When do fanfictions go too far?
- Thread starter Daaaah Whoosh
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When does fan-fiction go too far? My trite, off the cuff response to that question would generally be "when it exists", because every instance of fanfic I've ever encountered has been staggeringly awful, consisting of awkward shoehorning in of established characters and author wish fulfillment in equal measure.
Not a fan in other words.
Not a fan in other words.
I can appriciate a good fan fic from time-to-time, but NEVAR should a fan write a fan fic unless they take into account all of the previous material and consider the actions of the character in question. QED, Doctor Who is a long running series with a slew of mythos and about fifty years of material. The current writers are practically fan fic writers because the series is so open ended and half-explained that they can make up whatever they want. This is also a bad thing because there are real stinker episodes and one failed reboot series. Fan fic can also spur some good stuff. Star Trek and Star Wars are prime examples of this because there are a slew of novels and games that are pretty much fan fic relating to the universe of the series.'
It goes to far when the writer thinks of themself as someone who can know exactly what-when-why a character does something and stomps on the toes of pervious fiction, either discrediting old myths or ruining plotlines. It happens.
It goes to far when the writer thinks of themself as someone who can know exactly what-when-why a character does something and stomps on the toes of pervious fiction, either discrediting old myths or ruining plotlines. It happens.
My stock-standard answer: Once they are written.
Probably not entirely to fair (considering that a lot of stuff is fanfiction in a way - games, movies, books, comics based on stories in one of the other mediums are often fan-fiction). Technically the last two Batman films could be considered just that. Fans writing their own origin story to Batman (although handled much better than most attempts at it). Most Superhero comics are well and truly fan-fiction if they are no longer written by the creators. so its murky at best
Probably not entirely to fair (considering that a lot of stuff is fanfiction in a way - games, movies, books, comics based on stories in one of the other mediums are often fan-fiction). Technically the last two Batman films could be considered just that. Fans writing their own origin story to Batman (although handled much better than most attempts at it). Most Superhero comics are well and truly fan-fiction if they are no longer written by the creators. so its murky at best
This needs a big more love.triggrhappy94 said:
So no Lovecraftian fanfic, in other words (I am too innocent to imagine any other way to take the "tentacles" comment)?
If you are doing it the way you say I think that is fantastic. If it is a Halo fanfiction and you are just using the setting as a frame for your narrative I think that is fine. It can be limiting in that I feel you should not interfere with canon and you have to work with the preset rules but it allows you to expand the universe for your own enjoyment and if good enough the enjoyment of others.
But like what other people have said it can be difficult to be taken seriously even if it is awesome. Though I think it is better than just saying "In a setting that is pretty much the Halo universe" you arent pussyfooting the issue. It takes place in Halo. When you say the Covenant I will immediately know what you mean. It saves you the trouble of having to establish a universe and focus on the story YOU want to tell. Some may call it lazy but sticks and stones brother.
I wish there was another name for it that wouldnt be associated with the self inserting, mary sue, gratuitous crack pairing, lemon-tastic, fanwanks. Like Alternate Story, or better yet Expanded Universe
But like what other people have said it can be difficult to be taken seriously even if it is awesome. Though I think it is better than just saying "In a setting that is pretty much the Halo universe" you arent pussyfooting the issue. It takes place in Halo. When you say the Covenant I will immediately know what you mean. It saves you the trouble of having to establish a universe and focus on the story YOU want to tell. Some may call it lazy but sticks and stones brother.
I wish there was another name for it that wouldnt be associated with the self inserting, mary sue, gratuitous crack pairing, lemon-tastic, fanwanks. Like Alternate Story, or better yet Expanded Universe
Have you ever enjoyed Christopher Nolan's Batman movies?Daaaah Whoosh said:
How about the novel and/or musical Wicked?
Any Elseworld from Marvel or DC?
If the answer is "Yes," then yes, fanfiction can be taken seriously as a standalone story.
Allow me to answer with a short story I wrote about what would really have happened at the Battle of the Second Death Star.Daaaah Whoosh said:
Keep in Mind, this is from the perspective of someone who considers themselves a Military Buff, and has studied strategy. Oh yeah, and based on observed fleet compositions:
<Quote= The Battle of the Second Death Star>
The rebel fleet came out of hyperspace precisely on schedule, fanning out into attack formation. Immediately General Calrissian began issuing orders to the fighter squadrons under his command.
?All wings report in.?
?Red Leader, standing by,? Red leader, Wedge Antilles, called from his X-Wing.
?Gray Leader, standing by,? Gray Leader responded aboard his B-wing.
?Green Leader, standing by,? Green Leader reported from his A-Wing.
?Lock S-Foils in attack position,? Red Leader ordered.
The squadrons of X-wings and B-wings complied as they charged at ¾ thrust towards the Second Death Star. Admiral Ackbar spoke to the assembled command crew of his flagship, Home One, and to the fleet in general, ?May the Force be with us...?
General Calrissian looked at his copilot aboard the Millennium Falcon in shock as he started babbling rapidly in Sullustan.?We've got to be able to get some kind of reading on that shield, up or down.? More rapid-fire Sullustan from the co-pilot, Nien Nunb. General Calrissian's reply was an incredulous, ?How can they be jamming us if they don't know we're...? He froze in mid sentence, the sudden realization bursting forth into his mind. ?...If we're coming.?
He spoke over the fleet-wide comm channel, ?Break off the attack, the shield is still up.?
Red Leader responded, ?I get no reading, are you sure??
Calrissian ordered, ?Pull up, all craft pull up!?
The squadrons of fighters split off in two directions, rolling either right or left depending on their position in the formation.
Admiral Ackbar ordered the fleet, ?Take evasive action. Green group, stick close to holding sector MG-7.? The star cruisers of the rebel fleet also banked hard to either side and began evasive maneuvers that would steer them clear of the Death Star's shields.
?Admiral, we have enemy ships in sector 37.?
?It's a trap!?
Aboard the Millennium Falcon, General Calrissian glanced down at the scanners. As the ship charged at the largest fleet of Star Destroyers ever assembled, he called out over the comm, ?Fighters coming in.? Over twenty-five squadrons of TIE Fighters and TIE Interceptors charged at the rebel fleet, cannons blazing. The ship was buffeted as an immense onslaught of laser fire pummeled the shields. In the dorsal turret, the gunner opened fire on the swarm of enemy fighters, desperately trying to hit anything in the target rich environment.
Gray leader called out ?There?s too many of them!?
?Accelerate to attack speed, draw their fire away from the cruisers? General Calrissian ordered. The fighter squadrons broke off by wings and split up to make targeting each individual fighter harder.
Red leader responded ?Copy Gold leader.?
The Millennium Falcon banked into another hard turn, chased by two TIE Fighters and a TIE Interceptor. Each was targeting her stern shields and doing their best to knock her out of control. [/I]The Millennium Falcon[/I] skimmed the surface of the nearest Mon Calamari Cruiser. The TIE Interceptor failed to make the turn and exploded as it slammed into the shielded hull.
The Millennium Falcon shed it?s trailing foes with some deft maneuvers and skillful gunnery. General Calrissian skimmed past a Corellian Corvette as five TIE Fighters and two TIE Interceptors passed in a head to head exchange of fire. The TIEs missed, as did the gunner aboard the Falcon. ?Watch yourself Wedge, three from above,? he called out to the X-Wing pilot.
Wedge Antilles responded quickly. ?Red Three, Red Two, pull in.?
?Got it.?
An A-Wing fighter dove over the port wing of another Mon Cal Cruiser and was promptly destroyed by the two chasing TIE Interceptors. A Y-Wing chased them and pummeled them with it?s overpowering laser cannons, catching them from behind and destroying them.
Three of them coming in, twenty degrees.? Red two informed his wingmate.
Captain Antilles ordered, ?Cut to the left, I?ll take the leader.?
He dove around the port side of a wingless Mon Cal Cruiser and lined his X-Wings quad cannons up with the fleeing Interceptor. He pulled the trigger and spewed forth a flurry of red lasers, obliterating his opponent. He quickly rolled his fighter and banked sharply away from the final Mon Cal Cruiser which was directly ahead of him. While his X-Wing made the sharp turn, the TIE Interceptor following him was a second too slow to respond and crashed into the hangar bay, exploding with a horrendous flash.
?They?re heading for the Medical Frigate,? Wedge observed.
An A-Wing was being chased by three Interceptors towards the Medical Frigate. The pilot rolled to starboard and dodged away as the Millennium Falcon came up behind the three and exploded one with a burst from the quad lasers. The two remaining Interceptors broke off, diving to the left desperately trying to outrun the suped up freighter that was chasing them.
As the Interceptors dove and twisted through the fleet, General Calrissian stayed right on their tails, blasting one of them as he curved around the Medical Frigate.
?Only the fighters are attacking, I wonder what those Star Destroyers are waiting for?? General Calrissian asked rhetorically. He was all too thankful that they weren?t engaging his pitifully outgunned fleet. As he banked to the right, he caught one last glance of the so called Super Star Destroyer, a ship so massive that even at this incredibly long range it filled the cockpit's viewports.
* * *
Aboard the 19 Kilometer long dreadnought, Executor, Admiral Piett was standing at a bridge viewport watching the annihilation of the rebel fleet. His adjutant came up to him and reported ?We are in attack position now, sir.?
Admiral Piett turned from his viewport and ordered ?Hold here.?
The Captain of the Super Star Destroyer gaped at him incredulously. ?We?re not going to attack??
?I have my orders from the Emperor himself, he has something special planned for them. We only need to keep them from escaping.?
* * *
The Emperor taunted Luke Skywalker with a gleeful boast. ?As you can see, my young apprentice, your friends have failed.? He paused to let the tension build, and then he unveiled his ultimate secret. ?Now witness the firepower of this fully armed and operational battlestation!? Emperor Palpatine pushed a button on his chair and rasped out in a harsh voice ?Fire at will, Commander.?
* * *
A bright lance of green energy sprang suddenly from the dish in the upper hemisphere of the second Death Star, reaching out the many hundreds of kilometers to impale a large Mon Calamari Cruiser, which exploded viciously, spewing debris in every direction.
* * *
Onboard the Millennium Falcon, Nien Nunb cried out in surprise as the large capital ship was destroyed by a single blast.
?That blast came from the Death Star? General Calrissian said in horror. ?That thing is operational!? Nien Nunb just stared around in shock, unsure of what to say. ?Home One, this is Gold Leader.?
Admiral Ackbar responded immediately. ?We saw it. All craft prepare to retreat!?
?We won?t get another chance at this Admiral.?
?We have no choice General Calrissian, Our cruisers can?t repel firepower of that magnitude!?
?Han will have that shield down, we?ve got to give him more time!
* * *
Another blast lanced out from the Death Star Impaling the second Mon Calamari Cruiser, leaving the fleet with simply one capital ship, Home One.
?Yes, I said CLOSER. Get as close as you can and engage those Star Destroyers at point blank range!? General Calrissian explained.
?At that close range we won?t last long against those Star Destroyers!? Admiral Ackbar countered.
?We?ll last longer than we will against that Death Star, and we might just take a few of them with us!? The Millennium Falcon charged up the dorsal spine of a Star Destroyer, desperately evading the swarms of fighters that had been held in reserve and were now engaging the remnants of the rebel fleet.
* * *
The rebel cruiser Home One found herself in a desperate fight for her life, surrounded on four sides by Imperator class Star Destroyers, massive 1.6 kilometer long warships that nearly massed as much as Home One each. They opened fire with a devastating broadside, each ship aiming over 100 turbolasers at the rebel flagship. Home One?s shields withered under the fire, collapsing in less than thirty seconds as the unending volleys tore through her armor plating. The rebel flagship survived just long enough to see the enormous explosion of the shield generator on the forest moon of Endor, and read the shields power drop to zero. With his last words, Admiral Ackbar ordered the fighters to enter the superstructure of the massive space station. The Home One was incinerated in a massive blast as her reactors went critical, ripping into the attacking Star Destroyer?s hulls and causing severe damage to the ships.
* * *
The starfighters under General Calrissian?s command charged headlong towards the now vulnerable Death Star. The TIEs tried valiantly to keep up, but the older Fighters were quickly outpaced by the faster TIE Interceptors and their prey, the X- and A-Wings of Red and Gold Squadrons. The fighters dove into the access shaft at full speed, barely missing colliding with the exposed internals of the incomplete Death Star. The 7 nearest TIE Interceptors gave chase, but one of their number didn?t make the turn and collided with a gas line, causing an immense explosion that prevented any more of the fighters from following. The five surviving chasers desperately maneuvered around the shaft, trying to avoid their wingmate?s fate.
Red Leader, Wedge Antilles, ordered his group of fighters to split up. ?Head for the surface, see if you can?t get some of them to follow you!? The A-Wing flown by Tycho Selchu split to the right at the next intersection, followed by one other A-Wing, and two Interceptors followed him out of the Death Star, leaving them impotent to stop the rebel charge at the Death Star?s reactor core.
The Millennium Falcon spun and twisted through the unevenly sized corridor, narrowly missing colliding with outstretching girders and pipelines. Suddenly the passage narrowed to an extremely thin opening with a mass of pipes stretching across the width of the passageway. Nien Nunb let out a startled gasp as Lando twisted the Falcon around. The ship passed through with a grating crunch as the sensor dish atop the hull was wrenched free in a jarring collision. ?That was too close.? Nien Nunb agreed heartily.
General Calrissian activated his comm and contacted Wedge Antilles, the only pilot still following him. ?Lock onto the strongest power source, that should be the reactor.?
?Copy, Gold leader.?
Less than a minute later, the two ships burst out of the passage and into the hollowed out core that held the main reactor.
?Go for the main power regulator on the north tower!? Lando said to Wedge, targeting the main reactor himself. The Falcon and Wedge?s X-Wing fired at the same time, ripping the reactor housing off it?s mounts, and causing it to collapse into the lower half of the reactor assembly, causing a massive explosion. The two ships sped as fast as possible out of the reactor core, back the way they had come in. They were chased by the two TIE Interceptors that had survived the run into the Death Star?s superstructure. Behind the four ships, a massive explosion was moving outward faster than the ships could travel. The explosion caught up with the first Interceptor, ripping it to shreds within moments. It was less than thirty seconds later when the second Interceptor was caught by the explosion as well. Wedge glanced in his mirror nervously as he watched the fire encompass his ship.
Lando let out a loud whoop as the Falcon burst out of the Death Star?s superstructure. His cry rapidly turned to one of dismay as he saw the pitiful remnants of the rebel fleet. Of the three Mon Calamari Cruisers, nothing bigger than the size of a corvette could be found. The smaller medical frigate was snapped completely in half and melted to slag at both ends. At least, Lando assumed it was the medical frigate. It was so thoroughly destroyed that it hardly resembled the remains of a ship at all. The Corellian Corvettes had obviously taken a beating from the TIE Bombers, as their command decks were missing, along with a good deal of their dorsal spine and weapons emplacements. Not a single ship had been left intact, instead they were merely drifting hulks carrying the dead and dying to an eternal doom. The only consolation was that the Imperials were in a full retreat, the massive hulks of four Star Destroyers attempting to limp to safety from the impending explosion of the Death Star. The rest of the Imperial fleet had already jumped to safety and would await the arrival of the four survivors of the Home One?s explosion before they would return to core worlds, bringing news of the Emperor?s destruction and the Imperial loss at Endor. Lando shook his head, ashamed to call this a victory. Rebel losses had to be near 90%. He turned the Falcon towards the forest moon of Endor and prayed to whatever deity had allowed this so-called victory that Han was still alive down there.
See what I did there? I established a setting, completely altered history, but gave my reasons for doing so. The Rebels had three Capital ships compared to the Empire's 25, one of which was the match for all three of the Rebellion's capital ships. And then some.
You can change history if you choose, but give a good reason for it. Tactically, the Empire couldn't lose once the Star Destroyers engaged. Fleeing was the only possibility to win the space battle. But, the Empire was fighting against the native populace, and that NEVER works out well. So the Rebels still would have won the ground battle, which means they still could have destroyed the second Death Star. All I did was correct a Logical Fallacy in the movies (The good guys have to win) using tactical and strategic reality.
You don't claim to be changing anything, so use logic and reason to keep it realistic, and all will go over well.
I like fanfic, I read fanfic (and wrote fanfic, but not in quite a while), and I don't really think there is a "too far" for fanfic-- "too BAD", maybe, but not too far.
But OP, can I beg you to write this as Halo fic? Please? Covenant-centric fic is a rarity already, Covenant-centric fic that isn't about a major character and includes a Huragok? SIGN ME UP! "World-fic", i.e. fanfic that's about the world and not the canon characters, is my favorite thing in fanfic and it's hard to find, done well and it's rare as the Hope diamond. I'd absolutely love to read this.
But OP, can I beg you to write this as Halo fic? Please? Covenant-centric fic is a rarity already, Covenant-centric fic that isn't about a major character and includes a Huragok? SIGN ME UP! "World-fic", i.e. fanfic that's about the world and not the canon characters, is my favorite thing in fanfic and it's hard to find, done well and it's rare as the Hope diamond. I'd absolutely love to read this.
Wow, I didn't think Covenant-based stories would be too hard to find, but I guess that's a good thing for me. But I'm going to need to do a lot more work before this story can get started. I'm not even sure which side I'm on yet.Polarity27 said:
When the writers fail to realize that you read a Harry Potter fanfic because you want to read about Harry Potter and not the writer's OC. OCs can work, but there's a limit to how much the readers want to read about some character they never heard of before.
if it contains the phrase "Then He Inserted his Erect penis" it only goes too far in certain contexts