Fanfiction

I take it you're not a fan?

[CandraH]

Heh. Nope, sorry.

And yet, when it comes to art, I'm happy enough to practice skills by copying other people's art so I guess I'm a glaring double standard.

Take me out and shoot me now.

[JoeMatt]

I guess my ego is too big, and I have too much pride to borrow ideas from other people. It has to be mine! ALL MINE!

Well, that's one huge difference between writing and plastic arts (and one that get's overlooked in a lot of analogies)

If you sit in the museum faithfully copying a Vermeer, you are learning something. If you sit down and type out a Shakespeare play you aren't learning a damned thing.

That said, I think it's possible that fanfic could be a learning workshop for new writers if they learn things to help them move up.
Even the most daring jazz pianists learned by plunking out Hayden etudes note for note as kids.

[Non Serviam]

Nobody has a problem when you write about Sherlock Holmes, or Cthulhu, or Robin Hood, or Cthulhu. Fanfiction about stuff that's in the public domain is fine.

Writing about characters that someone else owns isn't so wonderful. Writers need copyright for good reasons.

[AnyaKimlun]

Fifty Shades caused a lot of consternation with the romance writers I know because they felt if Stephanie Meyer's publisher wasn't going to chase it up none of theirs would. I haven't read either but I am not about to slag off that many readers by commenting negatively on a popular work.

I like fan fiction and some of it is exceptional, but I see no reason to separate it from fiction as I feel it cheapens it. There is a lot of bad fiction on the internet. Like with other genres fan fiction has its good and bad.

Russell T Davies when he resurrected Dr Who was in effect writing fan fiction, there have been printed sequels to various classic books etc. My favourite stories as a child were the Hardy Boys written by a syndicate and it uses similar skills. 'Official' fan fiction is very popular especially in sci-fi/fantasy.

My own experience is it is much, much harder to write in someone else's world/universe and produce a great piece of work than it is to make my own up.

I find characters and plots ridiculously easy and if something isn't working there is always a delete key. That can't happen the same with a set world.

Writing fan fiction occasionally has been a useful exercise in working with different characters and has allowed me to diversify my style. But then I don't mind when people mess around in my world and write pieces because it helps expand my own ideas. Also there are more stories than I have time to tell myself as my four main works take all my time.

The most difficult thing I ever wrote was a Dr Who fan fic with the Kandy Man (baddie from the eighties) luring a pregnant Captain Jack Wicker Man style to a sticky end.

[Sayble Nox]

I beg to disagree, I put seven year into designing the universe in which my stories take place. Down to every detail. It would have been much easier to use an already created world and base my characters there, but that would be stealing. Creative people don't need to use someone elses work, and if they base something off of it, they do it in a brand new way that adds rather than detracts from it, and they go about it the right way.

50 shade was crap. It is only popular with those who rarely to never read and wouldn't know grammar mistakes if it slapped them in the face and screamed uncle.

[AnyaKimlun]

Try rereading the sentence where you comment on people who don't know about grammar.

Penny dreadfuls and their equivalents have always been popular and have some fantastic stories in them if you can get hold of them. They have always been trashy fun. Shakespeare worked both audiences like a master and is why his popularity is more enduring than Marlowe. Given erotic romance is one of the most popular genres and its readers are varied I don't think we can put it down to one section of the population. The sex and characters is what sells it. Your grammar can be the best in the world, but if the characters are naff then it won't sell. Get a character people want to read about and it will do well inspite of the writing style. Barbara Cartland whilst not erotic is one of the most popular modern authors ever,

Most of my friends are well read, university educated and I don't know many people who rarely read. More than one has enjoyed the kinky aspects of the stories. I prefer m/m erotic romance fiction (two men together -delicious) so I haven't read it. If you want to be insulting to readers that is your business but I appreciate the people that bother to read and breathe life into my work, and some of them like reading fan fiction/Shades of Grey. Others read entirely high brow, literary fiction.

I've designed my own worlds and didn't need to take seven years over it. Every writer is different and has different strengths. I was an archaeologist so designing a world, telling a story and characters are the easiest parts of writing for me. It is what I was trained to do. If the stone in the ground can't be envisioned by others as a Roman Villa or the post hole become an Iron Age roundhouse then funding ends.

Do I NEED to write fan fiction - hell no. I have more ideas, worlds, characters and stories than I have life left to write them and I've only been writing just under three years. Right now I have several deadlines so don't have time.

However I do like writing fan-fiction. It is fun and a way to answer unanswered questions. (Like what was Captain Jack like when pregnant). My own writing voices are fairly distinctive and have a tone to them so tailoring that to someone else's is hard. It is for me as a writer and incredibly useful exercise because it highlights my own weaknesses and strength. It has allowed me to work on my own writing with new eyes and understanding. My own work improves every time I tackle a piece.

I take my cue from the author/creator etc. JK Rowling encourages fan-fiction writers as long as they keep it PG, Stephanie Meyer doesn't mind it, the Dr Who creators also do as it advertises for them. Anne Rice doesn't like it and will sue (but then I don't like her work so it was never an issue).

As a writer I'd love Stephen Moffat's job.

[Sayble Nox]

I'm sorry, I type my thoughts as I would say them. No need to get snarky, and its certainly not going to make me think any better of people who write fanfiction.

[AnyaKimlun]

I wasn't being snarky. You wrote a sentence that complained about people who wouldn't know grammar reading 50 Shades whilst expecting people to read your own poorly constructed sentences. Your sentence just like the ones in 50 Shades, Twilight etc are comprehensible just like yours is. Both of your posts here indicate your natural grammar isn't as good as some of the people whom I know have read 50 Shades because they are of the generation when it was drilled into them at school.

To refer to all readers of 50 Shades as poorly educated and dismiss all writers of fan fiction as uncreative shows your own ignorance and not theirs. I know several published authors that have used fan fiction as publicity. A great, well paced Dr Who, Harry Potter, Pokemon etc piece with a link to a website will increase traffic and potentially sales.

I don't need you to think well of my writing or my creativity unless you are in a position to buy it.

[Sayble Nox]

Well if they want to use the technique of thieving other people’s ideas to bolster their sales, they can have at it. I know I won't be reading anything by them and I don’t care how good their fan-fiction is or how well educated and high brow they are.

[CandraH]

Originally Posted by Lin

Well, that's one huge difference between writing and plastic arts (and one that get's overlooked in a lot of analogies)

If you sit in the museum faithfully copying a Vermeer, you are learning something. If you sit down and type out a Shakespeare play you aren't learning a damned thing.

Except, I don't copy them faithfully. I did these drawings of paintings of dragons with specific study goals in mind - light and tonal values and exploring someone elses dragon design etc -





I didn't set out to slavishly copy the colours or brushstrokes of the original artist in what arty folks call a master copy (which is a whole different learning animal), so there are a lot more similarities in what I do artwise to fan fiction than you might think.

But I wasnt really being serious in my earlier post, more facetious if anything because people are entitled to do whatever they want.

But if I am being serious, the way I see it is, fan fiction isnt about learning but about pure fantasy indulgence on the part of the fan. If I was going to invest the writing time and effort, I'd much rather indulge my own fantasies than someone elses. Shrug.

[AnyaKimlun]

Originally Posted by Sayble Nox

Well if they want to use the technique of thieving other people’s ideas to bolster their sales, they can have at it. I know I won't be reading anything by them and I don’t care how good their fan-fiction is or how well educated and high brow they are.

How do you know you haven't read something by an author who at some point in their life has written fan-fiction? My daughter at nine is a talented little storyteller but right now My Little Pony, Ghibli Films, Pokemon, Care Bears and Scooby Doo dominate them. She occasionally makes up a character. My children's stories often gets me sent fan-fiction and I've been known with some to ask can I use their ideas in my next one. Some of it is good and the ideas fresher than I come up with.

It is only thieving if the other party objects to you taking it. Some authors actively encourage fan-fiction, others object and there is a sliding scale in between. JK Rowling and Anne Rice are at opposite ends of the debate. It isn't hard to find out if an author/creator has a specific objection. A couple of authors I've met in real life say their line is when money is starting to be made from their work, others have certain parameters about how you can use their work. For me the greatest buzz is when readers take my characters into their hearts and make their own opinions on them. I am bemused that I can't convince anyone that Angus is ugly rather than insecure, I was further bemused when all the beta readers decided one of my characters was black (she is now they are right it makes sense). Other people wanting to write about my world's and character's is an extension of them falling for the character but for other writer's it is the equivalent of kidnapping their children. Some authors cut the apron strings and some don't. I love receiving pictures and writings from those that have read my work.

As an author I take ideas from other places all the time sometimes it is conscious like basing my ogreish race's personality on Jo and Papa Bhaer from Little Women or when my character shifted into a bird using a falcon like The Sorceress. A friend named my falcon for me when I asked her what name her seventeen-year-old son would give a bird and that in turn gave my book a title. Only last night a friend helped me with an aspect of my story and it is better for their input. I steal persona's from celebrities to form my characters. My stories are usually described as original and highly imaginative, but it isn't all mine I've just pieced together elements of my life including artistic influences to make a coherent story.

Any author that believes every idea in their story is entirely original is kidding themselves. I know that the ideas in my stories that are often thought of as most original are the ones I know where they originate from. Personally, I use my fan fiction pieces like Candara uses the pictures she copies from others because it teaches me how my favourite authors/scriptwriters etc go about things and I can take that into my writing.

My favourite TV show as a teen was something called The Chief. I've recently managed to get hold of the DVDs and it is as good as I remember. My next fan fiction will be a script for a spin off story with the second chief's daughter.