Hi, I was planning on writing a fan-fic on Harry Potter. I have the story line planned out and everything, but I still have one question, are there any components a story has to have appart from the characters, to qualify as a fan-fic? If so, what are they Oh another one. What is the best way to get peope interested in a fan-fic?
There are no rules. Fan fiction is just that. Stories based on TV shows/books/movies etc. Anything that would get people interested is the same thing that would interests people in other writing. Some people would demand a certain degree of faithfulness, but not everyone, and you can never please everyone.
Like Rei says, there are no set, specific rules. Fanfiction is something you write for fun. However, as an ideal, a fanfic should be as close in style to the original as possible. When you get right down to it, writing fanfiction is an exercise in imitation. This is very, very hard to pull off because all writers ultimately develop a unique style. Some exceptional writers do manage it, though. There isn't really one. Write the best fanfic you can and hope a lot of people notice it. Sometimes you get lucky and sometimes you get ignored. That's pretty much it.
I don't understand fan-fic. Doesn't JK Rowling OWN the Harry Potter concept? Anyone can just come along and write their own Harry Potter book? This confuses me.
Most writers will tolerate, or even encourage fan fiction to varying extents. Most will draw the line at publishing a fan fic for profit without written permission and a percentage of the royalties. Others, such as Anne Rice, specifically deny permission to create writing based on their characters and settings. In the latter case, this site will respect the author's requests if we know of them, and will not permit fan fiction that goes against the original author's stated wishes.
And for those who might take issue with this stance, just think if it were your own story, or collection of work which was being fan-ficed. You might think it to be flattering as all get out to have fans fan-fic your work, but whether you do or don't, don't you think that should be your decision as the original author? Would you not want your wishes respected as to you own work?
You can write a fan-fic about anything, including those Anne Rice novels. However, writing and publishing are two different things, and you'll probably have a hard time doing the latter (in this 'Anne Rice' case).
Even posting a fanfic could get you in trouble with an author, in theory. It probably wouldn't be worthwhile to go after a user who posts a fanfic, but the author COULD go after a site that is established for fans to post fan fiction for that writer's work. Also, an author can trademark unique character and place names, and can enforce that for any public use of the name, regardless of whether the use is for profit. In any case, you should honor the author's wishes, regardless of whether you fear legal consequences. And again, this site will not knowingly allow fan fiction that violates an author's stated wishes.
Ah I see. I wasn't thinking in terms of writing for fun. I mean, writing IS fun, but to me it's a career and I wouldn't start a project I didn't intend on pursuing publication on. That's just me though, I can understand why people would do fan-fic for fun, like a role playing sorta thing right? Sorta..? Haha maybe not. I have never really understood that whole world either. I have too many of my own characters to play with.
It could also be a way for writers to improve their writing skills with predeterminated characters, a predeterminated "universe", and so on. Let's say little Timmy had writer's block, and he just happened to be playing World of Warcraft. A good idea forms in little Timmy's head! He'll make a story about a Night Elf who thinks he is an Orc! Good little Timmy thus starts his story about the wannabe Orc.
While I won't argue a creators right to try to ban fanfiction derived from his or her work, I will say that I have always found such behavior pretty silly. Well, it's a question of admiration. Sometimes you like something enough that you want to express that in a story, or you see potential the original author didn't and attempt to bring that out. Personally, I differ pretty strongly between writing original fiction and writing fanfiction. You write for different reasons, in different ways, with different readers in mind; as a fan more then an author.
