FanFiction
First I want to say how excited I have been about Fanfiction. This site has so much potential. It was sometimes hard to pull myself away from reading so many great writings. I found that just like gaming this site can capture you and keep a tight hold for a long time.
Authors followed:
1. The Village Girl:This author wrote based on the movie The Village. I read the story titled The Attack. I really enjoyed the realism the author inserted into the scene and the thoughts of the characters.
2. Dolce Notte:This author wrote off of the movie The Prince of Egypt. I read the story titled Side By Side. The story is great because it focuses on societal issues of the past that still exist today.
3. Galathilion:This author wrote from several ideas. It is interesting because it was an assignment for school. It incorporates a couple of books and a holiday. The stories title is An Elven Christmas. For the restrictions set on the writer from the teacher, the creativity in the writing is wonderful. This is the author I followed from the Terry Brooks area, and I found most of the writing to be spectactular.
My writing:
Just as a disclaimer for my writing, I do not consider myself a creative writer in any way. It has been a long time since I wrote something like this, so I chose to write a small poem. I really wish fanfiction were active when I was in Junior High and High School. It could have helped me so much with my writing. I based my poem off of Terry Brooks Sword of Shannara books. The poem is titled Bremen.
FanFiction and Instruction
It was so great to browse through this site. I am shocked and amazed at the number of writings found here. Wow! I can't believe so many people like to write. Creative writing is not my favorite tool for expression, so naturally I struggled a lot in school when I was required to do so. How helpfuln this site would have been to me, and many other students like me, for ways to improve writing. Just for the reasons of having a pen name that could hide my real identity and to receive feedback from a large variety of people would have been wonderful. I see the potential this has today in aiding people with their writing. Especially those people who are learning English (or another language).
Fanfiction appears to be so popular for many reasons: 1)it is free 2)easy to use 3)pen names to hide real identity 4)constructive feedback allowed & found frequently 5)fun, fun, and more fun and finally 6)a large audience. The site is not scary to a new writer. That alone makes writing easier. I think that a lot of people will shy away from anything where they believe they won't at least progress and improve what they are doing in some way. Fanfiction is set up to allow for progression and improvement. That all depends on the author of course (they need to be writing a lot to improve and get feedback).
So how can the above reasons for Fanfictions popularity be harnessed for instructional purposes? A great example can be found in one of the authors I followed (Galathilion). This author was asked to write something for a class. So it was written and then posted on fanfiction. What a great way for a student to receive feedback before an assignment is turned in! Not knowing an author's real identity can give a lot of power to the author. For so many students that can be the most important part. Receiving constructive feedback is important when writing, but along with that for instruction, being able to send students off to fanfiction to just read different writing on a subject they love has a lot of power too. Students can then post feedback without ever needing to write their own stories. A lot can be learned in just reading others works. Teachers can always ask that the work the student reads be turned in so the teacher can give their feedback to the student as to whether what they are reading adheres to certain rules or whatever. The point is, feedback and learning can be found and harnessed in many ways through this site. For many students just the fact that it is fun to read about a movie you love, a book that is great, or a television series you enjoy can make fanfiction more fun and less school (although they will learn). It is a great way to make learning so fun.
Another thought I had about this site is the learning theory it follows (although it may not have been set up with one in mind). It seems to me, and I'd love to hear what others think on this, that Fanfiction is set up like Constructivism...start your student in one spot as a guide and then let them take off from there and direct themselves with constant feedback and collaboration. Am I totally off with this idea?
Here's just a little add on I am happy I can do today (October 18th). I have received feedback from my poem on fanfiction. I must admit I was quite shocked by them. They were both very positive and truly make me feel like I should write some more. This is a very unexpected feeling for me, since creative writing is not my thing and I hadn't put a lot of effort into writing some masterpiece poem. But having other people tell me they liked what I've written has brightened my day and given me a little more inspiration. I can see now how much more power positive feedback can be for a writer.
Authors followed:
1. The Village Girl:This author wrote based on the movie The Village. I read the story titled The Attack. I really enjoyed the realism the author inserted into the scene and the thoughts of the characters.
2. Dolce Notte:This author wrote off of the movie The Prince of Egypt. I read the story titled Side By Side. The story is great because it focuses on societal issues of the past that still exist today.
3. Galathilion:This author wrote from several ideas. It is interesting because it was an assignment for school. It incorporates a couple of books and a holiday. The stories title is An Elven Christmas. For the restrictions set on the writer from the teacher, the creativity in the writing is wonderful. This is the author I followed from the Terry Brooks area, and I found most of the writing to be spectactular.
My writing:
Just as a disclaimer for my writing, I do not consider myself a creative writer in any way. It has been a long time since I wrote something like this, so I chose to write a small poem. I really wish fanfiction were active when I was in Junior High and High School. It could have helped me so much with my writing. I based my poem off of Terry Brooks Sword of Shannara books. The poem is titled Bremen.
FanFiction and Instruction
It was so great to browse through this site. I am shocked and amazed at the number of writings found here. Wow! I can't believe so many people like to write. Creative writing is not my favorite tool for expression, so naturally I struggled a lot in school when I was required to do so. How helpfuln this site would have been to me, and many other students like me, for ways to improve writing. Just for the reasons of having a pen name that could hide my real identity and to receive feedback from a large variety of people would have been wonderful. I see the potential this has today in aiding people with their writing. Especially those people who are learning English (or another language).
Fanfiction appears to be so popular for many reasons: 1)it is free 2)easy to use 3)pen names to hide real identity 4)constructive feedback allowed & found frequently 5)fun, fun, and more fun and finally 6)a large audience. The site is not scary to a new writer. That alone makes writing easier. I think that a lot of people will shy away from anything where they believe they won't at least progress and improve what they are doing in some way. Fanfiction is set up to allow for progression and improvement. That all depends on the author of course (they need to be writing a lot to improve and get feedback).
So how can the above reasons for Fanfictions popularity be harnessed for instructional purposes? A great example can be found in one of the authors I followed (Galathilion). This author was asked to write something for a class. So it was written and then posted on fanfiction. What a great way for a student to receive feedback before an assignment is turned in! Not knowing an author's real identity can give a lot of power to the author. For so many students that can be the most important part. Receiving constructive feedback is important when writing, but along with that for instruction, being able to send students off to fanfiction to just read different writing on a subject they love has a lot of power too. Students can then post feedback without ever needing to write their own stories. A lot can be learned in just reading others works. Teachers can always ask that the work the student reads be turned in so the teacher can give their feedback to the student as to whether what they are reading adheres to certain rules or whatever. The point is, feedback and learning can be found and harnessed in many ways through this site. For many students just the fact that it is fun to read about a movie you love, a book that is great, or a television series you enjoy can make fanfiction more fun and less school (although they will learn). It is a great way to make learning so fun.
Another thought I had about this site is the learning theory it follows (although it may not have been set up with one in mind). It seems to me, and I'd love to hear what others think on this, that Fanfiction is set up like Constructivism...start your student in one spot as a guide and then let them take off from there and direct themselves with constant feedback and collaboration. Am I totally off with this idea?
Here's just a little add on I am happy I can do today (October 18th). I have received feedback from my poem on fanfiction. I must admit I was quite shocked by them. They were both very positive and truly make me feel like I should write some more. This is a very unexpected feeling for me, since creative writing is not my thing and I hadn't put a lot of effort into writing some masterpiece poem. But having other people tell me they liked what I've written has brightened my day and given me a little more inspiration. I can see now how much more power positive feedback can be for a writer.
Comments
can't say i follow your enthusiam on fanfic. But i do agree that to improve writing, one has to WRITE.
same thing with posting blogs & commenting?
cheers,
BH
I'm unfamiliar with Terry Brooks. But I liked the feeling of the poem. I think it flows nicely and has feeling behind it. I'd like to read more. Mark
I'm unfamiliar with Terry Brooks. But I liked the feeling of the poem. I think it flows nicely and has feeling behind it. I'd like to read more. Mark
I completely agree with this. I think that is why I am becoming such a fan of fan fic. When I started writing stories about my childhood, I'd share them with one of my brothers. He has this very contagious laugh. I would sit in the same room while he sat on the couch, laughing uncontrollably, tears streaming down his face. There were several times after I started a new chapter that I would get discouraged. Many times I decided that this chapter would be my last. Then after watching his reaction, I would change my mind, feel better about my writing, and start again.
Positive feedback, from peers, is an incredibly powerful thing.