be happening during conversations. Imagine helping a friend move. The conversation your having about life while keep being interrupted while you focus on maneuvering the coach up the stairs. This breaks up a monotonous convo for the readers, and makes it more interesting to write for you. It's similar to actors feeling more comfortable with something -- like a drink -- in their hands. Action. Add conflict: the scene might be important to the plot but otherwise devoid of excitement. Add conflict, even if it's something else happening nearby. If the characters have an accidental meeting at the market, maybe a thief steals something from the next stall, or a horse breaks loose nearby, or the vendor is mean to one of the characters. If you can, make the conflict related to a B plot the two characters meeting don't even know about yet. If character A will later rescue a princess, this would be a good time to have her knock into A and mutter an apology before rushing off. Then the random conflict you added to make the scene interesting will provide a payout later on. However you handle this, I always suggest ensuring you are excited for every. single. scene. If it's not your favourite scene, twist it until it is. Do this for every scene and your reader won't be able to stop flipping pages. Hope this helps. Good luck! | 1 | 1,808 | 3 | ||
vl7rof | writing_train | 0.87 | How do you deal with mediocre writing? Before anything else, this post isn't really advice on self-esteem. At least, I don't think so? Apologies in advance if I could've titled this post differently. I'm currently writing my very first piece for a zine and can't help but feel like my writing is suddenly mediocre. Not entirely. I just mean the current half that I'm writing feels mediocre in comparison to the first half which I remembered writing more passionately. Have you ever had that moment where you write nearly non-stop and ideas flow into seamlessly? That's how I felt when I wrote the first half of the piece. Now though, I feel like I'm just typing without any real enthusiasm just to get to other parts I'm more excited about. It sucks because I think it reflects on my writing. To add on, the current scene I'm writing is an important one where the two main characters officially meet. It's literally the catalyst for the entire story's prompt, yet I can't really bring myself to be excited about it? Is this something that I just have to power through or is there any advice for dealing with such moods? | idtix86 | idtnknm | 1,656,259,815 | 1,656,261,809 | 0 | 2 | What pov are you using? Edit: I mean, you’ve been following both of these characters around, and now your pov may be having trouble blending the two, in a way which makes sense to your narrator instincts. So try this. Write the entire scene from a neutral point of view. Maybe there’s a nearby hotdog vendor, and he’s worried about how he is going to pay his rent, should these two protagonists keep talking instead of ordering hotdogs. Will it work? Maybe—though probably not. What it will accomplish is another perspective, an entirely different vantage allowing you to see the problem you are currently blind to. | Storytelling is about the story’s effect on the audience, not the storyteller. The two diverge at fairly predictable points (and at other, less predictable ones). In a novel, writing the “messy middle” often feels like trudging down an endless muddy road, with pauses to bang one’s head against the trunks of convenient trees, even when the actual prose and action knock the readers’ totally mud-free socks off. Also, peak moments that we daydreamed as amazingly spectacular disappoint us even if they wow our readers. The solution is to keep forging ahead in a workmanlike manner. Trust that workmanlike scenes work, even if you aren’t feeling it as you write. I keep my target reader in mind. My target reader is on my side because they like reading the kinds of stories I like writing, so they’ll be reasonably satisfied if I don’t dig myself too many holes and fall into them. No need to become anxious about the reaction of a friendly audience. It’s all about using the skills I actually have (or develop during the project) to put on a good show. I don’t worry about perfection because Perfection isn’t a person and can’t read. As you tell each scene as best you can, consider alternative ways of staging it to make it more effective. Sometimes, though, I’m unhappy about how a story is unfolding because I’ve wandered off-course. When struggling with phrasing, this usually means I painted myself into a corner in a previous sentence or paragraph. If I stop wrestling with the current sentence and take in the last few paragraphs, the answer usually falls into my lap. With events, sometimes something nags at me in an ill-formed way. This usually means that I know what the problem is on some level and maybe the solution, too, but I’m being too stubborn to let it into my consciousness. I usually decide to not proceed until I straighten this out (even if I don’t know what “it” is) but I’m going to straighten it out during the current writing session, with optional head-banging. This works more often than you’d think. Good luck! | 0 | 1,994 | 2,000 | ||
vl7rof | writing_train | 0.87 | How do you deal with mediocre writing? Before anything else, this post isn't really advice on self-esteem. At least, I don't think so? Apologies in advance if I could've titled this post differently. I'm currently writing my very first piece for a zine and can't help but feel like my writing is suddenly mediocre. Not entirely. I just mean the current half that I'm writing feels mediocre in comparison to the first half which I remembered writing more passionately. Have you ever had that moment where you write nearly non-stop and ideas flow into seamlessly? That's how I felt when I wrote the first half of the piece. Now though, I feel like I'm just typing without any real enthusiasm just to get to other parts I'm more excited about. It sucks because I think it reflects on my writing. To add on, the current scene I'm writing is an important one where the two main characters officially meet. It's literally the catalyst for the entire story's prompt, yet I can't really bring myself to be excited about it? Is this something that I just have to power through or is there any advice for dealing with such moods? | idtnknm | idtjw1r | 1,656,261,809 | 1,656,260,231 | 2 | 1 | Storytelling is about the story’s effect on the audience, not the storyteller. The two diverge at fairly predictable points (and at other, less predictable ones). In a novel, writing the “messy middle” often feels like trudging down an endless muddy road, with pauses to bang one’s head against the trunks of convenient trees, even when the actual prose and action knock the readers’ totally mud-free socks off. Also, peak moments that we daydreamed as amazingly spectacular disappoint us even if they wow our readers. The solution is to keep forging ahead in a workmanlike manner. Trust that workmanlike scenes work, even if you aren’t feeling it as you write. I keep my target reader in mind. My target reader is on my side because they like reading the kinds of stories I like writing, so they’ll be reasonably satisfied if I don’t dig myself too many holes and fall into them. No need to become anxious about the reaction of a friendly audience. It’s all about using the skills I actually have (or develop during the project) to put on a good show. I don’t worry about perfection because Perfection isn’t a person and can’t read. As you tell each scene as best you can, consider alternative ways of staging it to make it more effective. Sometimes, though, I’m unhappy about how a story is unfolding because I’ve wandered off-course. When struggling with phrasing, this usually means I painted myself into a corner in a previous sentence or paragraph. If I stop wrestling with the current sentence and take in the last few paragraphs, the answer usually falls into my lap. With events, sometimes something nags at me in an ill-formed way. This usually means that I know what the problem is on some level and maybe the solution, too, but I’m being too stubborn to let it into my consciousness. I usually decide to not proceed until I straighten this out (even if I don’t know what “it” is) but I’m going to straighten it out during the current writing session, with optional head-banging. This works more often than you’d think. Good luck! | It absolutely will reflect in your writing. Imo, you need to jack up your enthusiasm before writing the scene. Writers often feel they "need" to write the boring scenes because it's important to the story. That may be so, but if you aren't enjoying it neither will your reader. But how to fix this? Combine scenes: Look at other scenes you plan to write and see if there is a relatively stand-alone event close by chronologically. Can you make it happen at the same time as the "boring but important" event? Add action: If two characters meeting, or talking, is boring you, look at what they are doing. Stuff should always be happening during conversations. Imagine helping a friend move. The conversation your having about life while keep being interrupted while you focus on maneuvering the coach up the stairs. This breaks up a monotonous convo for the readers, and makes it more interesting to write for you. It's similar to actors feeling more comfortable with something -- like a drink -- in their hands. Action. Add conflict: the scene might be important to the plot but otherwise devoid of excitement. Add conflict, even if it's something else happening nearby. If the characters have an accidental meeting at the market, maybe a thief steals something from the next stall, or a horse breaks loose nearby, or the vendor is mean to one of the characters. If you can, make the conflict related to a B plot the two characters meeting don't even know about yet. If character A will later rescue a princess, this would be a good time to have her knock into A and mutter an apology before rushing off. Then the random conflict you added to make the scene interesting will provide a payout later on. However you handle this, I always suggest ensuring you are excited for every. single. scene. If it's not your favourite scene, twist it until it is. Do this for every scene and your reader won't be able to stop flipping pages. Hope this helps. Good luck! | 1 | 1,578 | 2 | ||
vl7rof | writing_train | 0.87 | How do you deal with mediocre writing? Before anything else, this post isn't really advice on self-esteem. At least, I don't think so? Apologies in advance if I could've titled this post differently. I'm currently writing my very first piece for a zine and can't help but feel like my writing is suddenly mediocre. Not entirely. I just mean the current half that I'm writing feels mediocre in comparison to the first half which I remembered writing more passionately. Have you ever had that moment where you write nearly non-stop and ideas flow into seamlessly? That's how I felt when I wrote the first half of the piece. Now though, I feel like I'm just typing without any real enthusiasm just to get to other parts I'm more excited about. It sucks because I think it reflects on my writing. To add on, the current scene I'm writing is an important one where the two main characters officially meet. It's literally the catalyst for the entire story's prompt, yet I can't really bring myself to be excited about it? Is this something that I just have to power through or is there any advice for dealing with such moods? | idtix86 | idtjw1r | 1,656,259,815 | 1,656,260,231 | 0 | 1 | What pov are you using? Edit: I mean, you’ve been following both of these characters around, and now your pov may be having trouble blending the two, in a way which makes sense to your narrator instincts. So try this. Write the entire scene from a neutral point of view. Maybe there’s a nearby hotdog vendor, and he’s worried about how he is going to pay his rent, should these two protagonists keep talking instead of ordering hotdogs. Will it work? Maybe—though probably not. What it will accomplish is another perspective, an entirely different vantage allowing you to see the problem you are currently blind to. | It absolutely will reflect in your writing. Imo, you need to jack up your enthusiasm before writing the scene. Writers often feel they "need" to write the boring scenes because it's important to the story. That may be so, but if you aren't enjoying it neither will your reader. But how to fix this? Combine scenes: Look at other scenes you plan to write and see if there is a relatively stand-alone event close by chronologically. Can you make it happen at the same time as the "boring but important" event? Add action: If two characters meeting, or talking, is boring you, look at what they are doing. Stuff should always be happening during conversations. Imagine helping a friend move. The conversation your having about life while keep being interrupted while you focus on maneuvering the coach up the stairs. This breaks up a monotonous convo for the readers, and makes it more interesting to write for you. It's similar to actors feeling more comfortable with something -- like a drink -- in their hands. Action. Add conflict: the scene might be important to the plot but otherwise devoid of excitement. Add conflict, even if it's something else happening nearby. If the characters have an accidental meeting at the market, maybe a thief steals something from the next stall, or a horse breaks loose nearby, or the vendor is mean to one of the characters. If you can, make the conflict related to a B plot the two characters meeting don't even know about yet. If character A will later rescue a princess, this would be a good time to have her knock into A and mutter an apology before rushing off. Then the random conflict you added to make the scene interesting will provide a payout later on. However you handle this, I always suggest ensuring you are excited for every. single. scene. If it's not your favourite scene, twist it until it is. Do this for every scene and your reader won't be able to stop flipping pages. Hope this helps. Good luck! | 0 | 416 | 1,000 | ||
vl7rof | writing_train | 0.87 | How do you deal with mediocre writing? Before anything else, this post isn't really advice on self-esteem. At least, I don't think so? Apologies in advance if I could've titled this post differently. I'm currently writing my very first piece for a zine and can't help but feel like my writing is suddenly mediocre. Not entirely. I just mean the current half that I'm writing feels mediocre in comparison to the first half which I remembered writing more passionately. Have you ever had that moment where you write nearly non-stop and ideas flow into seamlessly? That's how I felt when I wrote the first half of the piece. Now though, I feel like I'm just typing without any real enthusiasm just to get to other parts I'm more excited about. It sucks because I think it reflects on my writing. To add on, the current scene I'm writing is an important one where the two main characters officially meet. It's literally the catalyst for the entire story's prompt, yet I can't really bring myself to be excited about it? Is this something that I just have to power through or is there any advice for dealing with such moods? | idto8j1 | idtix86 | 1,656,262,090 | 1,656,259,815 | 1 | 0 | i think mine lack everything compared to others authors. i use the "want to be better at it " for motivation to get better. same motivation at playing say a video game. Lots of practice & lots of trial & failing , figuring out why, & trying again. in another thread a poster suggested copying a writer on likes , just to practice & train ones self to think & write a certain way. that does work if done enough to become second nature. f | What pov are you using? Edit: I mean, you’ve been following both of these characters around, and now your pov may be having trouble blending the two, in a way which makes sense to your narrator instincts. So try this. Write the entire scene from a neutral point of view. Maybe there’s a nearby hotdog vendor, and he’s worried about how he is going to pay his rent, should these two protagonists keep talking instead of ordering hotdogs. Will it work? Maybe—though probably not. What it will accomplish is another perspective, an entirely different vantage allowing you to see the problem you are currently blind to. | 1 | 2,275 | 1,000 | ||
vl7rof | writing_train | 0.87 | How do you deal with mediocre writing? Before anything else, this post isn't really advice on self-esteem. At least, I don't think so? Apologies in advance if I could've titled this post differently. I'm currently writing my very first piece for a zine and can't help but feel like my writing is suddenly mediocre. Not entirely. I just mean the current half that I'm writing feels mediocre in comparison to the first half which I remembered writing more passionately. Have you ever had that moment where you write nearly non-stop and ideas flow into seamlessly? That's how I felt when I wrote the first half of the piece. Now though, I feel like I'm just typing without any real enthusiasm just to get to other parts I'm more excited about. It sucks because I think it reflects on my writing. To add on, the current scene I'm writing is an important one where the two main characters officially meet. It's literally the catalyst for the entire story's prompt, yet I can't really bring myself to be excited about it? Is this something that I just have to power through or is there any advice for dealing with such moods? | idu2qlt | idtix86 | 1,656,268,419 | 1,656,259,815 | 1 | 0 | I'm pretty sure this is a typical feeling for a lot of people, I'm at a part of the story I'm writing where the Mc meets one of the single most important characters in his life and turns out he's a complete smartass and play around with the main character through the whole interaction and I've been stuck on it for a while because what I write now is The entire foundation for the story and this is the one thing I want to get perfect so the feeling of mediocrity comes and goes quite frequently yet I still continue writing only to take a break for a day or two. After that break I go back re-read everything and polish off ruff parts that I personally feel need a touch up, writing can always be improved. Don't be afraid of mediocre writing, be afraid of being okay with it and not trying to upon it. | What pov are you using? Edit: I mean, you’ve been following both of these characters around, and now your pov may be having trouble blending the two, in a way which makes sense to your narrator instincts. So try this. Write the entire scene from a neutral point of view. Maybe there’s a nearby hotdog vendor, and he’s worried about how he is going to pay his rent, should these two protagonists keep talking instead of ordering hotdogs. Will it work? Maybe—though probably not. What it will accomplish is another perspective, an entirely different vantage allowing you to see the problem you are currently blind to. | 1 | 8,604 | 1,000 | ||
vl7rof | writing_train | 0.87 | How do you deal with mediocre writing? Before anything else, this post isn't really advice on self-esteem. At least, I don't think so? Apologies in advance if I could've titled this post differently. I'm currently writing my very first piece for a zine and can't help but feel like my writing is suddenly mediocre. Not entirely. I just mean the current half that I'm writing feels mediocre in comparison to the first half which I remembered writing more passionately. Have you ever had that moment where you write nearly non-stop and ideas flow into seamlessly? That's how I felt when I wrote the first half of the piece. Now though, I feel like I'm just typing without any real enthusiasm just to get to other parts I'm more excited about. It sucks because I think it reflects on my writing. To add on, the current scene I'm writing is an important one where the two main characters officially meet. It's literally the catalyst for the entire story's prompt, yet I can't really bring myself to be excited about it? Is this something that I just have to power through or is there any advice for dealing with such moods? | idtix86 | idv2i9u | 1,656,259,815 | 1,656,284,493 | 0 | 1 | What pov are you using? Edit: I mean, you’ve been following both of these characters around, and now your pov may be having trouble blending the two, in a way which makes sense to your narrator instincts. So try this. Write the entire scene from a neutral point of view. Maybe there’s a nearby hotdog vendor, and he’s worried about how he is going to pay his rent, should these two protagonists keep talking instead of ordering hotdogs. Will it work? Maybe—though probably not. What it will accomplish is another perspective, an entirely different vantage allowing you to see the problem you are currently blind to. | That's what editing is for. In this case instead looking at just grammar spelling and stuff, look at word choice and evaluate each sentence. Do this after you've completed the first draft. | 0 | 24,678 | 1,000 | ||
gpfz2d | writing_train | 0.78 | How to deal with things that seem obvious to you as the writer, but readers tend to misunderstand? An example to start out. I wrote a short story about a succubus before. In that story I thought I was pretty clear that this was about a actual demon that was summoned from hell. When someone I knew read it they said, "You call the woman a 'creature' at a couple of parts. That is really demeaning to women and I think you should change it." Shes literally not a human, this is a legitimate monster from the underworld. I think 'creature' is fitting. While that one stands out quite clearly too me there are others such as readers asking me "Why didn't you ever describe what the protagonist looks like?" When I have clearly done so, several times. I don't see what they are missing here? Another similar one was when I wrote a story about an Orc and readers said "I couldn't understand anything because you never explain what an orc is. What is an orc?" While there have also been other times I don't want to label everything. My question to this Reddit is, is this a common occurrence? Do many writers end up having to change something they thought was obvious but turned out readers weren't understanding? How do you go about doing it? | frly1iu | frloine | 1,590,286,938 | 1,590,281,024 | 6 | 4 | This sounds like simply a case of "wrong audience". More likely than not, anyone who would go ahead and actually pick the book containing your story (whether it's a Sci-Fi/Fantasy magazine or your own collection of short stories) would already be aware of the classic Fantasy tropes and races. I wouldn't worry about it too much but of course a little bit of exposition couldn't hurt, whether it's in the form of dialogue or a very short info dump. | Honestly without actually seeing the examples, its impossible to tell who is in the wrong or if you need to improve. Its common for writers to leave out crucial information because they think its obvious, or its entirely possible that your readers are just ignoring parts of the book. Although the orc thing is pretty telling. Are you showing your story to a demographic of 45 year old soccer moms? How do they not know what an orc is? I don't know the context but the problem could be that your stories aren't a genre that your readers are familiar with. Like the succubus thing. If there isn't enough information, reader will fill in the blank with stuff they are familiar with. Or even if there is enough information, they will ignore it in favor of something that makes more sense to them. If your reader has never read more that 1 or 2 stories in the supernatural genre, they aren't going understand what a succubus is or what its doing in your story. Too much of this sounds context specific so I can't say definitively what they problem could be. But it could be that your readers don't really "get" the genre you're writing in. | 1 | 5,914 | 1.5 | ||
gpfz2d | writing_train | 0.78 | How to deal with things that seem obvious to you as the writer, but readers tend to misunderstand? An example to start out. I wrote a short story about a succubus before. In that story I thought I was pretty clear that this was about a actual demon that was summoned from hell. When someone I knew read it they said, "You call the woman a 'creature' at a couple of parts. That is really demeaning to women and I think you should change it." Shes literally not a human, this is a legitimate monster from the underworld. I think 'creature' is fitting. While that one stands out quite clearly too me there are others such as readers asking me "Why didn't you ever describe what the protagonist looks like?" When I have clearly done so, several times. I don't see what they are missing here? Another similar one was when I wrote a story about an Orc and readers said "I couldn't understand anything because you never explain what an orc is. What is an orc?" While there have also been other times I don't want to label everything. My question to this Reddit is, is this a common occurrence? Do many writers end up having to change something they thought was obvious but turned out readers weren't understanding? How do you go about doing it? | frly1iu | frlnuy3 | 1,590,286,938 | 1,590,280,626 | 6 | 1 | This sounds like simply a case of "wrong audience". More likely than not, anyone who would go ahead and actually pick the book containing your story (whether it's a Sci-Fi/Fantasy magazine or your own collection of short stories) would already be aware of the classic Fantasy tropes and races. I wouldn't worry about it too much but of course a little bit of exposition couldn't hurt, whether it's in the form of dialogue or a very short info dump. | How do people not know what Google is? | 1 | 6,312 | 6 | ||
gpfz2d | writing_train | 0.78 | How to deal with things that seem obvious to you as the writer, but readers tend to misunderstand? An example to start out. I wrote a short story about a succubus before. In that story I thought I was pretty clear that this was about a actual demon that was summoned from hell. When someone I knew read it they said, "You call the woman a 'creature' at a couple of parts. That is really demeaning to women and I think you should change it." Shes literally not a human, this is a legitimate monster from the underworld. I think 'creature' is fitting. While that one stands out quite clearly too me there are others such as readers asking me "Why didn't you ever describe what the protagonist looks like?" When I have clearly done so, several times. I don't see what they are missing here? Another similar one was when I wrote a story about an Orc and readers said "I couldn't understand anything because you never explain what an orc is. What is an orc?" While there have also been other times I don't want to label everything. My question to this Reddit is, is this a common occurrence? Do many writers end up having to change something they thought was obvious but turned out readers weren't understanding? How do you go about doing it? | frltbrz | frly1iu | 1,590,283,957 | 1,590,286,938 | 1 | 6 | I think your readers are just being lazy. I have only read 1 Star Wars book in my life, so needless to say, I am not very familiar with many of the alien races mentioned in Star Wars lore. So when I read the 1 Star Wars book, I decided to Google the different races as they were mentioned, to see what they look like. The book was Asoka, for those who wanted to know. | This sounds like simply a case of "wrong audience". More likely than not, anyone who would go ahead and actually pick the book containing your story (whether it's a Sci-Fi/Fantasy magazine or your own collection of short stories) would already be aware of the classic Fantasy tropes and races. I wouldn't worry about it too much but of course a little bit of exposition couldn't hurt, whether it's in the form of dialogue or a very short info dump. | 0 | 2,981 | 6 | ||
gpfz2d | writing_train | 0.78 | How to deal with things that seem obvious to you as the writer, but readers tend to misunderstand? An example to start out. I wrote a short story about a succubus before. In that story I thought I was pretty clear that this was about a actual demon that was summoned from hell. When someone I knew read it they said, "You call the woman a 'creature' at a couple of parts. That is really demeaning to women and I think you should change it." Shes literally not a human, this is a legitimate monster from the underworld. I think 'creature' is fitting. While that one stands out quite clearly too me there are others such as readers asking me "Why didn't you ever describe what the protagonist looks like?" When I have clearly done so, several times. I don't see what they are missing here? Another similar one was when I wrote a story about an Orc and readers said "I couldn't understand anything because you never explain what an orc is. What is an orc?" While there have also been other times I don't want to label everything. My question to this Reddit is, is this a common occurrence? Do many writers end up having to change something they thought was obvious but turned out readers weren't understanding? How do you go about doing it? | frm8e9m | frlnuy3 | 1,590,293,869 | 1,590,280,626 | 4 | 1 | My instinct here is, it can't hurt to toss in a detail or two about what a succubus is or an orc is, in the context of your story. Although both have certain standard pictures they may conjure, not all stories will portray them in the same way. Take vampires, for example. They have standard tropes, but variations depending on which vampire story you're reading. By filling in a couple of details, you can make it clear, "I'm talking about a specific image of an [insert fantasy creature here]." On the other hand, short stories have to be more sparing with words. If you can trust your audience will get it, as others are indicating, maybe that's enough. In a longer story, I think my instinct would still be to err on the side of defining it a bit. | How do people not know what Google is? | 1 | 13,243 | 4 | ||
gpfz2d | writing_train | 0.78 | How to deal with things that seem obvious to you as the writer, but readers tend to misunderstand? An example to start out. I wrote a short story about a succubus before. In that story I thought I was pretty clear that this was about a actual demon that was summoned from hell. When someone I knew read it they said, "You call the woman a 'creature' at a couple of parts. That is really demeaning to women and I think you should change it." Shes literally not a human, this is a legitimate monster from the underworld. I think 'creature' is fitting. While that one stands out quite clearly too me there are others such as readers asking me "Why didn't you ever describe what the protagonist looks like?" When I have clearly done so, several times. I don't see what they are missing here? Another similar one was when I wrote a story about an Orc and readers said "I couldn't understand anything because you never explain what an orc is. What is an orc?" While there have also been other times I don't want to label everything. My question to this Reddit is, is this a common occurrence? Do many writers end up having to change something they thought was obvious but turned out readers weren't understanding? How do you go about doing it? | frm8e9m | frltbrz | 1,590,293,869 | 1,590,283,957 | 4 | 1 | My instinct here is, it can't hurt to toss in a detail or two about what a succubus is or an orc is, in the context of your story. Although both have certain standard pictures they may conjure, not all stories will portray them in the same way. Take vampires, for example. They have standard tropes, but variations depending on which vampire story you're reading. By filling in a couple of details, you can make it clear, "I'm talking about a specific image of an [insert fantasy creature here]." On the other hand, short stories have to be more sparing with words. If you can trust your audience will get it, as others are indicating, maybe that's enough. In a longer story, I think my instinct would still be to err on the side of defining it a bit. | I think your readers are just being lazy. I have only read 1 Star Wars book in my life, so needless to say, I am not very familiar with many of the alien races mentioned in Star Wars lore. So when I read the 1 Star Wars book, I decided to Google the different races as they were mentioned, to see what they look like. The book was Asoka, for those who wanted to know. | 1 | 9,912 | 4 | ||
gpfz2d | writing_train | 0.78 | How to deal with things that seem obvious to you as the writer, but readers tend to misunderstand? An example to start out. I wrote a short story about a succubus before. In that story I thought I was pretty clear that this was about a actual demon that was summoned from hell. When someone I knew read it they said, "You call the woman a 'creature' at a couple of parts. That is really demeaning to women and I think you should change it." Shes literally not a human, this is a legitimate monster from the underworld. I think 'creature' is fitting. While that one stands out quite clearly too me there are others such as readers asking me "Why didn't you ever describe what the protagonist looks like?" When I have clearly done so, several times. I don't see what they are missing here? Another similar one was when I wrote a story about an Orc and readers said "I couldn't understand anything because you never explain what an orc is. What is an orc?" While there have also been other times I don't want to label everything. My question to this Reddit is, is this a common occurrence? Do many writers end up having to change something they thought was obvious but turned out readers weren't understanding? How do you go about doing it? | frlnuy3 | frloine | 1,590,280,626 | 1,590,281,024 | 1 | 4 | How do people not know what Google is? | Honestly without actually seeing the examples, its impossible to tell who is in the wrong or if you need to improve. Its common for writers to leave out crucial information because they think its obvious, or its entirely possible that your readers are just ignoring parts of the book. Although the orc thing is pretty telling. Are you showing your story to a demographic of 45 year old soccer moms? How do they not know what an orc is? I don't know the context but the problem could be that your stories aren't a genre that your readers are familiar with. Like the succubus thing. If there isn't enough information, reader will fill in the blank with stuff they are familiar with. Or even if there is enough information, they will ignore it in favor of something that makes more sense to them. If your reader has never read more that 1 or 2 stories in the supernatural genre, they aren't going understand what a succubus is or what its doing in your story. Too much of this sounds context specific so I can't say definitively what they problem could be. But it could be that your readers don't really "get" the genre you're writing in. | 0 | 398 | 4 | ||
gpfz2d | writing_train | 0.78 | How to deal with things that seem obvious to you as the writer, but readers tend to misunderstand? An example to start out. I wrote a short story about a succubus before. In that story I thought I was pretty clear that this was about a actual demon that was summoned from hell. When someone I knew read it they said, "You call the woman a 'creature' at a couple of parts. That is really demeaning to women and I think you should change it." Shes literally not a human, this is a legitimate monster from the underworld. I think 'creature' is fitting. While that one stands out quite clearly too me there are others such as readers asking me "Why didn't you ever describe what the protagonist looks like?" When I have clearly done so, several times. I don't see what they are missing here? Another similar one was when I wrote a story about an Orc and readers said "I couldn't understand anything because you never explain what an orc is. What is an orc?" While there have also been other times I don't want to label everything. My question to this Reddit is, is this a common occurrence? Do many writers end up having to change something they thought was obvious but turned out readers weren't understanding? How do you go about doing it? | frmbiki | frmfm80 | 1,590,296,207 | 1,590,299,552 | 0 | 1 | >An example to start out. I wrote a short story about a succubus before. In that story I thought I was pretty clear that this was about a actual demon that was summoned from hell. When someone I knew read it they said, "You call the woman a 'creature' at a couple of parts. That is really demeaning to women and I think you should change it." Well that does sound about par for the course with today's University scene. When you get this kind of feedback it means something is wrong, just... Don't exclude the possibility that it's the reader. The answer is usually more feedback. If EVERYBODY has a problem with the way you portray this (female) demon from hell, well, then maybe rethink some things, if you want them to buy a copy. But you're the writer here, not them, at the end of the day. How to deal with these situations? However you want. | I think you have got beta readers who are not familiar with the type of books you write. And no, it is not the job of the writer to explain everything. If a reader doesn't know what a succubus is, they can look it up in Wikipedia or search for it in their preferred Internet search engine. | 0 | 3,345 | 1,000 | ||
gpfz2d | writing_train | 0.78 | How to deal with things that seem obvious to you as the writer, but readers tend to misunderstand? An example to start out. I wrote a short story about a succubus before. In that story I thought I was pretty clear that this was about a actual demon that was summoned from hell. When someone I knew read it they said, "You call the woman a 'creature' at a couple of parts. That is really demeaning to women and I think you should change it." Shes literally not a human, this is a legitimate monster from the underworld. I think 'creature' is fitting. While that one stands out quite clearly too me there are others such as readers asking me "Why didn't you ever describe what the protagonist looks like?" When I have clearly done so, several times. I don't see what they are missing here? Another similar one was when I wrote a story about an Orc and readers said "I couldn't understand anything because you never explain what an orc is. What is an orc?" While there have also been other times I don't want to label everything. My question to this Reddit is, is this a common occurrence? Do many writers end up having to change something they thought was obvious but turned out readers weren't understanding? How do you go about doing it? | frmbiki | frmlsw3 | 1,590,296,207 | 1,590,305,198 | 0 | 1 | >An example to start out. I wrote a short story about a succubus before. In that story I thought I was pretty clear that this was about a actual demon that was summoned from hell. When someone I knew read it they said, "You call the woman a 'creature' at a couple of parts. That is really demeaning to women and I think you should change it." Well that does sound about par for the course with today's University scene. When you get this kind of feedback it means something is wrong, just... Don't exclude the possibility that it's the reader. The answer is usually more feedback. If EVERYBODY has a problem with the way you portray this (female) demon from hell, well, then maybe rethink some things, if you want them to buy a copy. But you're the writer here, not them, at the end of the day. How to deal with these situations? However you want. | When I write sometimes I tend to imagine the mind of a reader. What they would be imagining and feeling as I write and I write accordingly. Am I catering you a certain type of reader in my mind? I am a beginner but I do often wonder if this practice has a name or has anything to do with...anything, really. | 0 | 8,991 | 1,000 | ||
gpfz2d | writing_train | 0.78 | How to deal with things that seem obvious to you as the writer, but readers tend to misunderstand? An example to start out. I wrote a short story about a succubus before. In that story I thought I was pretty clear that this was about a actual demon that was summoned from hell. When someone I knew read it they said, "You call the woman a 'creature' at a couple of parts. That is really demeaning to women and I think you should change it." Shes literally not a human, this is a legitimate monster from the underworld. I think 'creature' is fitting. While that one stands out quite clearly too me there are others such as readers asking me "Why didn't you ever describe what the protagonist looks like?" When I have clearly done so, several times. I don't see what they are missing here? Another similar one was when I wrote a story about an Orc and readers said "I couldn't understand anything because you never explain what an orc is. What is an orc?" While there have also been other times I don't want to label everything. My question to this Reddit is, is this a common occurrence? Do many writers end up having to change something they thought was obvious but turned out readers weren't understanding? How do you go about doing it? | frmbiki | froiy9y | 1,590,296,207 | 1,590,339,765 | 0 | 1 | >An example to start out. I wrote a short story about a succubus before. In that story I thought I was pretty clear that this was about a actual demon that was summoned from hell. When someone I knew read it they said, "You call the woman a 'creature' at a couple of parts. That is really demeaning to women and I think you should change it." Well that does sound about par for the course with today's University scene. When you get this kind of feedback it means something is wrong, just... Don't exclude the possibility that it's the reader. The answer is usually more feedback. If EVERYBODY has a problem with the way you portray this (female) demon from hell, well, then maybe rethink some things, if you want them to buy a copy. But you're the writer here, not them, at the end of the day. How to deal with these situations? However you want. | I once got feedback on a short story that I shouldn't use brand names like "Febreeze" because that particular reader didn't come from my culture, did't watch TV, and didn't know what I was talking about; and people outside my culture wouldn't know what I meant. I agonized a little but eventually decided to ignore that feedback. Using a particular brand name rather than a convoluted description of "that stuff that negates smells in fabric" was both shorter and rooted my characters in time and space; and if that one guy didn't like it, then so be it. I think that if you're getting feedback like that, it's worth challenging your writing to make sure it really is doing what you want it to do in getting the concept across, but if it is doing what you want it to do and your actual target audience isn't confused, you're probably OK. | 0 | 43,558 | 1,000 | ||
pnn7l8 | writing_train | 0.76 | Any tips for ADHD writers with sequence ordering Dyslexia? I was diagnosed as an adult with ADHD and learned I have a sequencing order problem through mild dyslexia. That means I will put letters, numbers or words in the wrong sequence. For instance, writing, “are there” instead of “there are.” For instance, I didn’t edit the above paragraph and noticed I -ah right there, two examples. “And learned I” “and noticed I” It is supposed to be “And I learned” “And I noticed” right? These are mild but sometimes I will completely mess up and flip word order, sentence order, etc. It makes for flowery poetry but lousy novel writing. I have been writing since fifth grade. Only for the love of it. I have so many novels, scripts, short stories and poetry but only one novelette self published in Amazon. I have a particular story I finally want to try and publish that I’ve been working on for 15 years. I took a break from it and went back to it after being diagnosed and helped. I was shocked and heartbroken to find the story was a complete mess. The sentence sequencing in many areas is atrocious. It’s a long winded, winding verbose Tolkien and King too much detailed mess. I couldn’t even read it and I wrote it. It is mostly due to this sequencing problem. I’m completely starting it over but any tips on how I can write better with this, dare I say, handicap would be very much appreciated. I’m going to try a writing/editing structure where after a day of writing, I immediately re-write and edit that over and over again the next day. Basically untangle it as I write. I hate that it will break my flow but I have to learn a new way if I ever hope to get something published. I figure I must not be the only one with this issue. Also ADHD tips as of course I deal with major distraction, etc. Thanks for the help! TL;DR Tips for writing for a writer who messes up word and sentence structure sometimes and has ADHD | hcr1lhe | hcsn2n6 | 1,631,573,893 | 1,631,605,315 | 1 | 2 | I have the same issue. I try to let myself write freely without thinking about it, then go back through & rearrange the words so they’re correct. | Have you tried dyslexia-friendly fonts? I have ADHD and suspect I also have some type of dyslexia, though I haven't yet had a diagnosis. Fonts like comic sans, open-dyslexic, arial, helvetica, verdana, dyslexie, sylexiad, and read-regular have all been helpful for me. Type in at least 12pt too. I find 14pt better for me, but you might be comfortable with 12pt. Also, having the writing read back to me through word or other similar applications with text-to-speech functions helps too. Reading out loud is useful sometimes too but I stim a lot which can affect the way I talk so I prefer text-to-speech. Oh, and for structure, mind maps!! It being non-linear helps me get all my ideas down. All the events I want to include, particular plot points or worldbuilding info that comes into play at certain points is included in a mind map. From this, I transfer everything I can to a more linear structure/outline so it's clearer to me later. I hope some of this helps! Obviously what works for me might not be useful for you, but just keep trying new methods until you find one that works for you. | 0 | 31,422 | 2 |
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