Does Writing Fanfiction count as an EC?

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If you want to add it, I'd say "Writing" or "writing fiction"

Not "fanfiction" Too 12-year-old D&D freak.
 
Strong funny......its hobby, and thats where it should go.

what sort of fics do you write?
 
honestly, that caught my attention, and I think it would catch an admissions officer's as well. fanfiction makes it unique, as opposed to just writing or fiction, so I'd put it down 👍
 
If you get some interviews/acceptances, let me know so I won't feel the need to exclude it when I apply next year! LOL

I've been writing fan fiction for three years now. I have no idea how adcoms see it.
 
only put it down if you're applying to star trek medical academy
 
Wow. Fanfiction....wow.

I hate to say it, but I have the inclination to perceive people who write fanfiction as "weird". It's just kinda creepy to be that obsessed with something.

But if you're really well-known and are published or something (not that you can publish fanfiction), then maybe...
 
mountainhare said:
Is your fanfic smutty?

If yes, then no.
If no, then yes.
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Oh dear, I can only imagine trying to explain to an interviewer that you write smutty fanfiction. :scared:

That's section only to writing trashy romance novels.
 
what, there are nonsmutty fan fics?
 
ssquared said:
Wow. Fanfiction....wow.

I hate to say it, but I have the inclination to perceive people who write fanfiction as "weird". It's just kinda creepy to be that obsessed with something.

But if you're really well-known and are published or something (not that you can publish fanfiction), then maybe...
Click to expand...

It's not really an obsession. I write non-fan fiction short stories as well, but fan fiction is great because you already have a following - fans who watch/watched the same show and wish it was still on the air. It's really not as uncommon as you think and it's no longer just about Star Trek. There are so many websites now devoted to fan fiction from every show that's ever been on television. It's just a fun hobby.
 
Revilla said:
It's not really an obsession. I write non-fan fiction short stories as well, but fan fiction is great because you already have a following - fans who watch/watched the same show and wish it was still on the air. It's really not as uncommon as you think and it's no longer just about Star Trek. There are so many websites now devoted to fan fiction from every show that's ever been on television. It's just a fun hobby.
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I didn't say fanfiction was an obsession, I meant being that devoted to a TV show is a little unusual. I'm well aware that it extends beyond Star Trek, given that there was an article in the Washington Post the other week about Harry Potter fanfiction.

I'm not saying that as hobby there's anything wrong with it, I'm just not sure I would advertise it to ADCOMs. But that's just me...
 
Yeah... I stopped writing fanfiction when I got to college. Didn't really write anything good before that either. And I didn't write much my senior year of high school, but my boyfriend and I planned out one when he was fasting one day to get his mind off things. We were pretty accurate in what we thought up too.
 
I think it's unique, and I have a friend who writes some awesome fanfic (she's into anime and I'm not, so my opinion of her anime fanfic is purely from a writing style/content standpoint) and believe that it's pretty cool to have a hobby that others can enjoy.

...of course, if you're going to put it as an ec, I suggest making sure your essays back up your abilities.

If you're on the verge of submitting your AMCAS, I'd say to submit it without adding the extra ec, because I think the time you spend pondering on this will be more detrimental to you than whether or not you add this ec to your app at this point in app season.
 
i'd say... depending on how good your work is
 
This may be only peripherally related to the OP's post, but since we are on the subject of what does and does not count as EC's, I thought that I might as well ask. Does cake decorating count as an EC? I make some mean icing roses...
 
Wow, that was a melding of worlds. I guess I just never saw fanfiction as a legitimate hobby. I mean, I spend an hour or two reading it every day, and I've been lurking for years and years, but...

Yeah, I think you should try sticking to the dominant paradigm and not include anything fannish in your apps. I mean, how awkward would it be to try explaining snarry to an adcom?

Not that, you know, I read snarry or anything.
 
Aynsl156 said:
Wow, that was a melding of worlds. I guess I just never saw fanfiction as a legitimate hobby. I mean, I spend an hour or two reading it every day, and I've been lurking for years and years, but...

Yeah, I think you should try sticking to the dominant paradigm and not include anything fannish in your apps. I mean, how awkward would it be to try explaining snarry to an adcom?

Not that, you know, I read snarry or anything.
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What the hell is snarry? LOL

Are you guys thinking that if anyone says they write fanfiction that adcoms may ask to read some or something? Is that why you're saying it depends on how good they are?
 
MedStudentWanna said:
What the hell is snarry? LOL

Are you guys thinking that if anyone says they write fanfiction that adcoms may ask to read some or something? Is that why you're saying it depends on how good they are?
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Something you shouldn't ever read. It's a slash ship within HP that all the Snape fanatics crowd to. Snape/Harry = snarry = kinda creepy.

Show of hands, who reads slash?
 
Aynsl156 said:
Something you shouldn't ever read. It's a slash ship within HP that all the Snape fanatics crowd to. Snape/Harry = snarry = kinda creepy.

Show of hands, who reads slash?
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I don't read slash; however, the existence of the phenomenon intrigues me. I find it especially intriguing that most slash fanfic writers seem to be female. Can someone explain to me, why exactly do so many women enjoy reading and writing male-on-male slash? Is it similar to how many men enjoy watching girl-on-girl action? Is it a sort of feminist appropriation of the text and turning-of-the-tables on the male-dominated erotic media industry, so to speak? From a sociological standpoint, I feel that this phenomenon has not been adequately studied, and I'd like to hear what the fangirls have to say about it.

The more this thread continues, the more I think that you should definitely not list it as an EC.
 
mountainhare said:
I don't read slash; however, the existence of the phenomenon intrigues me. I find it especially intriguing that most slash fanfic writers seem to be female. Can someone explain to me, why exactly do so many women enjoy reading and writing male-on-male slash? Is it similar to how many men enjoy watching girl-on-girl action? Is it a sort of feminist appropriation of the text and turning-of-the-tables on the male-dominated erotic media industry, so to speak? From a sociological standpoint, I feel that this phenomenon has not been adequately studied, and I'd like to hear what the fangirls have to say about it.
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I'd just venture to say that most fanfic writers are female. Yes, there are some good male writers, but you see women writing it much more often.

I'm personally not into reading slash. The pairings just creep me out. Harry/Snape and Harry/Draco just aren't good fits. Of course, I'm very adamant about my HP ships, so that's probably not the best slash for me to look into.
 
mvenus929 said:
I'd just venture to say that most fanfic writers are female. Yes, there are some good male writers, but you see women writing it much more often.
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Yeah, but I just don't understand why, given an entire universe of ships to choose from, this group of writers who are overwhelmingly straight and female so often choose to write about gay male relationships. Because it seems to me that at least half, if not more, of the romantic fanfics out there are about male-on-male ships. I don't think there's anything wrong with this; I'm just trying to understand the psychology behind it.
 
mountainhare said:
Yeah, but I just don't understand why, given an entire universe of ships to choose from, this group of writers who are overwhelmingly straight and female so often choose to write about gay male relationships. Because it seems to me that at least half, if not more, of the romantic fanfics out there are about male-on-male ships. I don't think there's anything wrong with this; I'm just trying to understand the psychology behind it.
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I focus on only a few ships, so I don't see that many slash fics. I can't see it being half or more of all fanfics, though.

There was that study a few months ago that said that all women are bi to some degree, just very picky about who they eventually choose as a partner. Men, on the other hand, seem to be one way from birth. I wish I could find that article...
 
mvenus929 said:
I focus on only a few ships, so I don't see that many slash fics. I can't see it being half or more of all fanfics, though.

There was that study a few months ago that said that all women are bi to some degree, just very picky about who they eventually choose as a partner. Men, on the other hand, seem to be one way from birth. I wish I could find that article...
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Well, when you google "slash fanfic," you get 1,690,000 hits. When you google "het fanfic," you get 370,000 hits. "Gen fanfic" (the only kind that I think is anywhere near appropriate for a med school application) gets 683,000. "Femslash fanfic" -- a piddling 103,000. I think you'd get similar hit-count ratios if you googled specific pairings.

I'm very interested in male and female attitudes toward sex, love, relationships, etc., so I find all this stuff pretty fascinating. OP, if you were originally talking about gen fics, apologies for hijacking your thread. :-D
 
mountainhare said:
Yeah, but I just don't understand why, given an entire universe of ships to choose from, this group of writers who are overwhelmingly straight and female so often choose to write about gay male relationships. Because it seems to me that at least half, if not more, of the romantic fanfics out there are about male-on-male ships. I don't think there's anything wrong with this; I'm just trying to understand the psychology behind it.
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Most of 'em think it's hot. Or they like messing with the characters' minds.

Actually, that kinda goes for all the ships. Even Bella/Ginny and Dobby/spoon.

That and there are a lot of developed male characters in the major fandoms.
 
mountainhare said:
OP, if you were originally talking about gen fics, apologies for hijacking your thread. :-D
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I'm not the OP, but I was talking about gen fics when I posted. Slash isn't my thing and I know next to nothing about Harry Potter (that's my confession of the day!). I, personally, write general fan fiction and sometimes, romantic fan fiction, but nothing over a PG-13 rating.
 
the unenlightened would say you are lamez0r
 
Oh oh oh, go on livejournal and search for Fandom_Meta, it's all these people who are analyzing those questions you guys just posed. They're a bunch of grad students writing masters and doctoral dissertations about the slash phenomenon. Stuff like gender-role patterning, role reversal, the fluid nature of sexuality, etc. It's actually really cool.

Squid/Castle FTW
 
Hey now, one of the smartest individuals I personally know (a PhD candidate at a top 10 university) writes fanfiction. In fact, it's her main hobby aside from her academic pursuits.

In fact, she writes smutty fanfiction.

IME, many fanfiction writers are incredibly intelligent individuals. (Not to mention, much of fanfiction tend to revolve around sci-fi/fantasy-themed shows... and fans of sci-fi/fantasy tend to have different interests than the general population).

Plus, I think it takes a certain type of driven, obsessive, detail-oriented personality to actually LIKE something enough to obsess about it to that extent. It shows a substantial amount of passion and even dedication. Certainly, qualities appreciated in physicians, I would think.
 
The fact is that adcoms of another generation might not understand what it is if you tried to explain it and would just conclude that you're a little weird. I don't think you're weird, but if you want to be seen in the best light, just put it down as "writing" and tell them you write short stories. Problem solved.
 
souslepont said:
The fact is that adcoms of another generation might not understand what it is if you tried to explain it and would just conclude that you're a little weird. I don't think you're weird, but if you want to be seen in the best light, just put it down as "writing" and tell them you write short stories. Problem solved.
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👍

Hell, I don't even understand what fanfic is, and I get a weird vibe. Call yourself a short story writer and be done with it.
 
Lol! You guys are hilarious. I do write Harry Potter Fanfiction. I've been writing for 3 years now. Don't do any slash because I have no experience with any homosexual activity. LOL. I love Hermione pairings. I've written a Hermione/Snape and a couple Hermione/Malfoy... and yes, most of them are filled with smut... but that's what makes it interesting. LOL. I post on fanfiction.net

... maybe I should only put it down as writing short stories...

I'm not applying til next cycle but I really wanted to know.
 
Only if it's slash.

Though, honestly, I don't think they really care about your hobbies unless they include saving orphans in Costa Rica.
 
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