Meta - 6 Ways That Fanfiction Makes Your Writing Stronger

6 Ways That Fanfiction makes Your Writing Stronger by Vivian Shaw

Well, this is a list article, so picking one quote is hard...

Except.

Here's the last point:

Critique

Following on from reaction, perhaps the most important thing you can learn from writing fic is how to take criticism. The critique you receive from commenters may not actually be of any practical use—but that doesn’t mean a slew of omg I love this! comments don’t have their value. It’s enormously different from the kind of feedback you can expect to receive on original fiction: at best, you’ll get to meet with your class or writing group once or twice a week, perhaps, and read part of a story, and get the reaction of a handful of people who are required to give you their responses. When you put your fic up on the internet, literally anyone who has access can read it and tell you what they like and don’t like, or that you suck and should feel terrible, or that you changed their life. It’s a completely different paradigm, and it allows you, the writer, the opportunity of practice in deciding how and when you want to pay attention to your critics.

...which, ah. I've seen waaaaay too much con/crit wank lately to take this the way the author intends. Ideally, yes, you can get criticism that helps you, but realistically...yeah....

Meta - What Defines a "Good" or "Bad" Adaptation?

What Defines a "Good" or "Bad" Adaptation? by Amber Troska

To hope that a favorite novel or story will come directly to life via moving pictures is something we keep clinging to—but it never really does, not in the way I think many fans desire and demand. Some of the most faithful adaptations are often failures, mostly because of the soullessness that can occur when creators are unable to bring their own vision to the material; attempting to reproduce someone else’s work has got to drain some of the magic out of the whole process, leaving a vacuum. Meanwhile, others make additions, edits, and eliminations that certain hardcore fans hate but that most people accept as necessary, like those made in the Lord of the Rings trilogy or the Harry Potter films (and while they aren’t SFF, I’d add most classic literature adaptations to this pile as well).

And what does it mean when we say that an adaptation is “better” than the original? Is it still an adaptation, or is it something separate and new?

This could totally be a discussion post in and of itself.