I thought the training wheels comment was bound to get him in trouble, but the thing is, in the context of what he was saying it was exactly right. If somebody asked me how I thought fanfic could prepare you for being an original writer I think I'd have to say much the same thing based on my experience: it's great because it's writing, but doesn't include everything you need in OF. So if somebody says they are using fanfic as a way of learning to write Original Stuff, then they are the ones who came up with the training wheels idea--he just put it more bluntly. Just as training wheels remove the scariest part of bike-riding (balancing yourself), so does fanfic remove the scariest part of original writing--being completely original.
Now, I think most people who write fanfic *aren't* using it that way, so the metaphor doesn't work. But if someone claims they are using fanfic that way, then they themselves have already ranked fanfic as lower than their future goal, so it makes sense to say, "Well, what are you waiting for? Go off on your own now, if that's what you want to do." There can be plenty of skill-honing involved in fanfic--you can work on your structure without having to first come up with characters and a world, for instance. But again, that's training wheels--have somebody else hold up that end of the bike so I can work on the peddling/structure.
but there are things you never learn in OF that are central to FF such as staying in character.
Well, you have to stay in character in OF too. I think in fanfic what you have to do is stay in someone else's character, which is more a challenge of understanding another author's work and working with realistic possibilities--at least that's what I feel when I write series tie-in books. It is a challenge getting the characters to sound right and behave in character, and I do feel like I get stuff out of finding those voices within myself. In fact, when it comes to staying strictly in character tie-in work is probably much better than fanfic because the original author is supervising it--fanfic has a much bigger margin for error. There are no Draco Trilogies in tie-ins! Fanfic, however, can be better in teaching people possibilities in character types and things like that. There's often a lot more character development in fanfic than tie-ins.
But...that kind of thing isn't exclusive to fanfic; you can learn that last part with original fic too. Despite what some people may claim, an original writer can't just have the character do any old thing and have him be in character because she's the god of him. If Harry came to school in HPB and murdered Ron JKR would have to make it work with his previous character or she'd lose her audience just as surely as a fanfic author would. Or actually, she'd lose her audience faster than a fanfic author would. A fanfic author could probably get away with it because it was just a plot device to get Harry and Snape together or whatever.:-)
it's a different type of writing, which is why i don't think one can or ought to be the measuring stick of the other. it's like apples and oranges...yes, they are both fruits, they both need good grammar, style, a certain sense of originality to be good...but they are also a different genus at heart!
Absolutely--which is why I don't like it when people claim they're writing fanfic only in order to practice for OF, as if one is training wheels to the other. That, to me, is just as wrong as saying that children's book writers should develop into adult writers, or genre writers should grow into literary ones. Different genus, like you said.
But the angry replies to Neil Gaiman that I remember did not use this line of argument at all, and I thought that proved his metaphor was right. They didn't argue that fanfic was not training wheels because they were simply doing something different, they argued fanfic was not training wheels because it was actually original writing.
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Date: 2005-01-20 08:59 am (UTC)Now, I think most people who write fanfic *aren't* using it that way, so the metaphor doesn't work. But if someone claims they are using fanfic that way, then they themselves have already ranked fanfic as lower than their future goal, so it makes sense to say, "Well, what are you waiting for? Go off on your own now, if that's what you want to do." There can be plenty of skill-honing involved in fanfic--you can work on your structure without having to first come up with characters and a world, for instance. But again, that's training wheels--have somebody else hold up that end of the bike so I can work on the peddling/structure.
but there are things you never learn in OF that are central to FF such as staying in character.
Well, you have to stay in character in OF too. I think in fanfic what you have to do is stay in someone else's character, which is more a challenge of understanding another author's work and working with realistic possibilities--at least that's what I feel when I write series tie-in books. It is a challenge getting the characters to sound right and behave in character, and I do feel like I get stuff out of finding those voices within myself. In fact, when it comes to staying strictly in character tie-in work is probably much better than fanfic because the original author is supervising it--fanfic has a much bigger margin for error. There are no Draco Trilogies in tie-ins! Fanfic, however, can be better in teaching people possibilities in character types and things like that. There's often a lot more character development in fanfic than tie-ins.
But...that kind of thing isn't exclusive to fanfic; you can learn that last part with original fic too. Despite what some people may claim, an original writer can't just have the character do any old thing and have him be in character because she's the god of him. If Harry came to school in HPB and murdered Ron JKR would have to make it work with his previous character or she'd lose her audience just as surely as a fanfic author would. Or actually, she'd lose her audience faster than a fanfic author would. A fanfic author could probably get away with it because it was just a plot device to get Harry and Snape together or whatever.:-)
it's a different type of writing, which is why i don't think one can or ought to be the measuring stick of the other. it's like apples and oranges...yes, they are both fruits, they both need good grammar, style, a certain sense of originality to be good...but they are also a different genus at heart!
Absolutely--which is why I don't like it when people claim they're writing fanfic only in order to practice for OF, as if one is training wheels to the other. That, to me, is just as wrong as saying that children's book writers should develop into adult writers, or genre writers should grow into literary ones. Different genus, like you said.
But the angry replies to Neil Gaiman that I remember did not use this line of argument at all, and I thought that proved his metaphor was right. They didn't argue that fanfic was not training wheels because they were simply doing something different, they argued fanfic was not training wheels because it was actually original writing.