Why such animosity towards fan works in the original fiction community?

shadowwalker said:

And that's what it comes down to for many writers - a safe place to play with and develop their writing and their confidence, and gradually move into totally original work. I can see no down side to that (with the caveat, obviously, that one is playing in the yards where it's okay to do so).

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This. Fanfiction is a fantastic way for someone who's just learning to improve, find their weaknesses and strengths, get critique (and learn to take it). It's a way to get your hands dirty without bringing all your own plants and gardening tools, so to speak. And even when you're experienced, it's a way to practice and keep honing skills. I honestly hope one day, people will write it for something of mine. I may never read it, but I want them to make it, using my characters and settings until they're confident enough to work in their own garden.

Lillith1991 said:

I've got another question for you lovely people, should we label liscened fan works the same way our community seems to label fanfiction? People writing liscenced fan works have permision to be playing in or continue the world of a book/show/movie after all, and go through the same editing process we do.

Is it fair to paint them with the same feather as the 13 year old who wants to write a story about (insert fandom here) but doesn't have the skill to actually write well or coherently?

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I have a major problem with the idea of labeling that stuff 'fan works,' fan fiction or anything else of the sort. Someone who comes in to write the sequel to a film or episodes of an established show or gets contracted to write a Star Trek book or continue the Girl With the Dragon Tattoo series (god help us and Larsson's relatives should be ashamed of themselves) isn't writing a fan work. They're writers doing specific jobs, same as any other.

I've never read any fan fiction, but I have a friend/CP for whom it was the best thing imaginable. Her day job is copy editor, so her mechanics are phenomenal, but her creative writing skills didn't match. She'd pumped out about 200K words of HP fan fic before she realized she was writing fan fic in name more than content. Then she started on her first novel.

It was (and I mean this in no way disparagingly) a set of training wheels for her. She could work on writing fiction without being overwhelmed by characters, settings, and the myriad other details that actually go into a work of fiction. Eventually, she was ready for the training wheels to come off, and was almost certainly better for it.

cornflake said:

I have a major problem with the idea of labeling that stuff 'fan works,' fan fiction or anything else of the sort. Someone who comes in to write the sequel to a film or episodes of an established show or gets contracted to write a Star Trek book or continue the Girl With the Dragon Tattoo series (god help us and Larsson's relatives should be ashamed of themselves) isn't writing a fan work. They're writers doing specific jobs, same as any other.

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I always viewed that as licensed fanfic. The difference is these writers are getting paid to write legitimate sequels within an established world. Like all the Conan books or Cthulu Mythos.

I don't read those any more than I read real fanfic though. I prefer the original author.

Yea, I seriously doubt Michael Arndt considers the script for Star Wars Episode VII to be Star Wars fan fic. And he's got the bank statement to prove it.

Why does being paid to do something make it "not fanfic"?

My impression has been the majority of authors range from encouraging fan-fiction, through not caring (probably the majority), to feeling a bit uncomfortable but they aren't going to stop it. Anne Rice isn't exactly a typical example of how writers react. She's also extremely hostile to reviewers, which is not an attitude that's encouraged in most writing communities.

Anne Rice, and others like her, are really loud. But being able to shout louder than other people doesn't mean it's the majority view.

Putting it another way, if you ran a poll asking who here would ban fan fiction and send their lawyers after everyone who tried to write it, I doubt it'd be the majority who'll agree that's what they'd do.

Well it is a term widely used to refer specifically to non-authorized non-satire pastiche.

I see fan fic as a global term but many people do not.

kuwisdelu said:

Why does being paid to do something make it "not fanfic"?

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You really think he wrote that just because he's a fan?

MookyMcD said:

You really think he wrote that just because he's a fan?

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Are you saying he's not a fan?

Or that to be fanfic, the motivation must solely be the fact that one is a fan? A fanfic author can't want readers, too?

MookyMcD said:

You really think he wrote that just because he's a fan?

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Perhaps there's just "derivative work." Fanfic is an unlicensed subset written by fans. Licensed tie-ins are a subset written by paid authors who might or might not be fans.

heza said:

Perhaps there's just "derivative work." Fanfic is an unlicensed subset written by fans. Licensed tie-ins are a subset written by paid authors who might or might not be fans.

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"Derivative work" is a far broader term that includes many works that are neither fanfic nor licensed material. Things like re-tellings and parody are also derivative work.

I would not say he was writing it in his capacity as a fan. I would say he was writing it in his capacity as a screenwriter who was hired to write a screenplay. Feel free to have a different definition, because it doesn't really matter.

But whether he writes it for himself or because he was hired to write it, the end result is fanfic Fanfic doesn't have to be only written by a fan, but can be written for fans.

MookyMcD said:

I would not say he was writing it in his capacity as a fan. I would say he was writing it in his capacity as a screenwriter who was hired to write a screenplay. Feel free to have a different definition, because it doesn't really matter.

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I suppose I don't really care what the motivations of the writer are. I only care about the work itself.

If we're defining a written work by its nature of creation, sure.

But that aside, I'm asking whether there is a substantial difference in the essence of the finished product.

kuwisdelu said:

Are you saying he's not a fan?

Or that to be fanfic, the motivation must solely be the fact that one is a fan? A fanfic author can't want readers, too?

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You know the difference.

From there, we could also arrive at a philosophical discussion of "what constitutes canonicity?"

Shadow_Ferret said:

But whether he writes it for himself or because he was hired to write it, the end result is fanfic Fanfic doesn't have to be only written by a fan, but can be written for fans.

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Then Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi are fan fics, too. As are all but the first of every series.

kuwisdelu said:

But that aside, I'm asking whether there is a substantial difference in the essence of the finished product.

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On average? I'd say the difference is the same as a professionally commissioned portrait and a picture my daughter might be drawing of me as we speak. If I were not already predisposed to love the one my daughter made.

Jamesaritchie said:

You know the difference.

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I don't know what you mean.

MookyMcD said:

On average? I'd say the difference is the same as a professionally commissioned portrait and a picture my daughter might be drawing of me as we speak. If I were not already predisposed to love the one my daughter made.

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And what is that difference?

veinglory said:

I honestly do not see any more animosity from authors than from the general public. Most do not think about fanfiction at all, the most common response to being asked about it is bemusement or indifference, and the small minority left range from strongly against to strongly in favor.

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That's probably where I'm at. People get just as wound up on forums about cars or knitting or cryptozoology.

If someone enjoys it, why not.

Also it seems like a lot of people forget that there are a lot of types of writing in which fanfic a part of the norm -- primarily long-running TV and American comics.