User blog:RRabbit42/Embrace, don't chase: Getting your fan fiction accepted

So you've got your idea for a character or story you want to be a part of a show or movie or book series that you like. You want to share it with the world. But you do and you get stomped on because of it. Why does this happen?

Some of it comes how you share it and some of it comes from what administrators have to deal with. Before we get to the first, let's cover the second.

What administrators deal with
Administrators have to deal with a wide variety of people on their wikis. There's the ones that have a lot of knowledge on the subject and can fill in a lot of details. There's the ones that don't know as much, but they're enthusiastic and passionate about the subject. There's the brand new people who have just learned about it and will make a few mistakes, but that's okay.

One of the most noticable types of people admins have to deal with are the ones that want to harm a wiki: vandals and trolls. The reasons why they do it vary, with a few of them being summed up in a snarky manner as:


 * "I want to be a jerk and you're the lucky ones that get to watch me do it."
 * "I don't like something and I'm going to make sure everyone knows it."
 * "Let's see how many people I can get upset and run around in a panic."
 * "I don't like how things are going in my life so I'm going to take it out on others."
 * "I've got a point to make and I'm going to keep making it until I force it down everyone's throats."
 * "I'm going to keep adding what I want no matter what anyone else says."
 * "I want to be the authority on this subject and I won't let anyone who says differently stop me."

But one of the more subtle tactics vandals and trolls use is false information. That's when they add or change something that they know is wrong. In short, they lie about it. For example, they change the date of when a movie was released.

One of the core ideas of wikis is "assume good faith". It means give people the benefit of the doubt and don't think that every poor edit is a deliberate attempt to harm a wiki. Going along with that is an expectation not many people are aware of: Most of us expect that when someone makes an edit, they're telling the truth.

An occasional lie may not be a big deal. A person could be playing around or just making it up. Repeated false information, repeated lying, is a big deal. That's what makes it vandalism. That's how they harm a wiki, by deliberately lying more than to be just happenstance or telling a tale.

There's further harm that is a side effect of this. If the false information is not spotted and it stays on the page long enough, people may believe it's the truth. Removing false information that's been there for months or years may take a lot of time and research to identify that it's false information.

What if your fan fiction isn't well received?
If you stop by and add your fan fiction character or story to a wiki, it will probably get removed or deleted. You might even get blocked as a result of it. You feel pretty bad because you didn't mean any harm by it. You just wanted to share what you made.

Well, as you can see, there's a few reasons why an admin might react harshly to what you do. They might jump to the conclusion that you did it deliberately as false information. Maybe they've had to deal with a lot of it recently and you just happened to stop by at the wrong time. Maybe there's some other reason, but the result is you get stomped on and you start to think, "Maybe I shouldn't do this any more."

If this happens, then you need to keep reading to see what you can improve so it's more likely to be better received.

Don't go charging in
If you want to add something you created, don't go charging in and just add it. The first thing to do is to find out how a wiki handles fan fiction. At the top of the wiki, click on the Search bar and type in the following:
 * fan fiction        (or fanfic or fanon)
 * Category:Help
 * Category:Polic

For that last one, stop typing after you get to the last letter C so that the search suggestions can check to see if there is a "Policy" or "Policies" category. You can also search for FAQ or Frequently Asked Questions to see if there's any information there.

Look through whatever comes up to find out what the wiki has decided to do about fan fiction. They may want it tagged in a certain way to clearly identify it as fan fiction. They may want to keep it separate from the official information so they created a separate wiki just for fan fiction and fan art. Or maybe they don't want it at all.

If you don't get an answer amongst the help or policy pages, ask an administrator. You can find them by going to the Special:Listusers/sysop page. Look for the ones that have edited recently and leave a message for them.

Keep it separate
For wikis that haven't split fan fiction off to a different one or haven't banned it outright, they usually want to keep fan fiction separate from facts about that subject. For example, they will have a page about a character with information that's from the episodes or movies and separate pages for anything that's fan fiction.

If you go to the page about that character and add your fan fiction but you don't say it's fan fiction, technically that's false information. It's probably going to get removed with no explanation other than the standard "Undo revision 12345 by YourUserName" message that's filled in when someone clicks on the Undo button.

A better place to put your fan fiction is in a blog. It's generally allowed that you can put whatever you want in there as long as it doesn't violate the wiki's rules and policies. To get there, move your mouse over your avatar at the top of the page, then click on View Profile and then click on the Blog button.

You'll be able to start a new blog there and you can add your fan fiction character or story idea. If you put a check mark in the "Commenting" box, people can leave comments on it and they might be able to help you out with it.

See Where fan fiction is welcomed for a list of some wikis that are specifically made for fan fiction.

Accept it's fan fiction
Be ready to accept that it's fan fiction. The fact that you came up with something on your own is okay. It's good because it shows you like that subject. You're adapting the story and characters that someone else created to be what you want. It's where we get all inventions: adapting what has come before for a new purpose.

Where it stops being okay is if you dig your heels in and start doing things like insisting it's real and true, especially after people point out that it isn't. The ones that get stubborn are the ones that start getting treated as vandals because they're doing the same thing as point numbers five and six above: trying to force their fan fiction on everyone else.

Your fan fiction character or story can be real and true to you because you created it. It's just not an official part of that "world" or "universe". You can still share what you created. It will simply be in a different area than the official information. If there isn't a place for it on the wiki you went to, you might need to create your own wiki so you can post what you made.

What you don't want to happen is being forced into admitting it's fan fiction. The people who are stubborn and keep insisting their stories are real are the ones that often have to be backed into a corner to get them to stop. They keep at it until an administrator has no choice but to block them and then they're mad because of how they were treated. You'll get a better response if you'll work with people and be honest about your stories.

When it reaches the point where a block had to be set, it has another effect: even if they do happen to have a valid reason for saying something or would make a good edit, it can be rejected simply because they're the ones saying it. It goes past the point of "the boy who cried wolf" to "we don't even want to hear what the boy is saying any more, even if it isn't about wolves". That often happens at a point where they really do want people to listen to them because they do have a valid reason, but they burned through their chances of being heard and now no one wants to listen to them. (This is covered in more detail in Things that damage your fan fiction.)

Don't let it get you down
The advice in the section above has ways you can prevent this, but beyond that, not everyone's going to like what you create. Some are going to be really mean about it and it will hurt. But people like that don't create anything themselves. They only spread what we already have too much of: hatred, anger, fear, bigotry, distrust, small-mindedness. Things like that.

There will also be people that don't seem to like what you create but you can actually learn from them. They'll offer constructive criticism or identify plot holes or flaws you missed. Take the mistakes they point out and learn how to improve and fix them.

When you get in situations like this, read or listen to something inspirational. The song Try Everything is specifically about persevering when things get rough. "Nobody learns without getting it wrong."

Wait for your audience
"Waiting for your audience" doesn't mean you go from wiki to wiki, spamming your fan fiction. That's not trying to gain exposure so more people will see it, especially when the other wikis have nothing to do with the subject of what you made. That's a form of trying to force your point on everyone.

It's also a common tactic I've seen vandals use. "I got blocked on this wiki? I'll just go to a new one and keep doing the same thing there." That sends the message that they're ignoring the rules. Any hope they have of people listening to them gets drowned out by doing the same behavior that got them blocked elsewhere.

"Wait for your audience" means realizing that what you make probably isn't going to be a smash hit the moment you post it. People may not see it for a very long time. So one of the best things you can do is make what you make for yourself. Don't do it because you have to have people tell you they like it. Getting positive feedback is great and gives you a boost. But if you're dependent upon it, it will never be enough. You'll always be trying to please other people.

Realize that most "overnight" successes are the result of many years of hard work. Realize that some of the most famous authors have received numerous rejection letters. Realize that if your story or character idea doesn't work the first time, maybe they will work better in a different setting or story.

Stick with it, make what you want for your own enjoyment, and if others also enjoy it, so much the better.

Fan fiction spam
Most people don't like seeing spam on websites or in their email. Be careful that sharing your fan fiction doesn't become spam, which can then become vandalism. You can do this by thinking a little bit about where you share it.

Let's say you've got a story about Star Trek and you go to a wiki about the sport Rugby. Is that an appropriate place to share your story? If the characters don't play Rugby in your Star Trek story, then no, it wouldn't be.

What if they do play Rugby in your story? Then take a look at how important Rugby is to your story. Is it just something they happen to do that you mention in passing, or is it a major part of the story? If it's not an important plot element or character arc in your story, then it probably doesn't belong on that wiki.

But let's say you do have a Star Trek story where Rugby is important to the story so it looks like it would fit in with a wiki about Rugby. Before you add it, see "Don't go charging in" at the top of the page. That wiki still might not be a good place to add your fan fiction.

A really good place to add your fan fiction is on wikis where it is specifically allowed. See Where fan fiction is welcomed for more information.

Learn how to do it better
Nobody is going to make a perfect story or a perfect character the first time they try. Nobody instantly becomes the next Michael Jordan the first time they touch a basketball. Nobody instantly becomes the next J. K. Rowling the moment they pick up a pen. Nobody becomes the next Pablo Picasso the first time they pick up a paintbrush.

The first things you make will be wrong and flawed, and as you get older and your skills develop, you may cringe as you look at your early efforts. The DeviantArt website regularly holds "Draw This Again" challenges. I'll point to this one as an example of someone who only started learning to draw in 2012, but progressed enough after a year that she was willing to redraw a picture from fifteen years before. It's a dramatic difference how much she improved.

If you're an artist, keep a sketchbook that you don't show to anyone else. That way, you can draw whatever you want without being hindered by what others think. If you're a writer, write a story that you never let anyone else read so you can cover any topic you want for the same reason.

Writers need to study the work of other writers. Same goes with actors, athletes, doctors, scriptwriters, songwriters, singers and musicians for other people in their fields. No one learns without learning from what came before. It's why we go to classes. We adapt what we see and use it in new ways.

If you write something, get a beta reader. This is the person who is going to give you that constructive criticism so you can learn to do it better. They need to avoid gushing over what you made because if all they say is "it's perfect", you won't learn how to make it better. The idea of a beta reader also applies to those other creative fields as well. "You're doing good, but you need to work on X, Y and Z."

Fill in the Edit Summary box
This applies to more than just fan fiction. A good way you can show you've got good intentions is to put the reason why you're making an edit in the Edit Summary box. That way, if you make a mistake or what you add isn't allowed, others will know you aren't doing it to hurt the wiki and they'd be more willing to give you an explanation of what needs to be changed.

Recap
To wrap this up, I'll recap the points:
 * 1) Find out how a wiki handles fan fiction before you add it.
 * 2) Keep it separate from the factual information.
 * 3) Embrace that it's fan fiction. Don't try to force it to be real because that will backfire on you.
 * 4) Not everyone will like what you create, but don't let it get you down.
 * 5) Don't spam your fan fiction. Let people find it in the appropriate places.
 * 6) Take time to learn how to do it better.
 * 7) Putting a reason in the Edit Summary box helps others understand why you made an edit.

And finally, I've come up with common mistakes in fan fiction. These are things that make it easy to spot what you're writing is fan fiction. Use them to learn how to do it better.