Fan Fiction: Is it a problem?
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Fanfiction tends to bother me. As someone who works hard creating their own characters, plots,editing and countless rewrites, it seems easy and frankly lazy to just take established characters people have developed an affinity for. Though I just landed a literary agent and a chance to finally be published while fan fiction authors won't have that opportunity due to copyright issues. Well unless, they do star wars and video game adaptations, but I see the quality of those to just be slightly above fan fiction. I feel that fan fiction writers that can write well are wasting their talent.
Though oddly enough I like well done fan art.
Though oddly enough I like well done fan art.
I really hate fanfic just because it wastes more time on characters that have already been explored in the original works and people who do or consume fan fiction are just wasting time (and talent in some cases). I also think that its very offensive to the creator of the said work of media. And it completely ruins the universe of the said work.
Fanfiction can be really good, there are some very good writers on the internet who use this medium to explore new aspects of an established story. The problem is that for every good story, there are hundreds of bad ones that show no respect for the original work.
Calm down, man. Read Mass Effect: Interregnum, a perfect example of how to actually add depth and character to an existing character. Or alternatively Halo: The Enemy Of My Enemy, for an interesting story set in the Halo universe but not featuring any of its characters.templatetom said:
Nothing is absolute. Some people say that there are 9 bad fics for every good one - but the way I see it, there is one good fic for every 9 bad ones, and that's good enough, because you can just ignore/gain amusement from the bad ones while reading and enjoying the good ones.
One of the best Fan Fictions I have been reading as of late is:
The Last Spartan [http://www.fanfiction.net/s/5939286/1/The_Last_Spartan]
It's a cross over of Halo and Mass Effect by changing some lore (very few) and making them exist in the same timeline with Halo taking place 131 years before Mass Effect's offical storyline.
Hell, it's got a Tv Tropes Page!
http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/FanFic/TheLastSpartan
The Last Spartan [http://www.fanfiction.net/s/5939286/1/The_Last_Spartan]
It's a cross over of Halo and Mass Effect by changing some lore (very few) and making them exist in the same timeline with Halo taking place 131 years before Mass Effect's offical storyline.
Hell, it's got a Tv Tropes Page!
http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/FanFic/TheLastSpartan
Because you posted that, I'm just going to post the Unholy Trinity of Fanfics.OniaPL said:
Half Life Full Life Consequences
http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/FanFic/HalfLifeFullLifeConsequences
Worth watching the Gmod live readings, because they are beautiful.
DOOM: Repercussions of Evil
http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/FanFic/DoomRepercussionsOfEvil
Famous for creating a meme. Once again, best experienced through dramatic reading conveyed via Gmod.
And My Immortal, which we've already got a link to.
This said, I don't mind Fanfic. It's just that Sturgeon's Law is so heavily in effect with it that's irritating. I mean, sometimes, you can get some really, shockingly good stuff.
I am surprised nobody has called me creepy because of the fanfics I read. Oh internet you surprise me everyday.
Why the hell does anybody care? You aren't going to see it unless you do it on purpose. Plus if it was a problem we'd miss out on stuff like sonichu the animated series.
I love fanfiction. Sure, tons of it is crap, but that's a necessary consequence of the internet. I find that there's somewhat of a positive correlation between quality and length, so if you want to find good stuff fast, I recommend filtering out anything shorter than a few dozen thousand words; even if you don't like novel-length pieces, you can read a fan-novelist's shorter works in fairly good faith that they'll be good.
Fics in an out of themselves aren't a problem at all. What does bother me, however, is when fics devolve into pointless self-inserts or attempts at revising existing characters.
A lot of the source material for fics is typically aimed at kids as its initial audience. Saturday morning villains don't need a reason to be evil, they're typically designed to be cackling madmen or other versions on the typical one-note antagonist. Considering this, it bothers me when I spot instances where an OC was created for the sole purpose of bringing out the ignored, bruised and tormented past of characters who might very well specialize in murdering infants for shits and giggles.
Fanfics being what they are, you either get hackneyed romances, pointless self-inserts or excessively narmy stories of redemption or of the all-conquering power of love, etc.
Once in a great, long while, you also spot something where the characters ring true, the setting feels genuine and the plot serves as something more than just a vehicle for whatever weird fanbase fantasies are up for grabs. Those are the moments that remind you that the genre is worthy of some attention, just when you might be about to delete your bookmark to Fanfiction.net
Of course, things could also swing the other way. An author takes it upon herself to "sanitize" a wretched cultural product (i.e. Twilight) and ends up creating something where the pendulum swings so far back in the opposite direction that you end up with something that's just as improbable (i.e. "Luminosity"'s inhumanly brainy and rational take on Bella Swan - which doesn't improve on her lacking core concept in any way) and just as unlikeable.
"Harry Potter and the Methods of Rationality" is good for a laugh, but having a version of Potter that keeps questioning things in a fundamentally whimsical universe makes very little sense. If the protagonist in a fairly fantastic storyline and universe becomes a one-note joke on how some people can't suspend their disbelief, then there's a bit of a problem.
A lot of the source material for fics is typically aimed at kids as its initial audience. Saturday morning villains don't need a reason to be evil, they're typically designed to be cackling madmen or other versions on the typical one-note antagonist. Considering this, it bothers me when I spot instances where an OC was created for the sole purpose of bringing out the ignored, bruised and tormented past of characters who might very well specialize in murdering infants for shits and giggles.
Fanfics being what they are, you either get hackneyed romances, pointless self-inserts or excessively narmy stories of redemption or of the all-conquering power of love, etc.
Once in a great, long while, you also spot something where the characters ring true, the setting feels genuine and the plot serves as something more than just a vehicle for whatever weird fanbase fantasies are up for grabs. Those are the moments that remind you that the genre is worthy of some attention, just when you might be about to delete your bookmark to Fanfiction.net
Of course, things could also swing the other way. An author takes it upon herself to "sanitize" a wretched cultural product (i.e. Twilight) and ends up creating something where the pendulum swings so far back in the opposite direction that you end up with something that's just as improbable (i.e. "Luminosity"'s inhumanly brainy and rational take on Bella Swan - which doesn't improve on her lacking core concept in any way) and just as unlikeable.
"Harry Potter and the Methods of Rationality" is good for a laugh, but having a version of Potter that keeps questioning things in a fundamentally whimsical universe makes very little sense. If the protagonist in a fairly fantastic storyline and universe becomes a one-note joke on how some people can't suspend their disbelief, then there's a bit of a problem.
I forget the name of the rule or the exact wording but someone once said that if 99 fanfictions are bad and there is one good one than fanfictions. are worth preserving. I used to read ALOT of fanfic but after awhile it gradually dawned on me how absolutely terrible most of it is. BUT in my time with fanfiction I have also read some exceptionally good fanfiction so that's the stuff I like to remember.
I want to know where all these crazed lunatics come from who are breaking into peoples homes, putting guns to their heads (the occupants obvs not the crazed lunatics) and forcing them to read fan-fic.
Is there some cult of these crazed bastards roaming the land and someone forgot to tell me about them?
Should I be scared? Should I start rigging all the portals into my home with shotguns?
Is there some cult of these crazed bastards roaming the land and someone forgot to tell me about them?
Should I be scared? Should I start rigging all the portals into my home with shotguns?
I've always thought of fan fiction as the warped respective perspectives of those who enjoy the series', or day dreams as some have said. I imagine someone thinking about their favorite show (let's just make it Naruto for evil's sake) and they were thinking, man, I think it would be cool if Naruto met the 4th. Then they proceed to write this thought which is probably super exciting for them, onto paper or computer, full of dreamed-up complex, niche action scenes, corny dialouge, and predictable plot progression that is clearly catering to this person's fantasies, and share what they believe to be cool with the rest of the world. There is a high chance that their story is so niche, that only they can like it, but there is also a chance that others will like it as well. I think of it the same way I think of a lot of art, particularly abstract art. It's what it is to the eyes of the beholder. No matter how many people like or dislike something, there will always be someone who will say "this is utter shit" or "this is so heavenly, I just nerdgasm'd". I personally dislike abstract art because I simply don't care about whatever message it's trying to convey (and sell for 2k), and I don't really care. Sometimes, and many times, people will make art simply for themselves to marvel at and enjoy. I generally don't always find beauty in abstract symbolic art like others do, but like fan fiction, I'm cool with it because other people like it, and just because I don't like it, it doesn't mean it isn't liked.
The idea is nice, and its a good jumping off point really if you wanna develop your skills before moving onto full blown completely your own thing (wihch nine times out of ten has been done before and you're just reskinning it with or without the realization).
personally I write it just for something to do and cause I think the chance to write a story in a universe that was thought of before I could is fun.
so eah, like verything, there's good and theres bad, and for the most part the majority is middle ground but people still ***** just cause they need something to do.
personally I write it just for something to do and cause I think the chance to write a story in a universe that was thought of before I could is fun.
so eah, like verything, there's good and theres bad, and for the most part the majority is middle ground but people still ***** just cause they need something to do.
and I suppose that mickey avatar wasnt a complete waste of soeones artistic talents while spitting in the face of Disney at all.templatetom said:
Fanfiction has gotten a bad name over the years. Alot of people assume that they can only be about alternate and strange romances. Perhaps a website should be put up that collects all the really good fanfictions together in one place. Did you know that Barack Obama wrote one about Firefly? Fanfiction is great writing practice since you're putting alot of effort into something you really love. I personally would want to write a Mass Effect fanfction... "Baron, the First Krogan Spectre."
Oh and one about Pokemon but I wont even get into that.
Oh and one about Pokemon but I wont even get into that.