fannish-ness

[dreamingpixels]

I'm thinking of working my way back into fan fiction writing again. I mean, sure, I've written some stuff and posted it on fanfiction.net, but ff.net is nothing like it used to be when I joined back in 2000. I'm working on getting an inksome account set up, and that will be purely for fanfiction. (I'll link to anything I post. :D )

Anyone have any tips for writing decent fanfic besides practice and avoiding Mary-Sueness like the plague? I always worry that my stuff is horrible, mostly from remembering the stuff that I wrote back in the mid and late '90s that really was horrible.

Comments

[delphi]

I think the most important thing is finding a beta-reader whose input you respect and who's on the same wavelength as you.

[dreamingpixels]

I've never had a beta reader before. I wonder if there's someone out there who'd be willing to read the stuff that I come up with for the obscure fandoms I write for. (Well, one of my fandoms is obscure, anyway.)

[delphi]

I think it can be harder to strike up a beta-reading relationship these days because constructive criticism seems to be on the decline in a lot of fandoms. My own beta-readers tend to be people who I befriended while engaging in critical discussion about fic, whether my own or someone else's.

But it's worth checking out, even if it means randomly asking around in your fandoms' communities and dealing with some bad matches until you find the right one. I found my writing improved immensely when I started having my stories beta-read (and when I started beta-reading for others!). It's not just an extra set of eyes to catch stylistic errors, but it's another brain to let me explicitly know how the story comes across to someone who isn't me - and being able to discuss my writing choices in-depth with a perceptive reader has made me much more conscious of my strengths and weaknesses. It's also been helpful because the editing time forces me to take a break from the story, which allows me to reassess it with fresh eyes for a final edit instead of immediately posting something just because I'm eager to get it out there.

[tehkittykat]

I subscribe to Madeline L'Engle's advice to new writers. Read a lot, write every day, and keep a journal. XD

With fanfic, I'd also say to develop a love for all the little details of the canon, but don't be afraid to world-build to fill in the gaps and make things more well-rounded. As long as it makes sense for the canon you're working with, you can totes get away with a lot. (I know I have a half-finished Megaman X fanfic I did that with, and it's turned out great so far.. if only I can finish it.)