Your favorite fic author is probably over 30.

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Title:	Your favorite fic author is probably over 30.
Creator:	Xochiquetzl
Date(s):	July 11, 2017
Medium:	online
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External Links:	Your favorite fic author is probably over 30, Archived version
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Your favorite fic author is probably over 30. is a 2017 essay by Xochiquetzl.

As of December 2020, it had 17,879 notes.

Some Topics Discussed

• ageism and fandom
• fan fiction
• #writing, fanfic, #adults in fandom, #adults belong in fandom, #adults built fandom, #Harry Potter fandom

From the Essay

(Yes, this is a response to a post going around how maybe it’s okay if adults are in fandom as long as they understand that fandom is for ickle kiddie-boos and walk on eggshells. Um, no. Back in my day, we kicked y’all off our yahoogroups so we could post adult material, and rigorously didn’t post adult material if the list allowed you.)

So, back in the day, several of the authors of an LJ community that posted NSFW fic met up and had a group photo, which they posted. Apparently, some of the 18 year olds said, “Ewwwwwww! They’re all, like, oooooollllld!”

There’s actually a good reason for that.

Writing is part being good with words and part being good at turning your life experiences into something that other people want to read. Remember my previous rant about how you can’t assume a mystery writer is a homicidal maniac, and you can’t assume that a reader who likes a character has the same personal flaws as that character? There’s a reason people assume these things about authors.

Now, I’m not saying that no one under 30 can write. Some young people have had very full lives. And some young people have a natural talent for extrapolating from their own feelings. Virgins can write convincingly about sex, even. But the more life experience you have, the easier it is to extrapolate, and the easier it is to come up with the specific details that make things feel real and true.

If you want to become a better writer, the best things you can do are write a lot, share what you write, and live a full life. And remember, before you say adults should be banished from fandom: your favorite author is probably over 30.

Fan Comments

[eternallydaydreaming2015]: When I started writing fanfics I was 23 years old and I knew several writers who were in their 30s and 40s. I learned a lot from them because they had more experiences than I did. Now I’m in my mid-30s and my writing has changed and the subject matters I write for has changed and do include things I have experienced personally (those of you who know my Prompto stretch marks fics…these are based on things I dealt with after the age of 27). The funniest thing is when someone tried to lecture me on how to write children and that I wasn’t portraying their developments appropriately (based on their understanding of the older develops faster albeit all the subjects in question are born the same year and in my verse just mere months between the oldest and youngest) but mind you I have children of my own and a sibling much younger than me and I’ve taken child development classes so perhaps I do know what I’m talking about. These are things an older writer can bring to the table.

[mysterious-prophetess]:

Some of the best fics I’ve ever read were written by older fans.

I got a private message on FF.Net once about how I wrote so well, and I’m pretty sure my response was basically “I write so well because I’ve been at this for over a decade.”

It’s not just life experience (but it does help), it’s also the fact writing, like any art form, takes time being put into it.

[hollyand-writes]:

As a 30-something year old fanfic writer, yes, all of this. I wouldn’t necessarily say I’m the best fanfic author out there, but there’s some things that I’m only able to write now just because I’ve got the life experience to do so – and these were often things I struggled to write in my 20s, and never knew why.

Turns out all I needed to do was be patient, and carry on doing what I was doing. Eventually life experience, or talking to the right person at the right time, meant that I was able to figure out how to write about things I found difficult to write about as a 20-something.

It also helps that I’ve been a professional full-time writer for 8 years as well. So don’t beat yourself up if you think you’re not as good as another writer – you don’t know what their level of experience and practice are, and chances are it’s probably higher than yours. That’s OK! All it means is that you just keep practising, keep living the best life you can, and it will come in time.

Of course, not everyone over 30 is a brilliant writer, and not everyone under 30 isn’t – one of my all-time favourite fanfics was written by someone who was 18 when they wrote it, and their turn of phrase and characterisations are still something I love about their fics even now. Just keep doing you, and practising your writing craft (and getting honest feedback can really help), and more than likely you will come good in the end.

[in-arlathan]:... I feel this one a lot. I’ve been contemplating a lot lately how as a thirty-something I’m able to write about things that I never ever considered writing about in my 20s. And, yes, that includes the NSFW stuff I write nowadays. That was near unthinkable for me a few years ago. My life experience and the time I had to process things that happened to me in the past really shows in the way I choose, explore and present themes. I’m also much more confident and self-aware about my contributions to a fandom than I was ten years ago. And I actually enjoy that.

But for the younger writers who get discouraged by the talent of others, I just want to add: Keep going. Keep practicing. Chances are that the writers you admire spent years honing their craft (hence the likeliness of them being 30, 40 or even older). Sure, there are some who are naturally gifted at a younger age, but for most creatives, writing doesn’t come so easily.

I, for instance, have been at this for twenty years now, ten of which I’ve been a professional copywriter. The amount of writing that went from my brain and straight into the trash can is ridiculous. Ninety percent, at least, if not more. I also had the privilege of working with a few creative directors who taught me a lot about the craft – all of them 10+ years my senior, mind you.

Writing is an art form that requires a lot of time and effort and love and dedication, regardless of age or experience. Competitions and gate-keeping only detract from the fun that can be had with writing. The important thing is to keep going and enjoying what you do, whether you are 20, 30 or even 60.

[porcupine girl]:

My copy of Neil Gaimans The Graveyard Book includes the text of his Newbury Medal acceptance speech for the book, and I love this speech so much.

One of the things he talks about is that he had the idea for this book when he was 25, back at the very very beginning of his career, when his son was 2, but when he started it he knew it was a better book than he was writer. Which doesn’t mean he gave up on either it or writing of course - he just set that particular idea aside and wrote other things for 20 years, until he felt like he could actually do it justice. I’m not sure he says this explicitly in the speech, but it’s clear from the stories he tells in it and the context he gives that 20 years of life experience - of parenthood and dealing with things like death - were just as vital to being able to write this book as actual writing skill.

If 40-something Neil Gaiman can openly admit that he couldn’t have written this book at 25, you can’t expect fic writers in their teens and early 20s to, on average, write as well or be capable of writing the same stories as those who have been at it for 20 years either.

Many or even most of your favorite fics were written by people over 30.

[ltleflrt]:

I didn’t even know fanfiction existed until I was almost 30, and then I thought it was a silly concept. Why would you write something so “unoriginal”?

Says the woman who wanted to be an author when she grew up, but gave up on writing before graduating high school.

When I was 31, I finally read my first fanfic, and y'all… I was wrong. And I was hooked. And at 32, I started writing my own. For the first time in my life I finished a story, and even more astonishing–I shared it with people.

It’s not just about gaining writing experience, or practicing for decades. Some folks come to fandom later.

Don’t gatekeep them. They lost out on something magical that younger folks take for granted.

I’m 40 now, and I’ve written almost 2 million words in 8 years. And the thought that I might have missed out on that completely makes me grieve for my AU self who never discovered the joy of fandom at all.

[unforth]:

Meanwhile there’s me, I’ve been online since 1994 and I posted my first fic as a round robin Star Trek TNG story on AOL message boards when I was 12. I didn’t know it was called fanfiction but there I was pretending I was Worf. I submitted a self insert story for a class assignment when I was in 7th grade. I wrote a fix it for the ending of the Enchanted Forest Chronicles cause I hated it so much. I wrote my first “intentional” fanfic when I was 18, for anime fandom, and if you’re curious you can read it cause I tossed up on AO3 and spoilers it’s really mediocre. [...]

We’re not good writers solely cause we’re old…we’ve been working our asses of for fucking YEARS. We’ve learned how to distill the essentials of our experiences into compelling narratives. We’ve experimented (literally and narratively) and we’ve failed and we’ve experimented and we’ve taken criticism and we’ve toiled away.

And then kids come into our fandoms and act like we’re the ones who don’t belong…bitch please I’ve been here since before you were born and I never had a reason to leave. You dare? In my fucking house?

And to the younger folk not being dicks…you don’t have to give up what you love. You don’t stop being you as you age. You’ll be you, but more experienced and more knowledgeable and more capable (and more tired, sorry). It never really gets easier to create, but the qualities of what you create for the same amount of effort improve remarkably, and that’s very gratifying.

The future is bright, so keep at it!

[ramblingandpie]:

So much of this. I wanted to be a writer so badly when I was younger, but I straight-up did not have the skills to write longer works (time management, project management, etc.) until my late 20′s. Now, I don’t write a ton (I’m on track to hit 50,000 words this year, so… about 4,000 words a month), because I have school and kids and work and chronic health issues, BUT writing actually happens. I finish projects. I understand editing better (even if I definitely skimp on it - but everything I’m writing is for my own personal enjoyment so whatever).

It’s a skill and it takes practice. And not all of the related skills are actually directly related to writing. Honestly I think the thing that was most helpful to my writing was being thrown into some project management and case management, where I had to track a bunch of different things going on, document them, and come up with plans for how to handle real-life problems. I didn’t get that until my 20′s.

I’m 34. I’m currently in law school, and improving my writing and research skills in that area. It will inevitably ALSO improve my fiction writing. Growing, growing, and growing.

[dollsahoy]:I always wonder how much of the “if you’re OLD you can’t POSSIBLY be in FANDOM” attitude comes from growing up around people who were never, ever, not once in their entire lives, in fandom, and who just happen to be older. And then these young people–who are still young enough to think their personal truths are universal–make the wildly inaccurate assumption that the adults they know, who are not interested in fandom, are that way because they grew out of it, instead of because they were never in it to begin with.

[chris-hattori]:

I dont know why a lot of younger people are shocked when they get to know how old some author’s are.

Did you all really think all writers happen to be as old as you are? ( not that i say that’s not possible, some definitely are, but still)

I’m 29 (Some of you may think now “what? So old!” Meanwhile others will go “Awww, Baby! So young!”)

And i want to know from you young guys, as long as you like the story’s you read, why does it matter how old your favourite writer is?

As someone on both sides (reader and writer) I know that I don’t care about that, even if they would be 80+, because and here is the thing.

Writing is like a wild rollercoaster ride in hell, you get super fast addicted to.

Everything from, coming up with the plot, the writing, the frustrated yelling if a scene doesn’t work out, (or you forget the right words you knew were in your heads just seconds ago!) The fast beating of your heart, when you show the story to other people and post it for the whole world to see, to the reaction of the readers.

Is an amazing huge mess of feelings, and no matter the age, a small part of a writer’s soul lives for this feelings.

So, let me ask you young guys again, as long as you like the story, why does matter how old your favourite writer is?

[notyetneedcoffee]:

I’ve spoken up about this before. Being in a fandom, write great (or even shitty) fanfic, is not something dictated by age. Some use it to explore. Some use it as an outlet. Some use it as a warm up. Some just write to get the stories out of their heads.

I’ve been doing this for more than 25 years (sometimes frequently, sometimes not) and one thing I’ve learned is - you have to do it for you. The feedback is amazing! It fills me with so much joy, but ultimately I write for me.

I write to work out my experiences, my desires, or curiosities. I write to practice “getting into someone else’s head” and speaking with their voice successfully. I write because the challenge of creating a 5000 word piece from a one sentence prompt is good practice.

If you’re young then observe, learn and write… don’t change that as you age, just push yourself further.

[maybeeatspaghetti]:I’ve been writing for fifteen years and I tackle subjects now I wouldn’t have ever dreamed of writing about even four or five years ago in college. It’s all part of me becoming mature enough to write them.

We are lucky to have so many writers across all fandoms—no matter how old they are—and we should celebrate and lift them up rather than put them down or exclude them because someone somewhere decided people over 25 are “too old” to write fanfiction or “too old” to participate in fandom at all. Being older doesn’t mean we’re less enthusiastic or invested in our fandoms. Not at all!

We’re never too old for anything, but especially writing, where life experience and practice almost always makes our work grow and evolve and continuously improve.

[ladycanuck]:Here are some facts, folks!

A note - when I started writing fanfic the second time (for Orphan Black/ cophine), I was 24/25 years old. I’m now almost 32 (woo ides of March). The first stuff I wrote I was 17, and it’s still on ff.net because I don’t want to look at it long enough to take down. I didn’t even know that I was a lesbian at 17, OK? Please don’t read that old shit lol. But it’s years of writing that makes a writer. Years of practice.

A lot of great fic writers I knew were over 30, some over 40 and in at least one scenario, over 50.

[angsty homosexual]:that being said. it is unacceptable for adults to write smut of minors. i don’t care if you’re 18 or 40. it’s semi-unrelated, but still an important point to make when talking about adults in fandom