McAnally's (The Community Pub) > Author Craft
Fanfic richer or poorer?
MonaLS:
--- Quote from: Yeratel on March 20, 2008, 02:58:13 PM ---It's homosexual porn in fan fiction. It's called that because fans use a forward slash symbol "/" to denote the relationship, like Kirk/Spock, instead of an ampersand symbol denoting conventional relationships, like Aragorn & Arwen.
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I had no idea, thanks for the clarification.
trboturtle:
--- Quote from: cephis on March 18, 2008, 02:20:30 PM ---I think that using an authors universe but not their charecters is best for a jumping off point for a writer trying to find their own voice. As long as the original author's characters are not in it I think of it as constructive non-publishable work of fiction. If someone is writing a spin-off of anothers writers established work for pay it is simmiler to fan fic that they are trying to fit what they contribute into an exsiting framework and is not a one-off of what is the universe
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The Battletech Universe is a Perfect example of a universe which don't need to use any established characters to write stories in. Based on a 20+ year old game, Battletech is space opera with multiple interstellar states, a solid and extensive universe background in place, and more conflict, both large and small that can be drawn on without effecting the major events going on around them. There are no "Evil" factions: all have some level of grey in them, each have heros and villians, strenghts and weaknesses. Almost any story can be told here, be it one of combat, or one of intreague, even to romance, if one wants to go thast route. I have written a bunch of stories set in this universe, and it's never old, becase I have a framework to work in, not a strightjacket.
Craig
Soulless Mystic5523:
One thing I have to say in favor of fanfic, despite how bad it usually is, is that its a good way of learning to write better. It can be very difficult to come up with your own original ideas at times, and even if you do, you may not have the skills to execute said ideas. By starting with fanfic, you can find your own voice and seperate it from the original work, and then move on to your own works.
Yeratel:
--- Quote from: Mystic5523 on March 27, 2008, 08:19:29 PM ---One thing I have to say in favor of fanfic, despite how bad it usually is, is that its a good way of learning to write better. It can be very difficult to come up with your own original ideas at times, and even if you do, you may not have the skills to execute said ideas. By starting with fanfic, you can find your own voice and seperate it from the original work, and then move on to your own works.
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If you ever want to pass it around, or actually see it in print anywhere, though, it would be best to pick either historical characters and situations (e.g. Harry Turtledove's Guns of the South), or literary characters that have passed into the Public Domain, like Dracula (e.g. P.N. Elrod's Quincy Morris, Vampire). There's an almost infinite number of characters and situations a writer can choose from, without stepping on another writer's copyright.
Franzeska:
--- Quote from: Noey on March 18, 2008, 02:13:36 PM ---I think in either case, if it is sought out by the publisher and purchased, it ceases to be fanfic. This is obviously a fanfic writer's dream...
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Most of the fanfic authors I know would be horrified if they were sought out by a publisher, even the ones who aspire to publish their own original fiction one day. Personally, I like the unofficialness of fanfiction. I'll happily read about a character dying or suddenly changing sex or orientation or secretly being evil or any number of other things I would absolutely hate to have happen in the movie/book/tv show/whatever itself. Lots of people do use fanfiction as a writing exercise and a stepping stone to publication, but I think it's a mistake to evaluate it purely on that basis. No one thinks it's weird to do karaoke with friends, even if most of you are horrible singers. Why should all writing have any relationship at all to the publishing industry? (Just for that, I know I'll get about 500 responses proclaiming the utter weirdness of karaoke.)
--Franzi
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