You can develop your fiction writing skills through all sorts of experiences, and (contrary to some advice floating around on social media) you don’t have to have a specialized degree to learn to be a great writer of any kind. Communication skills are part and parcel in many fields, including the STEM industries, education, journalism, and any kind of administrative and white collar work that involves the all mighty pen (or computer!). And as you’re honing your skills at work, you’re also developing skills that will make you a better fiction writer. But today, we’ll talk about what can you learn through the casual writing hobby known as fanfiction.
Fanfiction, usually spelled as one word or affectionately referred to as “fanfic,” is defined as creative writing inspired by pre-existing media, whether it be books, television shows, games, films, or toy and media brands. In our age of longstanding franchises like Star Wars, Disney films, and the Marvel and DC comic book universes, it isn’t surprising that many people are drawn to creating their own stories based on their favorite characters and worlds.
Notable respected and award-winning science fiction and fantasy writers have also had their start writing fanfiction. Nebula and Mythopoeic Fantasy Award-winning author Naomi Novik, for example, is also the founder of fanworks website “Archive of Our Own.” Other famous writers, such as Hugo Award-winning fantasy writer Seanan McGuire, “New York Times”-bestselling author Lev Grossman, and bestselling queen of YA fiction Meg Cabot, have also talked about their past dabblings in fanfiction before writing their own original works.
Even if you have no experience writing or creating fanworks, there is still a lot to learn from fanfiction writing culture that you can apply to your “original fic.”
1. Fall in love with your romantic tropes
While romance is its own genre and market with a specific set of standards, fanfiction writing culture has adapted the romance genre’s tropes and applied them to stories about superheroes, manga and anime stars, battle-hardened warriors, and space adventurers. Since most pre-existing media tends to focus heavily on the action of the story, a lot of space is left in the margins for fanfiction writers to speculate on the more emotional side of their characters.
Hence, in fanfiction culture, readers get addicted to reading the romantic tropes about their favorite pairing (also known as their “ship” — short for “relationship”). In fact, some tropes have become so common in fanfiction, they have increased in popularity for genre books of all types. Some...
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