Speaking as someone who doesn't particularly care for fan fiction, does it really matter what its point is? As long as the writer enjoys writing it and doesn't try to sell it as original material, for them I think it can only be a good thing.
Fan Fiction is a complicated bit of the creative world fo rme. While I look at some fan fiction as simply being pointless gibberish for the enjoyment of said fanboys, some if it is true art. Taking someone elses characters, scenario, and plot to turn it into something original is a tough task. Especially if you're trying to get away from whatever the fan fiction is based on. I've only had limited experience here, seeing as I've only ever viewed Fan-Fiction through the eyes of the Halo universe, I can't say much. But I'm certainly not saying that Fan Fiction is a waste of time. Hell, I wrote an entire script of Fan Fiction that ended up being an hour long movie! (It's not done, but the script is) But I still have mixed feelings about it. If it's done well, it's worth it. If it isn't, then I tend to frown on it.
Being a video game, anime and manga fan, I started writing fanfiction when I was 11. My first fanfic was one for Sonic The Hedgehog and it was about chao, based on actual chao I had in my Hero Chao Garden and Dark Chao Garden in Sonic Adventure 2:Battle. It gave me an outlet for the stuff I made up in my head when playing the game and it gave me excellent practice for my original works. Nowadays I mostly write fanfiction as an homage of sorts to the franchises I love in a similar way that I draw fan art and make fan videos. It's all out of love for the particular series or franchise, but sometimes I use a few of my fanfics for future practice.
I myself love fanfic. Especially in the Warhammer 40k setting, which is almost perfect for fan fiction... thus the reason im hanging out on BL Publishing forums alot. I think its great, mainly because it makes explaining a universe ALOT easier. Especially in Sci-Fi, which can often be difficult to do without over-describing and info dumping people to death in the opening chapter. 40k, you can still describe your own variant of Power-Armour, without having to explain why Space Marine 'X' can spit acid and take 14 chest shots and still live... Though the thing about warhammer is that it's very free, you can do whatever you like to an extent. A world that's still in the feudal age? go for it! A world with so much tech that it outstrips humanity, they exist. Jungle worlds with a population measured in thousands and giant human-eating mosters around every corner, easy. Done. There is something about taking someone else's charachters however... i mean, yeah, go ahead and write something in Gears of War for example, but just dont use Markus or Dom... make your own stuff up... Anyhow, enough from me.
Well, fanfiction is in the gray area of legality (thanks to the guy many years ago who fought in a law suite over a Star Trek fanfiction) and FF.Net actually has a little list of people who have specifically asked that no fan fiction be written for their series and the site honors that list (unfortunately my favorite author of all time is on that last =-( ). I think as long as a fanfic writer honors the characters they're using and doesn't use it to bash or hate on a character, then it's all well and good.
It's an amusing hobby and a chance to get the poison out of your system that you don't want showing up in your work. It's also a challenge to try to bend someone else's work to your own storyline, without any of the stresses that normally go with writing. Everyone needs their ego stroked ever once in a while. As the general quality of fanfiction is so low that even an unedited brain-gasm will bring sycophancy, if you have an ounce of skill and pander shamelessly to your audience, it makes it a great way to boost your self esteem after a particularly shattering rejection. I think I have to put fanfiction into the 'fun diversion' category, like fingerpainting, but I don't think I can take it very seriously.
I love Snape. Simple as that. Well, and other HP guys... Currently its Remus Lupin but my main point is that I heart Severus S. Snape. Go Snape! Dumbledore's Man Through and Through!!!!
Read the Star Trek books by David George, especially the ones in the Crusible trilogy. That was no fun diversion.
Why write ANYTHING? Unless you have a steady job with a publisher or are a writer of the likes of King and Rowling who can practically snap their fingers to get a book published, the chances anything you write becomes published, let alone well known, are slim to none, and even slimmer are the chances you can earn a good living off it. Writing is a lot like being a professiona wrestler. A professional wrestler has a brutal schedule, and despite the fact the matches are scripted, you usually get pretty banged up in there, pretty much all year long, you have to arrange for your own flights and often get just barely enough sleep to survive. Even with the amount of money you may get from it, there's no way anyone would take that job unless they had somekind of passion for it. Most writers will never be published, never be well known, probably not make any money off it, they only have their passion for their work to make them do it. In that sense, fanfiction isn't much different from original fiction as far as the reasoning for writing it.
i've never written fanfiction, and i dont enjoy reading it. in most cases, fanfiction writers dont have the same vision as the author who created the characters. the fanfic writer has no idea how the character would react in new situations, so all they can do is either rehash old situations, or fool the readers with their own ideas. if i wanted to know "what if" i'd rather the actual writer do it. if i ever became an accomplished writer, i would not enjoy surfing the internet and finding stories about my characters doing things they wouldn't do. honestly, the character is the author, because the author decides where the character goes in development, which paths he/she takes. a fanfic writer may make the character make a good decision, whereas the author may decide to make the character make a bad one. even if you don't feel comfortable or ready to make your own characters and plot, just do it anyway. you'll get better, and you'll build on it, and eventually you look back a few years and see what your story was. and the most satisfying feeling is to see how far you've come. in the end, it's the same with writing as it is with a 7 mile run only fanfic i've read past 10 chapters is "My Immortal" but that was for the lulz. the painful lulz...
I intend to encourage fanworks of any kind based on anything creative I happen to do. I hate it when people discourage their fanbase from paying a tribute. Fanfiction, fan art and fanvideos are all ways fans make tribute to series they're a fan of. Any person or company who discourages it and tries to get rid of the tributes is digging their own grave. That said, I can somewhat agree with Unknown. Except I like reading fanfiction, but only ones that I can tell are extremely well written, and I've come across quite a few in a few different fandoms of mine.
fanfiction was never my thing, not that I hate it, I've written one fan fic, and its merely a written form of a concept album i love
I used to delve into fan fiction a bit, but found that my pieces went in some direction that was tangent to the original work that it was based on, because I was never content to use only the elements the author had set in motion. I found that it was much easier, and much more rewarding, to deal exclusively with original work of my own.
Well, basically I come up with my own fantasies when I read something that I really really like, and sometimes I write those down for others to enjoy...What?
I agree with the initial statement that fanfics are Training wheels. Though I don't write fanfics now, I am guilty of it a few times in my life. The very first thing I ever wrote was based on a Stephen King movie, Storm of the Century. I pretty much copied it word for word from what I could remember off the top of my head after seeing it. It sucked horribly and I have no idea where it ended up. Probably in the trash where it rightfully belongs. Other than that, I wrote a short Star Wars fan fic, which was okay for a fifth grader, but still complete rubbish. I don't think I've written fan fic since then, but I don't think I'd be where I am now if I hadn't. That isn't to say that I won't emulate an author or a previously published work. It helps me develop style and mechanics, amongst other things. It is nice to have stuff already developed so that all you have to do is write, but it's for this purpose that I think fanfics are cheap. I think if you can't make your own characters or worlds, you should reconsider. I think it's alright for starting off writers, but for established authors, it's a different matter.
Why shouldn't established authors be able to write fanfics? Fanfics are both training wheels for future authors as well as a way to give back to a community for certain series or franchises. Plus, there are some ideas that are just good enough for fanfics but not for original pieces. I'd be a little devastated if I had to give up writing fanfics for the different fandoms I'm in just because a book I wrote got published.
I don't really enjoy posting my fan fiction, but I love writing fan fiction! It helps you enjoy someone else's story so much more. You can enter the world they created and create your own story off their ideas. You can never publish it because that would be plagiarism, but it's still a lot of fun.
i disagree with the idea that fanfics are training wheels for inexperienced writers. writing is the "training wheels" for inexperienced writers. if you want to get good at writing don't start out by using someone else's story as a crutch. you'll have to get original at some point, might as well do it from the start. otherwise you might find the style you develop later on is latched onto whatever stories you fanfictioned. (maybe. i'll explore that idea later.)
I think sites like fanfiction.net are a great way for non-publishing writers to get people to actually read and enjoy their work. Compare fanfiction.net (fan fiction) to fictionpress.com (original fiction) and I can tell by the number of reviews which site is more popular. And I don't think that aspect should be underrated because it is a powerful motivator to get more people writing and that can't be a bad thing.
