A recent post in WBA got me thinking: the new guy there mentioned that DLP has one of the highest ratios of writers to active members.

I ask you, DLP: who here just reads fanfiction? There aren't many members I've seen who have never dabbled, even a little. At least, not many I can name off the top of my head.

Do you read, or do you read and write?

Is there anyone here who writes fanfiction, but doesn't read any?

 

I sincerely doubt that you'll find someone who only writes Fanfiction, though crazier things have happened.

 

Yup. I doubt it, but I thought I'd add it as an option, just in case. There might be aspiring writers out there who're using it as a means of practice writing, but without much interest in the fandom, I suppose.

And there's always LessWrong. If he doesn't read the actual books, I doubt he'll have bothered to read fanfiction, haha.

 

I totally thought of him when I saw that option, though I seem to remember him going gay for Joe's Wastelands of Time.

 

DLP's good at getting people to take the leap from reading to writing. The Thank God You're Here threads, WbA being a middle step between writing something and putting it on FFN, encouragement via IRC... hell, not to toot my own horn, but Clouds (my first fanfiction to actually get read by anyone else) came around because I was the one that was left holding the group-made bunny when a conversation on IRC about Luna wound up.

 

Lol, looks like I inspired a thread. Judging by the replies thus far, I'd say I was right.

 

I know I've heard several people mention that they used to read a lot of fanfiction, but while they still write it, they read much less frequently.

I'm the same, though I think I still read quite a bit, it doesn't consume my every waking moment like it did when I first found "the good stuff". With very few exceptions, I've already read the majority of the good stories (without resorting to trolling FFN recently updated), and only have the updates to catch up on

 

I read and write, as my own attempts in WBA can a test to. I realized that while a spent a few weeks writing what hasn't been posted I tended to read a whole lot less, I think because of lack of time.

Also, there was one profile I read somewhere that stated the author only wrote fanfiction, but didn't read it. I think it was somewhere in the Eva genre. I didn't believe them, though. I find it hard to not at one point actually read the fandom you're writing in, or at least start reading it before writing it.

 

I read (a lot) and write (less than I read). I've just never published anything on DLP.

 

This.

I used to read a ton of fanfiction, but now I spend much more time writing than I do reading. There are only a few fics I still follow regularly and I don't look to find as many new ones unless they come very highly recommended.

Maybe I'm just self centered, I don't know, but I'd rather spend my time making my fic stand up to my own standards. And on that note, the more I've written the more I've had trouble finding fics that were well written enough for me to stand.

 

Question: People that write and edit their shit to get better...do you find yourself seeing the same mistakes in other people's works and that turns you off to the fic? In essence, does writing fanfiction to improve raise your standards in what you read?

Could that be why DLP has such higher standards, since most of the regular posters have risen-standards because they write? Maybe not completely but it may play in as a factor.

 

Yeah. For me that's exactly what's happened. My standards have definitely gone up since I started writing.

 

Definitely.

It seems like every time I write something, I go through some kind of reading renaissance. Just simply working with actual writing mechanics really helps you realise when someone is doing it wrong.

Hell, it was that way when I wrote shitty Naruto fanfiction, and it was the same when I wrote slightly less shitty Harry Potter fanfiction. And, while I haven't published any of my recent attempts online, they've all taught me a little bit more about the craft.

And because I simply know more than I did before, it's harder to ignore any shortcomings in someone else's work.

So, yes, I definitely think it's a factor in DLP's high standards, though not the only one.

 

I was a huge reader way back when, anything and everything under the sun was enough for me as long as it fit in whatever criteria I was into at the time - Harry/Daphne, Harry/blah blah, Harry being an Auror, Harry being blah blah.

I started writing, had my first crappy story written and fully posted a month later. I rode that wave for a bit, but then I made the mistake of going back into reading and realising that I can whore out reviews if I hit popular targets: Harry/Daphne and comedy. My second story sits in the DLP Trash Bin on 1.75 for a fucking reason, and I promptly stopped writing it as soon as I could. I vowed to either write something fucking good, or not bother.

So I read. I read DLP fics. They influenced the heck out of me, and after wasting about 100,000 words of failed fics, I spun out Breach of Contract's outline and started writing it a few months later, deliberately avoiding fics of a similar nature to read. Now that that's over, I'm back to sporadic reading in between writing.

It's an interesting thing, how both influence the other and the ratio can change at the drop of the hat. Reading so many crappy stories made me think I could do better, and my first story happened. Reading so many crappy Harry/Daphne stories and thinking I could capitalise on that craze gave us my second story. Reading actual good DLP fics strove me to make something at least on a DLP 3-star level that I could be proud of and that I hadn't read before, and I'd like to think I succeeded with my third story.

Now? I'll read. Try to get some inspiration and enjoy what I read along the way. Then, I'll write. Not just for whoring - I think I'm past that. I'll write for the sake of it, the feeling of creating shit and enjoying the creation of that shit. And I'll write what I haven't really read before. The ratio will probably never be consistent.

TL;DR: It varies, but I've done more reading in my time and are probably better at that than writing.

 

I read, and only read, for now. I've always wanted to write, but never had an idea grab me enough. Someday, someone will post something in the plot bunny thread, or even the TGYH thread, and I'll get to have my own person happy fun time getting my first attempt at whatever it is I write torn to shreds by the helpful folks here at DLP.

I look forward to that day.

 

This is going to sound pretentious since I only have roughly 8000w online and they're on the 2 side of 3 stars, but I have also found that I pick up on mistakes more than I used to. Just small things, a superfluous sentence there, an inconsistency there.

It seems that every little bit helps when it comes to conquering the fandom.

But more than that, after I found DLP I started to actually care about them a lot more. Before I started posting I only cared about finding an entertaining story, now I want a well written entertaining story.

Now that I actually write rather than just read, I do read fanfic much less than I used to.

 

You need more options...I mostly just read, but I tried my hand at writing once. Quickly gave that up, however.

 

I stopped reading fanfiction a few months ago, and only kept up with Joe's updates. If I read something it's just a short first chapter in WBA, only to drop a comment. 98% of the time, I'm writing.

 

I write and read.

I remember times when I could spend all day searching for good HP fics, but once I found DLP (and it was because you managed to make author of Knowledge is Power to abandon his fic and I liked it, but fortunately DLP library helped me to get over it) I stopped and basically read only fics that are written here or someone post them in review section.

That said, sometimes I spend few hours trying to find good Naruto fanfiction but mostly without good results.

 

Similar to IdSayWhyNot, there was a brief period where I was only writing and following one story (Prince of the Dark Kingdom). I'd lost interest in searching for new fics, and it wasn't until I came to DLP that I found more (and better) things to read. I still don't search for new fics though, I just check out WbA and For Review when something new is posted.