McAnally's (The Community Pub) > Author Craft
Fanfiction - Good or Evil?
BolshevikMuppet:
I think fanfiction is both good and bad for aspiring writers.
For me, it's helped me grow in regards to the voices of different characters, and how to keep those voices separate, and obviously different from each other. I've been writing fanfiction since I was twelve, and it's definitely fun as a writer to be able to create the episode of a show that you always wished would've happened, or to expand on a character's thoughts that you don't necessarily get to see during a particular scene. It's great writing practice.
The bad thing, however, is growing lazy and too accustomed to the simplicity that fanfiction writing provides us. I, for one, have trouble coming up with my own in-depth characters, as for so long I've just borrowed other people's.
I think from the creator's standpoint, fanfiction would be both insulting and a compliment - a compliment because people care enough about your characters and your world to want to play in it, want to further the bounds of that world. An insult, though, if they stomp all over your characters or have terrible grammar or bad jokes or something. Joss Whedon openly, wholeheartedly encourages fanfiction, whereas Anne Rice has threatened to sue fanfic writers. I suppose it depends on how seriously the creator/author takes themselves and their stories. Fanfiction can only serve to further popularize the work of the original creator/author, so I don't see why some writers get so bent out of shape about it. Again, if it were done in an insulting manner, I could understand it. If I were Joss Whedon, I doubt I'd much appreciate some of the pairings people dare to create - Giles/Spike, Dawn/Faith, etc. Or if I were Anne Rice, I wouldn't want to read some badly-written account of Mona getting it on with Louis. But whenever I personally find a new obsession, one of the first things I do to familiarize myself with it and its characters, is find out what kind of fanfiction is out there for that particular fandom, and read all of the good ones I can find. And if there aren't any good ones, it's not long before I start writing one myself.
Qualapec:
--- Quote from: meg_evonne on May 25, 2007, 03:52:19 PM ---If you are using fanfic to learn in private, great! It seems one hell of a way to hone in on one part of writing, ie character or action or dialog, etc while borrowing the world created by another. You JUST DON'T have the RIGHT to ever publish, share, distribute, or even have a friend or colleage read it without permission of the original writer. It's Jim Butcher's grey matter, not yours.
--- End quote ---
Heh...okay. I didn't have a problem up until you said I didn't have the right. Especially about sharing it with personal friends. That bothers me. First ammendment, lady. And people put their ideas out for the whole world to see. I don't see the harm in expanding on that idea, especially if:
I put a disclaimer at the beginning of every chapter.
I don't make chicken scratch doing it.
I honestly don't see how I don't have the right to have fun if it doesn't. hurt. anybody.
Why is this such a contraversial issue? Nobody. Makes. Money. It's. Something. That's. Enjoyed. Need I spell it out more clearly for you?
~She-Wolf
Yeratel:
--- Quote from: Qualapec on May 27, 2007, 05:29:18 AM ---Heh...okay. I didn't have a problem up until you said I didn't have the right. Especially about sharing it with personal friends. That bothers me. First ammendment, lady. And people put their ideas out for the whole world to see. I don't see the harm in expanding on that idea, especially if:
I put a disclaimer at the beginning of every chapter.
I don't make chicken scratch doing it.
I honestly don't see how I don't have the right to have fun if it doesn't. hurt. anybody.
Why is this such a contraversial issue? Nobody. Makes. Money. It's. Something. That's. Enjoyed. Need I spell it out more clearly for you?
--- End quote ---
If you think it's not a copyright violation just because you're not getting paid for it, you're wrong. Write for your own amusement, fine, share it with a friend, fine, but publish it to the world at large, including via a free web site, not fine.
If you want to show the world at large what a nifty writer you are, instead of stealing some other writer's ideas and characters, write something original.
Jan1228:
For my own 2¢ I like slash fan fiction when I can find someone who writes well.
BTW, does anyone know where I could find Dresdenverse slash?
meg_evonne:
"The furniture is worth something. The story is worth less than nothing, and by using it, you're not taking anything away from the author who wrote the original." from Firegazer.
A story is worth a great deal, especially if it is your income. Anyone who has actually written and struggled through a true manuscript would NEVER say that a story is worth less than nothing, published or not.
Please rethink your statement. The reason you hear the furniture analogy frequently is because it is completely applicable. Intellectual property is owned by the person who created it. That is the essence behind all the copywrite laws.
As I said if you are using it in private to learn, great. If you are putting it out on the internet, which I consider to be the same as publishing you are "taking" the property of others. Perhaps someone with more law experience could address the internet issue as I'm certainly not an expert on it. I'm pretty sure that an e-book is copywrited the same as a paper manuscript?
I really appreciate the quote from BolshevikMuppet, with which I thoroughly agree. "The bad thing, however, is growing lazy and too accustomed to the simplicity that fanfiction writing provides us. I, for one, have trouble coming up with my own in-depth characters, as for so long I've just borrowed other people's." The challenge is to create those characters and do them well. Applause to BolshevikMuppet!
Meg in IA
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