Library Day and Fan Fic Thinky-Thoughts
May. 7th, 2013 09:09 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
lydamorehouseRemember when I had to take my car into the shop and I spent the day at Ramsey County Library? Well, Mason was wildly jealous, and has been bugging me to give him a "library day." Today, is library day for us. Mason is off for the month on Intersession, so we're going to head out as soon as the library opens around 10 am and make a full day of it. Should be fun, I think.
...Or he'll be bored after a couple of hours, which will be fine too. It's a lovely day. It's supposed to his 78 degrees (F). If he feels like bailing, maybe I'll talk him into a walk around Como Zoo and Conservatory or a hike through Hidden Falls or something.
In other news, I had an epiphany yesterday. Not as exciting as it may sound. I'm actually fairly prone to epiphanies, and when I articulate it, you'll probably be all, "whatever. *I* knew _that_." This is why I'm prone to ephiphanies, and why no one should alert the national media when I announce I've had one. Things that are obvious to other people will suddenly hit me like a sack of bricks. Just ask my dad about Montreal. (We both felt stupid about that one!)
At any rate, here is it: writing is hard.
See, I said you'd be disappointed.
But, specifically, the thing I learned yesterday regarding the hardness of writing is that it's hard for both the writer AND THE READER.
I should say that I'm talking about original fiction here, and that by comparing fan fiction critque to to original fiction critique is how I learned this startling fact. At a fan fiction writing party I went to last Friday, I was hanging out with my fan fiction writing friends and the conversation turned to original fiction. Both myself and one of the other women there are trying to write original fiction for sale (she's sold some coloring books, I've, of course, sold novels and am trying to break back into that gig.) Anyway, we agreed that what was missing from original fiction writing was the cheerleading. She agreed to cheerlead my original fiction projects, so I posted the very rough beginning of my Deep Space Lawyer up on Google Docs for her.
If my novel start had been a peice of my fanfic, I have no doubt I would have gotten the "whoosh" of excitement as she ran off to read it.
Instead, I got crickets.
In fact, I gave up waiting for critique from her and revised it based on some things that my writers' group said about an unrelated novel start, the one that takes place on Mars (because I thought that their thoughts applied to this one as well.)
Maybe I should be annoyed or disappointed by this reaction, but instead I asked myself, why I am I so much more excited to read the lastest from my friend![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
empty_mirrors's amazing alternate universe Bleach epic, and yet I have to drag my feet through reading a submission from Wyrdsmiths? (A phenomenon so common we all jokingly refer to having "read our homework on the bus" sometimes, because, despite having these manuscripts often for TWO WHOLE WEEKS in advance, we _all_ have times when wait until the very last moment to sit down and read them and then RL conspires to make it impossible to read before the group meeting. So, sometimes I'll arrive at the coffee shop early and everyone is quickly reading the last of the handouts....)
I think this happens partly because, ultimately, original fiction is work for the READER, too. Particulary in critique, but perhaps all the time. I was also having a lovely email chat with Kyell Gold, my fellow GoH from Gaylaxicon, and we were talking about the sense a lot of science fiction fans (and pros) have of being woefully under-read in our field. This feeling sometimes causes us to sit down with a particular IMPORTANT author's work and plow through the MEANINGFUL NOVEL, like it's the biggest chore on the f*cking planet.
To be fair to Kyell, he didn't actually suggest that the book he'd read was a chore, but the discussion in general made me remember the times *I'd* done that and felt that way.
Fanfiction gets a different response, I think, because the reader knows s/he's already invested in the story and the characters. I like Renji so much, I'll pretty much try ANY story where he's a character. But I also tend to be picky. I'll try, but I'm very likely to bounce off, so when you finally meet a writer whose writing you actually like, but perhaps even ADMIRE, it's NOT a chore to read their beta-drafts, it's a F*CKING PLEASURE.
I've been known to have the same experience with original ficition, of course. There are authors whose work I'm so in love with that I rush off to buy/borrow their latest INSTANTLY and, if they asked, I would drop EVERYTHING to be their beta/critique reader. But, when a friend, even a friend whose work you know you like, asks you to read their original fiction (especially if it's NOT a continuation of a favorite story with characters you already know you like) it's a lot harder to get motivated to dig in. Perhaps, too, because original fiction has to be read in a different way and -SOMETIMES- the critique is more intense, more in-depth.... or at least it's a different kind of critique in that there are different expectations for original fiction than there are of fanfiction.
So, writing is hard for the reader too.
I think this is why it's important for me to have a group like Wyrdsmiths, who are basically beholden to read my original fiction and try to help me fix it (because I have promised to do the same for them). I wonder, too, if this is an especially painful problem for people trying to make the switch to writing original fiction after growing up/being immersed in the fanfic community? I think it could be potenetially very disheartening to get crickets if you're expecting whooshes. It would probably be very tempting to imagine that the crickets come from the fact that 'my writing is NO GOOD!' thoughts, rather than what is probably the truth--that reading original fiction is a chore, no matter how good the writing and the story.
Thoughts?
...Or he'll be bored after a couple of hours, which will be fine too. It's a lovely day. It's supposed to his 78 degrees (F). If he feels like bailing, maybe I'll talk him into a walk around Como Zoo and Conservatory or a hike through Hidden Falls or something.
In other news, I had an epiphany yesterday. Not as exciting as it may sound. I'm actually fairly prone to epiphanies, and when I articulate it, you'll probably be all, "whatever. *I* knew _that_." This is why I'm prone to ephiphanies, and why no one should alert the national media when I announce I've had one. Things that are obvious to other people will suddenly hit me like a sack of bricks. Just ask my dad about Montreal. (We both felt stupid about that one!)
At any rate, here is it: writing is hard.
See, I said you'd be disappointed.
But, specifically, the thing I learned yesterday regarding the hardness of writing is that it's hard for both the writer AND THE READER.
I should say that I'm talking about original fiction here, and that by comparing fan fiction critque to to original fiction critique is how I learned this startling fact. At a fan fiction writing party I went to last Friday, I was hanging out with my fan fiction writing friends and the conversation turned to original fiction. Both myself and one of the other women there are trying to write original fiction for sale (she's sold some coloring books, I've, of course, sold novels and am trying to break back into that gig.) Anyway, we agreed that what was missing from original fiction writing was the cheerleading. She agreed to cheerlead my original fiction projects, so I posted the very rough beginning of my Deep Space Lawyer up on Google Docs for her.
If my novel start had been a peice of my fanfic, I have no doubt I would have gotten the "whoosh" of excitement as she ran off to read it.
Instead, I got crickets.
In fact, I gave up waiting for critique from her and revised it based on some things that my writers' group said about an unrelated novel start, the one that takes place on Mars (because I thought that their thoughts applied to this one as well.)
Maybe I should be annoyed or disappointed by this reaction, but instead I asked myself, why I am I so much more excited to read the lastest from my friend
empty_mirrors's amazing alternate universe Bleach epic, and yet I have to drag my feet through reading a submission from Wyrdsmiths? (A phenomenon so common we all jokingly refer to having "read our homework on the bus" sometimes, because, despite having these manuscripts often for TWO WHOLE WEEKS in advance, we _all_ have times when wait until the very last moment to sit down and read them and then RL conspires to make it impossible to read before the group meeting. So, sometimes I'll arrive at the coffee shop early and everyone is quickly reading the last of the handouts....)I think this happens partly because, ultimately, original fiction is work for the READER, too. Particulary in critique, but perhaps all the time. I was also having a lovely email chat with Kyell Gold, my fellow GoH from Gaylaxicon, and we were talking about the sense a lot of science fiction fans (and pros) have of being woefully under-read in our field. This feeling sometimes causes us to sit down with a particular IMPORTANT author's work and plow through the MEANINGFUL NOVEL, like it's the biggest chore on the f*cking planet.
To be fair to Kyell, he didn't actually suggest that the book he'd read was a chore, but the discussion in general made me remember the times *I'd* done that and felt that way.
Fanfiction gets a different response, I think, because the reader knows s/he's already invested in the story and the characters. I like Renji so much, I'll pretty much try ANY story where he's a character. But I also tend to be picky. I'll try, but I'm very likely to bounce off, so when you finally meet a writer whose writing you actually like, but perhaps even ADMIRE, it's NOT a chore to read their beta-drafts, it's a F*CKING PLEASURE.
I've been known to have the same experience with original ficition, of course. There are authors whose work I'm so in love with that I rush off to buy/borrow their latest INSTANTLY and, if they asked, I would drop EVERYTHING to be their beta/critique reader. But, when a friend, even a friend whose work you know you like, asks you to read their original fiction (especially if it's NOT a continuation of a favorite story with characters you already know you like) it's a lot harder to get motivated to dig in. Perhaps, too, because original fiction has to be read in a different way and -SOMETIMES- the critique is more intense, more in-depth.... or at least it's a different kind of critique in that there are different expectations for original fiction than there are of fanfiction.
So, writing is hard for the reader too.
I think this is why it's important for me to have a group like Wyrdsmiths, who are basically beholden to read my original fiction and try to help me fix it (because I have promised to do the same for them). I wonder, too, if this is an especially painful problem for people trying to make the switch to writing original fiction after growing up/being immersed in the fanfic community? I think it could be potenetially very disheartening to get crickets if you're expecting whooshes. It would probably be very tempting to imagine that the crickets come from the fact that 'my writing is NO GOOD!' thoughts, rather than what is probably the truth--that reading original fiction is a chore, no matter how good the writing and the story.
Thoughts?
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
no subject
Date: 2013-05-07 02:22 pm (UTC)But I honestly don't see ANY difference between writing fanfic and writing original fic, maybe because I don't think anything I write is much more original than my fanfic. It's just me having fun. Fanfic has the advantage (and major disadvantage) of having a large established set of people who know all the background, etc.... and the major disadvantage of having no market. "Original" fiction has the disadvantage that I have to tell a reader everything up front about the world, but the advantage that the geeky fans can't argue with me about what really happens in my own world, and that I can get someone to pay me for my original stuff.
no subject
Date: 2013-05-07 02:45 pm (UTC)I've had no problem, per se, finding a market and readers for my original fiction, particularly once it was published by a major New York publisher and in stores. But, critique and beta-reading is a different animal and that's what was trying to consider in this post.
Do people RUSH to read a draft version of your work? Clearly, people don't necessarily rush to read my drafts. But, I also probably should have noted that in I have always had a steady supply of people who are committed to the craft of writing and who have critiqued all my original fiction IN PROCESS. Some writers don't do that. They let editors be their critiquers and the whole draft, revision and polished work process is "internal." Mine has always been external, and the other people in Wyrdsmiths are also all professionally published writers.... so it's not like we're handing out sub-par work. It's just interesting to me how much harder it is to get people excited by my non fan works.
I'm glad, however, if you don't have the same problem. Maybe you have better friends than I do. ;-)
no subject
Date: 2013-05-07 02:56 pm (UTC)On average, I get five to fifteen responses on each posted chapter, I would guess. Some get only one or two, others have had many discussions going on in the comments.
I don't do "drafts" in the conventional sense either; the only real re-writing I do is either very early (figuring out the right start for a hard-SF novel, for instance) or long after submission, when the editor says "you need to change X, Y, and Z" (and assuming I agree with him or her).
So it may be that my process is sufficiently different from yours that I'm not understanding what you're looking for.
no subject
Date: 2013-05-07 04:18 pm (UTC)I do do drafts in the conventional sense. Which is to say mostly on paper; I just hand out my work in process to my writers' group as a step along that way.
I do a very different thing with my fanfic, and that was waht I was discussing. So maybe I missed that you said that your process is the same. I did't get that. Sorry.
no subject
Date: 2013-05-07 04:25 pm (UTC)I actually have never done that with fanfic; I write it and post it up as I complete sections that "feel" good enough to post as complete pieces. But then, I haven't written significant fanfic since I became a pro -- if I have writing time, obviously my wife prefers I spend it on paying writing, after all. If I DID start doing fanfic, I might well post it up the same way but for a different group, since it's not commercial work.
Paper? Heh. I don't do *anything* on paper. In fact, the only printer in the house broke like 8-12 months ago and the only time I notice is when one of the kids has an assignment due. I do my submissions, my edits, my galley proofs, all electronically.
no subject
Date: 2013-05-07 02:36 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2013-05-07 02:47 pm (UTC)I STILL GET A FASTER RESPONSE from fan friend I've only just met.
That's what's interesting to me.
no subject
Date: 2013-05-07 02:50 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2013-05-07 04:19 pm (UTC)Seriously, it's a good metaphor, even if I didn't get it the first time around, and actually, I think you're absolutely right about it.
no subject
Date: 2013-05-07 04:22 pm (UTC)But I care deeply about the fictional people I've met, too, and I know them also only through writing. And it strikes me as insane and fascinating that they often seem as real to me as people I know only through the internet.
(And for writers like
At some point I gave up and started separating people into groups: "People I love whose life I can be part of," and "people I love whose life I can't be part of." And the fictional characters go in the latter, along with my dead relatives and then I think: the human heart is a strange and boundless and divine thing. And I will die without having made any sense of it at all. :)