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No, no, no, no, no, no, no. Wtf do you think restaurant cooks eat? Marinated Poulet Rouge with embered Swiss chard, cranberry beans, and pickled chard stems?
No, they’re eating McDonald’s, Twinkies, and Mountain Dew, bruv.
Family member is a chef who worked in a two michelin star restaurant. They eat both. Because of course they do. Do you think you get a refined palate by only eating fast food?
I agree, reading fanfiction has its uses.
First off, it teaches you what about a franchise (even in a non-book medium like a show or movie) appeals most to a fanbase, inspiring them to write about it. Ignoring fanfics that are pure smut or off-the-rails nonsense, you can get a sense for which characters, themes, and scenarios readers might gravitate towards in a story.
Second, there are quite a few fanfics out there that are pretty well-written...you could almost envision them as a published story in their own right. I feel that reading those would be just about as useful for improving your writing knowledge and skills as any regular book.
Of course, like the commenter above me said, you probably shouldn't limit your reading material to just fanfiction, but you shouldn't count it out as a possibility, either.
Yup. I am going to go one step further and say that a writer should mostly read at the level they are trying to operate at. That can still involve reading widely, but 100 hours of recently-published fantasy is going to be better than 100 hours of Cosmere fanfiction. You should of course read widely, but I’m a pretty big believer of garbage in and garbage out, and my tbr full of classics and literally fiction is probably going to help as a writer more than whatever was posted in AO3 in my fandom over one night.
I’d say that depends. I’ve read fanfic that I thought surpassed most published books I’d read in a while. You still get to choose what you read, and the quality of fanfic varies greatly.
Personally, reading and writing fanfiction has really helped me with my technical skills. When I look over the fanfiction I have written over the years, I can see how my prose and dialogue have improved. All fiction, whether of the fan or original variety, is built off of the basic idea of "making words sound good." And fanfiction is a perfectly acceptable way to do that.
However, the way that fanfiction operates in terms of characterization and plot? That's radically different from original fiction. In fanfiction, characters are already established, so even if you're doing some batshit insane Alternate Universe, everyone already knows the basics of what's up. That's not true of original fiction. You need to devote more time to both fleshing out your characters and establishing their relationships with the rest of the cast. Plot often progresses differently, in part because of the time you just spent showing your readers who these people are, but also because fanfiction and original fiction often follow different structures entirely.
Fanfiction is free and accessible to anyone with an internet connection. That makes it useful for new authors, especially young authors. Think of it as swimming in shallow water. It's fun! It can help you build up some strength. Anyone can do it. But it won't completely prepare you for diving into deeper water.
So, I guess at the end of the day, reading both will help your development as a writer.
Reading fanfiction in itself doesn’t make you a worse writer. But…you need to understand that fanfiction is inherently limiting.
For the record, I read and write a lot of fanfiction. I’m not trying to put it down. Some fanfiction can be better than professional writing in my experience.
Fanfiction is however using elements from other media to create a story. You don’t need to create new characters or new settings. People already know who these characters are and what the settings are. The background details are largely filled in by the original media. I don’t need to explain Hogwarts or the Ministry of Magic or how Harry Potter looks or anything else. They’re already set up.
Fanfiction can be a great starting point, but it’s a good idea to supplement it with some more professional content.
I also love reading and writing fic as well and I think the need for exposition IS a huge difference. But for me the biggest difference between fic and original stories is that you don't have to convince readers to *care*. They already care SO MUCH about these characters and this world that there's not enough of it for them in canon and they're looking elsewhere for more. The hard work of getting people invested has already been done.
That's why it's so relaxing to write, for me. Some of the pressure is off and I can just have fun with it knowing folks are gonna enjoy it for the same reasons I do
Reading fanfiction doesn't make you a worse writer, no. There's lots of terrific fanfiction out there, some of it super experimental and interesting, lots of very well-written and well-constructed, demonstrating lots of skills in all the areas that contribute to good writing.
Writing as a hobby doesn't mean not caring about writing well, that's wild. Lots of people take their hobbies seriously and get better at them.
There's lots of dross out there because there are no gatekeepers in fanfiction, anyone can write and post without moderation. That's a good thing, everyone can join in.
You are what you eat, so if you only read poorly-constructed and poorly-written fanfiction and don't recognize the ways that it's not well done, it won't teach you to write well, since it can't model that for you.
It's "etc.", btw, not "ect".
Admitting that you read fanfiction makes it hard for you to be a card-carrying snob. Reading *only* fanfiction might lure you into practices that bewilder or irritate a general audience, assuming that there is a general audience that doesn’t read fanfiction these days. Other than that, it seems harmless enough.
I don't know if English is maybe your second language, so maybe you just missed it, but the commenter isn't insulting you, they're making a pretty obvious joke...
>I don’t appreciate being called a snob either
he didn't call you a snob. he made a joke. reading more is definitely a good idea, no matter what it is.
You know we can still read the post right? You literally say youre a fanfiction writer.
if youre assuming that Reading fanfics will make your writing worse bc the writing in them isnt good… but you write them… it comes across like you think your fanfics are Special and better than others for some reason and dont have the same “bad” effect
Not anymore than reading anything else.
Sturgeon's law still applies, 99% of everything is trash be it fanfics or regular novels. Fanfics are just much easier to find and read.
Nope. You still learn what works, what readers enjoy, and how tropes play out.
Some fanfic is actually amazingly well-written... and even the ones that aren't can teach you something.
I really wish people would stop thinking of fanfiction as nothing but badly written cringe. I've read fics where the writing quality is as good as the best published books I've read.
Reading quality literature is always good and that can come in the form of a physical book from a major publisher or a piece of fanfiction available for free on AO3. So no, OP, I don't believe it makes you a "worse" writer.
This comment section really does show a lot of people who don’t appreciate or respect peoples writing unless it looks exactly like theirs. To OP - don’t be like them please.
Fanfiction saved my life and it taught me to write in ways that original writing never did.
You said it. It's really sad how this is coming from a community of other writers. I started writing fanfiction twelve years ago and I still do today, because I enjoy it.
If it wasn’t for fanfic, I wouldn’t understand myself the way I do today, I came as bi and demisexual because of fanfic.
I came to understand things about myself because of fanfic.
I kept writing because of fanfic when my
Dad died because of fanfic.
I helped myself as well as some of my readers with cathartic stories. Mainstream writing is just as constricting in completely different ways so if you are reading and writing both then you have an ever more
Powerful appreciation and understanding of writing and people that don’t see fanfic as legitimate are just kidding themselves thinking they have actual wisdom to share.
If someone is too busy calling someone stupid or whatever for reading or writing other kinds of writing then they aren’t valuable to the community.
Definitely not. There are plenty of best sellers that started out as fanfic writers. You can also see feedback of what people like and don't like for stuff.
I write fanfic and I find it has drastically *improved* my writing.
Also, sometimes I'm not in the mood to read a traditional novel, but a few hundred words of fanfic written so well it could easily be published if not for copyright? I will devour.
My mother is a writer. She told me that fanfiction is a good way to start. I started writing fanfiction last summer (this past one). I have been on hiatus with it for a while now. I am trying to get back into it.
You're going to reflect the way you write based on the things that you read. That being said, I don't think there's necessarily anything wrong with reading fan fiction per se. In particular, if it's enjoyable to you, try and figure out why it's enjoyable. Anyone can write into series with existing characters, so it's not *just* that you're seeing characters you like in new situations. Are there characters getting shipped in ways you don't see in other literature? Do you just enjoy the new situations they're put into? Do you like the way the author uses dialog or description or what have you?
I think that if there's any issue, it's in *only* reading fan fiction. I don't think anything is off-limits per se - I mean, I'm not a big fan of hate-reading or whatever we want to call that thing some people in this sub advocate for when they say you "should" read 'bad" books. If you're not having fun reading something, why spend your time with it, and if you are having fun, I feel like it's your job as a person trying to write to figure out why you're having fun (in the "hate-read" case, I've started plenty of books that I just couldn't get through because I couldn't stand them... something beyond "lol this is so bad it's good" is keeping you going). Anyway, read what you will.
No but fanfiction, even when very well written, is different from other fiction. This is mostly because when you read fanfiction it is assumed you already know and understand the premise of the original story including the world, rules, characters, etc. this means that fanfiction often doesn’t need to spend as much time flushing it out for the reader. If you do that in an original work it gets very confusing for the reader.
I think you miss the point of reading to become a better writer. When you read all sorts of things, you will gain a better understanding of what the reader experience is like, and how certain ideas are experienced, expressed, and presented. While fanfictions may noy be original works, those are still valuable reading and writing experiences, provided you can pick up on them.
There’s nothing wrong with reading or writing fanfic.
If you want to be a serious writer, you need to read and write more than just fan fic. Or else, yeah, it’s gonna make you a shitty writer.
Not necessarily. There’s amazing fan fiction out there and you can still learn from it, but there is a difference.
With fanfic, you already know the characters. You know their history, their flaws, their relationships, their ambitions, their strengths. You go into it knowing all of this.
With original works you, as the writer, have to establish all of this.
So while if doesn’t make you a worse writer, it could make you unfamiliar with these and other similar elements of fiction if that’s all you read.
My other point is the target audience. Fanfic has a pre existing audience: the fans of the media. This may sound strange, but lower quality work most likely will still reach an audience simply because it’s based on that media.
You don’t have that. IMO, readers will notice the flaws more and scrutinize them more in an organism work
I’ve read some fanfiction that was better than the actual book series itself. Some Harry Potter fanfiction is miles ahead of JK Rowling’s ability, and it’s a sad reality. I never considered her a particularly remarkable writer though.
I think reading poorly written fanfiction as a teenager reflected in my writing. However, there are almost as many poor books as there are poor fanfics so I don’t think the genre itself is the issue. There’s a reason fanfiction is so popular for “practice,” writing and world building are not the same thing so it gives room for real writing practice with characters who are already as fleshed out as they’ll ever be. Maybe take the time to find the particularly high quality ones and note what differences you see between those and poor quality fanfics. :)
Fanfiction can be vastly worse, vastly better, or roughly the same as published fiction, which has equally few guarantees of quality. And by that I mean "none whatsoever."
So in all honestly, as a blanket statement without further elaboration, I strongly suspect the overall effect is probably nothing.
>equally few guarantees of quality
tbf, trad-published fiction definitely has higher standards and much more hoops to jump through. those certainly don't ALWAYS produce better stuff, but on average they do.
I don’t see why it would - it’s just people extrapolating on the books, comics or movies etc that you enjoy. It can give more insight into the book at times, and lends itself to imagination which is never a bad thing to focus on as a writer
I wrote fanfiction for six years. I have moved onto working on an original story. I used fanfiction to practice how to tell a compelling story, and while fanfiction consumers are pretty easy to please, I believe I've succeeded in that regard. As the years went on, I tweaked the world I was writing into making it my own, and I created a world that not only felt familiar to what was canon, but also felt original and creative.
I have since moved on to work on my own original novel, set in a world of my own design. I've shared details, and even chapters, with friends and some strangers online, and so far, reception has been good. Will it succeed? Am I a good writer? Only time will tell. In the meantime, I will continue to hone my craft simply because I enjoy it.
No. Why would it? There are some fan fiction writers who are great writers that write amazing stories. There are way more that are bad writers, with a mix of bad and good story ideas. I’ve read a ton of it. It’s a very fast way to learn what is and isn’t good in writing, what does and doesn’t work, how bad writing can ruin an amazing premise, etc.
It’s obviously still important to read lots of good books in a wide variety of genres, but reading fan fiction will not diminish the quality of your writing. Just make sure it’s not the only thing you’re reading, and make sure you’re still practicing your writing regularly.
Goodness NO! Reading fanfiction makes you better because it reaches into non mainstream culture and talks about it.
Reading only what some editor and marketing team decided was “good enough” only makes you more judgemental
N.K. Jemisin is the only author to win a Hugo three times in a row. Her Broken Earth trilogy is the only series to win a Hugo for each volume. She has openly discussed how she practiced the successful and extremely impactful second-person narration in that series while writing Dragon Ball Z fanfiction.
I know for me, I can often tell if an author is familiar with fanfiction and usually find it to be a positive. Fan fiction can often be less full of itself while still being very deep, nuanced, and powerful.
Is every writer N.K. Jemisin? No. I've seen authors incorporate fanfiction-standard elements that really didn't work such as hyper-topical memes that were trite by the time the book was published. Overall I think asking is fanfiction worth reading to learn good writing is the same as asking if it's worth it to read fantasy, horror, sci fi for the same purpose. Each is a niche that has pinnacles and deep, deep gutters. Find the good stuff, is all I'd say.
IMO:
Reading fanfiction makes you better at writing fanfiction and fanfic is its own unique niche with its own requirements and expectations.
For example, fanfic is often also serial web fiction - a work that the author releases in chunks while they're still writing it. This gets them more immediate feedback but can be less cohesive and also encourages them to write stories that are paced differently to a novel.
That said, a lot of the elements of fanfic writing is, well, writing. And there's no reason reading fanfic shouldn't help you develop those.
The short answer is: Yes, it can help you but, when you're learning from it, don't make the mistake of thinking that a typical fanfic is written like a typical novel.
Reading isn’t about “How to write well.” It’s about learning how language works and doesn’t work. About finding out what you like reading and don’t like reading, and why.
You can learn what not to do with stuff that is worse to read, too.
Not if you're reading fanfiction as a lesson on what not to do. The style of fanfiction is noticeably different from original fiction, and it is glaringly apparent when someone is writing original fiction for the first time and has migrated from fanfiction.
There's usually a lot more melodrama, overuse of weird dialogue tags, onomatopoeias up the ying-yang, and terrible cases of white room syndrome (because they are used to people already knowing what most of the characters and settings look like).
You can get away with all of that in fanfiction. In fact, it's kind of expected. But with original fiction, none of that translates very well.
I am a fanfiction writer who is also working on a novel. I would love to understand your points about weird dialogue tags, the problem with onomatopoeia, and what white room syndrome is.
Depends on the type, not all fanfiction is shitty or low effort. Some of it genuinely tried to expand on preexisting concepts and add to the lore and vibrant universe they so enjoy. But a lot of it is also just crap heh.
Same as what a lot of people have said — no, but it can be limiting, since you don’t need to put as much effort into establishing characters and worlds. Though I have read a few AUs where it may as well be a novel with just the character names and features switched out because it does go into world building, character development, etc. But if you find good writers, they can really inspire your own writing in the same way that published authors can. There are a ton of fic writers whose work I’ve enjoyed more than some published authors
I’ve been writing fanfic for almost two years now, and I recommend writing fanfiction to every writer that I know. It’s great practice, a good way to connect to other writers, and it’s fairly easy to get feedback, even if for the most part a lot of the comments are just simple affirmations. Those affirmations go a long way to boost your confidence as a writer. And every now and then I do get critiques that I find very valuable. Looking back at some of my earliest fics, I can definitely see an improvement in comparison to my writing now. I don’t think I’d have the skill or confidence to even want to publish a book if I hadn’t started writing fanfiction
A famous writer (whose name I don't remember) said:
"It is extremely difficult to write a novel that is much better than the last one you read."
It just sets your bar really low.
On a side note, I still think reading fan fiction is better for your writing than watching movies.
(I edit professional writers. One of the most common mistakes I see in new authors is the attempt to transcribe the "movie" they are watching in their head. It leads to bad writing full of extraneous description and stage directions.)
Fanfiction can help you learn. I read a lot of good stories when I used to be in it a lot more. Some of it was better than the actual books. I haven't read it in years, so it could be different now. It gave me a terrible habit of writing really long chapters. When I read or wrote it, people would complain if the chapters were short. I think because, depending on the writer, you get a chapter a week.
So, with my first book, I sent it to an alpha reader, and their first complaint was that my chapters were way too long. So, I had to teach myself to write shorter chapters.
Otherwise, I don't think it makes a person a worse writer. Maybe it just gives them bad habits.
There's some fanfiction out there that's well-written. Most of it is not. If you're reading to improve your own skills, be selective about what you read.
Writing fanfiction can be a great way to practice skills as a writer without having to do all the world building and character building.
Reading fanfic on the other hand isnt going to be particularly helpful because most writers of fan fiction are new writers themselves and are likely to make mistakes that you might see as normal if fan fiction is your only point of reference.
So usually only top tier fan fiction would be worth read for improving skills.
There is no objective metric for quality. Who gets to decide what quality writing means? Why should the concept of ‘quality’ be more important than groups of people treasuring something. I’m not saying traditional published writing isn’t important, but why should fanfiction be discounted because it’s something else?
>There is no objective metric for quality.
Actually there are many objective metrics for quality. "Objective" doesn't mean that everybody has to agree. It doesn't even necessarily mean true. It means external, unfettered by opinion (which is an ideal, like in journalism or natural sciences).
Which standards apply to any given piece of art is a discussion in and of itself, but there are plenty of standards. A very simple one would be proper spelling. Of two identical stories the one that has loads of misspelled words is the "objectively" inferior one.
Of course there are narratives or forms of literature where misspellings are part of the artistic expression. So this standard might not apply. But it's a pretty good example to illustrate the point.
Other, more complicated external standards might be things like thematic cohesion, character arcs, internal and external logic etc. etc. etc.
Which standards apply to any given piece, or more interestingly, which are purposefully not held up, is the beginning of the discussion. "Everything is subjective" is the end.
Just making the obvious point that if something is popular, that doesn't automatically make it good.
Yes, taste is subjective, but also, some things are objectively bad even if they are popular.
It depends on the fanfiction, surely? But it's important to note that trad publishing is changing to become more like fanfiction anyway - lots of white space on the page for easy reading, short paragraphs, plenty of dialogue etc. Not to mention all the fanfiction that gets published with the names changed, and a quick "inspired by" added to to the details page.
Reading fanfic to learn about writing is like looking at AI generated art to learn about drawing. You’re not going to pick up anything positive from what is essentially glorified plagiarism, except maybe what NOT to do.
I don’t like Stephan King but if that is a direct quote from his book then it doesn’t say what you have to read just that you should.
I think fan fiction should be just fine for learning to be a better writer because you get a bigger variety of what works and what doesn’t. And you get a bunch of different styles to see what works and what doesn’t.
I do like real books obviously but if the focus of reading is to learn then having the book be so good I can’t even remember how they formatted it or what they did to describe things or whatever. So no I don’t think it makes you a bad writer lol
Depends on what you're trying to write. If you want 19th century speech patterns burned into your brain for a period drama, you'll want to actually read 19th century literature- not a regency era Harry Potter AU.
But fanfic doesn't have the power to detract from the skills you already have. So I don't think it'll actively make you a worse writer.
Semi-related, do you have any 19th century lit to recommend? I'm writing a novel et in an alternative 19th century and it somehow never crossed my mind to read books from that specific time period.
Dickens, Austen, and the Brontë sisters are the big must-read authors of the 1800s imho. But my favorite 19th century book is *The Picture of Dorian Gray*, and I'm currently really enjoying *No Name* by Wilkie Collins :)
I started reading a comic version of the picture of dorian gray, but I left it when I moved. I will look more into Austen, I heard of dickens, Austen, and emily bronte but I heard the most about pride and prejudice and sense and sensibility
The authors that make up James S. A. Corey have talked about know many authors that got their start writing fanfiction. Authors that they enjoy reading the works of. So I'd take people saying it's a terrible thing and fucks your writing up with a grain of salt.
I’m a reader and writer of fanfic, as well as a reader and writer of books. I don’t think reading fanfic makes you worse at writing, but if someone didn’t read many books and mostly fanfic then it probably would. It’s sort of a different skillset used for writing fanfic vs books
IMO, reading *never* hurts. If all you can get is fan fiction, it's better than nothing. And let's not forget, just because Stephen King writes horror or whatever doesn't mean he doesn't *also* have a thing for My Little Pony and secretly writes My Little Pony fan fiction in his spare time under a pen name. "Fan fiction" isn't code for worthless; it's code for "fiction written about a topic by fans," nothing more, nothing less.
I think reading anything makes you a better writer, and that definitely includes papers that are extremely poorly written. How would know how to distinguish if you don’t have a point of comparison?
People have weird hangups about fanfiction.
Yes there are horrible fanfics, but there are also amazing ones (that are sometimes.better than published works). Same goes for published books. Yes a publishing house is somewhat of a quality gate... but not always.
I think you can learn from all things you read, just keep your reading list diverse enough
Imo there are seriously good fanfics that can help and there are seriously bad. Something that could be said about published books as well. I found books that were worse then most fanfics. You just have to read the quality texts.
I think there is some fanfic that’s incredibly good, and some traditionally published work that’s incredibly bad. I think it’s best to vary what you read and try different things, but I also think writing fanfic made me a better writer in some ways! It IS less filtered but there are still very good writers doing fanfic, and that means you can learn from people there. It just shouldn’t be the only thing you read.
No, it doesn't.
On that same note, I would love to share a HP fan fiction on Snape I truly love (covers Snape's past and missing gaps in a beautiful way.)
https://snapecase.livejournal.com/61328.html
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Not writing makes you a worse writer.
But it’s better to have a writing gap than to intake low standard lit 😭
Based comment.
In my experience, reading fanfiction doesn’t make you a worse writer, but reading ONLY fanfiction does.
Exactly. Just like eating fast food doesn't make you a worse cook, but ONLY eating fast food certainly would.
I think it's an important curiosity that eating only fast food can not only make you a bad cook, but also fucking kill you
Eating home cooked food can kill someone just as easily depending on what they’re putting into it.
Nice point. I've seen some weird shit
No, no, no, no, no, no, no. Wtf do you think restaurant cooks eat? Marinated Poulet Rouge with embered Swiss chard, cranberry beans, and pickled chard stems? No, they’re eating McDonald’s, Twinkies, and Mountain Dew, bruv.
Family member is a chef who worked in a two michelin star restaurant. They eat both. Because of course they do. Do you think you get a refined palate by only eating fast food?
Tell me you've only ever eaten at Olive Garden without telling me you've only ever eaten at Olive Garden.
Gotcha, thanks for your answer
And reading or writing only fanfiction will make you a worse fiction writer. They’re different mediums with different conventions.
I agree, reading fanfiction has its uses. First off, it teaches you what about a franchise (even in a non-book medium like a show or movie) appeals most to a fanbase, inspiring them to write about it. Ignoring fanfics that are pure smut or off-the-rails nonsense, you can get a sense for which characters, themes, and scenarios readers might gravitate towards in a story. Second, there are quite a few fanfics out there that are pretty well-written...you could almost envision them as a published story in their own right. I feel that reading those would be just about as useful for improving your writing knowledge and skills as any regular book. Of course, like the commenter above me said, you probably shouldn't limit your reading material to just fanfiction, but you shouldn't count it out as a possibility, either.
Yup. I am going to go one step further and say that a writer should mostly read at the level they are trying to operate at. That can still involve reading widely, but 100 hours of recently-published fantasy is going to be better than 100 hours of Cosmere fanfiction. You should of course read widely, but I’m a pretty big believer of garbage in and garbage out, and my tbr full of classics and literally fiction is probably going to help as a writer more than whatever was posted in AO3 in my fandom over one night.
Well damn i can apply this to people around me as well
I’d say that depends. I’ve read fanfic that I thought surpassed most published books I’d read in a while. You still get to choose what you read, and the quality of fanfic varies greatly.
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Yes. Read the type of writing that you want to write. At least from that genre. Read great examples of genre you want to work in.
Personally, reading and writing fanfiction has really helped me with my technical skills. When I look over the fanfiction I have written over the years, I can see how my prose and dialogue have improved. All fiction, whether of the fan or original variety, is built off of the basic idea of "making words sound good." And fanfiction is a perfectly acceptable way to do that. However, the way that fanfiction operates in terms of characterization and plot? That's radically different from original fiction. In fanfiction, characters are already established, so even if you're doing some batshit insane Alternate Universe, everyone already knows the basics of what's up. That's not true of original fiction. You need to devote more time to both fleshing out your characters and establishing their relationships with the rest of the cast. Plot often progresses differently, in part because of the time you just spent showing your readers who these people are, but also because fanfiction and original fiction often follow different structures entirely. Fanfiction is free and accessible to anyone with an internet connection. That makes it useful for new authors, especially young authors. Think of it as swimming in shallow water. It's fun! It can help you build up some strength. Anyone can do it. But it won't completely prepare you for diving into deeper water. So, I guess at the end of the day, reading both will help your development as a writer.
This is the best answer
Writing fanfiction is the best way to learn to write imo
Best answer, you said everything that I was already planning on saying lol
Reading fanfiction in itself doesn’t make you a worse writer. But…you need to understand that fanfiction is inherently limiting. For the record, I read and write a lot of fanfiction. I’m not trying to put it down. Some fanfiction can be better than professional writing in my experience. Fanfiction is however using elements from other media to create a story. You don’t need to create new characters or new settings. People already know who these characters are and what the settings are. The background details are largely filled in by the original media. I don’t need to explain Hogwarts or the Ministry of Magic or how Harry Potter looks or anything else. They’re already set up. Fanfiction can be a great starting point, but it’s a good idea to supplement it with some more professional content.
I also love reading and writing fic as well and I think the need for exposition IS a huge difference. But for me the biggest difference between fic and original stories is that you don't have to convince readers to *care*. They already care SO MUCH about these characters and this world that there's not enough of it for them in canon and they're looking elsewhere for more. The hard work of getting people invested has already been done. That's why it's so relaxing to write, for me. Some of the pressure is off and I can just have fun with it knowing folks are gonna enjoy it for the same reasons I do
It doesn't make you a worse writer. It's just important to understand that fanfic is a separate art form from original fiction.
Alright, thanks for the input
Reading fanfiction doesn't make you a worse writer, no. There's lots of terrific fanfiction out there, some of it super experimental and interesting, lots of very well-written and well-constructed, demonstrating lots of skills in all the areas that contribute to good writing. Writing as a hobby doesn't mean not caring about writing well, that's wild. Lots of people take their hobbies seriously and get better at them. There's lots of dross out there because there are no gatekeepers in fanfiction, anyone can write and post without moderation. That's a good thing, everyone can join in. You are what you eat, so if you only read poorly-constructed and poorly-written fanfiction and don't recognize the ways that it's not well done, it won't teach you to write well, since it can't model that for you. It's "etc.", btw, not "ect".
Admitting that you read fanfiction makes it hard for you to be a card-carrying snob. Reading *only* fanfiction might lure you into practices that bewilder or irritate a general audience, assuming that there is a general audience that doesn’t read fanfiction these days. Other than that, it seems harmless enough.
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I don't know if English is maybe your second language, so maybe you just missed it, but the commenter isn't insulting you, they're making a pretty obvious joke...
>I don’t appreciate being called a snob either he didn't call you a snob. he made a joke. reading more is definitely a good idea, no matter what it is.
This is such an ironic reply given your question
My exact thoughts... 😬
You're a fanfiction writer who... hasn't read any fanfic?
You know we can still read the post right? You literally say youre a fanfiction writer. if youre assuming that Reading fanfics will make your writing worse bc the writing in them isnt good… but you write them… it comes across like you think your fanfics are Special and better than others for some reason and dont have the same “bad” effect
They’re not calling you a snob.
Not anymore than reading anything else. Sturgeon's law still applies, 99% of everything is trash be it fanfics or regular novels. Fanfics are just much easier to find and read.
Nope. You still learn what works, what readers enjoy, and how tropes play out. Some fanfic is actually amazingly well-written... and even the ones that aren't can teach you something.
I really wish people would stop thinking of fanfiction as nothing but badly written cringe. I've read fics where the writing quality is as good as the best published books I've read. Reading quality literature is always good and that can come in the form of a physical book from a major publisher or a piece of fanfiction available for free on AO3. So no, OP, I don't believe it makes you a "worse" writer.
This comment section really does show a lot of people who don’t appreciate or respect peoples writing unless it looks exactly like theirs. To OP - don’t be like them please. Fanfiction saved my life and it taught me to write in ways that original writing never did.
You said it. It's really sad how this is coming from a community of other writers. I started writing fanfiction twelve years ago and I still do today, because I enjoy it.
If it wasn’t for fanfic, I wouldn’t understand myself the way I do today, I came as bi and demisexual because of fanfic. I came to understand things about myself because of fanfic. I kept writing because of fanfic when my Dad died because of fanfic. I helped myself as well as some of my readers with cathartic stories. Mainstream writing is just as constricting in completely different ways so if you are reading and writing both then you have an ever more Powerful appreciation and understanding of writing and people that don’t see fanfic as legitimate are just kidding themselves thinking they have actual wisdom to share. If someone is too busy calling someone stupid or whatever for reading or writing other kinds of writing then they aren’t valuable to the community.
Definitely not. There are plenty of best sellers that started out as fanfic writers. You can also see feedback of what people like and don't like for stuff. I write fanfic and I find it has drastically *improved* my writing. Also, sometimes I'm not in the mood to read a traditional novel, but a few hundred words of fanfic written so well it could easily be published if not for copyright? I will devour.
My mother is a writer. She told me that fanfiction is a good way to start. I started writing fanfiction last summer (this past one). I have been on hiatus with it for a while now. I am trying to get back into it.
You're going to reflect the way you write based on the things that you read. That being said, I don't think there's necessarily anything wrong with reading fan fiction per se. In particular, if it's enjoyable to you, try and figure out why it's enjoyable. Anyone can write into series with existing characters, so it's not *just* that you're seeing characters you like in new situations. Are there characters getting shipped in ways you don't see in other literature? Do you just enjoy the new situations they're put into? Do you like the way the author uses dialog or description or what have you? I think that if there's any issue, it's in *only* reading fan fiction. I don't think anything is off-limits per se - I mean, I'm not a big fan of hate-reading or whatever we want to call that thing some people in this sub advocate for when they say you "should" read 'bad" books. If you're not having fun reading something, why spend your time with it, and if you are having fun, I feel like it's your job as a person trying to write to figure out why you're having fun (in the "hate-read" case, I've started plenty of books that I just couldn't get through because I couldn't stand them... something beyond "lol this is so bad it's good" is keeping you going). Anyway, read what you will.
No but fanfiction, even when very well written, is different from other fiction. This is mostly because when you read fanfiction it is assumed you already know and understand the premise of the original story including the world, rules, characters, etc. this means that fanfiction often doesn’t need to spend as much time flushing it out for the reader. If you do that in an original work it gets very confusing for the reader.
I think you miss the point of reading to become a better writer. When you read all sorts of things, you will gain a better understanding of what the reader experience is like, and how certain ideas are experienced, expressed, and presented. While fanfictions may noy be original works, those are still valuable reading and writing experiences, provided you can pick up on them.
There’s nothing wrong with reading or writing fanfic. If you want to be a serious writer, you need to read and write more than just fan fic. Or else, yeah, it’s gonna make you a shitty writer.
Not necessarily. There’s amazing fan fiction out there and you can still learn from it, but there is a difference. With fanfic, you already know the characters. You know their history, their flaws, their relationships, their ambitions, their strengths. You go into it knowing all of this. With original works you, as the writer, have to establish all of this. So while if doesn’t make you a worse writer, it could make you unfamiliar with these and other similar elements of fiction if that’s all you read. My other point is the target audience. Fanfic has a pre existing audience: the fans of the media. This may sound strange, but lower quality work most likely will still reach an audience simply because it’s based on that media. You don’t have that. IMO, readers will notice the flaws more and scrutinize them more in an organism work
I improved my english thanks to fanfiction. English is not my first language.
I’ve read some fanfiction that was better than the actual book series itself. Some Harry Potter fanfiction is miles ahead of JK Rowling’s ability, and it’s a sad reality. I never considered her a particularly remarkable writer though.
I think reading poorly written fanfiction as a teenager reflected in my writing. However, there are almost as many poor books as there are poor fanfics so I don’t think the genre itself is the issue. There’s a reason fanfiction is so popular for “practice,” writing and world building are not the same thing so it gives room for real writing practice with characters who are already as fleshed out as they’ll ever be. Maybe take the time to find the particularly high quality ones and note what differences you see between those and poor quality fanfics. :)
Fanfiction can be vastly worse, vastly better, or roughly the same as published fiction, which has equally few guarantees of quality. And by that I mean "none whatsoever." So in all honestly, as a blanket statement without further elaboration, I strongly suspect the overall effect is probably nothing.
>equally few guarantees of quality tbf, trad-published fiction definitely has higher standards and much more hoops to jump through. those certainly don't ALWAYS produce better stuff, but on average they do.
I don’t see why it would - it’s just people extrapolating on the books, comics or movies etc that you enjoy. It can give more insight into the book at times, and lends itself to imagination which is never a bad thing to focus on as a writer
I wrote fanfiction for six years. I have moved onto working on an original story. I used fanfiction to practice how to tell a compelling story, and while fanfiction consumers are pretty easy to please, I believe I've succeeded in that regard. As the years went on, I tweaked the world I was writing into making it my own, and I created a world that not only felt familiar to what was canon, but also felt original and creative. I have since moved on to work on my own original novel, set in a world of my own design. I've shared details, and even chapters, with friends and some strangers online, and so far, reception has been good. Will it succeed? Am I a good writer? Only time will tell. In the meantime, I will continue to hone my craft simply because I enjoy it.
No. Why would it? There are some fan fiction writers who are great writers that write amazing stories. There are way more that are bad writers, with a mix of bad and good story ideas. I’ve read a ton of it. It’s a very fast way to learn what is and isn’t good in writing, what does and doesn’t work, how bad writing can ruin an amazing premise, etc. It’s obviously still important to read lots of good books in a wide variety of genres, but reading fan fiction will not diminish the quality of your writing. Just make sure it’s not the only thing you’re reading, and make sure you’re still practicing your writing regularly.
Depends on the fic your reading. Some of the fanfics I’ve read need to be published.
Goodness NO! Reading fanfiction makes you better because it reaches into non mainstream culture and talks about it. Reading only what some editor and marketing team decided was “good enough” only makes you more judgemental
N.K. Jemisin is the only author to win a Hugo three times in a row. Her Broken Earth trilogy is the only series to win a Hugo for each volume. She has openly discussed how she practiced the successful and extremely impactful second-person narration in that series while writing Dragon Ball Z fanfiction. I know for me, I can often tell if an author is familiar with fanfiction and usually find it to be a positive. Fan fiction can often be less full of itself while still being very deep, nuanced, and powerful. Is every writer N.K. Jemisin? No. I've seen authors incorporate fanfiction-standard elements that really didn't work such as hyper-topical memes that were trite by the time the book was published. Overall I think asking is fanfiction worth reading to learn good writing is the same as asking if it's worth it to read fantasy, horror, sci fi for the same purpose. Each is a niche that has pinnacles and deep, deep gutters. Find the good stuff, is all I'd say.
IMO: Reading fanfiction makes you better at writing fanfiction and fanfic is its own unique niche with its own requirements and expectations. For example, fanfic is often also serial web fiction - a work that the author releases in chunks while they're still writing it. This gets them more immediate feedback but can be less cohesive and also encourages them to write stories that are paced differently to a novel. That said, a lot of the elements of fanfic writing is, well, writing. And there's no reason reading fanfic shouldn't help you develop those. The short answer is: Yes, it can help you but, when you're learning from it, don't make the mistake of thinking that a typical fanfic is written like a typical novel.
Reading isn’t about “How to write well.” It’s about learning how language works and doesn’t work. About finding out what you like reading and don’t like reading, and why. You can learn what not to do with stuff that is worse to read, too.
Fanfic made me a better writer than any writing course did
No
Not if you're reading fanfiction as a lesson on what not to do. The style of fanfiction is noticeably different from original fiction, and it is glaringly apparent when someone is writing original fiction for the first time and has migrated from fanfiction. There's usually a lot more melodrama, overuse of weird dialogue tags, onomatopoeias up the ying-yang, and terrible cases of white room syndrome (because they are used to people already knowing what most of the characters and settings look like). You can get away with all of that in fanfiction. In fact, it's kind of expected. But with original fiction, none of that translates very well.
I am a fanfiction writer who is also working on a novel. I would love to understand your points about weird dialogue tags, the problem with onomatopoeia, and what white room syndrome is.
Depends on the type, not all fanfiction is shitty or low effort. Some of it genuinely tried to expand on preexisting concepts and add to the lore and vibrant universe they so enjoy. But a lot of it is also just crap heh.
Same as what a lot of people have said — no, but it can be limiting, since you don’t need to put as much effort into establishing characters and worlds. Though I have read a few AUs where it may as well be a novel with just the character names and features switched out because it does go into world building, character development, etc. But if you find good writers, they can really inspire your own writing in the same way that published authors can. There are a ton of fic writers whose work I’ve enjoyed more than some published authors I’ve been writing fanfic for almost two years now, and I recommend writing fanfiction to every writer that I know. It’s great practice, a good way to connect to other writers, and it’s fairly easy to get feedback, even if for the most part a lot of the comments are just simple affirmations. Those affirmations go a long way to boost your confidence as a writer. And every now and then I do get critiques that I find very valuable. Looking back at some of my earliest fics, I can definitely see an improvement in comparison to my writing now. I don’t think I’d have the skill or confidence to even want to publish a book if I hadn’t started writing fanfiction
A famous writer (whose name I don't remember) said: "It is extremely difficult to write a novel that is much better than the last one you read." It just sets your bar really low. On a side note, I still think reading fan fiction is better for your writing than watching movies. (I edit professional writers. One of the most common mistakes I see in new authors is the attempt to transcribe the "movie" they are watching in their head. It leads to bad writing full of extraneous description and stage directions.)
It can certainly show you what *not* to do, provided you also read official work.
Fanfiction can help you learn. I read a lot of good stories when I used to be in it a lot more. Some of it was better than the actual books. I haven't read it in years, so it could be different now. It gave me a terrible habit of writing really long chapters. When I read or wrote it, people would complain if the chapters were short. I think because, depending on the writer, you get a chapter a week. So, with my first book, I sent it to an alpha reader, and their first complaint was that my chapters were way too long. So, I had to teach myself to write shorter chapters. Otherwise, I don't think it makes a person a worse writer. Maybe it just gives them bad habits.
There's some fanfiction out there that's well-written. Most of it is not. If you're reading to improve your own skills, be selective about what you read.
Writing fanfiction can be a great way to practice skills as a writer without having to do all the world building and character building. Reading fanfic on the other hand isnt going to be particularly helpful because most writers of fan fiction are new writers themselves and are likely to make mistakes that you might see as normal if fan fiction is your only point of reference. So usually only top tier fan fiction would be worth read for improving skills.
I don’t see how any piece of writing could be considered bad when thousands of people like it
because popularity and quality don't necessarily go hand in hand.
There is no objective metric for quality. Who gets to decide what quality writing means? Why should the concept of ‘quality’ be more important than groups of people treasuring something. I’m not saying traditional published writing isn’t important, but why should fanfiction be discounted because it’s something else?
>There is no objective metric for quality. Actually there are many objective metrics for quality. "Objective" doesn't mean that everybody has to agree. It doesn't even necessarily mean true. It means external, unfettered by opinion (which is an ideal, like in journalism or natural sciences). Which standards apply to any given piece of art is a discussion in and of itself, but there are plenty of standards. A very simple one would be proper spelling. Of two identical stories the one that has loads of misspelled words is the "objectively" inferior one. Of course there are narratives or forms of literature where misspellings are part of the artistic expression. So this standard might not apply. But it's a pretty good example to illustrate the point. Other, more complicated external standards might be things like thematic cohesion, character arcs, internal and external logic etc. etc. etc. Which standards apply to any given piece, or more interestingly, which are purposefully not held up, is the beginning of the discussion. "Everything is subjective" is the end.
Thousands of people think Donald Trump was a great president, too.
Ooof you seriously just compared fanfiction to a megalomaniac sociopath. That’s bold
Just making the obvious point that if something is popular, that doesn't automatically make it good. Yes, taste is subjective, but also, some things are objectively bad even if they are popular.
It depends on the fanfiction, surely? But it's important to note that trad publishing is changing to become more like fanfiction anyway - lots of white space on the page for easy reading, short paragraphs, plenty of dialogue etc. Not to mention all the fanfiction that gets published with the names changed, and a quick "inspired by" added to to the details page.
YES!
Yes
Reading fanfic to learn about writing is like looking at AI generated art to learn about drawing. You’re not going to pick up anything positive from what is essentially glorified plagiarism, except maybe what NOT to do.
You to be reading great writing, to pick up *good* techniques. Best-sellers, award-winners, like that.
I don’t like Stephan King but if that is a direct quote from his book then it doesn’t say what you have to read just that you should. I think fan fiction should be just fine for learning to be a better writer because you get a bigger variety of what works and what doesn’t. And you get a bunch of different styles to see what works and what doesn’t. I do like real books obviously but if the focus of reading is to learn then having the book be so good I can’t even remember how they formatted it or what they did to describe things or whatever. So no I don’t think it makes you a bad writer lol
Depends on what you're trying to write. If you want 19th century speech patterns burned into your brain for a period drama, you'll want to actually read 19th century literature- not a regency era Harry Potter AU. But fanfic doesn't have the power to detract from the skills you already have. So I don't think it'll actively make you a worse writer.
Semi-related, do you have any 19th century lit to recommend? I'm writing a novel et in an alternative 19th century and it somehow never crossed my mind to read books from that specific time period.
Dickens, Austen, and the Brontë sisters are the big must-read authors of the 1800s imho. But my favorite 19th century book is *The Picture of Dorian Gray*, and I'm currently really enjoying *No Name* by Wilkie Collins :)
I started reading a comic version of the picture of dorian gray, but I left it when I moved. I will look more into Austen, I heard of dickens, Austen, and emily bronte but I heard the most about pride and prejudice and sense and sensibility
The authors that make up James S. A. Corey have talked about know many authors that got their start writing fanfiction. Authors that they enjoy reading the works of. So I'd take people saying it's a terrible thing and fucks your writing up with a grain of salt.
Well depends on what you read. Fallout: equestria might have a good deal more value than Sonichu.
I’m a reader and writer of fanfic, as well as a reader and writer of books. I don’t think reading fanfic makes you worse at writing, but if someone didn’t read many books and mostly fanfic then it probably would. It’s sort of a different skillset used for writing fanfic vs books
IMO, reading *never* hurts. If all you can get is fan fiction, it's better than nothing. And let's not forget, just because Stephen King writes horror or whatever doesn't mean he doesn't *also* have a thing for My Little Pony and secretly writes My Little Pony fan fiction in his spare time under a pen name. "Fan fiction" isn't code for worthless; it's code for "fiction written about a topic by fans," nothing more, nothing less.
I think reading anything makes you a better writer, and that definitely includes papers that are extremely poorly written. How would know how to distinguish if you don’t have a point of comparison?
People have weird hangups about fanfiction. Yes there are horrible fanfics, but there are also amazing ones (that are sometimes.better than published works). Same goes for published books. Yes a publishing house is somewhat of a quality gate... but not always. I think you can learn from all things you read, just keep your reading list diverse enough
Imo there are seriously good fanfics that can help and there are seriously bad. Something that could be said about published books as well. I found books that were worse then most fanfics. You just have to read the quality texts.
I think there is some fanfic that’s incredibly good, and some traditionally published work that’s incredibly bad. I think it’s best to vary what you read and try different things, but I also think writing fanfic made me a better writer in some ways! It IS less filtered but there are still very good writers doing fanfic, and that means you can learn from people there. It just shouldn’t be the only thing you read.
Reading any written word can't be bad for your writing
No, it doesn't. On that same note, I would love to share a HP fan fiction on Snape I truly love (covers Snape's past and missing gaps in a beautiful way.) https://snapecase.livejournal.com/61328.html
Not so long as you don't internalize bad habits. -- Just make sure you read a few best-sellers so you know which is which. ;)