shuufleur93 | Snowflake Challenge 2017: Day 15

Masterpost | Day 15

In your own space, write a love letter to Fandom in general, to a particular fandom, to a trope, a relationship, a character, or to your flist/circle/followers. Share you love and squee as loud as you want to. Leave a comment in this post saying you did it. Include a link to your post if you feel comfortable doing so

Dear new fanfic writers,

As Chuck Shurley wisely said, "Writing is hard."

It’s hard, fanfiction is especially hard since you’re only borrowing characters that you don’t own. Canon can be a difficult thing to imitate: characters have unique voices. In a way, we, fanfiction writers, are trying to be in the character’s shoes. We need to understand them in order to write them. That’s why some characters are easier to write for some while others are harder. On a subconscious level, we somehow recognised ourselves in them and for various reasons.

First fanfics are always scary.

I understand the struggles, the insecurity. It's tough putting ourselves out there. It's even tougher to read and accept criticism. Especially about something we took time to create. We spent hours thinking, writing, rewriting, editing for free, because we love it. There’s always a part of us there.

Don’t get discouraged by criticism. Recognise constructed criticism. Accept and use it to improve, but don’t let them tell you what to write and how to write it.

Find people to help you improve. Find the right fandom to start, some are more forgiving than others. Find your rhythm, your style.

It’s ok to imitate, it’s ok to write on the same ideas, it’s ok to get inspired by other works (fanwork or otherwise). Be impartial with your work to recognise the qualities and the flaws.

Do your thing and you’ll be fine.

You’re a writer as soon as you start writing. To improve, you need to read and write. That’s all. There’s nothing else.

I was 15 when I started writing fanfiction in 2007. It has almost been 10 years since I started writing fanfics.

It must seem short for some, long for others. It doesn’t feel that long to me, and I’m always surprised when I realise it has been that long.

Last piece of advice: enjoy yourself.