Obscure vineyards
Hey.
Haven't been updating or commenting much, mostly because I'm working flat out to get the book done; have set a goal of Monday to get the last chapter to betas, and I think I might make it. Then comes the rewrite, whee.
In a few spare moments I have read some of the posts commenting on cupidsbow's entry about women's writing (suppressed) and fanfic, though not in any exhaustive way. (I must say here, cheers for metafandom. Way to collect the links in one place.) It is a topic of some personal interest to me, in a sort of sideways fashion. I was particularly intrigued and rather amused by the recent post in response by swan_tower.
Not amused because there's anything wrong with the post itself, which (if I'm getting it right - I don't know any of these people) is a lament that she, as a professional writer, is often met with anger from fanfic writers when she comments that they ought to consider writing original fiction for publication; not that she doesn't get why, and there is much discussion about this, but there just ought to be a way to make the dialogue more polite and understanding. So far so good.
What amuses me is that, as a writer who did "the right thing" and stopped writing fanfic after a brief fling in order to concentrate on original fiction, I am not likely ever to be approached by a professional who's seen my stuff online and thinks I ought to be seeking publication. It's the fanfic writers who are out there in a position to get noticed, not those of us laboring in the obscure vineyards of our own universes. Of course, fanficcers also get mud thrown at them on a regular basis, since a large number of professional writers/editors are not open to the concept of fanfic. (Much discussion about this elsewhere as well.) But I do feel sort of fallen between the cracks - not posting in the fic archives or challenges and not eligible to be a Pixel-Stained Technopeasant either.
However, it's only fair to note that I don't consider myself to have the fanfic instinct. I actually find it easier to write original fiction (or else I would neglect it to write for fic challenges, because even a bit of attention is addictive). This doesn't make me a better writer than those who create fanfic; it doesn't even make me more likely to be published, because God knows I lack the self-marketing ability. It just makes me a writer of original fiction. Who needs to open up the file of the last chapter of her third book and get writing.
Haven't been updating or commenting much, mostly because I'm working flat out to get the book done; have set a goal of Monday to get the last chapter to betas, and I think I might make it. Then comes the rewrite, whee.
In a few spare moments I have read some of the posts commenting on cupidsbow's entry about women's writing (suppressed) and fanfic, though not in any exhaustive way. (I must say here, cheers for metafandom. Way to collect the links in one place.) It is a topic of some personal interest to me, in a sort of sideways fashion. I was particularly intrigued and rather amused by the recent post in response by swan_tower.
Not amused because there's anything wrong with the post itself, which (if I'm getting it right - I don't know any of these people) is a lament that she, as a professional writer, is often met with anger from fanfic writers when she comments that they ought to consider writing original fiction for publication; not that she doesn't get why, and there is much discussion about this, but there just ought to be a way to make the dialogue more polite and understanding. So far so good.
What amuses me is that, as a writer who did "the right thing" and stopped writing fanfic after a brief fling in order to concentrate on original fiction, I am not likely ever to be approached by a professional who's seen my stuff online and thinks I ought to be seeking publication. It's the fanfic writers who are out there in a position to get noticed, not those of us laboring in the obscure vineyards of our own universes. Of course, fanficcers also get mud thrown at them on a regular basis, since a large number of professional writers/editors are not open to the concept of fanfic. (Much discussion about this elsewhere as well.) But I do feel sort of fallen between the cracks - not posting in the fic archives or challenges and not eligible to be a Pixel-Stained Technopeasant either.
However, it's only fair to note that I don't consider myself to have the fanfic instinct. I actually find it easier to write original fiction (or else I would neglect it to write for fic challenges, because even a bit of attention is addictive). This doesn't make me a better writer than those who create fanfic; it doesn't even make me more likely to be published, because God knows I lack the self-marketing ability. It just makes me a writer of original fiction. Who needs to open up the file of the last chapter of her third book and get writing.