I am sure that many of us have suffered poorly written things in the vein. Fanfiction, written works established around another person's work. (ie: setting, characters, situations, etc.) However, well written ones tend to be as good as, if not better then, the stories that the origional writer has done. I tend to find fanfiction to be a fun writing exercise. Simply put, it answers "what if?" questions. Many of the characters represent intresting twists on basic archtypes and stereotypes, so that is also another fun bonus. In some cases, however, it does tend to get a little bit serious. Some of the early Star Trek novels were fanfiction peices that got licenced by Paramount after the fact. In Japan, fan comics form a huge cottage industry in which new talent emearge. So here's the question. Fan fiction. Useless drabble, fun writing exercise, or serious work?
Hehe, I remember the days when I used to write fanfiction... I guess, to answer your question, Crazy...it depends on how you write it or how the reader interprets it. I've read licensed fanfictions of Buffy the Vampire Slayer's Angel, and it wasn't bad at all.
I think its a combination of both. It can be fun writing, but hey someday it can become serious work. I think that fan fiction is where a lot of people start writing. Sometimes fan fiction turns out better then the original story. I think fan fiction is the growth of something more.
Fanfiction if done properly can be serious. While its unlikely to ever get published it can be great practice. But people have to be careful they aren't just creating a wish fulfillment story with them as the Mary Sue, or Marty Stu.
Fanfiction was pretty serious for me. I worked on them with the fervor and the intensity that I can't readily match with my "orginal" works nowadays. I sometimes miss writing them... though I realize they were mostly experiments and greatly clichéd. Fanfiction is a sort of on-ramp to original writing. It helps you to hone your skills and to discipline yourself to writing. It helps you see if you've got what it takes. If you post it online, it helps you to learn about criticism and how to respond to it. The best thing I can compare it to is the copy drawings my Drawing Teacher has us do. We take a "master's" piece and copy it as best we can and try to learn what was going on in the artist's head as it was created. When we're done, we step back and take a look at it...see how it differs from the real thing. It's these differences that let us develop our own style for our original works, but the skills we learn from the experience will be of utmost importance as well.
I usually stop reading something if it's fanfic. People very rarely (in my opinion)keep the characters' attitudes and motives... though I do like the one or two Doujin I've read where the characters are taken from some insane fantasy world and placed into a normal everyday scenario. On the other end of the spectrum, I had a friend who was trying to write a Love Hina fanfic where Keitaro was a "bad ass" ninja or an assassin or something. It was crap. Not the least of which because it was poorly written as well as horribly out of character. And of course, then there's things like the Star Wars and Star Trek books and the like, where they're practically cannon fanfiction.
Yeah, what everyone said already. Fanfiction can be just for fun, to fill in plot holes or fulfill a fantasy, but they can also be a serious work, like the ones already mentioned. I used to write fanfiction, and when taken seriously (or at least mildly) I think it can be a sort of exercise.
I think fanfiction is good if you keep it fun. I used to write fanfiction but I never read it as I always hated what other people had written. I really don' t think that it's a serious thing for many people. The only person who has ever made a name for themselves out of fanfiction is Cassandra Claire and if I'm honest I don't think much to her writing. She just copies other peoples' work, even in her own novel. For me it helped to improve my writing style without having to worry about making up characters.
Yeah, that's pretty much my oppinion. What gets fun is were some of the serious cannon work reads like fanfiction. Neon Genesis Evangelion come to mind. They actually had a full legnth manga novel involving their cast in a regular school-comedy type enviroment. Hmm... thinking of which, has anyone hear read a Star Trek novel by the title of "I, Q" ?
No, but I have a book written by Q. Spoiler And I know Star Trek is where the term Mary Sue comes from...
I write fanfictions myself. It's great exercise. Instead of having to focus on the taxing process of creating and developing characters, writers can focus on enhancing their description and overall style. I would never write like I do today if it weren't for my fanfictions. As to whether it is serious or not, it depends. It shows in the author's writing whether it was taken seriously or not.
Fanfic is a good practice ground. It's akin to riding a bike with training wheels. You have both the launch platform and the constraints of some other writer's world and characters. You can add your own characters and situations, but you cannot create major changes in the fictional world or the principle characters - at least for anything even remotely publishable. And there is a niche market. Walk into any bookstore and you can find plenty of Star Trek novels, and Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Star Wars, and many more. These are fanfic, all grown up. But as I mentioned, you have to follow strict parameters, and you have to remain faithful to established characters and "world rules". Still the attraction to fanfic is that you are expanding stories you know and love. And anything that gets you putting words on paper is a good start.
My teachers love the fact that kids at my school are writing fanfiction. They say it's good excersize (I know that was spelled wrong, and I don't care right now). I write fanfiction. Fanfiction is sort of an excuse to write a story where the plot and the characters have been made for you. Your job is to put them in a realistic (realistic to their world) situation, and keep them in character. It's kind of silly, knowing that some silly little fanfic could become a published book.
I think most fanfic is written for the fun of it. Especially a lot of the smut you'll see around the web that would never, never get published. But some writer's that write fanfic as their principal genre can be amazing at their work.
I think fan fiction is more for fun, as it is in a sense 'theft of intellectual property' at the very least. Sure fan fiction can get published. Look at E.L. James with Fifty Shades of Gray. It was a Twilight fan fiction. And it is a total cluster fuck(pardon my language) of piss poor writing, one dimensional characters, and has a very thin (if any) plot with no real premise. I made it 2.5 chapters and said nope, this is total garbage. The movie was worse, and not going to get in on that. I feel a good story should not be centered around already established characters (even if they are dull). There is a lot of this fan fiction out there and that's great, but not really worth what a good fresh creation on the part of the writer. What I am saying is in my opinion fan fiction for profit is just lazy, a lot like abstract art. Any one can put paint blotches on a canvas, just as if you already know how the character works it is not to hard to use that establishment to simply send them off on what ever avenue you want. So for fun sure, but profit not so much as you are stealing another persons characters for personal gain. I can forgive coincidental commonalities if two characters seem similar, but neither writer has read the others works before. Guess I sound like a 'negative nancy', but copy and paste characters are not really the way to go in my opinion. Probably cause I have a sense of ethics and would feel guilty about riding on another's coattails (behind their back). Just an honest opinion.
