{"id":316,"date":"2014-09-25T00:56:14","date_gmt":"2014-09-25T00:56:14","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.dracoandginnyblog.com\/?p=316"},"modified":"2014-09-25T00:56:14","modified_gmt":"2014-09-25T00:56:14","slug":"the-manifesto-yay","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.dracoandginnyblog.com\/?p=316","title":{"rendered":"The Manifesto, Yay"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"fcbkbttn_buttons_block\" id=\"fcbkbttn_left\"><div class=\"fcbkbttn_button\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<a href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/\" target=\"_blank\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/www.dracoandginnyblog.com\/wp-content\/plugins\/facebook-button-plugin\/images\/standard-facebook-ico.png\" alt=\"Fb-Button\" \/>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/a>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div><div class=\"fcbkbttn_like \"><fb:like href=\"http:\/\/www.dracoandginnyblog.com\/?p=316\" action=\"like\" colorscheme=\"light\" layout=\"standard\"  width=\"225px\" size=\"small\"><\/fb:like><\/div><\/div><div id=\"fb-root\"><\/div>\n<script>(function(d, s, id) {\n  var js, fjs = d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0];\n  if (d.getElementById(id)) return;\n  js = d.createElement(s); js.id = id;\n  js.src = \"\/\/connect.facebook.net\/en_US\/all.js#xfbml=1\";\n  fjs.parentNode.insertBefore(js, fjs);\n}(document, 'script', 'facebook-jssdk'));<\/script>\n<script>!function(d,s,id){var js,fjs=d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0];if(!d.getElementById(id)){js=d.createElement(s);js.id=id;js.src=\"\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\";fjs.parentNode.insertBefore(js,fjs);}}(document,\"script\",\"twitter-wjs\");<\/script>\n<script type=\"text\/javascript\">\n  (function() {\n    var po = document.createElement('script'); po.type = 'text\/javascript'; po.async = true;\n    po.src = 'https:\/\/apis.google.com\/js\/plusone.js';\n    var s = document.getElementsByTagName('script')[0]; s.parentNode.insertBefore(po, s);\n  })();\n<\/script>\n<div class=\"soma-buttons soma-alignleft soma-valigntop soma-basic\">\n  <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/share\" class=\"twitter-share-button\" data-url=\"http:\/\/www.dracoandginnyblog.com\/?p=316\" data-text=\"The Manifesto, Yay \" data-via=\"\" data-size=\"\" data-related=\"\" data-hashtags=\"\" data-count=\"none\" data-counturl=\"http:\/\/www.dracoandginnyblog.com\/?p=316\">Tweet<\/a>\n<g:plusone size=\"medium\" annotation=\"none\" href=\"http:\/\/www.dracoandginnyblog.com\/?p=316\"><\/g:plusone>\n<script src=\"\/\/platform.linkedin.com\/in.js\" type=\"text\/javascript\"><\/script>\n<script type=\"IN\/Share\" data-url=\"http:\/\/www.dracoandginnyblog.com\/?p=316\" data-counter=\"none\"><\/script>\n<a href=\"\/\/pinterest.com\/pin\/create\/button\/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.dracoandginnyblog.com%2F%3Fp%3D316&media=&description=The Manifesto, Yay \" class=\"pin-it-button\" count-layout=\"none\">Pin It<\/a>\n<script type=\"text\/javascript\" src=\"\/\/assets.pinterest.com\/js\/pinit.js\"><\/script>\n<div class=\"fb-like\" data-href=\"http:\/\/www.dracoandginnyblog.com\/?p=316\" data-send=\"false\" data-layout=\"standard\" data-width=\"50\" data-show-faces=\"false\" data-font=\"arial\"><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p>SHORT MANIFESTO<\/p>\n<p>\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Hi! I\u2019m Anise. (waves)<\/p>\n<p>I\u2019ve been writing fanfic for a <em>long <\/em>time. When I started, I\u2019d just had FOUR (count \u2018em, four) original novels rejected. This was before Kindle, before Amazon, before any kind of realistic option to self-publish online\u2026 and thank GOD, I at least had enough common sense to not go old school and self-publish in print. (Unless you were writing niche non-fiction, that was almost always a BAD, bad idea.) Fanfic really brought me back to writing fiction at a point when I seriously never thought I would do it again. And I\u2019ve come to realize a few things over time.<\/p>\n<p>\u00a0<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Fanfic teaches writing like NO other resource I know of. Authors who don\u2019t write fanfic, who\u2019ve never written it, and who\u2019ve never been part of a fandom community have missed out on so much. I\u2019ve seen this over and over and over again in F2F groups. They may be great technical writers, but they have rarely been taught how to tell a story. Fanfic writers get this (especially if they\u2019ve been around long enough\u2026) And it\u2019s for one simple reason. We\u2019ve been \u201cwriting\u201d for about 7,000 years. We\u2019ve been telling stories as long as we\u2019ve been human. And the last \u201coriginal\u201d story was probably told by Ug the Caveperson in front of the campfire about 75,000 years ago. All writing is fanfic because all storytelling is fanfic, and as fanfic writers, we tell stories to each other. So are constantly perfecting what our brains have evolved to do\u2014there are even theories that human consciousness itself evolved through storytelling! And we\u2019ve learned how to tell these stories.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>\u00a0<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Fanfic communities are unlike any other in their quality of support and encouragement. We write together, read together, and cheer each other on! We\u2019re united by a common love of writing, reading, and creativity, and while it all starts with a specific fandom, that\u2019s really just the beginning. The ethos of fanfic communities is the key to supporting writers, creating a learning and growing atmosphere for all of us.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>\u00a0<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>And, oh yeah\u2026 Your work in fanfic holds the secret to success with your original writing. THE secret and THE key. Understand, this doesn\u2019t come first. The writing and the support come first. And it doesn\u2019t work automatically; we don\u2019t reach readers with our original fics simply because we wrote fanfic first. There will be MANY essays on this secret, based on all the time I\u2019ve ever spent in publishing and writers\u2019 groups, all the weird marketing attempts I\u2019ve ever seen, all the desperate writers who couldn\u2019t figure out why things weren\u2019t working for them\u2026 all the techniques that failed\u2026 and the secret of what finally worked. No, I\u2019m not going to tell you what it is right now!! Wait for the essays. And the podcasts. And we\u2019ll all work it out together, too. J A big part of the secret is that \u201cmarketing\u201d and \u201cselling\u201d have to come LAST (and it\u2019s a whole lot better to never think in those terms at all.) That\u2019s not what works. We are here to write and to support each other.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>\u00a0<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Finally, I want to help authors who are ready to go with their ofic work (or ononfic!) This isn\u2019t something I\u2019ve really seen before, especially in the context of everything else we do. Ofic authors will have their own page, links to find and buy their work, their own podcast, and so on and on.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>But this is NOT self-promotion. I will say that I really need writers to not go over the top with self promos and to keep them limited on this site, and it\u2019s BECAUSE we do this very labor-intensive thing that will help you. If you have writing ready to go\/already published\/about to be published, then help us to help you.<\/p>\n<p>Apply for our help. There will be a special thread and an application process\u2014we need to know if the writing\u2019s any good and we need to be sure that authors are the real thing.<\/p>\n<p>\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>I have never seen this process really happen on another site, and I think it\u2019s desperately needed.<\/p>\n<p>\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>I guess that overall, I have a dream. I want to do something a little different from what I really see any other writing site doing. More than anything else, I want a writing site that brings in all the strengths of fanfic, acknowledges them, and knows that the last thing ON EARTH or in the universe a writer should do as they move into original writing is to \u201cleave fanfic behind.\u201d We have to bring the strengths, the unique qualities, of fanfic and fandoms into our original work\u2026 and into sharing that work with a larger audience.<\/p>\n<p>\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>We are a community. We bring everything we are as fandom communities into original writing. And those are priceless gifts, indescribably valuable qualities, in every way imaginable. We have the potential to create something unique. And with your help\u2026 we can do it!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Tweet Pin It SHORT MANIFESTO \u00a0 Hi! I\u2019m Anise. (waves) I\u2019ve been writing fanfic for a long time. When I started, I\u2019d just had FOUR (count \u2018em, four) original novels rejected. This was before Kindle, before Amazon, before any kind &hellip; <a href=\"http:\/\/www.dracoandginnyblog.com\/?p=316\">Continue reading <span class=\"meta-nav\">&rarr;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[38],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-316","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-the-ofic-forums"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.dracoandginnyblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/316","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.dracoandginnyblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.dracoandginnyblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.dracoandginnyblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.dracoandginnyblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=316"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/www.dracoandginnyblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/316\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.dracoandginnyblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=316"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.dracoandginnyblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=316"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.dracoandginnyblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=316"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}