fandomsecrets | [ SECRET POST #3180 ]

[ SECRET POST #3180 ]

⌈ Secret Post #3180 ⌋

Warning: Some secrets are NOT worksafe and may contain SPOILERS.

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09. [WARNING for rape]

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10. [WARNING for rape]

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11. [WARNING for domestic violence/abuse]

[The Musketeers]

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12. [WARNING for rape]

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13. [WARNING for rape]

[Babylon 5]

Notes:

Secrets Left to Post: 00 pages, 000 secrets from Secret Submission Post #454.
Secrets Not Posted: [ 0 - broken links ], [ 1 - not!secrets ], [ 0 - not!fandom ], [ 0 - too big ], [ 0 - repeat ].
Current Secret Submissions Post: here.
Suggestions, comments, and concerns should go here.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Just curious. Anything regarding dealing with criticism, dealing with difficult people, writing advice, whatever.

Don't take it seriously.

If you must take it somewhat seriously, take it more seriously than your fans and less seriously than your critics.

I think the two things I would have like to hear is:

1. Put your stuff out there even if you don't think it is good. I've gotten some really positive feedback on stuff I've put up and getting that feedback has made me want to write more and has improved my writing. I never feel like my stuff is very good, but there are people who like it.

2. Write what you enjoy writing. Don't feel like you have to write something just because people want it or because you think you should be writing other things. And there will be pairings and fandoms you love but can't write for and that is okay. Write what you enjoy. If it isn't fun there isn't any point in doing it. This is supposed to be a hobby, it isn't your job. Don't spend your free time doing something you don't like.

Don't take the words of one single person as gospel.

So when I was a younger writer, I held everyone who I thought was better or more experienced on a pedestal. I had this story idea, that required knowledge about Victorian England and a gender role swap sort of thing. So I asked someone in a roleplay I was in for help. they gave me a bunch of useful tidbits and then when asked I told them about my idea. When I told them about it they told me very firmly that my plot was bad and I should write something different.

According to them an original temporal-fish-out-of-water story with a (somewhat explained) magical plot was exactly the same as dropping self inserts into an established canon through a plot hole, and I needed to totally scrap it. They convinced me to write something that was completely different, that I ended up losing inspiration for and leaving to sit for a while.

Years later I looked back on it and the memories came back. I was annoyed at them for twisting my arm into changing nearly everything in my story. But mostly I was mad at myself for letting them.

Edited 2015-09-18 23:46 (UTC)

Don't read comments, and just keep going.

The reality of the internet is that a lot of the time people reading your fic are going to be very young or might not have a good grasp of English. You will get comments about things from people that are completely nonsensical or have entirely missed the point. Sometimes comments will be glowing, but rarely will they have anything useful to say.

I stopped reading and replying to comments on my fic ages ago and I wish I had done it a lot sooner.

Just have fun. When you start getting wound up in worrying about things like reviews, and overthink your writing quality, your muses will disappear. I wrote at an insane speed, popping out fics left and right, when I started my first major fandom. I was a pretty good writer, too, at least for a fanfic writer - not that the writing wasn't sloppy at times or didn't have typos, but my writing was mostly coherent and I could carry a story. I ended up getting really popular right away, which was awesome. One-shots would get like ten, twenty reviews a day after posting. My WIPs got more than that yet, and someone even made fanart of one of my stories, and people asked to translate my fics and such. I didn't know the term at the time but I suppose I became a "big name fan" and ended up befriending some other fanfic writers. They made me start actually noticing things like word count, etc. I'd never paid attention before, and my chapters/one-shots were always long, like between 6,000 and 12,000 words each. But as the honeymoon wore off and began to think more technically about my writing, as well as having friends who would make me alert to things I hadn't even thought about before, I began to stare at blank pages. I began to obsessively look at word counts. I stopped taking each and every review to heart because there were so many, and I didn't know what to glean from them. I wanted to be a better writer, but I went too far in the opposite direction - it became more about technical things than about the love for my fandom. And even as my "writing" improved, I think my stories overall worsened.

So I guess what I'm trying to say is, it's great to want to improve your writing and fanfic is a great tool for that. But fanfic is also great because you don't have to be the best. You don't have to fight with publishers or freak out about rejections. Your fics are already accepted, and if there's any fandom at all, someone's going to read it. Now I write professionally, but fanfic is one of those things you can just relax and have fun with. Don't overthink it. Find whatever balance you can, but don't lose that love and inspiration for the fandom because you're too busy worrying about how many reviews you're getting.

Uh, just chill and have fun with it. Really, this is fic, nothing serious. Don't get too overwhelmed with it.

Criticism was more something I learned in school since one of my bachelors is in writing. We had a lot of it. When receiving I learned to smile, thank them for taking the time to critique, and save it for later to really work over it. Look at the critique again when you can, compare it to critique you received from other people, your vision of the work, and what you want. If it feels right, do it. If it doesn't, don't.

The whole thing about critique is that it's like advice. You can take it or leave it.

However, critique isn't flaming. If someone starts attacking you or their "critique" doesn't give you any idea on what exactly is wrong with your writing it's either very, very vague or a flame. If it's vague, ask for clarification. If it's a flame, delete/ignore.

It's come to the point now that I love critique and I've had some very harsh things said about my work. I loved that because it made me better. But yeah, it's a process. You just learn to work on it.

* Learn to accept concrit graciously, even if you don't agree. If you want to improve as a writer, you'll need to be able to hear other peoples' feedback on your work without losing your shit or going off in a corner and crying. It's one thing if people get nasty and say personal, uncalled for things. But a criticism of your actual writing is something you should consider carefully, even if you ultimately decide not to follow the advice.

* Get a good beta. Not just someone who proofreads your work for spelling and grammar errors, because that's the absolute minimum of what betas do. Find someone who can do a thorough read of your work and give you constructive criticism. When you find a good beta, be nice, listen to what they say without losing your temper and remember that it's really, really hard to find a beta who can do all this for you.

* Don't respond to negative reviews if you're going to get upset. Just don't. Even if you're in the right and the reviewer is a jerk, the resulting drama is rarely worth it.

* Don't worry about cliches, tropes and what other people in fandom do or don't do. Write what you like and try to make it as good as you can. That's more important than including the "right" pairings or tropes.

* Learn how to write a decent summary. A good summary should not only give readers an idea of what your fic is about, it should also be interesting enough to make people want to read it. That's hard to do, but if you can learn how to do this it's a very good skill to have.

* Don't get a big head. In some fandoms, it's not that hard to became a well known writer. You may get gushing comments from adoring readers who assure you that you're a genius. You're not! And that's okay. Don't get too big for your britches no matter how good you think you or anyone else thinks you are.

* Some people say never to take fanfic seriously, but I don't agree. Take it as seriously as you want to, but remember that you can't insist that other people take it as seriously as you do.

Have fun with it. It's okay to approach even the writing of fanfic as SRS BSNSS, but if it stops being fun, then it's time to take a step back and ask yourself why you're doing this in the first place. Is it to be a better writer? Is it a social outlet to communicate with your fellow fans? Can your goal be accomplished without the sadness and drama? (It totally can.)

Write more of it. If you get half-way decent you can file the serial numbers off and sell it online as original fic.

COMPLETELY missing the point of fanfic.

Except that there is no universal "point of fanfic". Some people write it for fun, with no intention of improving as a writer or publication. But not everyone feels exactly the same way. Some people write it for fun, but would have no problems with filing the serial numbers off and publishing it if the opportunity presents itself.

You aren't the arbitrator of How People Should Fanfic.

Are you our new internet overlord come to tell me I'm doing fandom wrong?

"You are so full of shit. Put more thought into your plot points instead of just phoning it in. Research stuff you don't know instead of playing it safe all the time, and above all, read more."

Well, probably a little less harsh than that, but a little spanking might have gotten my attention, or confirmed what I was fearing about myself.

This is excellent advice in general. I wince every time I see someone make a mistake that could've been avoided by a quick Google. That's always a tell-tale sign for me that if an author doesn't care enough to get basic details right, they're probably not going to put much effort into anything else, either.

You don't actually need to put a sex scene in every chapter.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

[ SECRET POST #3180 ]

What kind of advice about fanfic do you wish you had gotten when you started out?

Re: What kind of advice about fanfic do you wish you had gotten when you started out?

Re: What kind of advice about fanfic do you wish you had gotten when you started out?

Re: What kind of advice about fanfic do you wish you had gotten when you started out?

Re: What kind of advice about fanfic do you wish you had gotten when you started out?

Re: What kind of advice about fanfic do you wish you had gotten when you started out?

Re: What kind of advice about fanfic do you wish you had gotten when you started out?

Re: What kind of advice about fanfic do you wish you had gotten when you started out?

Re: What kind of advice about fanfic do you wish you had gotten when you started out?

Re: What kind of advice about fanfic do you wish you had gotten when you started out?

Re: What kind of advice about fanfic do you wish you had gotten when you started out?

Re: What kind of advice about fanfic do you wish you had gotten when you started out?

Re: What kind of advice about fanfic do you wish you had gotten when you started out?

Re: What kind of advice about fanfic do you wish you had gotten when you started out?

Re: What kind of advice about fanfic do you wish you had gotten when you started out?