In my case, I was writing before I discovered fanfiction. For me, it was initially a way to bond with the small corners of fandom in which I found myself--first for the game "Creatures," and then more significantly for "Farscape." My first Farscape fic was also the first story of any significant length that I actually managed to finish. It's not great, but I did it, and I'll forever know that I can.

Furthermore, that fic led directly to joining the PPC thanks to one of the helpful people on the Friends and Defenders of Pilot message board, who pointed out in the kindest possible way that my original character in the fic was probably a Mary-Sue. Not knowing the stigma attached to the name, I readily agreed that yes, that was probably right. Later, I discovered Fanfiction.net, which led to OFUM, which led to the PPC. And I've been here since.

I still have one fanfic that I feel I ought to finish, even though it's been years since I started, but overall, as I've sporked, I've drifted away from fanfic and tried to apply my skills to my own work. I have a nice little collection of vignettes now, and a full-scale fantasy world in the making.

Fanfiction and the sporking of it also made me realize that I'm better than most people at spelling and grammar. I've worked on becoming very good at it in the hope of turning it into an editing career. That way, theoretically, I'll be able to make a living, because I know I won't be able to do it writing. I just don't have the consistency for it.

One downside of getting heavily involved with the art and craft of good writing is that it has made me realize some of my favorite writers as a young person are actually not that great. The board has also confirmed that I will never be able to love any fantasy work as much as I love "The Lord of the Rings," which for me embodies technical perfection as well as masterly world-building and story-telling. On the other hand, the PPC message board is responsible for introducing me to some of my new favorite authors, particularly Terry Pratchett and Neil Gaiman, who have taught me that it is still possible to be original and to be damn good at it. They give me hope.

On that note, I think I've talked more than enough. ^_^; Kudos and hugs if you actually bothered to read the whole post.

~Neshomeh

despite never having read any EU novel ever. God, do we not want to go into what emerged (*shudders*). Then I got into Harry Potter badfic, hit a bout of plagiarism (*turns tomato red*) and then died on the Internet. Then I returned, deleted everything and all became good in the world as the plagiarism incident ironically made me better. If I'd never done it, I'd probably still be writing crap (though, I guess that depends on your POV) and I'd hate you all for mocking my stories. Yeesh. Sounds crazy written like that.

While most people here seem to have had the same problems I encountere when trying to write, there is a bit of a difference; they got better at it before joining the Board. Meh, I'll probably just try to deal with the irony of writing possible badfic while simultaneously condemning badfic here. If I end up writing something absolutely terrible, it's going to be donated to the PPC though.

First and foremost, the torrents of terrible spelling and grammar prompted me to start correcting things, which has turned into a nice little (very little) business.

Other than that; very similar to the others below. It gave me a chance to realise that I could write well without the need for a brilliant original idea (to date, I have never had one), it gives me great sources of humour, and it's a conduit by which I have met several lovely friends.

Fanfiction, for me, was a way to really LEARN. I mean, I started when I was thirteen, and it's been a few years. For some reason, I lacked the ability to develop my own ideas. I mean, besides the fact that my writing wasn't all that good, I honestly could not come up with an original story setup that was actually good.

Then I found fanfiction.

Of course, it wasn't an instant thing. I still wasn't a great writer, and my first few stories either crashed into the ground or staggered and twitched for a while before dying. Through fanfiction, I didn't really NEED to come up with an original idea, because I could use other people's ideas to practice my writing style and my plot-developing skills. And I found that, as time went on, my writing improved, and I actually used fanfiction to create my own original plotline. The best part was the fact that complete strangers could take an objective view on my writing, and really tell me how well I was doing.

A particular point of significance was when I discovered that Happy Tree Friends had its own section on the Pit. I don't know why, but it must have unlocked something, and I immediately spewed forth a story that, in hindsight, could probably be much better, but it was still significantly more original than the others. It was also the first multi-chapter fanfic I actually finished. In fact, I think I've had the most success in the HTF fandom.

Currently, I'm writing my own original fantasy. The plot is basically a combination of characters, plot points, and ideas from my Happy Tree Friends fanfics, as well as some issues in the Real World. I'm pretty confident about it.

It has definitely improved my writing. Mostly my approach to plotting and characterizations, combined with a healthy fear of ever writing something sporkable. It's also given me some confidence that I can write humor, thanks to the PPC.

It was also my doorway into the larger world of fandom: fanfic, icon-making, forum discussions, filk, conventions, the lot of it.

... but when I was a kid, all I could turn out was poetry. Appalling poetry, I must hasten to point out, but poetry nonetheless. And I sort of dropped the idea.

Fanfiction hit me like a ROCK at the age of seventeen, and I promptly turned out several mediocre-to-poor slashfics, and then the PPC, and then my actual writing declined in quantity as more and more of my time was spent sporking.

However, I credit sporking with teaching me what is and is not good writing practice, and showing me what I like and don't like as a reader, making it easy for me to make judgements on what and what not to write.

My long-term association with Pads started off in fandom, and now we both write and spork together. Fandom/fanfic is thus also responsible for providing me with one of my closest friends :D

Well, fanfiction's certainly improved my writing too. Case in point: never used to write anything; Trojie made me write fanfic with her; she always had to write the sex scenes; after four years she gave me a prompt that turned into porn; I realised I couldn't use the word "cock" in fiction; today I managed it for the first time. All through the beauty of fanfiction.

Congrats on the graduation wossname. What's the plan next?