#I used to think fanfiction was garbage and all cheap romance and shit.

[fvckw4d]

Writing fanfiction doesnt teach you "bad habits," it teaches you how to write fanfiction. Just like learning how to draw cartoons as a teenager doesnt teach you bad habits about drawing, it teaches you how to draw cartoons. It's fucking weird to frame it as though all cartoonists tell the same stories in the same ways and have all the same styles and strengths and weaknesses, and that the natural end goal is to gain a following and stop drawing cartoons. It's weird to act like there are no stories that you can ONLY tell with cartoons, that cartoons can never tell meaningful stories, and that cartoonists have no future in a professional setting.

People use "fanfiction" to mean "writing that takes shortcuts" but every time people list all those shortcuts, I always think of some type of professional writing that had those same flaws or does those same things. I always end up thinking of fanfiction that doesnt do those things.

So I have nothing against fan fiction, I've even done some of it at times.

but I think its important to realize it teaches writers bad habits, namely, when you're writing with established characters you don't have to introduce them, flush them out, characterize them (as much) because that work has already been done, the reader already knows and likes the character thats why they're here for more of a character someone else established.

which is fine, again, totally fine. However, I've noticed more and more in fiction I pick up lately characters seeming, undercooked, and with other stylistic tropes it really seems to be with authors who started off in Fan Fiction.

I do think Fan Fiction is a good starting point for getting an audience and getting feed back and building your confidence, but you have to realize that like there are some things in original work that aren't in fan fiction so you're not practicing them when you write fan fiction.

[gerardbookseller]

Handbook for Mortals Reviewed(Contains Spoilers)

                                                                                                                                With all the controversy surrounding how this unknown debut author Lani Sarem got on the number #1 spot on the New York Times Bestseller List by manipulating, buying, and unethically skewing the rankings for her book Handbook for Mortals (a book that no one has heard of or even seen), I thought I would try to be objective and read what the hoopla was about by actually downloading a copy of it online. Let's put it this way. I spend $10 on this piece of shit and I want my money back. Is it as bad as they say? Let's just say that it makes Fifty Shades of Grey look like a Pulitzer. Yes, it's that bad!

                                                                                                                                 Let's begin with Miss Sarem's background. She is a former manager from the band Blues Traveler and was fired for committing tons of fraudulent scheming to promote the group. She is also the cousin of former NSYNC member JC Chasez and who has D-List to Z-List celebrity connections to help get this self-published piece of garbage out there. Unlike plenty of books who have been traditionally published and marketed legitimately, this wonderful, trite YA (if you can call it that) was created by a pop culture site known as GeekNation, a company that now has branched out into the book publishing world. From the questionable stolen cover art which is from a copyrighted art piece to the elements of the plot being lifted...er borrowed...um inspired from various works, it is sad to think that Miss Sarem can't rely on her own merit as a writer and has to rely to cheap tactics to putting out her book.

                                                                                                                                However, to understand the ridiculous of her work, we should examine the author and her work. The best way to describe Handbook for Mortals is to think of the 90's campy movie Showgirls mix with a bit of Kami Garcia's Beautiful Creatures. Imagine Nomi Malone (named Zade here) running away from her poor southern background in Tennessee to Las Vegas to be a magician's assistant. Instead of former Saved by Bell actress Elizabeth Berkley screeching that she is not a stripper but a dancer, picture 18 year old Zade squealing how she is not magic groupie extra but a "magician's assistant" and she is expressing herself with jazz hands and spirit fingers.

                                                                                                                                 One thing you should notice is that this is marketed as a YA and we know Miss Sarem did do her research because your typical teen/young adult novel consists of characters who are between the ages of 14 to 18 years of age with the potential for teen romance with male characters who are close enough in age. Never mind the fact that this is marketed as a young adult novel and the protagonist is an adult and getting involve with would-be love interests in their early 20s and above. But again, this YA and apparently fits the parameters of a teen relationship despite the looming threat of a statutory rape charge. Apparently, this all takes a backseat because Miss Sarem assumes her young readers are naive enough to think that her protagonist Zade is very relatable as she describes herself as, "average-looking" but "hot-girl skinny" with "long legs...toned" and an "hourglass figure". Yes, Zade is very relatable to the audience. The character then proceeds to discuss her poor southern upbringing but suddenly name drops the designers she wearing from her skinny jeans, Lucky shirt, and Dakine duffel bag that she is sporting. Yes, the lead character is very relatable according to the author. *Groan* Well, Zade finally gets to Vegas and after impressing her boss and headlining magician, who happens to be a cross between David Copperfield, David Blaine, and Chris Angel with her illusions, she instantly is promoted to a bigger part of his act. Eventually, Zade gets a few candidates for her love interest until her fickle heart finally settles on one and we discover through a series of badly written, ungrammatical and erroneous typos that truly is magical and that the headlining magician is....

                                                                                                                                                   SPOILER ALERT!!!! DON'T READ FURTHER!!!!

.......................

                                                                                                                                Is really her biological father who is mortal while she is a magick user of some kind that is never truly explained because there are tons of gaps in the story including a useless magic battle scene that makes no sense and did very little with filling in the plot. Plus, if you want answers to Zade's background, you won't get any since all you know she is descended from gypsies and she can do magic. That's it! Don't you feel gypped?

                                                                                             In addition, Sarem's writing can be so incoherent that her confusing use of metaphors and symbolisms get lost in her style. She repeats herself constantly and her sentence structure and phrasing is very awkward. Furthermore, there is no excuse for the typos especially when she is kissing her father's "check". Do you mean a check where you're writing for payment? A check that shows a symbol that it has been addressed? Or simply "checking" someone's work? Of course, we know she meant "cheek" but obviously this error shows lazy writing on her part and a lack of editing. Sad. Sad. Sad. Yes, Handbook for Mortals is the most pretentious, arrogant, ill-conceived YA title out there and rightfully deserves the shredding and hatred for it. Lani Sarem really should quit writing and go into another profession where her shady skill set can better be applied. An attorney perhaps? Adding further insult into her delusion, she adds a 2018 sequel for this book even though this title just started to get noticed by everyone. Jumping the gun, much?

Sorry, this is a completely novelty. I say avoid this trash and read something much better. This is not worth anyone's time which can be best described as a "12 year old writing fanfiction."