What do you think of Fan Fiction?

All writing is 'wanna be' writing. Some people write original stories only for themselves or a few close friends, but have no inclination to reach for those lofty heights of being published. What a waste of time and talent. Why would anyone write just for fun, without worrying about improving themselves? And some have the audacity to publish this crap on their blogs, without charge! Writing for fun? PAH!

 

Does anyone think that fanfiction writing is like cheating?

OK, so maybe you are not exactly copying an author's work and putting your name to it but you are taking something that someone else created and putting your own twist on it.

Which means that you are giving absolutely no thought whatsoever to the characters or their world because someone else has done all the major creation work for you. All you are doing is taking those characters and making them play your tune.

Which I guess, would be OK if it were for your own personal use but what if someone took your characters and your world and put them in a story that totally outsold anything you had originally done with those characters? Especially if it took your characters in a direction that you did not want them to go in.

I'm not entirely sure how I would feel if my books were 'fanfic'd' I honestly cannot say whether I would be annoyed, upset or flattered that someone had gone so far as to sit and put my characters in new situations but for all you forum members that think fanfic is in no way a violation (or to put it another way, a punch to your daughter's face) maybe you would change your mind if you and your stories were 'fanfic'd'.

 

Have you ever read fanfic? The majority of the depictions in it are woefully out of character. It still takes some amount of skill to get the characterisation of even a pre-established character right. Good training for it, I say.

 

Fanfiction is fun. Drinking to get drunk is fun. They are not the same thing, are they?

 

Which would upset me terribly if someone fanfic'd my book and wrote totally out of character scenarios.

What I was trying to say was that most of the groundwork (in fanfic) has already been done by the original author. All you are doing is putting already established characters in new scenarios, ones that you want to see them in, regardless of whether or not you write out of character stuff and then upset the original author.

I don't purposefully look for fanfic to read.

 

But I think it's important to take into account that not all fan-fiction is of this variety. A great stonking amount is, but not all. When I used to write DUNE fan-fic (it's been decades) only the setting was used, the place, Arrakis. If the names of any of the original characters ever came up, it was in general societal terms. The Harkonnens ruled Arrakis before the coming of the Atreides, and with a terrorizing grip. Someone is bound to say something to the tune of "Damned Harkonnen bastards" at some point. But that's as close as I ever came to the original cast. That kind of fan-fiction exists too. It's my favorite kind. Harry snogging Hermione or Ron may flip switches for many, but not really me. What do you say to the flavor of fan-fic I describe? And you know I dig you and respect you, so my question is meant professionally and lightly.

 

I agree that it could be good writing practice to take these established characters and do things with them. But ... I don't know. There are masses of books written about Star Wars and Star Trek that are essentially, fanfic. (OH! I have read fanfic then! I started reading a Star Wars book from the library a couple of years ago that was not part of the original six parter) I just wouldn't appreciate it being done to me and my books.

 

I will answer this, @Wreybies but I have an appointment now so will be back later! (you know how I love these discussions!)

 

Why would that upset you? If anything, wouldn't it be a laugh?

 

Just bear in mind that no one can legally sell fanfic. Nobody makes a profit from it. One could take their fanfic and make drastic changes so it's no longer fanfic and then publish - but then it's no longer fanfic.

And to say "Which means that you are giving absolutely no thought whatsoever to the characters or their world because someone else has done all the major creation work for you." is so wrong. Sure, there are many who just use the names and places and make up some nonsense, but the good fanfic writers delve deeply into the characters and their world, trying to take them to places and experiences not found in the original, and yet keeping true to the originals. It takes a lot of thought and effort.

 

Part of being a creative writer means coming up with your own characters, settings, etc. If you have to resort to using the characters, settings, etc. of other writers, no one's going to take you seriously as a creative writer. Granted, if your goal is to write for fun and not publish what you've written, go ahead and write fan fiction. But if you want to publish your work and be taken seriously by editors, publishers, and other creative writers, you really need to be coming up with your own stuff.

 

No one writes fanfiction for the purpose of being taken seriously as an author. Nobody sends their fanfic to publishing houses (unless they're morons). Of course they write it for fun.

And how is it not creative writing? All writing is creative writing, unless you're copying the source material word for word. And 'resort' in that context is rather derogatory. Some people do enjoy writing fanfic rather than just resorting to it, you know?

 

Not true at all, there are fanfiction novels about the video games Skyrim, BioShock and Resident Evil. There was a novelization for Silent Hill 2 that was almost officially published by Kanami that first appeared on Fanfiction.net. Also, as I mentioned in an earlier post, Sebastian Faulks wrote a Jeeves and Wooster novel recently, which is nothing if not fanfiction, and new James Bond novels are written these days. As are new Jason Bourne novels.

 

I'm aware. I'm sort of not talking on that scale though. I'm talking about the people who write frivolous Harry Potter fanfic or whatever, the ones that are getting a lot of flack in this thread.

 

Of course. No logical mind would deny this.

This is not an argument that holds up as well as the prior because you've used the word resort in a way that indicates and intimates that anyone writing fan-fiction is doing just that, only that (resorting), and that there can be no other initiating drive. If it's being done, it's being done because the person is desperately grasping at something. This makes for a falsely inextricable link. It does not in fact have to be in play.

Of course, and as previously mentioned by me, it's great ground in which to practice. Seriously, folks, practice. I'm I pronouncing it wrong? Is that it?

This has been said (spat) so many times now, and being treated in each instance as though it were a revelation being unmasked to the those wayward fan-fiction writers. It's not a revalation. It's a known known, and as mentioned by @Lemex, sometimes it's not actually true at all.

What I want to know is who drew the line or built the wall in the conversation that if you have dabbled in fan-fic, somehow you're dirty and beneath consideration, never mind the completely original non-fan-fic WIP you've been slaving over for the past decade. This line, this wall, is a fiction. It's not real. It doesn't exist. You can have engaged in both activities without any detriment to either side.

 

So writers of historical fiction aren't taken seriously? How could they be, when they're not inventing their characters and settings themselves?

Robert B. Parker's characters were inspired by Philip Marlowe's, so nobody can take HIM seriously.

Anyone using Norse gods in their stories should be dismissed immediately. So derivative!

Shakespeare lifted Macbeth and the history around him from Holinshed, as well as borrowing plots and characters from other writers and stories. What a hack!

Margaret Atwood ruined her reputation when she wrote The Penelopiad. Who did she think she was kidding? Couldn't she come up with her own ideas? Same with Marion Zimmer Bradley with all her Mists of Avalon nonsense! Did she really think she had the right to retell the Camelot stories from a different perspective?!?

Helen Fielding should have known better than to write Bridget Jones' Diary. Find your own plots, Ms. Fielding!

Geraldine Brooks committed a double whammy with March - taking the ideas of another novelist AND using a historical setting instead of making up her own world. That book must be total crap.

And whoever gave the Pulitzer to The Hours must not have realized it stole characters from Virginia Woolf. Sad but true.

Or...

Maybe authors have been borrowing characters and settings from other authors since the beginning of time. Maybe some of these authors have been taken very seriously indeed. Maybe some of their work has been brilliant.

Maybe.

 

Well, most of those people are amateurs who are just starting out. I think they need encouragement, all they can get, but I always tell them to not stay there. Publication is very rare for that sort of person, but it still isn't really unheard of.

 

And doesn't the sequel for Gone with the Wind fall into that category, too? I know it was published with permission of the family and all, but it was a far, far cry from the original, IMO.

 

What if they're perfectly happy staying there?

 

No, it's not allowed. Everyone has to be creative in exactly the same way.

There's no room for creativity in how you express your creativity, you know!

 

Fan fiction writers have to write it for fun because trying to publish it would result in a lawsuit. They don't much of a choice here.

OK, maybe "resort to" was a bit harsh, but I stand by what I said. One reason why I, and many others, don't take fan fiction writers seriously is that they can't legally publish anything they've written. If you're writing for fun, go ahead and write fan fiction. No one's stopping you. But I don't believe for a second that a writer of fan fiction is of the same level as a writer who publishes his/her own creative works.

Of course, a fan fiction writer can just do what E. L. James did with Fifty Shades of Grey and turn a piece of fan fiction into an "original" work.

Historical figures and real-world settings (along with figures from mythology) aren't anyone's intellectual property or creation. Using George Washington as a character is not the same thing as using Harry Potter.

 

Sure it would, surely.

People are perfectly happy to stay with Ayn Rand.

 

I'm not sure I'd want fan fic written from my work. I suppose 50% could be flattering - it's that other 50% that would worry me. I've read some published novels that were in their hearts fanfics - Scarlett - ( the sequel to Gone with the Wind ) very pulpy & weird. Mrs. DeWinter ( a sequel to Rebecca ) it wasn't too bad really, although there was no big driving force fueling the story, the author really picked up on DuMaurier's vibe and it made for an interesting read. Lo's Diary. I really felt, not only did Pera drop the ball but she essentially maligned Lolita's name and Nabokov's creation. I wanted to like it but it kinda turned my stomach. Anyone who reads that without reading and possibly rereading Lolita will get the wrong impression of what Nabokov was trying to do. I felt like Pera didn't even read Lolita but based it off of the movies and perhaps the Riot girl movement. Roger Fishbite did a better version of showing Lolita from Lo's pov.

 

But your argument wasn't about intellectual property. It was about the importance of creating your own characters and settings in order to be taken seriously.

Intellectual property is a whole different issue. There are obvious legal issues with publishing fanfiction. But you weren't talking about that.

So, sure, legally there are differences between writing that has its origins in a story still under copyright and writing that has its origins in an ancient myth or story out of copyright. Legally. Creatively? I can't see the distinction.