McAnally's (The Community Pub) > Author Craft
Fanfiction: Is It Real Writing?
Quantus:
--- Quote from: the neurovore of Zur-En-Aargh on June 28, 2012, 12:55:11 PM ---Hmm. Interesting reaction, because when I really enjoy a world and think it's done well, I tend not to want more in it by anyone other than the original writer; because the better and more complex a fictional world is, the less likely any other writer is to Get It well enough for their attempts to follow through not to disappoint. (I base this on a number of tribute anthologies to things like Sandman and Elric and the War of the Worlds, each of which, that I recall, had one or two good stories among an avalanche of unsatisfying ones.)
I suppose that could be an argument for good writers fanficcing unsatisfying universes to make them better, but I think I'd rather have original stuff from the good writers in question.
--- End quote ---
Fair enough, I suppose I was assuming that the new material would remain faithful and/or up to par. This would be easier to do with an invitational type of situation, as opposed to a tribute situation where the Original Author has little or no input. If, for example, one of Jim's Beta-Foo were to do an Alera spin-off, Id forsee them having a good perspective on the material from their involvement in the original publishing, as well as enough open communication with the Author that they could conceivably do it fair justice.
Along a Similar vein, I thought the Idea of Brandon Sanderson taking over the WOT could have been a trainwreck, but he has guidance from Jordan's editor/wife, and his additions to the series are at least as good as the originals. Granted that is swinging pretty wide of what Id call "Fan-fiction"
Shecky:
--- Quote from: Quantus on June 28, 2012, 01:36:07 PM ---If, for example, one of Jim's Beta-Foo were to do an Alera spin-off, Id forsee them having a good perspective on the material from their involvement in the original publishing, as well as enough open communication with the Author that they could conceivably do it fair justice.
--- End quote ---
Are you insane? If one of us got hold of it, what resulted would likely be the story of Tavi and Kitai's second son, Gluteus Snarkius.
Quantus:
--- Quote from: Shecky on June 28, 2012, 01:46:09 PM ---Are you insane? If one of us got hold of it, what resulted would likely be the story of Tavi and Kitai's second son, Gluteus Snarkius.
--- End quote ---
...I'd read it
8)
LDWriter2:
--- Quote from: Quantus on June 28, 2012, 01:36:07 PM ---Fair enough, I suppose I was assuming that the new material would remain faithful and/or up to par. This would be easier to do with an invitational type of situation, as opposed to a tribute situation where the Original Author has little or no input. If, for example, one of Jim's Beta-Foo were to do an Alera spin-off, Id forsee them having a good perspective on the material from their involvement in the original publishing, as well as enough open communication with the Author that they could conceivably do it fair justice.
Along a Similar vein, I thought the Idea of Brandon Sanderson taking over the WOT could have been a trainwreck, but he has guidance from Jordan's editor/wife, and his additions to the series are at least as good as the originals. Granted that is swinging pretty wide of what Id call "Fan-fiction"
--- End quote ---
If you are doing fanfic online than you can pretty much do what you want. But if you do it with the permission of the copyright owner they can control what you put in. Star Trek-universal-was strict about canon and what made up canon, and I assume David Weber is also. Of course if you opened it up too wide you would need readers to watch for any uncanon scenes or anything new that took the storyline in a direction the creator doesn't want since they wouldn't have time to read all the stories. Star Trek being its own special case. And they did have an editor watching for that.
Zuriel:
--- Quote from: the neurovore of Zur-En-Aargh on June 28, 2012, 12:55:11 PM ---Hmm. Interesting reaction, because when I really enjoy a world and think it's done well, I tend not to want more in it by anyone other than the original writer; because the better and more complex a fictional world is, the less likely any other writer is to Get It well enough for their attempts to follow through not to disappoint. (I base this on a number of tribute anthologies to things like Sandman and Elric and the War of the Worlds, each of which, that I recall, had one or two good stories among an avalanche of unsatisfying ones.)
I suppose that could be an argument for good writers fanficcing unsatisfying universes to make them better, but I think I'd rather have original stuff from the good writers in question.
--- End quote ---
I disagree that fans do not "get it" well enough to write a fanfic if its too complex. Many of them are obsessive students of the story and thereby know it backwards and forwards. Sometimes the creator purposefully leaves an event/situation or character and/or his behavior open-ended for further contemplation (especially, but not exclusive, to episodic TV), plus fans desire to extrapolate on what could have happened before, in between or after x, y or z. All the answers are not there. And I have yet to find many stories that completely satisfied me - and I'm surely not the only one who feels this way - not to mention the others who just like the challenge of creating an addition, like filling in the blanks, to a story they really enjoyed, not necessarily to make it better, per se. Good writers are not immune to making bad choices, usually messing up a good thing when their egos begin to inflate and they believe everything they write is golden. Oh, contraire. :-\
Fanfic, to me, is quite the compliment to a writer, that the author's story is so well thought of that people want more. It doesn't mean the fanfic writer didn't like the story and wrote his own story to subvert the original. Quite the opposite in most cases.
I have run into a few people who don't read fanfic because they don't want to get "confused" over what's canon and what is not...which seems rather bizaare to me, as these people are very well-versed in the stories, and I would think they are highly aware of what actually took place in the original work. It's their perogative, but a rather flimsy excuse.
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