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This is why I should not readddddd
Dec. 14th, 2009 11:42 pmOkay, I know there are a lot of people in the writing community who are like "Ew fanfiction", and I know there are some that are like, "Well, I think it goes a long way toward getting people actually writing, which is how people get better and everything," and I know there are some other people who started in fandom and have since been published and still hang around in fandom and write fic and do perfectly well. I'm not sure any of that is the point, though, because there is one thing I have noticed fandom does so much better than any other writing community I've been a part of: giving writing advice.
Most of the writing advice I read other people (that isn't for academic papers why do they all want me to read about academic papers stop telling me to read these thingsssss) give is pretty...well, sometimes it's helpful. But a lot of it is repetitive, and a lot of it is all over the place, and a whole bunch of it is totally subjective and not terribly productive. In fandom, they cut straight to the point. Lots of fandoms are really good at giving criticism, and lots of them are really good at giving specific, helpful feedback, but fandom in general really shines at telling people what is and is not good writing.
Like this post here. Some of it is very fic-specific, but other stuff is really the sort of thing that any writer ought to be told straight away, and I honestly do not see addressed in places like Writer's Digest. Maybe it's supposed to be so obvious that everyone should know it already, but it clearly is not. And sometimes, saying it straightforwardly with a few swears is better than saying it all politely, because really, most people pay more attention to something that sounds interesting. Fact of life.
/rambly
Most of the writing advice I read other people (that isn't for academic papers why do they all want me to read about academic papers stop telling me to read these thingsssss) give is pretty...well, sometimes it's helpful. But a lot of it is repetitive, and a lot of it is all over the place, and a whole bunch of it is totally subjective and not terribly productive. In fandom, they cut straight to the point. Lots of fandoms are really good at giving criticism, and lots of them are really good at giving specific, helpful feedback, but fandom in general really shines at telling people what is and is not good writing.
Like this post here. Some of it is very fic-specific, but other stuff is really the sort of thing that any writer ought to be told straight away, and I honestly do not see addressed in places like Writer's Digest. Maybe it's supposed to be so obvious that everyone should know it already, but it clearly is not. And sometimes, saying it straightforwardly with a few swears is better than saying it all politely, because really, most people pay more attention to something that sounds interesting. Fact of life.
/rambly
