We’re used to fandom not being taken seriously. Even those of us who engage in fanfic get used to thinking of it as a hobby. Of lesser value because even if we value the words we read and write, we know that they can never be worth money.
We have been taught by society and by formal education to regard the printed word as an authority. We’ve been taught that being a Published Writer means that you are better, because your words are worth money. We are taught, by implication, that fanfiction has a ceiling on how valuable it can ever be, how seriously it can ever be taken.
But any reader of stories can tell you that that’s not the truth. The value of a story doesn’t lie in the decision of a publisher, or how much money the readers are willing to give you, or how many times your work has been quoted by an academic or critic. Your writing stands on its own, with its own intrinsic value, authority, gravitas, influence, inspiration.
And I want you to know that if you have ever seen my name in the kudos or comments on one of your stories, if I have ever praised you to your face or behind your back, or recommended you to anyone: it is because you, personally, are EVERY BIT AS GOOD as any published writer I have ever read.
It’s because you, personally, did not lose a single stitch compared to any writer I’ve ever read when I read your work and filed it into my mental bookshelves. I compliment liberally, but never dishonestly. And if I have complimented you, then it’s because so far as I’m concerned, the only thing standing between you and worthiness for publication is copyright law.
I just want you all to understand what I mean when I tell you that you’re ‘good.’