Question meme: Writing in a new fandom
Jan. 21st, 2014 09:58 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
pauraque_bkYeah, this was the daily posting meme from last month. I'm... not very good at this.
Anyway,hannelore asked: What advice would you give someone who wants to write in a fandom that they've never written in before?
Well, the first bit of advice I'd give is the same advice that's been given about internet communities since they've existed: Lurk first.
Fandoms can have surprisingly divergent cultural norms. What kind of header information is standard in your new fandom? What are the expectations about giving and responding to feedback? Which characters and tropes are loved, hated, or controversial? You don't have to write only what readers want to hear, but if what you plan to write is not what everyone else is writing, you might want to know that going in so you're not surprised by the reaction.
My other advice would be the flip side of that: Hang onto what makes your perspective unique. In well-established fandoms there is a tendency for people's viewpoints to converge over time, which is a natural process in any social group; we talk to each other and consider each other's opinions, and that's how those fandom norms take shape. This is not in itself a bad thing (and it's unavoidable, anyway) but sometimes it can lead writers to try too hard to adhere to what they see as the norm, with the result being a lot of stories that all sound the same.
When I first got started in fandom, for a while I would refuse to read fics with the same characters or themes as what I was working on, because I didn't want to be influenced by other writers' interpretations. Now I see this as the extremism of a much younger me. As a writer, you really need to read what your peers are producing. No piece of writing exists in a vacuum, and you can be sure it won't be read in one. Your stories can be both part of the growing body of work that the fandom creates, and an expression of your own voice. It's just a matter of being aware of your influences, and being intentional about using them or discarding them.
No fic is an island, I guess, is the short version.
This entry was originally posted at http://pauraque.dreamwidth.org/42554.html. Comment here or there.
Anyway,
hannelore asked: What advice would you give someone who wants to write in a fandom that they've never written in before?Well, the first bit of advice I'd give is the same advice that's been given about internet communities since they've existed: Lurk first.
Fandoms can have surprisingly divergent cultural norms. What kind of header information is standard in your new fandom? What are the expectations about giving and responding to feedback? Which characters and tropes are loved, hated, or controversial? You don't have to write only what readers want to hear, but if what you plan to write is not what everyone else is writing, you might want to know that going in so you're not surprised by the reaction.
My other advice would be the flip side of that: Hang onto what makes your perspective unique. In well-established fandoms there is a tendency for people's viewpoints to converge over time, which is a natural process in any social group; we talk to each other and consider each other's opinions, and that's how those fandom norms take shape. This is not in itself a bad thing (and it's unavoidable, anyway) but sometimes it can lead writers to try too hard to adhere to what they see as the norm, with the result being a lot of stories that all sound the same.
When I first got started in fandom, for a while I would refuse to read fics with the same characters or themes as what I was working on, because I didn't want to be influenced by other writers' interpretations. Now I see this as the extremism of a much younger me. As a writer, you really need to read what your peers are producing. No piece of writing exists in a vacuum, and you can be sure it won't be read in one. Your stories can be both part of the growing body of work that the fandom creates, and an expression of your own voice. It's just a matter of being aware of your influences, and being intentional about using them or discarding them.
No fic is an island, I guess, is the short version.
This entry was originally posted at http://pauraque.dreamwidth.org/42554.html. Comment here or there.
