Fanfic Writers' Virtual Water Cooler

[selene0789]

Ho boy. Here we go, people. I'm making good on my desire to learn more about writing. Today I'm taking a six hour class on screenwriting. It's an intro course, which I hope actually means intro, because I've been interested in developing something, but didn't even know where to start.

I think it's going to be worth it, but even if it's a complete bust, I still feel amazingly awesome for making the effort and putting in the time to do *something* about realizing a dream... I've been listless for far too long. This whole "having a goal" thing is much more my style.

On another note, I've been checking out SavvyAuthors (thanks, WhyteWitch!). And I have to say, just looking at it has my mind spinning back to my ever-so-WIP of original fiction. So I guess the key to being inspired is to be surrounded by like-minded individuals. Hang out with original fiction writers and you'll write original fiction. Hang out with fanfic writers, and you'll write fanfic.

Now, to find the balance between the two... because let's face it, I can't give fanfic up just yet.

P.S. My original fiction idea is so incredibly daunting. Characters that are all my own and a plot that is constrained only by my imagination and my ability to logically present it... Holy crap.

But I think I'm up to the challenge. Finally.

[Seaboe Muffinchucker]

My original fiction idea is so incredibly daunting. Characters that are all my own and a plot that is constrained only by my imagination and my ability to logically present it... Holy crap.

I think that's really funny, for two reasons. I think it's a lot tougher to present someone else's characters in a recognizable manner, and even in fanfiction, your plot is constrained only by your imagination and ability to present it. The former is why I don't write fanfic and the latter is why I don't have a great deal of luck selling my stories.



Seaboe

[Gatefan1976]

Something you folks wanting to "branch out" into non-fanfic may consider doing is finding some pen and paper RPG adventures and have a look at the way they are structured. That way you can have a "premade scenario" to work within, yet have the freedom to design your own characters to work within that senario.

It may prove helpful

[The Flyattractor]

RPG??? Aint that what nerds do?

[Princess Awinita]

As far as I'm aware there's no such thing as betas outside of the world of fanfiction. You might be confusing beta with proofreader, (peer) reviewer or editor, who are usually the ones that check out written stories, articles, essays etc in the real world.

That may be my view yes, but I am not entirely sure. Loona-Cry lives in Down Under, and has written both original works and fanfics {loves to read them too!} and has also betaed for both fanfics, original works and essays, the l ast to give advice mostly I think. She's awesome, loves my stuff too!

[Princess Awinita]

Something you folks wanting to "branch out" into non-fanfic may consider doing is finding some pen and paper RPG adventures and have a look at the way they are structured. That way you can have a "premade scenario" to work within, yet have the freedom to design your own characters to work within that senario.

It may prove helpful

I do that with all my stories, its how I use structured time and narrative timein my stories to write action scenes. It is actually very helpful online play by post roleplaying is indeed fun and helpful

[SF_and_Coffee]

As far as I'm aware there's no such thing as betas outside of the world of fanfiction. You might be confusing beta with proofreader, (peer) reviewer or editor, who are usually the ones that check out written stories, articles, essays etc in the real world.

Au contraire. Many authors of original fiction use beta readers. In fact, the term originated in original fiction and spread to fanfiction from there. Beta readers in original fiction are the intermediate step between the author and his or her editor. An author will give either a finished work or a work-in-progress to a trusted beta reader (generally someone with whom the author has developed a good working relationship) to look over before it goes to an editor.

[SF_and_Coffee]

I was told by a beta who beta's essays what a beta reader is to do and only do. I trust her knowledge, not bashing mind you.

Unfortunately, she's wrong. A beta reader is NOT merely a proofreader, at least not in fiction. In essays, it may be different, especially if you're talking about essays for university classes and whatnot. For fiction, however, a beta's job is exactly as I described it. I've only been writing original fiction for about 35 years, so I'd at least like to think I know what I'm talking about. The source for my knowledge in this matter is my own experience, and what I know from years and years of association with successful published authors of fiction.

[fems]

I was actually more referring to articles and the aforementioned essays, so perhaps I shouldn't have included the 'stories'. I used the term fanfiction because I didn't want to use writing (since everything is writing, not just books/stories/fanfics) and thereby made this mistake.

Thank you for correcting me SF_and_Coffee.

[SF_and_Coffee]

Something you folks wanting to "branch out" into non-fanfic may consider doing is finding some pen and paper RPG adventures and have a look at the way they are structured. That way you can have a "premade scenario" to work within, yet have the freedom to design your own characters to work within that senario.

It may prove helpful

I have to confess that I really don't see the value in this. RPGs are great; don't get me wrong. I've played my share of them, going way back to the early Eighties when I played D&D -- the whole 20-sided dice, pencil and paper, roll for character attributes, how-many-hit-points-do-I-have-left type of thing. But I've never once found that anything in an RPG related to my writing of fiction. What's the point of a "premade scenario" when you can just figure out what you want the characters to do in any situation and write them doing it?

[SF_and_Coffee]

I was actually more referring to articles and the aforementioned essays, so perhaps I shouldn't have included the 'stories'. I used the term fanfiction because I didn't want to use writing (since everything is writing, not just books/stories/fanfics) and thereby made this mistake.

Thank you for correcting me SF_and_Coffee.

Ah, sorry if I came off as a bit strident in that. Essays and articles are kind of a different animal from fiction, so yes, the method is different there.

[Princess Awinita]

Unfortunately, she's wrong. A beta reader is NOT merely a proofreader, at least not in fiction. In essays, it may be different, especially if you're talking about essays for university classes and whatnot. For fiction, however, a beta's job is exactly as I described it. I've only been writing original fiction for about 35 years, so I'd at least like to think I know what I'm talking about. The source for my knowledge in this matter is my own experience, and what I know from years and years of association with successful published authors of fiction.

Not bashing anyone here, but a beta reader is not given the right to reset the story, and is only to give advice, and correct spelling. resetting the story is a major no no. a beta did that to me, and since then I have not used one due to that experiance.

[Princess Awinita]

I have to confess that I really don't see the value in this. RPGs are great; don't get me wrong. I've played my share of them, going way back to the early Eighties when I played D&D -- the whole 20-sided dice, pencil and paper, roll for character attributes, how-many-hit-points-do-I-have-left type of thing. But I've never once found that anything in an RPG related to my writing of fiction. What's the point of a "premade scenario" when you can just figure out what you want the characters to do in any situation and write them doing it?

It is actually quite useful to plan out big action scenes within a piece of writing, sometimes when figuring out the time in such a scene, a roleplaying game approach is best because it gives several angles to choose from, and also a preset order for all the characters involoved in the scene {for example a 1vs1 fist fight could have turns between the two fighters, and if they're joined by another fighter or two the order is then reset sligthtly so each fighter in the fight gets a turn to take their action in the action scene as a whole}

So yes, using a RPG appraoch to action in stories is very helpful.

[SF_and_Coffee]

Not bashing anyone here, but a beta reader is not given the right to reset the story,

Before we go any further on this, maybe you should explain exactly what you mean by "reset the story". At this point I'm not at all sure what you're talking about when you say that. Please elaborate so that we'll both know whether we're even discussing the same thing.

But no, in original fiction writing (non-fanfic) and also in fanfic, a beta reader is NOT just a proofreader for spelling and grammar, and most authors don't try to use them only for that.

It is actually quite useful to plan out big action scenes within a piece of writing, sometimes when figuring out the time in such a scene, a roleplaying game approach is best because it gives several angles to choose from, and also a preset order for all the characters involoved in the scene {for example a 1vs1 fist fight could have turns between the two fighters, and if they're joined by another fighter or two the order is then reset sligthtly so each fighter in the fight gets a turn to take their action in the action scene as a whole}

So yes, using a RPG appraoch to action in stories is very helpful.

I prefer to decide what I want to have happen and then just write it that way. I could play it out as an RPG and get something very different from what I want to have happen, maybe the wrong side even would win all on the random chance of the dice, and then it wouldn't work in my story.

[fems]

It is actually quite useful to plan out big action scenes within a piece of writing, sometimes when figuring out the time in such a scene, a roleplaying game approach is best because it gives several angles to choose from, and also a preset order for all the characters involoved in the scene {for example a 1vs1 fist fight could have turns between the two fighters, and if they're joined by another fighter or two the order is then reset sligthtly so each fighter in the fight gets a turn to take their action in the action scene as a whole}

So yes, using a RPG appraoch to action in stories is very helpful.

I still don't understand how this would be helpful to me. When there's going to be a fight (or whatever situation you could use this method for) I obviously already know who is going to participate in it, since I am the one who thought of it. Then I just picture how it goes in my head and write it out.