Poll: FanFiction, your opinion

[shiaramoon]

This so-called "poll" is lacking a poll to vote in... >.>...

OT: While I openly admit that some, in fact probably most fanfiction is crappy as all get out, some of it is quite good. A good friend of mine started off writing fanfiction for Digimon before turning writing into her chosen career. For some budding writers it's a lot easier to write using a pre-created universe and/or characters as building blocks for their own stories. It's sort of like an architect starting off with actually building blocks before moving onto to more sophisticated building blocks and on up to actually designing buildings. For others, however it's just a way to vent off their barely contained fanboyism in written fantasies.... some of which are a bit scary or just plain weird.... >.>...

 

[someonehairy-ish]

Tis usually just an excuse for people to put their (probably sexual?) fantasies into words. Not often a particularly cleverly thought out set of words, either.


So.
No, not a fan.

 

[Zhadramekel]

I don't mind romance subplots in fanfics as long as they're semi-believable. Stuff like the Doctor and his assistants though. Just... no. Also, for any writers out there, if you can't spell, Don't. Write. Fan. Fiction. It's just irritating. For the most part though, I enjoy reading them if there's a good plot.

 

[Da Orky Man]

I read it and occasionally write. Yeah, 98% of Twilight and Harry Potter fanfic is utter crap, but the Mass Effect stuff is fairly good.

 

[littlealicewhite]

I am a fanfiction writer and I love fanfiction. Some of it is horrendous, and some of it deserves to be a novel on it's own. I consider it a playpen for aspiring writers; a safe, controlled environment in which to practice their skills and be judged by their peers. Some people hate it, and I suppose they have a point. Some fics have made me want to kill myself in their horribleness. But you fanfiction haters out there might want to take another look, there are some brilliant works out there.

 

[Nieroshai]

Fan fiction CAN be good. Fan fiction USUALLY isn't. ESPECIALLY Mary Sues.

 

[ViaGalactica]

No.
Just stop there.
Think about this.
Your not a writer.
You dont know what your doing.
Go find some freinds.

And neither are you, it seems.

I honestly don't get the hate that fanfiction gets. Sure, most of it is bad, but the same can be said for everything out there. Most sitcoms suck, but that doesn't mean there's a good one amongst the pile of shit. Most movies are just bad, but there are clearly some masterpieces out there. Hell, even with books. There are fantastic books out there, but most of them are just average.

The same can be said for fanfiction. It can be great, it can be bad, it can be disastrous. But most of the time it is just average. I've encountered some fantastic fanfiction, I can't lie. The kind that's so well written you doubt why that person is not a published author. Some will be good, some will be bad. But to say that it is all Bad and that everyone who writes it is doing it only to insert themselves in the story or whatever other dismissal fanfic gets, is just silly.

Also, fanart doesn't get nearly as much flames are fanfic. Fanartists are seen as rather cool people. But fanfic writers are the creepy, obsessed losers who have no life.

I guess my point is, don't be so negative. Not every piece is flawless, but that don't mean it's all horrible.

 

[josephmatthew10]

Time for a shameless plug! For all of you fanfiction-haters (which is understandable; Stuergeon's Law and all that), there are gems to be found. Incidentally, why not check out the Zero City Saga? It's going to be a massive videogame crossover; me and a friend came up with it, and I do the actual writing. The first few chapters are kind of shaky (hint: you might want to skip the "Familiarity" chapter, seriously )but it's picking up, I feel, in quality. (Why did I write that chapter? [weeps]) Here's the link, enjoy: http://www.fanfiction.net/s/6297879/1/Zero_City_Saga

Sincerely,
Joey

 

[Ensiferum]

As an aspiring author I have mixed feelings about it, most of them negative.

On the one hand it can be a good thing if it gets people started on the path to becoming a writer of their own material.

On the other hand if it's all they do then it's almost always ends up being garbage and little more than pure character theft for the purpose of making fangirls squee over their favorite characters having some sort of twisted sexual encounter.

On the OTHER hand it might be written by Squirrelking in which it falls into the "so bad it's THE BEST THING EVAR!" category.

 

[Roan Berg]

I was skeptical of fanfiction.
Then I read this guys stuff:
http://priderage.deviantart.com/
I have not stopped reading fanfiction since.

 

[Yokai]

The only ones I've come across that are actually well-written and somewhat worth reading are literally over two hundred pages long, and I'm not willing to read an entire novel of Tiberium Wars [http://www.fanfiction.net/s/3654039/1/Tiberium_Wars] when I could just go play Command & Conquer 3 and actually have fun.

The vast majority is, of course, utter shite, and usually earns the author a mandatory psych evaluation in my book. I avoid it at all costs.

Unless A Scotsman in Egypt [http://lparchive.org/A-Scotsman-In-Egypt/] counts, because I love it.

 

[Inkidu]

"Truly-great fanfiction" is an oxymoron at best and a paradox at worst.

That's not necessarily true. It is true that most fanfiction is bad, but if you search around, and you include the fancomics (they count) there is some pretty awesome fanfiction. I myself have written some based on Sonic the Hedgehog and a lot of people have told me it's pretty good. What I mean is, fanfiction isn't bad by definition. It just has a massive stigma attached.
Next time, why don't you try having an actual argument? It makes your point seem much more valid.

Did I ever say fanfiction was bad in that post? Reread what I typed, please. Besides, the mark of a good writer is to make his argument in as few words as possible.

 

[RanD00M]

I've read good ones and I've read bad ones. But in the end it's all about how many spelling errors you can find and if it they are so bad that it must be a troll who wrote them.

 

[Android2137]

I indulged in writing and reading fanfiction when I was younger. Now that I'm older, I realize how horribly written my (and other people's) works were. Still it made me realize how much I enjoy creating stories. All I needed was to understand what makes a good story and what makes a bad one. And I dare say the original stories I come up with now are heaps better than the fanfictions of long ago.

In short, it's an embarrassing, but harmless hobby. Good for getting your feet wet. Helps you find out if you like stories enough to actually learn how to make a good one.

 

[BrotherSurplice]

Maybe my standards are just low, or maybe I've had very little exposure to it (haven't come across one sexual fantasy fic, thank the lord), but I think its ok. Almost all the ones I've read have been rather good.

 

[Raziel_Likes_Souls]

I only read the good ones. The only bad one I ever read was My Immortal because loads of fun can be had trying to dramatically read it out to your friends. I mean, fanfiction's the only place where No More Heroes gets something that resembles a coherent timeline and the main character of Persona 4 is going to have this thing as a Persona:

Sure, call it weeaboo crossover shit, but it's still kinda awesome nonetheless.

If it's good, let it through the the hood.

If it's bad, there's lots of masochistic fun to be had.

 

[GeneralFungi]

I have found a select few fan fictions I liked. But the vast majority of them seem to utterly fail to realize what about what made the franchise something interesting to be a part of anyways.

 

[josephmatthew10]

gregitaly had a fanfiction written about his life, was humiliated, and now finds narrow-minded reasons to hate something he doesn't have to acknowledge. I believe many writers would disagree on the idea of fanfiction as "theft" of their ideas. Some may even encourage it.