Meta - 6 Ways That Fanfiction Makes Your Writing Stronger

[sakura_no_miko]

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....