BS in Economics here, with assorted writing classes here and there. Never had an assignment to imitate a writer.

I go to fanfic, both as a reader and a writer, to get something I'm not getting from canon for whatever reason. Sometimes that's just a more leisurely, detailed exploration of interpersonal relationships than an action-oriented TV format typically allows. Sometimes it's a futurefic or an AU, for the sheer joy of the what-if. And sometimes, yes, I just want my woobie to get a happy ending and settle down with the girl.

My favorite fanfics are usually sweeping AU-epics, though they often don't really start as AU's--they just take so long to write that they're thoroughly Jossed by later canon before the author has time to finish them.

And the one fanfic of any length I've written was a Lois & Clark futurefic almost wholly devoted to the middle of the three daughters I invented for them, the only one born without superpowers. Though I have been known to refer to my current original fiction projects as "Jane Austen fanfic."

Just looked at the strangest fricking xover I've ever seen...Buffy/Giving Tree. Huh? I was thinking it was G/W but it looks like Giles and a willow.(and I'm so not the right person to be puzzled by this. And yet...)

BA that was halfway to a dual BA/BS, no assignments to imitate style.

My degree is a typical majorless Liberal Arts degree, and my non-science stuff dealt mainly with history and folklore, with most of that time spent on Slavic history and folklore, some on Latin American and Celtic.

There was a good deal of random film stuff scattered throughout.

I worked on, but not for credit, a James Bond parody, and a series of satirical shorts on the state of television (acting, makeup, props, and costume).

Just looked at the strangest fricking xover I've ever seen...Buffy/Giving Tree. Huh? I was thinking it was G/W but it looks like Giles and a willow.

If that's Mad Poetess's new one, it rocks hard.

BS in Communications, several writing assignments, plus an advanced composition class. Never asked to imitate a writer or a style. Our teachers were more concerned with getting coherence and thought out of us. I suspect Dr. Park, my advanced comp prof, would have sighed wearily if he thought a student was imitating someone else's style rather that using their own words. I've never even heard of instructing someone to imitate someone else.

Well, the closest thing I did to imitative work was to create a screenplay from a chosen short story. I did a Wodehouse story, but that was more trying to translate to a visual medium rather than creating words.

BA in English, here, with a few courses in Creative Writing. I don't think I've ever been assigned to imitate someone's style as such, but I did write one fic with the goal of producing something that Terry Pratchett might have written if he were writing for that series. Oddly enough, even though there are some parts of the story that scream Pratchett (the footnotes in particular), I do feel that in the end, the style was pretty much my own.

I go to fanfic, both as a reader and a writer, to get something I'm not getting from canon for whatever reason. Sometimes that's just a more leisurely, detailed exploration of interpersonal relationships than an action-oriented TV format typically allows. Sometimes it's a futurefic or an AU, for the sheer joy of the what-if.

Susan speaks for me. In addition, another big motive for me when it comes to writing fic is that of wanting to fill in the blanks of canon, in terms of backstory, and so on. I'm also addicted to writing (and reading) crossovers. I love to look for organic but not-obvious connections between different series, and see what kinds of stories those connections might suggest.

Many many years of grad school, not to mention 5 years of teaching writing (comp, not creative).

I've done an imitation exercise; it was tougher than I expected and it felt strange, but it was really good for making me think consciously about my style in a way that I don't normally tend to do. I also assigned imitation assignments a bunch of times in my teaching years, with varied results. I know one teacher who does an upper-level writing class based entirely on stylistic imitation.

Anne, sister in crossover love.(that sounds kinky, huh?)

Do you think (and I hate to make a generalization, so that's SO not what I'm trying to do here) one of the draws to fan fiction is that there is a structure to follow? Or am I talking out of my ass here, not being a fan fiction writer and all?

Hmm. Not to my knowledge, but then all I know about ficwriting is my own experience, and I know better than to speak for others. I think what I like is there is no mandated structure. You have the pieces -- characters, plot, universe -- but you can put them together in any way you like. Epic AUs, episode-adventures, farces, haiku, character vignettes -- the options are endless. Anything I want to do, that I have the ability to pull off, I can try.

What's more, I can challenge myself with tone, structure, plot, characterization, voice, and get a built-in readership to tell me if I succeeded.

As for your other question, I have a JD. My undergraduate degree was in the social sciences, with only one creative writing class, where we did no imitative writing of any sort.

I don't imitate much. I have what I find to be a defined style of my own, and unless I'm writing in first person (which is rare), I stay with that. Dialog I try to channel the character, and voice, to a certain extent, but the narrative voice is mine, not Chris Carter's or David Kemper's.