So I've been at this fanfiction thing hammer and tongs since the end of February, and the output has been immense. Also intense. And I have learned a ton! About the writing process in general, about my writing process in particular, about what people respond to and what they don't. So here are the big things I feel I've learned:
1) the importance of multiple good betas. Every chapter gets looked at by two people with differing tastes whose opinions I trust, and it makes the writing a lot better. But it's also important not to use your betas as a safety net and count on them to fix the major issues in a chapter.
2) the parts that I as the author tend to be the most proud of are rarely the parts that the readers respond to, and the opposite also tends to be true. Watching for reviews on chapters that I still love to reread months later was a big learning experience, because they didn't go across the way I expected.
3) it's more important to write at a regular pace and put out quality work than it is to write a ton quickly. (I've learned this more from other authors than myself - I've slowed down when things weren't coming fast, but a couple of the other authors I've read just keep going, writing more and more stories, and the writing suffers. It becomes banal, and falls short of what the writer is really capable of.)
4) A formal outline like I was taught in fourth grade isn't always necessary, but it's important to have some idea where you're going. Otherwise, the story meanders a bit and you have a tendency to lose people's interest.
I've learned other things about pacing, and strong verbs, and keeping your characters' voices consistent, but those are the big ones that I think will be most useful in the future.
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