Fan Fiction: Love it or hate it?

Haikujitsu · Sep 28, 2012

Is fanfiction a legitimate avenue for writers?

Does it violate all kinds of honor codes and copyright rules or is it all in good fun? Does it aid or damage learning how to write? Why or why not?

This is most likely jumping head first into the flames, but I'd like to see where AW folks stand on this.

-Hj

quicklime · Sep 28, 2012

so, haki, did you start this thread because the other one was locked?

That seems a great way to get some time off here, but I'm not sure what else one would hope for....

heza · Sep 28, 2012

quicklime said:
so, haki, did you start this thread because the other one was locked?

My US Central Standard timestamps say no.

1:14 p.m.

Haikujitsu said:
By all means, let's talk about this--I may start a thread for it.

1:42 p.m.

Haikujitsu said:
Is fanfiction a legitimate avenue for writers?

1:57 p.m.

AW Admin said:
I'm locking this until the mods have a chance.

ETA: I always love a good fanfic debate, but I'll hold my opinion until we know whether the thread'll live.

shadowwalker · Sep 28, 2012

I think there are already threads about this. It would help if people remembered RYFW, regardless of what writing they do.

quicklime · Sep 28, 2012

heza did his homework......

I don't write fanfic and have absolutely no desire. The idea struck me, on first impression, as a derivative bit of wanking. But I've learned more than a few foks I highly respect dabbled, or more than dabbled, in fanfic, so there's no arguing with results. Writing is writing. Some folks got very good in part writing fanfic.

Haikujitsu · Sep 28, 2012

quicklime, absolutely not. I just wanted to give it its own straightforward thread instead of hijacking juniper's.

heza, thanks for the clarification, that's a huge help.

I'm a writer who has recently dedicated the majority of my time to writing fanfiction (to be specific, one fanfic). I feel that this is important to my growth as a writer, and I think that it's enhanced my ability to work on a schedule and actually finish projects I've started. I like expanding the potential I see in characters that I enjoyed from other media (ie, exploring the deep psychological complexity of a cartoon character).

That's why I think it's worth doing, among other reasons. I'd like to hear other opinions on both sides of the issue as well.

-Hj

Unimportant · Sep 28, 2012

Haikujitsu said:
Is fanfiction a legitimate avenue for writers?

Define "legitimate." If you mean "does it create fiction that can be commercially published", then, no. If you mean "can people write fanfiction without causing baby kittens to spontaneously combust", then, yes.

Haikujitsu said:
Does it violate all kinds of honor codes and copyright rules or is it all in good fun?

These are not mutually exclusive. Many people write fanfic for fun. It is still copyright infringement, though. Whether it violates an honour code depends on how the author of the original work feels about people writing fanfic based on her original work.

Haikujitsu said:
Does it aid or damage learning how to write? Why or why not?

There is no answer that can apply to all writers. Same goes for any approach to writing. If it works for you, it works. If it doesn't work for you, it doesn't. Your experience is unique to you.

dangerousbill · Sep 28, 2012

Not sure why the other thread was locked. I thought that was reserved for flame wars and barefaced promos.

Calla Lily · Sep 28, 2012

General note: If you have an issue with something like why a thread was locked, PM a Mod.

Filigree · Sep 28, 2012

I used a three-year stint of fan fiction to help me iron out problem areas in my writing. Because that world and characters were pre-made, I didn't have to waste time with world building. I learned how to convey backstory as efficiently as possible, and I could swing right into plot and character issues. I don't have a lot of fans of my derivative writing, but I still get compliments on it ten years later. What I learned in fan fiction certainly helped my skills and confidence when I returned to original fiction.

There are fan writers whose works are breathtaking, as good as anything from a fine publisher. And they should be, because a fair number of 'name' writers moonlight in fanfic. I'll seek out the new works of a dozen favorites, any day, because I know they will be worth the effort.

On the other hand, there are far more pieces from folks who just aren't ready for the majors. I can tell within a paragraph or two, and I usually stop reading. That's okay, too - these folks are on the same learning curve I was.

So I both love and loathe fanfic, depending on the skill of the writer.

Susan Coffin · Sep 28, 2012

I've never read or written fan fiction, therefore I remain neutral.

:flag:

G. Applejack · Sep 28, 2012

I credit fanfiction to why I can string a sentence together. I dropped out of high school, and English was one of my most hated classes before that. Boring essays and reports on dry required reading that held no relevance to my life was enough to make me hate writing.

I discovered fanfic on accident. When I wanted to post my own story, I realized I had to teach myself basic grammar. I actually got some good reviews. After that, I became addicted.

Now, ten years on, I've finished my first manuscript. I've even had nice office admin jobs where I wrote and edited company newsletters. I have a long way to go, but fanfic was my gateway to the love of writing.

Cyia · Sep 28, 2012

As a former fanficcer for fandoms big and small, I have to say that yes, it's legit writing. It's great practice for not only plot and characterization, but it also helps you learn to deal with others' opinions of your work.

As someone who's been on this forum long enough to know how these sorts of threads go, I have to say I'll be in the corner handing out flak jackets if anyone wants one.

heza · Sep 28, 2012

quicklime said:
heza did his homework......

*shrug* Not trying to be defensive. I just recalled Haiku mentioning starting a new thread several posts before the lock. Thought I'd mention it.

*pokes thread* :poke:

Seems reasonably stable.

I don't see anything wrong with writing fan fiction if the author of the original work hasn't put a ban on it. I think it's a great thing if it's written with love for the fandom and isn't intended for profit. In my opinion, it ultimately benefits the original work in that it can be significant part of helping build and maintain a voracious fan community.

crunchyblanket · Sep 28, 2012

Fanfiction was where I started aged 12, right up until 16 where I branched out into creating my own worlds. I don't know that I would have the confidence, aptitude and concentration I have now had it not been for the 70k word monster FFVII fanfic I spent my early teenage years crafting. I look at the earlier chapters I wrote aged 14, and the later chapters aged 16, and the difference in quality is staggering.

There is no better way to improve as a writer than to write. If fanfic is a readily accessible way for young people to hone their skills before dipping a toe in the non-derivative pool, then so be it.

As for whether or not it's legitimate...one of the best-written, most compelling stories I've ever read was a novel-length piece of fanfiction, and frankly I don't give a shiny shite about whether others think it's legitimate, because it's so bloody good.

AW Admin · Sep 28, 2012

Just a few notes.

1. Be aware that we have many writers who write fan fic, and many who don't. They're both writers, and deserving of courtesy. We don't allow fan fic posting here because it's frequently a copyright issue.

2. Some smart things about fan fic from the wonderful Making Light blog:

Fan fic Force of Nature

Some Reasons I Read Fanfic

Cybernaught · Sep 28, 2012

I personally don't write fan fiction and never have. I'm much more interested in my own stories than telling someone else's. But that's just me. Some writers like it. Others don't like it when people write fan fiction based on their work (See: Anne Rice).

But then you hear about stories like Fifty Shades of Grey starting as Twilight fan fiction. And then you wonder. You really start to wonder about some things.

crunchyblanket · Sep 28, 2012

AW Admin said:
Just a few notes.

1. Be aware that we have many writers who write fan fic, and many who don't. They're both writers, and deserving of courtesy. We don't allow fan fic posting here because it's frequently a copyright issue.

2. Some smart things about fan fic from the wonderful Making Light blog:

Fan fic Force of Nature

Some Reasons I Read Fanfic

A wonderful quote from that first link:

"The Pulitzer Prize for Fiction this year went to March, a novel by Geraldine Brooks, published by Viking. It’s a re-imagining of the life of the father of the four March girls in Louisa May Alcott’s Little Women. Can you see a particle of difference between that and a work of declared fanfiction? I can’t. I can only see two differences: first, Louisa May Alcott is out of copyright; and second, Louisa May Alcott, Geraldine Brooks, and Viking are dreadfully respectable.

I’m just a tad cynical about authors who rage against fanfic. Their own work may be original to them, but even if their writing is so outre that it’s barely readable, they’ll still be using tropes and techniques and conventions they picked up from other writers. We have a system that counts some borrowings as legitimate, others as illegitimate. They stick with the legit sort, but they’re still writing out of and into the shared web of literature. They’re not so different as all that."

shadowwalker · Sep 28, 2012

Cybernaught said:
I personally don't write fan fiction and never have. I'm much more interested in my own stories than telling someone else's.

Except that fanfiction isn't really telling someone else's stories. It's borrowing the characters/situation and writing your own story.

Oh, and it's not just for young people. I got back into writing via fanfiction when I was 48. Had it not been for fanfic, I may never have had the courage to try writing again, or learned so many things about writing that I either had forgotten or never understood.

Cybernaught · Sep 28, 2012

shadowwalker said:
Except that fanfiction isn't really telling someone else's stories. It's borrowing the characters/situation and writing your own story.

That's the part that doesn't interest me--borrowing someone else's characters.

DeleyanLee · Sep 28, 2012

For me, when I want to write fanfic, it's because I so love the characters/world/whatever that I don't want the story to end. I want it to keep going and going and, for whatever reason, the author isn't going to continue with what I love most or has abandoned the series.

Or there's a huge plot hole in a story that I adore and I just feel the internal need to fill it so it makes sense within the story.

Sometimes I'll use fanfic as a means of improving a certain technique or explore something in my writing. Generally, I'm writing it because I want to and am putting the same kind of effort into it as I do my original work, because that's how I am.

And the fanfic I enjoy reading tend to be of the same kind of thing.

Not all fanfic improves writing skills. But, then, not all fanfic writers are interested in that. It's not so much the kind of story that's being written that makes the difference, but the author's intention and effort put into the writing that does.

To my experience, it's not what the story is that makes the difference, it's the writer's choices as they're writing.

Buffysquirrel · Sep 28, 2012

I'm pretty much indifferent to it, apart from a lingering desire to write a Triffids novel, or one about the further adventures of Edmund from King Lear (yeah, yeah, I know they *said* he was dead). I think I was scared off at an impressionable age by having someone point out that I'd reused the last line of Triffids in something I wrote for English.

I would love to write a Triffids novel. Eh. I actually could write the Edmund stories, given Shakespeare is a tad out of copyright. But I don't. Perhaps because I'm a snob?

Amadan · Sep 28, 2012

Cybernaught said:
That's the part that doesn't interest me--borrowing someone else's characters.

Some fan fiction uses original characters (OCs in the vernacular), sometimes having them interact with canon characters and sometimes going off to have their own adventures. Fandom tends to be very ambivalent about OC fan fiction, since a lot of people read fan fiction because they want more stories about the original characters.

Marian Perera · Sep 28, 2012

Cybernaught said:
That's the part that doesn't interest me--borrowing someone else's characters.

I write Transformers fanfics, but I focus on some minor supporting characters who were barely one-dimensional in canon. I like fleshing them out, giving them depth and facets. It's certainly borrowing someone else's characters, but it's also making something new and different out of them.

shadowwalker · Sep 28, 2012

Amadan said:
Some fan fiction uses original characters (OCs in the vernacular), sometimes having them interact with canon characters and sometimes going off to have their own adventures.

One of my most popular stories had an OC for an MC - and he was actually more popular than (or at least as popular as) the canon characters.

Fan Fiction: Love it or hate it?

Thick Skin, What's That?

all out of fucks to give

empty-nester!

all out of fucks to give

Thick Skin, What's That?

doggone

Retired Illuminatus

On hiatus

Mildly Disturbing

Tell it like it Is

Write faster! FASTER!

Rewriting My Destiny

the Juggernaut of Imperfection

Decker

the Juggernaut of Imperfection

empty-nester!

Decker

Writing Anarchist

starting over

empty-nester!