(no subject)

[coraa]

One of the arguments against fanfiction that I understand the least goes something like this:

"But if you just file the serial numbers off, you can submit it to market!"

or:

"But writing fanfic doesn't give you the practice you need for writing professionally because you don't learn how to [make your own characters | make your own world | plot properly].

or, what it all boils down to:

"But why would you write something that you couldn't ever sell?"

Well.

Why do people draw, paint, cook, garden, make jewelry, sew clothing, knit, crochet, play card games, throw pots, sing in the shower, dance, play racquetball, ride their bike, birdwatch, hike, swim, go camping, play the guitar... when they aren't going to do it professionally? When they will not earn a single red cent, and in fact may spend quite a bit?

Because it's fun.

And, you know, I hope someday to be a published author, and I support authors making money on their works.

But the idea that there's no purpose to writing besides to sell what you write? That's pretty depressing, isn't it?

Sometimes people write things because it's fun. Radical thought!

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[janni.livejournal.com]

Why do people draw, paint, cook, garden, make jewelry, sew clothing, knit, crochet, play card games, throw pots, sing in the shower, dance, play racquetball, ride their bike, birdwatch, hike, swim, go camping, play the guitar... when they aren't going to do it professionally? When they will not earn a single red cent, and in fact may spend quite a bit

That, right there, is the thing I realized some years back that entirely changed my attitude about fanfic.

I was doing things as hobbies I never planned to make a penny off of, things that I wanted to be hobbies, never mind who else makes a career of them.

Why shouldn't writing fill the exact same role for someone else that my hobbies did for me?