Poll: FanFiction, your opinion

[FallenMessiah88]

Sometimes when its good, its really really REALLY GOOD! Sometimes when its bad, its really really REALLY BAD!

Seriously though, I've read alot of fanfiction in my time and I've found that it is like most eveything else. 90% is crap, but the 10% that ARE genuinely good more than makes up for it.

 

[Canadamus Prime]

I hate it. 99.999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999% is absolute garbage that bastardizes it's source material. Also most fan fiction writers are hypocrites.

Why? Heres a good story: http://www.fanfiction.net/s/2507548/1/Edventure_of_the_Thousand_year_door

Does anyone actually READ the stuff,or are you just insulting it because everyone else is?

Why what? Why is most fan fiction crap or why are most fan fiction writers hypocrites?

Yeah. I've read some stories that A. Are good stand alone stories: http://www.fanfiction.net/s/3053213/1/Ed_Edd_n_Eddys_Nightmare_Before_Christmas
B. Are adding something good to the source material or fixing something the creator of said material screwed up. C. Have promise, but the authors just plain gave up on:http://www.fanfiction.net/s/2771410/1/Edventure_II_The_Fourth_Relic
or D. Are really crap or deal with a subject I'd rather not read about (Yaoi)

A. I did say that 0.0000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000001% was actually fair to good.
B. Fans cannot "fix" anything the original creator "screwed up" because the original creator only "screwed up" in their demented delusional opinions.
C. Can't comment on that one.
D. Yes, 99.999999999999999999999999999999999999999999% of falls into this category.

A. Good. 30-to-40% to be fair. B.Fair enough. C.Ha! D. No,that depends on where you look.

A. No, if I were feeling extremely generous, which I'm not, I would admit that 5, maybe even 10% is tolerable at best.
B. Thank you.
C. What?
D. I'm pretty sure it doesn't, but then I don't go looking for it.

 

[SuperSuperSuperGuy]

I dislike FanFiction. I do admit that there ARE some well-written pieces out there, but there's something that bothers me about the concept of FanFiction. I just can't exactly put my finger on what.

 

[Hawknight]

When done well, fanfiction can be great. I've got one I can think of that's a Bleach AU fic that was beautifully done. Heck, it didn't need to be fanfiction, it's a phenomenal story on it's own and even were it not familiar characters, I think I'd still love the story.

However, when done poorly, you get stuff like the "My Immortal" Harry Potter fic. I refuse to link it because it is so terrible. It may possibly lower your IQ simply by skimming the first chapter.

 

[Zantos]

Tasteful and well written fanfiction that compliments the original story while also diving into it's own unique plot would be pretty good. If you could ever find any.

Unfortunately I've never managed to get that far into the pile of filth to even glimpse a gem. Yes, everyone has inserted them self into their favourite plot at some point in there life, it doesn't mean we should all write it down and post it for the world to see. Yes, I know I often say that spelling and grammar is not the most important thing in the universe, it doesn't mean you shouldn't at least run it through spellcheck. Yes men get close and emotional with their best friends, it doesn't mean there's some deep set homoerotic lust between them that needs exploiting. The whole slash fiction, self-insert and have sex with your favourite character culture that has developed is just pretty fucking creepy

Also, for shits and giggles: http://www.1up.com/do/blogEntry?bId=9012750

 

[Furbyz]

The only fan-fiction I have read is Cupcakes, and basically my opinion is "NEVER AGAIN".

For every Cupcakes there is a Bubbles. They'll both make you cry, but for completely different reasons. Seriously, I implore you read http://www.equestriadaily.com/2011/03/story-bubbles.html just so you know that bronies have produced something of real literary worth.

I'm an editor of the fan fiction community and there's a good deal of truth to what the haters say. There are some out and out abominations held within every community. As someone said earlier, fan fiction is the epitome of Sturgeon's law, 90% of everything is crud. It's where a lot of writers start out, for good or ill. There is some mind blowingly wonderful stuff out there though. Most of it is a bit hard to find. A good strategy is looking for long +100k word fics. If they've gone that far, they're serious about what they're writing. That's not to say there isn't anyone wholly committed to polluting the internet with copious amounts of horrible writing, though.

 

[Farseer Lolotea]

Sturgeon's Law applies.

But that said, I've never seen a genuinely good argument against it. As for authors' policies, I think Terry Pratchett's method (write all you want, but it belongs to the original piece's creator) is the best.

 

[PrinceOfShapeir]

Dammit, Lolotea. That's exactly what I was going to say. Of course most Fanfiction is trash, most of -everything- is trash. There are a few gems hidden in the morass, though.

 

[dex-dex]

There is a lot of crap out there. The gems are few and far between so I usually have other people tell me about it aka friends recommend it.

 

[Skratt]

Some of it is pretty good, but I tend to avoid most of it. I mean it's cool that people write it, but there is a reason many of them write fan fic and not books, if you catch my meaning.

 

[Skratt]

When done well, fanfiction can be great. I've got one I can think of that's a Bleach AU fic that was beautifully done. Heck, it didn't need to be fanfiction, it's a phenomenal story on it's own and even were it not familiar characters, I think I'd still love the story.

However, when done poorly, you get stuff like the "My Immortal" Harry Potter fic. I refuse to link it because it is so terrible. It may possibly lower your IQ simply by skimming the first chapter.

LMAO! Thanks for posting that. Of course I had to google it. What a gem. I've never laughed so hard in my life. I think I peed...FANGS 2 YOU!

 

[RedDeadFred]

I hate it with a passion. I have yet to come across anything that is written above a 3rd grade level.

A hundred times this. Although I'm currently working on one that has Naruto in the title so people flock to it.
Then I have a super powerful lobster kill him off in the first page. The rest becomes a story of the lobster's struggle for survival in our world.
Ya it's ridiculous but one of my friends is an avid Naruto fanfiction reader and I'm hoping he will come across it when I eventually post it.

 

[electronicgoat]

Fanfiction is stories written within another story's universe. This means that the author does not have to create his or her own characters (maybe just even inserting himself), which of course lowers the creativity and originality in writing. Plus, the new author won't have the same state of mind that the original author might write that character in; the new author will have a loose grasp of that character's reactions and behavior. So I generally don't read fanfics.
But, this could also be used to flesh out an existing character that wasn't already, or can be used to create (hopefully good and original) characters in an existing universe. I'd be interested to see how fanfiction could be applied to sandbox games. There might be a character in the series that only has 8 lines in their conversation tree, but a new author could take that personality and expand on it. Or new characters that aren't themselves. Anyway, I'm at least looking forward to high-quality Minecraft fanfiction.
tl;dr: as long as there's originality

 

[TheFinalFantasyWolf]

Most fan-fiction feels like the person thought it up while they were smashing their dolls together to simulate them having sex or something. However its not all that bad, I recently came across a few fan-fictions that were actually written in quite a professional manner. There are some young talents out there, but yeah most of them are written by really talentless fanboys/girls. Nevertheless, I do enjoy fan-fiction when I come across it, the good ones at least.

 

[derelict]

Fanfics are about like everything else that is the creative work of the masses. Don't confuse that with the creative masses, that's just grouping certain skilled people together. The creative work of the masses is kind of like a dogshit sandwich that's about four feet across that hides a small but exquisitely cut priceless diamond inside. There's some glorious inspiration in there, however its up to the dinner guest to determine if getting to it is worth the rest of the sandwich.

In less abrasive words, I've seen some fanfics that were the work of a genius, but the ability to spread them is shared by said genius and the average talentless idiot, and sadly there seems to be around a 500:1 ratio of stupidity to inspiration.

 

[fletch_talon]

I generally see it as an insult to the original author. Depending on whether it expands on the original work, or completely ignores it.
As with the "gay Link/Sheik" example that got a warning on the first page, fan fiction often ignores the way a character has been developed so the author can insert their own fantasy.

If you want to pick an underdeveloped character and write them a back story or something, that's not so bad, but as a general rule, I'm of the opinion that if you want to write weird sex stories make up your own bloody characters and setting.

 

[Death on Trapezoids]

Like so many other things, 90% of fan fiction is absolute crap.

It's wading through the crap to get to the 10% of good stuff that defiles childhoods and raises brain bleach sales.

This being said, fan fiction provides many aspiring authors with a place to cut their teeth. You aren't compelled to read the nasty stuff, you can get a paragraph in, say "I'm stopping before my eyes catch fire", and move on.

 

[drisky]

haven't read one since middle school, and they were humor fiction of soul caliber 2 and Donkey Kong Country, they weren't terrible.

 

[Small Waves]

I have come to terms that the writers of fanfiction are either the horniest or the ones who know jack-shit about the canon of the shows, books, games, movies, etc. they are writing about. I cannot bear to read FF of anything I like because I get too pissed at how they take everything the creators, writers, and whomever else was involved with the franchise and take a huge shit on it. Fanfiction is the greatest "fuck you" paraded around as a display of adoration.

 

[Small Waves]

EDIT: Fucking double posting