Fanfiction as Training Wheels
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The practice of referring to fanfiction as practice for "real writing," specifically for-profit "original" writing is sometimes referred to as using training wheels.
The phrase compares writing fan fic to something immature and as merely a stepping stone to something more important.
Even when the phrase "training wheels" is not specifically used, the reference is still the same: creating fanworks is for the young and childish and is something to outgrow.
It is a phrase and concept used both by non-fans as well as fans themselves.
While the concept Playing in Someone Else's Sandbox is quite the same, it is similar in that it suggests creating fanworks as something children do.
Some Examples of Use
1983
1994
If I'd stayed writing fanfic, I'd never have known how much fun originality was. I think a lot of fan writers have the fantasy that they'll get 'discovered' writing fanfic. It happens, but not so often as they'd believe. Misty is one writer whose innate talent lifted her very quickly out of the fanfic markets -- she had her own stories to tell, and DAW liked her originality and verve. Too many people who copy her work lack her fire and skill.
If fanfic is just a labor of love, that's great, and it has a real purpose. If people treat it like a springboard to pro status, they may only be spinning their wheels. [3]
- ^ in Kobayashi Maru
- ^ from Communications (Sept/Oct 1983)
- ^ a Usenet comment by Marion Crane, a fan turned pro writer, from What this place is about (October 31, 1994)