Fanwriters: New Impressionists
by MichaelClifford

Hello, everyone. My name is Michael Clifford, and I'm an indie author. No, not that Michael Clifford (Unless you're my mom. In which case...dear gawd, get off Wattpad).

When the official Fanfic profile reached out to me for any advice I could provide to their followers due to my recent success with Harry Potter fanfiction (Fred and George and the Toilers of Trouble just took home a Watty!!), my first instinct was to read through what's already been discussed. No one enjoys redundancy and I wanna be liked, so...since creative writing skills were covered, I chose to take a different tack and discuss the psychology behind what we do and why you need to realize how awesome you are for doing it.

Ooo, a positive message!

I'm not being facetious (which is a big word for the rudeness of some wordsplaining Potterhead who isn't taking his writing task seriously). I genuinely think fanfic writers are ahead of the game. A fair number of writing courses have passed through my life, and I can guarantee you that none of them teach what I'm about to share with you right now. Because, on the surface, it doesn't make sense. Why would writing fanfiction be an intellectual, academic pursuit? says clichéd man with pipe.

Actually, I don't need to convince you of this. Because you, my fellow fanfic writers, are New Impressionists. You are icebergs.

...feel free to look utterly confused while I explain what any of that means.

AN IMMERSIVE EXPERIENCE

Fanfiction is a broad genre. All of us have come to Wattpad with different purposes in mind. Some of you write fanfic to live vicariously through your favorite characters, some to experience and, dare I say, control the private lives of famous or interesting people (because, let's face it, none of us think we're all that interesting). Fanfiction can also be a manifestation of wish fulfillment, because we don't want our beloved books to end. Or we think that certain plots require a reimagining, because we cannot get over the fact that Harry Potter and the Cursed Child is considered canon by J.K. Rowling! (I'm taking a breath. Apologies.) Yes, fanfiction gives us a stage where we can obsess and roleplay. Where we can be so enthusiastically involved in the lives of these characters on Wattpad that it's hard to separate fact from fiction. In other words, we are fully immersed in the object of our affections. And, as a budding author, you should know that this is a mindset your competition is dying to achieve.

The fact that what we do is a highly immersive experience, where we are transported into an imaginary world we can already picture, and which we helped to construct, fanfiction inadvertently acts as a cheat sheet in the development of a critical skill writers need to master before taking on the task of professional storytelling. It broadens the mind in ways that an explanation of literary devices like allegory and circumlocution cannot. (Circumlocution is a fancy word for when some boring fanfic writer named M. Clifford goes on endlessly when he should just get to the point already, because I'd rather be watching Stranger Things 2.)

Here's what's awesome about us: we transform these universes and characters, living or imaginary, to fit our own creative impulses and the desires of our favorite fandoms. And for some reason, it winds up being easier than writing something that's completely our own idea. That white space on the screen isn't so vast and filled with smug emptiness when we write fanfic. Why is that? Because it takes a significant amount of concentration and initiative to conceive, design, and populate a world in our own minds. From nothing...to the concert stages of a band on a world tour. From nothing...to a school for troubled boys in upstate New York. From nothing...to Westeros. When we write fanfic, however, so many of those details already exist. The steps we have to take in the creation of a new idea aren't so precarious, because our mind re-enters an existing world. It's just that the edges are a bit fuzzy.

THE BEAUX-ARTS STYLE OF WRITING

Now this may come as a surprise, but I firmly believe that fanfiction has stumbled accidentally into a classical practice in the development of creative thinking. To explain why, I need you to imagine yourselves as starving artists (yes, Mom, the rent is paid. leave me alone!).

If you wanted to be a respected painter in the Paris art world of the past, and wanted to make bank doing so, you had one option – school. The most prominent academy was the École des Beaux-Arts. Here, sculptors and painters were taken through a rigorous gauntlet of examinations and trials to stylistically become the best they could be at their chosen craft. And if you take a gander at all the famous artists of the 19th century, Impressionists and Post-impressionists, you'll see that many of them started off by studying traditional portraiture.

Some of the first paintings you can ever find by these artists look nothing like their more popular work. But if you take the first fifty pieces and stand back, you'll see the stylistic progression of who that person would become as an artist. The reason for this is because those very first works in their collection were renditions of existing art. Why? Well, in the school of fine art, your first task was always to copy the Masters.

Sure, your teacher can make you buy the book. I've got a library of pointless, once-expensive textbooks. They can teach you structure and how to hold your utensils, how to mix your paints, and all the processes in-between to develop you into a professional artist, but the most practical task in their education was to visit the Louvre Museum, find a painting they were passionate about, and to copy it. For, in the process of duplicating the work, they learned the steps that particular artist had to take in order to succeed.

Here's the gist: By copying someone who has done it before, someone you may want to emulate, you will learn how to be an artist. Beginning in the mode of a copyist can influence your entire career, because you subtly develop your own style through variations and improvisation, alternate brushwork, color, focus. And soon, you are so removed from the original works that they can only be seen as a source of inspiration for what you were able to achieve independently, unescorted by your muse.

A PENCHANT FOR SPEAKING TO CATS

I'm happy to say that my original novel series, Felinian, is the product of my obsession with Harry Potter. By book 5 of my HP fanfic, I had developed an entirely new magical character called a Feliniamouth who could speak to cats (similar to a Parselmouth with snakes). I was so fond of this character, that I developed a vast Egyptian mythology behind them apart from the wizarding world. Next thing I knew, I had written two paranormal YA books (which will be coming to Wattpad soon) about a teenage girl who discovers an ancient power to control boys with her mind, a penchant for speaking to cats, an inability to stop herself from "going into heat", and an uncanny giftedness for coming back to life after bullies kill her (at least nine times). All of this originated in the margins of a fanfic series about Fred and George Weasley.

Fanfiction is, in a sense, a reimagining of the classical artistic method of studying the Masters. After you are comfortable replicating their art, you naturally begin making variations of that art and, in the process, discovering your own voice. As you create and refine your style, you build up the courage to make all of your own decisions.

This is a practice that I think you should try, if you haven't already. If you want to eventually feel confident producing books that are divorced from existing individuals or universes, I have homework for you. (NUU, NOT HOMEWORK!!!) Yes, it's easy. Go to your bookshelf at the end of this post, find an author, a novel, something or someone you want to emulate. Then take their material and start training yourself to be a master forger. Learn their narrative style and phrasing, characterization and sentence structure. And all that other crap that they teach you in Bob's Creative Writing School for $400 a semester. Write a book. Or two. Or be completely insane like me, and write a seven-book series! (insert cry for help here) Then, once you've got that down, start branching off into your own thing. See if maybe you can develop your style apart from your author-turned-spirit-animal, and I promise that you'll find yourself more comfortable with writing than ever before.

Aspiring author? Please. I hate the word aspiring. You're a talented fanfic writer with your own, unique point of view, capable of doing it all yourself, thank you very much, while being supported by a community of followers through reads and votes and comments.

IF YOU CAN'T JOIN 'EM, BEAT 'EM

Now that I've just told you all that...ignore me and do whatever you want. Because things are changing, folks. E-ver-eee-day. We are pioneers, reinventing the art of storytelling in real time. It's happening right here, right now. On Wattpad. And here's why I think that...

If you study the history of modern art, you'll know that the most prestigious contest in the art world for nearly 150 years was the Paris Salon, where thousands of amateur and professional artists submitted their work to a jury of very conservative, academically-minded snooze-bags. Well, the taste-makers of the age didn't know that their system was about to be disrupted by a group of now-famous artists known as the Impressionists. They cared less about building their reputations through following traditional rules of "good" art set forth by the critics, and chose instead to paint their first impressions of a scene in whatever style they felt like creating. They were known for painting en plein air (which is a fancy French slogan for painting outside because you got booted out of your apartment...). Much like today's average Wattpad user, they captured their first impressions of the moment, confident to take on the white space of their canvases in a single sitting, even outside the comforts of their studio. Then they shared it publicly, without bothering to consider the haters.

This caused a bit of a scandal for the Impressionists in 1863, as a record number of them were turned away from displaying their work at the Salon. They received a red letter "R" on the back of their canvases. They'd been Rejected. This led to an entirely separate exhibition called the Salon des Refusés, which went down in history as the birth of the Impressionism movement. It was the first time that the public was allowed to decide for themselves what was good and decent artwork. It took the power out of the pens of the critics and placed it back into the hands of the people. And it was glorious.

NEW IMPRESSIONISTS

Our specific creative discipline is being disrupted as we speak. Writing and reading is going through a renaissance of pixeled magnificence. And you, that's right...YOU, are at the forefront of a new creative movement that bridges all forms of art and entertainment. We have reached a sort of New Impressionism, where the powers-that-be no longer control what is deemed to be good or not good. This passionate rise of fanfiction that we're experiencing is the prelude to something phenomenal. The power is shifting toward individualism, and Wattpad is where our uprising is being broadcast.

(Michael, you're too serious.)

(Mom! Log! Off!)

The path we're on is similar to the trajectory of the Impressionists, and they revolutionized art. Their divergent visions and passions changed everything, and disrupted the art world forever. All entertainment is going through a period of disruption because power has been disseminated across the internet. With a phone in your pocket, you have the ability to produce your brand of content on the go. This gives each of us an ability to shine. Wattpad is that platform for writers. And you guys, in the fanfic category, are ahead of the game.

Unfortunately, they aren't going to teach you how to write fanfiction in any creative program at any college in whatever country you're from. Why? Well, the natural instinct is to laugh at fanfic writers and not take us seriously. They're wrong, but humankind resists evolution. They would fail to accept that fanfiction is a gateway to a mode of creative thinking that was classically trained to artists in the best schools in Paris. So, you may need to ignore them and just take pride in the fact that you are in the right place, doing good work.

THE GOON AT THE AIRPORT

To some of you, learning the psychology behind fanfiction, and why you've already progressed to an advanced mindset, may be worth more than any step-by-step instructional process that I could lead you through. It's funny how the world works.

I learned a lot at WattCon this year. It just concluded, as I write this, so the trip and what I experienced are fresh in my mind. However, one of the more enlightening moments for me happened at the airport (white privilege alert). I'd gotten through security and was waiting in the immigration line for my passport to be checked. My turn was approaching and the officer who seemed most likely to be finished first was nearest to me. He looked kind and actually very similar in appearance to my friend, Toby. But, no. I didn't get Toby. I got the goon at the opposite end of the counter.

He had a sort of Neanderthalian quality about him as he took my papers and rolled his dull eyes when I had to get my phone out for my boarding pass. He proceeded to groan through a question about what I was doing in Canada. I explained that I had gone to a writer's conference at Wattpad, which was headquartered there. He looked aloof, which was probably his resting expression, and I took that as an opportunity to go into detail (as I had all weekend with strangers) and encourage him to check out the site.

He was interested. Facetiously.

"What's...Harry Potter fanfiction?" he'd said with a laugh.

I explained to him that I enjoy expanding upon the lesser characters from the popular book series. That I develop their traits and give them adventures of their own, because we're all the heroes of our story.

He still had that chuckle in his throat as he said, "But you can't sell it, can you?"

"No, but I'm not interested in —"

"Don't you have a job? Why are you spending all this time writing something you can't sell? You should write your own books."

In the silence of that moment, I felt the stigma returning and the number of times I had heard negative things about fanfic writers, or received sideways looks from friends and family. I could have told him that these ARE my own books. Or that I'm a stay-at-home dad right now, but that I've been writing since I was a kid and have an inventory of work to pull from. I wanted to explain why I'm interested in pursuing a future on Wattpad and describe the benefits of being part of a community. I could have defended myself by explaining that I've never pursued traditional publication for my work because I have some weird independent streak in me. That I have always preferred to go it alone, without exterior influence.

I could've said a lot of things. But I didn't. Instead, I smiled, took my passport, and left.

Why? It seems like you enjoy being snarky, Mike. Well, it's because I knew that I was conversing with someone from the Stone Age. A person who could not grasp anything beyond what has already been accomplished in my creative arena. No matter what I had to say, he already failed to understand that the future of writing and reading is on Wattpad.

ICEBERG, RIGHT AHEAD

It's hard to write a novel. It's hard to paint a painting, if you've never done it before. Even with talent. So, we start with fanfiction. It's much easier to stumble with someone else's work in your grasp than with something that was 100% your own. If it's not working, you can always put it on a shelf and start over. Close the book. Try again.

When you find yourself wanting to explain fanfiction to the goons of the world, to defend it from being labeled as a waste of time, or you from being seen as an amateur without your own ideas, just remind yourself that you're doing things the right way. There is a disruption happening in our industry. The very act of storytelling is being flipped upside down. There are outside forces who would rather not embrace new technology, and don't want authors to feel empowered to do what we want to do without someone telling us to do it their way, the right way, the way of the Paris Salon. You are part of a movement that is innovating this variant of personal entertainment, and Wattpad is the platform where the revolution is taking place. You are the revolution. You are the New Impressionists. Or, as Casey Neistat likes to say, you are the iceberg.

"When you are a creator, you don't need someone in your ear telling you what you can and can't do. What you can and can't say. They call us gamers, influencers, internet famous...but we know something they don't. When you're a creator, all you need is your phone, an internet connection, and a good idea. A story you want to share. Something you need to say. And then the rest is history. So, to my fellow creators, I say keep creating, keep doing the work, and never forget...you don't have to listen to anyone. Because in this new world, NO ONE KNOWS ANYTHING. The haters, the doubters, are all drinking champagne on the top deck of the Titanic, and we are the fucking iceberg." - Casey Neistat.

Why do you think Fanfiction writers deserve as much recognition as other writers?