Nearsighted and anxiously paranoid

To clarify, I don’t mean this in a “wah fanfiction isn’t real writing” kind of way, because I don’t believe that. I genuinely believe fanfiction deserves to be celebrated in that it speaks directly to a community instead of through a corporate branding filter.

What I mean by this is that I’ve noticed a trend where, when there is a discussion about writing, the conversation almost always defaults to writing fanfiction and not just the standard practice that is creative writing. For example, the reason I wanted to write about this was because I just saw a basic poll on a non-fandom focused poll blog that asked “How long have you been writing fanfiction?” which is fine, except I am a writer who does not write fanfiction.

I write original fiction, and I’ve been writing original fiction for a very long time. This is not me trying to act superior, this is me just pointing out that there is a technical and very small division that is bothering me.

Granted, the asker could have been asking very specifically for fanfiction, but since there was no specified reason as to why they were asking, it’s hard to really say whether they meant fanfiction or whether they’ve forgotten that the art of writing encompasses more than just fanfiction, which is what I perceive to happen multiple times within this community.

This is not the only instance in which we can see this division. A lot of times when fanfic writers talk about writing, they are defaulting to talking about writing “fanfics” in a way that makes it seem like they forget that other forms of fiction writing exists, too.

I don’t see this as an intentional exclusion, but it’s something I can’t help but notice around these circles I like to participate in, so I’d like to point out that a lot of the writing advice that runs rampant throughout this community, though it usually specifies fanfiction, can be applied to almost any form of writing. If you are writing a fanfiction, you are already writing!

Listen, whether you write fanfiction, original fiction, non-fiction, scripts, or even poetry, we are all writers. We love writing, we love to talk about writing, and we want to share our writing among ourselves as a caste of people who understand each other, despite our individual focuses. All I’m saying is I’d like to have a little more camaraderie with fanfiction writers.

"The America I loved still exists, if not in the White House or the Supreme Court or the Senate or the House of Representatives or the media. The America I love still exists at the front desks of our public libraries."

1. Check that you have good access to shade trees, a shelter custom made to fit you and all your friends, and plenty of good airflow

2. Find the hottest, sunniest, and least windy part of you pasture and lay down

3. Make sure you look as much as possible like you have died of heatstroke

4. Get your friends in on it

req'd by @onyourstageleft

I'm imagining the young lord as a muppet

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