Episode 12: An Introduction to Fan Fiction
with Michelle Hazen
And a Mom Writes/Lulu, Jr. Giveaway
SCROLL TO THE BOTTOM FOR INFORMATION ON OUR LULU, JR. GIVEAWAY, ENDING MONDAY, OCT. 9!
“I think fan fiction is the perfect gateway drug to the crack that is original fiction writing.”
Do your kids want to participate in NaNoWriMo but perhaps they aren't sure what to write about? Bestselling Kindle Worlds author, Michelle Hazen, gives us the perfect solution: FAN FICTION! (By the way, Michelle is also one of Author Accelerator's book coaches. So not only can you read her work, but you can work with her, too!)
IN THIS EPISODE
Fan fiction is an easy start because:
It can be any length- from 500 words to 300,000 words!
You can post it at any length you want- chapter by chapter as you work or wait and post a finished book.
You can use it as training wheels to learn different writing skills, such as plotting, dialogue, and voice differentiation. Michelle talks about how you can use fan fiction as a template to follow and gives us some good exercises to try.
There are also lots of online prompts to get you started if you don't know where to begin.
You automatically have a built-in audience. Try FanFiction.net or WattPad.
Fan fiction reviews vs. book reviews: people who review fan fictions are often speaking directly to the writer, while book reviews are generally speaking to other readers.
Michelle also gives us an overview of Kindle Worlds.
Click to tweet: @michellehazen says fan fiction is a gateway drug to the crack that is original writing
“I love the idea with fan fiction of art inspiring art- where music inspires story and movies inspire music to be made. It’s this beautiful renaissance of the creative process to have all these multimedia blends. Fan fiction is a great example of that.”
Here is the link to one of Michelle's blog posts about using fan fiction to learn to write dialogue. Click here.
And here are the links to the Fan Fiction and WattPad sites.
The Giveaway
Here at Mom Writes we believe that sharing your passion for writing with your children is super important- for you and for them. And I personally believe that one of the most powerful ways to capture a child's attention, grow their imagination, and make them feel important is to give them something real. While homemade books made from folded printer paper and held together with staples are wonderful and precious (and real in their own right), imagine how proud your child would feel to hold an actual, printed book from a publisher? Close your eyes and imagine yourself holding your finished book in your hands. If you've already published, grab a copy of your first book and try to remember how you felt the first time you saw your name and your words in print. Now imagine the powerful emotion that same act would have for your child's confidence in his or her writing ability. Let me show you how it made my daughter feel the first time she held HER book in her hands:
That's why I called the folks over at Lulu, Jr. and they agreed to give us not one, but FOUR Illustory, Jr. kits to give away! And a whole bunch of swag!
Are you in? Of course, if you don't win, you can always get yourself one here.
DUE TO A GLITCH WITH THE ENTRY FORM, WE ARE EXTENDING THE GIVEAWAY UNTIL MONDAY, OCTOBER 9, 2017!
