Five Things Writing Fic Has Taught Me
Apr. 6th, 2007 08:23 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
rhienellethOw. I woke up this morning with a migraine. That hasn't happened in awhile. And I got a massage this week, which is supposed to help prevent them. Still, three advil migraine + coffee proved a potent enough combo to beat it back to levels that don't include nausea and wanting to cry from the horrific pain, thank goodness. Not an auspicious beginning to my Friday.
And what, there are people who get today off? For what, Easter? *so jealous* You would think the gov't would take every holiday they could, wouldn't you?
I'm going to break from posting about jewelry today. Mostly because the amethyst necklace I'm working on (with very big, sparkly, gorgeous lavender amethysts) is not coming together like I wanted it to yet. In fact, I have to scrap everything I did on it last night. *winces at all that silver*
I'm going to talk about writing, instead. I was talking to a friend last night, and the subject of fanfic came up - don't ask me how, it was a complete tangent in the conversation - and she said how she doesn't read fanfic, and there was something about writing it, I don't remember what, exactly, and I said "I've actually learned a lot about writing from writing fanfic", and she was very surprised, and said she thought I should post about that. So I am. :)
And what, there are people who get today off? For what, Easter? *so jealous* You would think the gov't would take every holiday they could, wouldn't you?
I'm going to break from posting about jewelry today. Mostly because the amethyst necklace I'm working on (with very big, sparkly, gorgeous lavender amethysts) is not coming together like I wanted it to yet. In fact, I have to scrap everything I did on it last night. *winces at all that silver*
I'm going to talk about writing, instead. I was talking to a friend last night, and the subject of fanfic came up - don't ask me how, it was a complete tangent in the conversation - and she said how she doesn't read fanfic, and there was something about writing it, I don't remember what, exactly, and I said "I've actually learned a lot about writing from writing fanfic", and she was very surprised, and said she thought I should post about that. So I am. :)
~ Characterization. So, characters have been something of a strength for me for some time now, even before I started writing fic. BUT, they've also improved a hundredfold since I started writing fic. See, fic is about someone else's characters, not your own. And good fic, even AU* fic, should have those characters being as true to themselves as possible. This is not as easy as it might sound. Partly because they aren't your characters - you as the writer have to know, understand, and convey the personalities and quirks of a character someone else created. On the other hand, in some ways it's easier to write them, because they're someone else's characters, and they've already done all the hard work for you - you know the character's background, personality, flaws, strengths, loves, and hates because you've seen them played out already. You don't have to create any of that - you just have to effectively portray it in stories.
(I'll use Alias for my examples - that's where most of my fic writing has been, anyway.) If you're writing a fic about Jack, and in your story Jack is all soft and emotional and hugging everyone all the time, you are not staying true to his character. That's not Jack, that's some character you've created and slapped Jack's name onto. Even if you're writing an AU story that has Jack as an astronaut instead of a hard-ass super-spy, Jack should then be a tough-as-nails, hard-ass astronaut. (Unless you're writing a "what if...?" kind of story, where you're intentionally writing Jack with different background and personality - but then again, he's not Jack anymore, and at that point you're writing original stuff and just using Jack's name and physical appearance.)
There are some exceptions to this. For instance, I know the show sometimes portrayed Sark as kind of, well, weak on occasion. In a 'please don't hurt me' way. I felt this was an injustice to his character and a flaw in the writing of it, so in my fic, Sark was never portrayed that way, and I gave him different weaknesses that were, IMO, truer to the badass assassin he was supposed to be. I could go on defending my position here, but that's not what this post is about - the point is, I made thought out, intentional and minor changes in character between my fic and the show. I did the same thing with Sydney. Anyone who's ever watched Alias got tired of seeing the uber-spy cry in every single episode. I was no exception. She doesn't cry all the time in my fic, because I just don't think someone who's been through everything Syd has would cry all the damn time. Sometimes we write fic to fix the things we see as flawed in how our beloved characters are being written/portrayed.
My point is, by writing fic about very established characters someone else created, it stretched my characterization muscles. I had to find Sark's "voice" based on what I'd seen on the show. I had to write his dialogue the same way, and Syd's. This is no different from what we writers do with our own characters, it's just stretching a different muscle by doing it with someone else's. There isn't a doubt in my mind that my characterization improves every time I write fic.
~ Writing effective sex scenes - yes, fic taught me this, 100%. This isn't something like characterization that I already had a handle on and improved by writing fic. Anyone who's ever perused more mature fanfic to any extent knows that there are definitely good ways and bad ways to write sex. Heck, anyone who's read a selection of romance novels knows the same thing. I would never have written a detailed sex scene with my own characters before I tried it in fic. In my current WIP, I have three very graphic, detailed scenes of this nature, that actually progress the story forward and are in the book for a reason, and they wouldn't be if I had never written Illusions, or any of the fics that followed. I'm still learning how to write sex, but I feel confident enough in my ability to do so, now, to include it in my original work. Fic taught me not just the language to use, the structure of writing sex, it also taught me how to make it representative of the characters. How Sydney and Vaughn have sex is very different from how Sydney and Sark have sex. Like everything else, it has to be in character. Fic taught me how to do that.
~ New genres/settings/trying new things. Before writing fic, I was strictly a writer of traditional, high, or epic fantasy. Swords and magic and prophecies, and that sort of stuff. Sometimes I ventured into the occasional light SF, but no further. Writing Illusions, though, forced me to try something new - the spy genre, set in our own world. I had to do research to choose which hotel Sydney would be staying at in Rome, and if she could see the Parthanon from her room. I had to choose which Piazza Sark would kill two men at, and find ways to translate English phrases into Italian. I had to research weapons for both characters, and thus chose a SIG as Sark's weapon of choice. He carries the same model in all my fic, a point of continuity I did purposely. Each new fic required more research for setting, vehicles, etc. Writing them broadened my range as a writer, and forced me to try new things. And as any artist knows, trying new things expands your skill, stretches your proverbial muscles in new directions. Writing crossover fic is another example of this - how would character A from this show act with character X from this other show? Writing that scene and keeping them in character and figuring out how they met and why is all a good writing exercise. I am not a fan of slash, but I've pondered writing it before, simply because it's not my thing, and therefore writing it effectively would be a challenge to my writing skills. Writing fic challenges your boundaries, makes you try new things, and takes you in directions you wouldn't have thought of on your own.
~ Which brings me to description, and getting the details right. It's a lot different describing things that exist here, in our world, or that you see every week on your television (if you're writing, say, SGA fic), than it is describing stuff you've made up. It shouldn't be. You should be able to describe that castle your MC lives in as if you live in it yourself, but often new writers don't. Or if they do, they over-describe. Writing fic can teach you how to describe things effectively, how much detail to use, and damn it, to get the details right. If you're describing the Vatican in Rome, and three people reading your fic have actually been to the Vatican, you better get the details right, or you can bet they'll let you know. Often as writers, only a limited range of people read what we've written unless/until we get published. Their feedback is only based on their experiences. In fic, you have a much wider audience, and the greater the chance that someone will actually know about whatever you're describing, and believe me, they will tell you if you get it wrong. There's also this tendency in fic to not describe things, because why would you describe Atlantis in an SGA fic? Everyone reading knows what it looks like already. Yes, this is true, but everyone knows what the Death Star looks like, too, yet authors who write Star Wars novels still describe it if the characters see it. That's called good writing - you're writing from your character's perspective, not yours, or your readers'. In SGA, Elizabeth knows what Atlantis looks like, but maybe seeing it as she comes back from a trip to the mainland still takes her breath away, every single time. Writing fic can teach you how to add those little descriptive things in.
~ Feedback. All right, every fic writer out there loves feedback. That's one of the perks of the job, after all. Writing is hard. Being a good writer takes a lot of work, and unlike, say, a painter, we don't get instant feedback on our finished product. People have to take the time to read it, first, and it can be harder than not to get that from them. Even from our own mothers, sometimes. The advantage of fic is, you write a story, you post it, and within an hour twenty people have read it, oftentimes more. Out of those twenty, maybe only ten leave actual feedback, or even five. But that's still five people - who probably aren't related to you - giving you feedback on your work. Now, sometimes it's as simple as "OMG, I loved this, this was so hot!" or words to that effect. But sometimes it's more - and believe me, if you ask for concrit**, you'll get it. People don't have to like your fic because they're your mother or best friend, and you get the benefit of a wide ranging audience. Some are readers, some are fellow writers, some are even editors. You never know who's in cyberspace folks, reading fic. There are two people who edit on my f-list that I know of, and lots of pro writers. Not all of them read fic, but some do. Writing fic can be kind of like belonging to one big writers group without the pressure of "we meet the first Monday of every month", when Mondays don't always work for you.
I'm sure there are other things writing fic has taught me, beyond keeping my hand in when I'm not working on a WIP of my own. But for the moment, this list is getting long, and I'm sure you all have things writing fic has taught you about writing - leave a comment, add to the list.
* AU - alternate universe
** concrit - constructive criticism
(I'll use Alias for my examples - that's where most of my fic writing has been, anyway.) If you're writing a fic about Jack, and in your story Jack is all soft and emotional and hugging everyone all the time, you are not staying true to his character. That's not Jack, that's some character you've created and slapped Jack's name onto. Even if you're writing an AU story that has Jack as an astronaut instead of a hard-ass super-spy, Jack should then be a tough-as-nails, hard-ass astronaut. (Unless you're writing a "what if...?" kind of story, where you're intentionally writing Jack with different background and personality - but then again, he's not Jack anymore, and at that point you're writing original stuff and just using Jack's name and physical appearance.)
There are some exceptions to this. For instance, I know the show sometimes portrayed Sark as kind of, well, weak on occasion. In a 'please don't hurt me' way. I felt this was an injustice to his character and a flaw in the writing of it, so in my fic, Sark was never portrayed that way, and I gave him different weaknesses that were, IMO, truer to the badass assassin he was supposed to be. I could go on defending my position here, but that's not what this post is about - the point is, I made thought out, intentional and minor changes in character between my fic and the show. I did the same thing with Sydney. Anyone who's ever watched Alias got tired of seeing the uber-spy cry in every single episode. I was no exception. She doesn't cry all the time in my fic, because I just don't think someone who's been through everything Syd has would cry all the damn time. Sometimes we write fic to fix the things we see as flawed in how our beloved characters are being written/portrayed.
My point is, by writing fic about very established characters someone else created, it stretched my characterization muscles. I had to find Sark's "voice" based on what I'd seen on the show. I had to write his dialogue the same way, and Syd's. This is no different from what we writers do with our own characters, it's just stretching a different muscle by doing it with someone else's. There isn't a doubt in my mind that my characterization improves every time I write fic.
~ Writing effective sex scenes - yes, fic taught me this, 100%. This isn't something like characterization that I already had a handle on and improved by writing fic. Anyone who's ever perused more mature fanfic to any extent knows that there are definitely good ways and bad ways to write sex. Heck, anyone who's read a selection of romance novels knows the same thing. I would never have written a detailed sex scene with my own characters before I tried it in fic. In my current WIP, I have three very graphic, detailed scenes of this nature, that actually progress the story forward and are in the book for a reason, and they wouldn't be if I had never written Illusions, or any of the fics that followed. I'm still learning how to write sex, but I feel confident enough in my ability to do so, now, to include it in my original work. Fic taught me not just the language to use, the structure of writing sex, it also taught me how to make it representative of the characters. How Sydney and Vaughn have sex is very different from how Sydney and Sark have sex. Like everything else, it has to be in character. Fic taught me how to do that.
~ New genres/settings/trying new things. Before writing fic, I was strictly a writer of traditional, high, or epic fantasy. Swords and magic and prophecies, and that sort of stuff. Sometimes I ventured into the occasional light SF, but no further. Writing Illusions, though, forced me to try something new - the spy genre, set in our own world. I had to do research to choose which hotel Sydney would be staying at in Rome, and if she could see the Parthanon from her room. I had to choose which Piazza Sark would kill two men at, and find ways to translate English phrases into Italian. I had to research weapons for both characters, and thus chose a SIG as Sark's weapon of choice. He carries the same model in all my fic, a point of continuity I did purposely. Each new fic required more research for setting, vehicles, etc. Writing them broadened my range as a writer, and forced me to try new things. And as any artist knows, trying new things expands your skill, stretches your proverbial muscles in new directions. Writing crossover fic is another example of this - how would character A from this show act with character X from this other show? Writing that scene and keeping them in character and figuring out how they met and why is all a good writing exercise. I am not a fan of slash, but I've pondered writing it before, simply because it's not my thing, and therefore writing it effectively would be a challenge to my writing skills. Writing fic challenges your boundaries, makes you try new things, and takes you in directions you wouldn't have thought of on your own.
~ Which brings me to description, and getting the details right. It's a lot different describing things that exist here, in our world, or that you see every week on your television (if you're writing, say, SGA fic), than it is describing stuff you've made up. It shouldn't be. You should be able to describe that castle your MC lives in as if you live in it yourself, but often new writers don't. Or if they do, they over-describe. Writing fic can teach you how to describe things effectively, how much detail to use, and damn it, to get the details right. If you're describing the Vatican in Rome, and three people reading your fic have actually been to the Vatican, you better get the details right, or you can bet they'll let you know. Often as writers, only a limited range of people read what we've written unless/until we get published. Their feedback is only based on their experiences. In fic, you have a much wider audience, and the greater the chance that someone will actually know about whatever you're describing, and believe me, they will tell you if you get it wrong. There's also this tendency in fic to not describe things, because why would you describe Atlantis in an SGA fic? Everyone reading knows what it looks like already. Yes, this is true, but everyone knows what the Death Star looks like, too, yet authors who write Star Wars novels still describe it if the characters see it. That's called good writing - you're writing from your character's perspective, not yours, or your readers'. In SGA, Elizabeth knows what Atlantis looks like, but maybe seeing it as she comes back from a trip to the mainland still takes her breath away, every single time. Writing fic can teach you how to add those little descriptive things in.
~ Feedback. All right, every fic writer out there loves feedback. That's one of the perks of the job, after all. Writing is hard. Being a good writer takes a lot of work, and unlike, say, a painter, we don't get instant feedback on our finished product. People have to take the time to read it, first, and it can be harder than not to get that from them. Even from our own mothers, sometimes. The advantage of fic is, you write a story, you post it, and within an hour twenty people have read it, oftentimes more. Out of those twenty, maybe only ten leave actual feedback, or even five. But that's still five people - who probably aren't related to you - giving you feedback on your work. Now, sometimes it's as simple as "OMG, I loved this, this was so hot!" or words to that effect. But sometimes it's more - and believe me, if you ask for concrit**, you'll get it. People don't have to like your fic because they're your mother or best friend, and you get the benefit of a wide ranging audience. Some are readers, some are fellow writers, some are even editors. You never know who's in cyberspace folks, reading fic. There are two people who edit on my f-list that I know of, and lots of pro writers. Not all of them read fic, but some do. Writing fic can be kind of like belonging to one big writers group without the pressure of "we meet the first Monday of every month", when Mondays don't always work for you.
I'm sure there are other things writing fic has taught me, beyond keeping my hand in when I'm not working on a WIP of my own. But for the moment, this list is getting long, and I'm sure you all have things writing fic has taught you about writing - leave a comment, add to the list.
* AU - alternate universe
** concrit - constructive criticism
