Fanfiction - Good or Evil?

[Darrington]

For many years wanting to be a published author and now managing to hold the position, I have a great hate for fanfic.  I've never read any, so it's not necessarily for the potential of a story and characters being butchered or misrepresented, but for the pure and simple fact that you can't really do anything with it.  Which, I suppose, is half the fun of it.  You just throw it out there for fellow fans to read and enjoy, or keep it just to yourself.  I think it's more the idea of me doing fanfic myself, the fact that I could throw so much into something and not really be able to do anything with it.

On the other hand, perhaps in a touch of hypocrisy of sorts, I'd feel flattered beyond words if someone wrote fanfic on my book and characters.  Well, I'd probably say that until I saw some horrible misrepresentation of all the characters and some critical point to the story being ignored or some such sort.  I suppose the hypocrisy continues as a good friend of mine (storyteller) and I plot writing up stories on our game based off the Dresden universe.  Other than that, though, I've never touched fanfic.

[trboturtle]

On the other hand, perhaps in a touch of hypocrisy of sorts, I'd feel flattered beyond words if someone wrote fanfic on my book and characters.  Well, I'd probably say that until I saw some horrible misrepresentation of all the characters and some critical point to the story being ignored or some such sort.  I suppose the hypocrisy continues as a good friend of mine (storyteller) and I plot writing up stories on our game based off the Dresden universe.  Other than that, though, I've never touched fanfic.

Personally, I try to stay with the series I'm writing in -- the characters, places, situations, and expand on them. A prime example is BubbleGum Crisis (Four babes in battlearmor fighting robots that look like the Termanator's big blue brother in a Tokyo ruled by a megacorps on the 2030's). It's cyperpunk, with influences from Blade Runner, Streets of Fire, and others. When I write those Fanfics, I stay in that world, adding things where needed, but relying on the establish story background first and formost.

Others have taken those characters and taken them either into the past, or the future. They have killed them, reserected them, turned them into cyborgs, or based them in a fantasy setting., If they want to do that, that's their problem. But for me, their world and the problems in that world are the backdrop for these stories of mine. To alter things so much as to make it unrecognizable doesn't feel right to me.

To me, Fanfiction is a sharpner, allowing me to hone my craft and get a feel for the writing process.

Craig

[Belmonte]

I voted 'Useless'.  I hate it.  Hate it with a passion.  I have a friend who likes to sift through fanfic for the very, very few gems--they're far more stubborn than I am, and willing to /look/.  Most of it--yuck.  I get a synopsis now and then, and the majority is the most puerile tripe I have ever heard of.  I won't even get into the self-insertion fantasies or the sexual fantasies people write, pairing and slashing various characters.

Yes, vociferous.  I hate fanfic.

[whoknowswhy]

I write fanfic. I have stories on several fanfic sites, and I am proud of (almost) everything I have written.  I am not a teenager, far from it.   What fanfic did for me was to give me a starting point.  With characters already created, I was free to concentrate on my own plot and dialogue.  Once I had developed in that area, I felt confident enough to put down on paper some characters of my own.  Without fanfic, I doubt if I ever would have come to the place where I can call myself a writer.   Now I have original stories in the works.  I've submitted several to different publications and begun the watiing game to see what happens.  If I were ever lucky enough to become a published author with a following and someone wrote a fanfic based on my characters, I would think of it as a compliment.

[thomasfan]

Fanfiction is something I love to do.  I write ones about Spike from Buffy The Vampire Slayer and some others.  But, I have been writing short stories for years and have some cool ones.  My newest one is a spy story.  The three main characters are a brooding agent, with a dark past, his partner, a British cool guy, and this computer super hacker.  He's Scottish and is really fun to write.  Why?  Because I based him on one of my favorite actors.  The other two are based on the guy that played Spike, the brooding guy, and my favorite singer, that's the British one.

But, when it comes to fan fiction, I don't like the over sexual ones.  Give me the fun ones, with a little sex, and I'm happy!   

[Phishie]

I've enjoyed some fanfiction, but on the whole they usually can't keep my interest. The only time I think fanfiction is really helping an aspiring author is when they base the story on entirely new and different characters within that same world, learning to flesh out someone of their own design.  Sadly, most of the fanfiction I've come across is mostly 'plot for the sake of pairings', or simply rehashing certain moments in the book/show/etc to change a relationship.

I like a wee bit of romance but I prefer not to read fanfiction that's only driven by a romantic pairing, where if you took one of them out of the story the entire plot would fall apart. Unless I'm curled up in a blanket intending to read a romance novel, I'm just not interested in that.

[Guardian 452]

I too have mixed feelings about fanfiction.  Actually it is how I got into writing in the first place.  Way back at the beginning of high school (long before people "published" their fanfics on the Internet) I started writing Star Trek stories.  I only actually shared them with an English teacher who was very supportive when it came to developing my writing abilities.  I never shared them with anyone else, and in truth, the stories are long gone now.

In that respect, fanfic can be a good thing.  I learned a lot writing those fanfics.  Let's face it, character creation is a very specific skill.  Fanfics can't help so much with that, but they can help with pace, plotting, etc...they can be very good learning tools.

Now, I do have a couple of stories about people who take fanfics too far.  First of all, I've tried reading fanfics on the Internet, but was just never able to get into them.  Too many people who do "publish" their works seem to think it gives them some credibility.  Here's a couple of examples (one annoying, one a little bit funny...plus a third).

First of all, Battlestar Galactica.  I came late to the party when it came to learning about the "reimagined" series...I learned of it shortly before it came out.  Once I did, I started digging around and stumbled across the Sci Fi discussion board on the subject.  Ron Moore posted there.

Along with Mr. Moore (and a large group of enthusiastic participants) there were a number of hard-core fans of the original series who had strong views.  Some were very intelligent, but most either didn't understand how television works or were the sort of people we're talking about (fanfic writers).  For example, Ron Moore pitched the idea for the new series and it was approved.  After this, people started demanding "Why aren't you listening to us and continuing the original series?"  These are the people who don't understand how television works...put bluntly, Mr. Moore was being paid to do the new series...once the contracts were signed, that was what they were making!  Still, these people weren't the big problem.

I'll just mention one of the people in question.  This is a guy who regularly mixed it up with Mr. Moore.  Every time anything was posted about the new show, the guy would retaliate with several posts...trying to fight with Ron Moore.  One day he personified the particular breed of fanfic writer we're talking about. Mr. Moore had answered a question the guy had posted (looking for a fight)...he answered the question quite intelligently.  This is how the guy responded.  "You are a hack.  You know absolutely nothing about writing.  I've written over 30 Battlestar Galactica fanfics so I know what I'm talking about!"  He made it quite clear that his fanfics meant he was a "real" writer, while Ron Moore (who had more credits than I'm going to list) was a hack...I think that speaks for itself.

The two others were friends in high school.  First was someone who wrote a Star Trek script where he cast himself as captain.  He was convinced he'd found a way to beat the Kobyashi Maru (I won't get into details) and wrote a script to show it.  We were going to a convention a week later, and he was going to take the script along and show it to everyone he could.  I pointed out why this story just wouldn't work.  At first he reacted with anger, but after a couple of days my words struck home, and we saved countless "victims" at the convention.

The other friend wrote a Next Generation fanfic shortly after the series aired.  He wrote it for English class, and got a good mark for it.  He felt this nineteen page story was good enough that he should send it to Paramount...he was convinced that it would be the best episode ever made.  Now this was one of those "wishful thinking" sort of scripts.  He called it something like "The Romulan Plot" (it involved Romulans and time travel).  However, all of this stuff, all of the action, was really just window dressing for the true purpose of the story.  If I were to give it a title, it would have been called "Get Wesley Crusher Off the Bridge".

So to sum up, you can learn from fanfics, but (as others have said) please don't dump them on the world!

Oh, for some other interesting fanfic-related stories, see if you can find a copy of Bjo Trimble's "On the Good Ship Enterprise" at your local library.  She worked in the fan mail department on the original Star Trek, and has some interesting stories about people who used to send in their writings.

Keith

[Velkyn_Faer]

I have tried some fanfiction, and I find it very constricting, due to the fact you must follow someone else's laws and rules, as it is their world. Some worlds are easier to work in than others, but I find it both hard to do and a bit of a waste of time.

To me, certain fanfiction writing is very unorigional and overdone, such as all those people who think that 'fox demons, half-demons, vampire-werewolf-alien-chicken-spawn, and cow-demons' are origional.

It all depends on the topic, characters used, and how it follows the world they are writing in. If I read a LOTR fan-fic, then I would not want to see a story about Aragorn when he should be in the middle of a battle, as written by Tolkien. However, stories about minor characters and their take on certain things in the books, or about a new character who could have been there (That means no mini-Harry Dresdens running around the Death Star) are usually alright.

Velkyn

[Chaos985]

Fanfics, if done right can be quite good.  Too bad they usually suck.

Most of them suffer from at least one if not all of these major flaws.

Self insertion - This is the worse of the worse.  this is usually accompanied by describing how much cooler they are than the other characters, and they almost always play a more important role than anyone else.

Character removal - Take a character you dont like, and simply remove him. Often times either killing them off early, or not even bothering to mention them.

Personality changes - OOC (out of character)comments and actions.  some are acceptable, but others are just wrong.  whats worse is when theres a hastily scribble back story to explain why someone does something OOC.  Thats almost admitting that they know what they are doing is wrong.

Background drops - What would Luke Skywalker do when stuck in a Lord of the Rings world?  DOnt know, i dont care.  Too bad that person did.

Romance stories - I really dont need/want the details of what Captain Picard Dr. Crusher and Lt. Troy were doing on their holodeck vacation to Tahiti.

I have tried some fanfiction, and I find it very constricting, due to the fact you must follow someone else's laws and rules, as it is their world.

the greatest problem comes down to some people believeing that if its too hard to work within the rules, ignore the rules.

[trboturtle]

Fanfics, if done right can be quite good.  Too bad they usually suck.

They can, but some (Very few) rise above the material.

Most of them suffer from at least one if not all of these major flaws.

Self insertion - This is the worse of the worse.  this is usually accompanied by describing how much cooler they are than the other characters, and they almost always play a more important role than anyone else.

I agree. I have written a couple of self insert stories, based on the Bubblegum Crisis Anime series, and It's hard not to make the avatar supierior. However, I find it an interesting challenge to write about a character based on me, who isn't supierior.

Character removal - Take a character you dont like, and simply remove him. Often times either killing them off early, or not even bothering to mention them.

Personality changes - OOC (out of character)comments and actions.  some are acceptable, but others are just wrong.  whats worse is when theres a hastily scribble back story to explain why someone does something OOC.  Thats almost admitting that they know what they are doing is wrong.

Background drops - What would Luke Skywalker do when stuck in a Lord of the Rings world?  DOnt know, i dont care.  Too bad that person did. 

Again, it depends on how the event is handled. The problem is that with the Internet, all the people who think they can write have a platform to display their efforts. A lot of it is a wate of time and effort, theough a few rise above the morass and display some true talent.

Romance stories - I really dont need/want the details of what Captain Picard Dr. Crusher and Lt. Troy were doing on their holodeck vacation to Tahiti.

In anime fanfiction, Lemons (As detailed 'romance' stories are called) are looked at with a jaundice eye, as you get the impression from most that the author is lacking experence in the subject, or learned from repeated watching of 'Debbie Does Dallas'..... 

I have tried some fanfiction, and I find it very constricting, due to the fact you must follow someone else's laws and rules, as it is their world.

the greatest problem comes down to some people believeing that if its too hard to work within the rules, ignore the rules.

As a fanfiction writer, that is the worse sin I can think of. The best fanfiction stays within the rules, but delivers something different and unique.

To me, Fanfiction is a way to hone the writing craft. It is a step toward original fiction. Fanfiction allows the author to write stories without having to work out all the little detail about the background, with is a great determent to a lot of authors. The can add or alter things to suit their story, but  each universe has it's own rules, and those rules should be a guideline. Once you wonder too far from them, you have something that isn't fanfiction, that isn't original, but a mishmash of both.

For example, in Bubblegum Crisis OVA, a cyberpunk-like setting set in 2030 Japan, there is enough background to form a base. We have a sinister Megacorp, Genom. We have Boomers, androids that can be best described as Grown-up Termanators. We have the heroes, four women using advanced battle armor to oppose Genom. We have all the basis, but there is still plenty of room to expand and add to the universe without invalidating anything from the show. When I write stories based on this series, I am well aware of the rules and how far I can go before I start writing outside of those rules. But I still have plenty of leeway, and as long as I remember what the heart and soul of the universe is about, then I go with it.

Craig

[Valkyrina]

I began writing after spending afternoons at college reading Buffy the Vampire Slayer fanfiction.

I'd read so much of it, that my imagination reached critical mass and I had to write things down or my brain would explode.

 

A few years later I'm finally beginning to write my own stuff (sort of) based on vague concepts rather than pre-constructed worlds.

Fanfiction is the McDonalds of writing: it's already to go, there isn't much you can do with it except eat it.

You can maybe add a little of your originality by using your fries to eat your McFlurry (I know someone who does that) but for the most part it's just all done for you.

Writing at author level is killing your own cow, harvesting your own wheat, milling your own flour and baking you own bread, growing your own vegetables, making you own sauce and creating your own packaging (Though you can get an artist in to do that for you if you want to).

Once you're at the gym and eating healthily after realising how bad McFanfiction is for you, you don't tell people how you were raised on it.

I was a smart McFanfictioner as a kid - I wrote stuff for the fun of it - then never showed a soul.

[Velkyn_Faer]

I have tried some fanfiction, and I find it very constricting, due to the fact you must follow someone else's laws and rules, as it is their world.

the greatest problem comes down to some people believeing that if its too hard to work within the rules, ignore the rules.

Then what's the point of writing in their world? If... I mean... when I get my story published, (gotta stay positive) I do not want to see someone doing a fanfiction of my world and not following my rules. That just is not right. The world I write in is my world. When I create it, I become the god of it. (I do not mean that in a dictator-like way, or as anything against anyone's God/gods. I'm merely making a point.) If I say that dwarves are confined to their tunnels for all eternity, I don't want to see someone saying "well, meh dwarve is special!1!eleven. hE can do nething." Uh-uh. As Trboturtle said, that is the gravest sin a fanfiction writer can commit.

When someone write fanfiction and follows the rules, delivers something unique, and does not mess with anything the author has stated in his/her books, then it has potential to be something good and fun to read.

Also, I believe it is more fun to make your own world and to mold it to your/the story's needs than to work in someone else's world.

Velkyn

(as I re-read this, I realize I sound rather pompus, and I would like to agree with Darrington on the point that it would be incredibly flattering for anyone to do a fanfic on my stories. However, it would be even better to see it written as the world allows, with no random stuff thrown in for the sake of 'being cool'.) 

[the neurovore of Zur-En-Aargh]

There are places where the lines blur interestingly, though.  When does a story stop being someone's fiction and start being common property ?  I don't think anyone would claim that all Arthur stuff is Thomas Mallory fanfic frex.  But are Sherlock Holmes stories written these days fanfic or not ? [ OK, that in particular is a bad example, because the Conan Doyle estate have done very non-standard things to prevent Holmes becoming public domain in a situation where any other fiction in Britain of that age would ] Are stories about the Three Musketeers ?  Are stories about the Phantom of the Opera ? [ The originals, in each case, rather than fanfic of specific later interpretations of them. ]

My personal take is that it should be acceptable when the author is a) dead or has b) given specific permission, as Neil Gaiman and Terry Pratchett have to some people wrt Good Omens, or for a shared creative universe - like most TV series, though Babylon 5 would stirke me as edgy -and not otherwise.  And I would get really angry indeed were anyone to fanfic anything I wrote.

[Nyeshet]

There is a lot of terrible fan fiction out there, but there are also a large number of real gems - at least in my experience. Granted, most of my experience with fanfiction has been with anime (mostly Ranma) and Harry Potter fanfiction. Perhaps one out of 30-40 stories was worth reading, but you can usually tell after a page or two whether or not it is worth continuing reading. Also, it helps to frequent websites that require one or more betas (from the site's pool of such) before any chapter is posted. The overall quality - in writing and sometimes even in plot - is usually better at such sites. Finding such sites, however, is not always easy, as they are often highly focused in the types of stories they accept (certain pairings, certain styles, etc).

So, I suppose I have mixed views on fanfiction. Some, I really wish I had not read even a single page, while others I consider myself lucky indeed to have stumbled upon. The author's skill and whether betas are used can really make a difference, I think.

While I myself am not an author, I can see how fanfiction could be used as a means of practicing one's writing, finding one's style, etc. In fact, one of the best fanfic authors I have ever read is also an aspiring author, so I suppose writing fanfiction has likely aided him, at least, in finding and improving his style of writing.

[maieo]

I like reading fanfiction when there's nothing else for me to read, or when I'm stuck on the computer with nothing else to do. Although some of it is incredibly disturbing and the plot isn't much more than a basis for ship (or worse), some of it is well thought out. I usually write my own stories in my own fashion, and reading someone else's work (if it is well done) gives me some inspiration.

Mary Sues in general are rather tiring and are rarely interesting, made to carry out disturbing fantasies. One of my favorite sites, Smartania, has something they call "Suckfic Massacre" where they rip apart awful fanfiction painfully into little pieces line by line. Quite a few of the stories are Mary Sues which makes them hilarious.

I was also a beta for a fanfiction writer at one point. It was rather painful at one point when she stopped listening to my comments.

So, I like well-written fanfictions, but the rest can just go away. Real life fanfictions, too. I just don't get those.