I guess I don't consider myself much of a fanfic writer because, to be honest (and I may be repeating here), I hardly treat my own work as a fanfiction since I sorely look down upon fanficdom. I know it's a hobby that everyone's doing in their spare time, but to me, it seems a bit sad that about everyone's writing a fanfic, and it only seems as though their work will stay a fanfic. Nothing more, never to see the light of day outside the internet. Even with hobbies, people will usually strive to be the best, to look like professionals. I realize there're legal issues involving fanfiction, but can't these writers do anything more? Publish in a local magazine? Or even leave it on the net but really get the word out about it (as it stands, most authors are lucky to get 10,000 views, and god only knows what fraction of that number has stuck around to keep reading). Hell, if you know a second language, make a version of your work in that language so you can be proud thinking you have a whole other nationality reading what you wrote. With a doujinshi, you can do pretty much all of this and actually get it legally published in one of the most populated areas on earth (I know I'm only focusing on net scans at the moment, but I think I'm proving my point that, if I happened to go overseas, or find a penpal and pull a few strings through use of stuff like a paypal account, it's possible for me to actually sell this).
There's also the fact that it's just not very attractive. About anyone, even the n00bs, can just write a fanfic, and likewise, about anyone, even the undereducated underclassed bums (OK, I know there were good, poetic writers like that, but still), can get a novel published in real life. Fics and novels are alike in that they're just words, and no one can tell how impressive the writing is by first glance, and most people don't even like to sit around reading pictureless books. So ask yourself, why would they take time out of their day just to read enough into your fic to distinguish whether or not it's fit to be with the rest of the excrement that infests the world of writing? With artwork, it's just a matter of showing off a very nicely-drawn or very cool looking scene, and BAM, people are hooked almost instantly. There's also the aspect of it looking like commercial manga, which have been growing more popular over here recently.
Other people may not feel the same.... some may think it's all fine so long as they're enjoying it, or have their close friends and a few others reading their work, not caring how professional it looks, and can simply drop it all when they feel like it. I respect such people's opinions, but as you can see, such a thing is not meant for me. It's enjoyable to write, to let some people see my story, but I want many more to look at it, and I want to present it in the finest way I could possibly manage. All my life, I've been extremely big on multimedias, particularly of the Japanese variant, and considering this is an opportunity to make my very own manga (even if an unofficial doujinshi), and I already got a huge amount of the story planned out and developed as is without starting up a new story, I'm definitely not gonna be one to dump this project. No matter how many years it takes (would probably take less depending on how much of my free time I invest.... I intend not to let it take over my life like some ultra-geek might), no matter how unprofitable it may be, and even if I'm only saying this in the early drafting stage right now, I'm determined to see it through to the end. It is for these reasons that I don't want to feel restricted to the status of a simple "fanfic writer".
But god..... first, I gotta get in my next chapter of said draft. It's so friggin hot right now, making it hard to sit down, concentrate, and type the thing. When I do decide to sit down, it seems so easy to get myself distracted by..... well..... checking up on forums such as this ^^'. It's already been about 3 months, so I should really stop slacking on this like I am.
