Ivyblossom is having a mini-debate over on her tumblr about the whys of writing fanfic after an anon asked a question about editing. Go over there to see the whole thing and put this quote in context, but this bit struck me:
“I think when writing for fun and love like this is, you need to let…
Well, fundamentally it’s all good. Ivy’s right: when it comes to fanfic, you write what you love, the way you love it. If you’re the ‘splat it onto the page’ type, then good for you! If you’re the ‘labor over every sentence with the obsession of Michelangelo” then also excellent!
Personally, I have two different operating modes for fanfic (and also for my art). Sometimes I take the very intuitive, organic ‘splat with maybe some minimal editing’ approach. Sometimes I take the carefully crafted approach, poring obsessively over my story with my betas till I’m satisfied. The amount of work I’m willing to put into the latter varies arbitrarily, though. Sometimes I won’t stop till I get a sentence exactly the way I want it. Other times, I work on it till I’m bored and decide that good enough is good enough.
I don’t plan which I’ll use. There seems to be a pattern to it that has to do with the nature of the story, but I’m still not sure what that pattern is. Frankly, I tend to think my shorter, less planned works turn out better. I have a tendency to over-engineer my art and writing if I let myself at it too much, and I think it ends up feeling less natural and emotional. But it is what it is. I’ve been writing and drawing for long enough to know that fighting my process is not going to end well, though I continue to have dreams of managing to merge the two approaches.
Pennypaperbrain: On taking fic Very Seriously