Is Fanfiction really that bad?

[Sci-2]

Almost all mind-blowingly terrible and I judge nearly everyone who reads or writes it

See also: https://twitter.com/fanfiction_txt

Admittedly funny, but I think asking people to try and distinguish between fan-fic quotes and those drawn from published work would be more enlightening.

I've no doubt fan-fic trends toward the terrible, but this seems true in a variety of professions where the amateur is ranked against someone whose [who's] honed their craft within the disciplined confines of industry.

That said, there are creative people out there, and I've seen fan-fic writers produce works equal or better than published stuff. Some go on to get published after testing the waters of their own skill.

[Zar Lannister]

Some people have made their careers out of writing fanfic (see EL James).

I guess one can argue they're a lot likelier to be less polished? But then again, how much of an author's true characters reflects into these fanfics? Most of them seem to be a medium to fantasize about them in other contexts.

(and I guess the problem comes when by a chance of luck the unlikely event arises where the fanfic hits the jackpot with the future of a character, which may lead into some legal headaches?)

[Jaime's Wench]

As a former mod of a fanfic forum, I'm a massive defender of it, both good and bad. At the end of the day, it's your choice whether to read it or not. You don't have to keep going if something is so riddled with plot holes and punctuation issues that you can't continue. However, it does engage teenagers and adults in the craft of writing. I was one of those teenagers who started out writing very poor Harry Potter fanfiction. I experimented with tense, voice, style and subject matter. I produced some really good stuff and some really cringeworthy stuff. I also beta read and put on classes to support others. Then I moved into original fiction, and my writing is so much better for it.

Can I also add that one of my favourite authors (I put her in my Top Five) was originally a fanfic author who now has representation and looking to publishing her own YA fantasy!

[Lyanna Stark]

-snipped-

I agree!

Further, fanfic is an interesting phenomena since it makes a lot of young people, especially women, read and write and engage with the original text as well as each other's texts, not just in the ways DP explains here, but also on a purely technical level. Is this a good structure? Should I use first or third person? Can I work more on my punctuation?

I've helped out as co-jury in fanfiction contests, which was great fun, and I used to go to the spork websites at least once a week to read the latest PotterSues etc. You really cannot read even hilariously bad fanfiction without gaining a healthy respect for people's imagination and creativity.

And you know, it's people who write for fun, as a hobby. A lot of fanfic writers take it seriously, but a whole heap really do it for fun, as a hobby, an outlet for creativity etc. and what is wrong with that? They make no money, they steal nothing and probably gain important skills because of it, since being able to write better is a skill a lot of people could use (myself included).

I have to wonder if people who look down on fanfic very much have really engaged with fanfiction a lot. Sure, if you go to the Pit of Voles, most of the stuff there will be terrible, but if you go to the sign up websites and privately run archives, the quality will be much higher, plus the people there will almost always also be very invested in analysing the text from certain perspectives. In fanfic lies a seed of literary analysis, since you have to re-interpret the characters, the story and the setting through your own thoughts and feelings.

[Velo]

99% of the fanfiction I came across was utter crap. But for the 1% that wasn't I still love it. I am no longer surprised when I find something that is better than the original - sure, those are rare, but they do exist. The problem is with finding those - there really is no objective way of tracking down the genuinely good ones. Most of the time you just sort through stuff that gets commented a lot - and that easily creates a vicious cycle where a slightly better than average work gets some initial recognition and snowballs into greatness, while a truly brilliant one has no such luck and passes completely unnoticed. But then again it's like that with "normal" fiction too... Another thing worth noting is that fanfics tend to pander in some way to the originals fan base - it's not something bad per se, as it is perfectly normal to enjoy a less challenging story just because it happens to involve a bunch of characters you know and love. It can however lead to some very controversial interpretations of the original work gaining prominence and sometimes fanbases and sub-fanfiction of their own - and those can range from innocuous to creepy stuff you might happen to hate. To each his own as they say. The realm of fanfiction is not for the faint of heart.

That said, despite the rampant wimpification, at times lurid characterization, self-inserts and sparkly Mary Sues, fanfiction is a genuinely enjoyable and at times challenging form of entertainment. You just have to arm yourself with patience and prepare for the occasional turd. And heart-attack.

[Lyanna Stark]

That said, despite the rampant wimpification, at times lurid characterization, self-inserts and sparkly Mary Sues, fanfiction is a genuinely enjoyable and at times challenging form of entertainment. You just have to arm yourself with patience and prepare for the occasional turd. Or heart-attack.

Agreed completely with your entire post. And sparkling Mary Sues is almost something to be enjoyed as a connoisseur of fanfic!! :lol:

(Besides, considering Edward in "Twilight" actually sparkles, and considering how much "Twilight" has sold, I feel the sparkly MarySue authors might be on to something we never expected.... ^_^ )

[Theda Baratheon]

A single read of "my immortal", by the unforgettable Tara G, and you will have to forgive fan fiction as a genre, and understand how it should be approached.

My Immortal is one of my favourite things in the whole world it's so just STUPID and HILARIOUS.

[Velo]

Agreed completely with your entire post. And sparkling Mary Sues is almost something to be enjoyed as a connoisseur of fanfic!! :lol:

Personally I enjoy the - let's call them - "less obvious" crossovers most of all. If exploring a fictional universe can be fun, logically speaking exploring two at the same time is double the fun.

http://static.fjcdn....6db_2780948.jpg

Ahh, the boundless human imagination.

[Inigima]

Admittedly funny, but I think asking people to try and distinguish between fan-fic quotes and those drawn from published work would be more enlightening.

I've no doubt fan-fic trends toward the terrible, but this seems true in a variety of professions where the amateur is ranked against someone whose [who's] honed their craft within the disciplined confines of industry.

That said, there are creative people out there, and I've seen fan-fic writers produce works equal or better than published stuff. Some go on to get published after testing the waters of their own skill.

Oh, sure, and that feed cherry-picks the worst of it to showcase. It's just the wheat-to-chaff ratio remains incredibly high.

[Talvivaara]

I read quite a lot of fanfic, and also write a bit, although I haven't published most of it anywhere. Sure, there's a lot of crap out there, but there are also some really enjoyable stories, especially on the smaller and more limited sites.

For me, whenever I read a book or watch a movie that truly captures my imagination, I wonder about the "what-if's". What if this had happened differently? What if those two ended up together? What happens after the story ends? And so on. Fanfiction is a way of exploring those what-ifs.

[KingInTheCave]

It's that bad if the original author says no to fanfiction. Other than that, I don't think there's anything inherently wrong with it, although most of it is crap. Most capable authors will write their own stories, not someone else's.

[Lyanna Stark]

Personally I enjoy the - let's call them - "less obvious" crossovers most of all. If exploring a fictional universe can be fun, logically speaking exploring two at the same time is double the fun.

http://static.fjcdn....6db_2780948.jpg

Ahh, the boundless human imagination.

:rofl:

Oooh that beats my old favourite crossover fic which was a Pirates of the Caribbean/Harry Potter Mpreg.

[Jaime's Wench]

Most capable authors will write their own stories, not someone else's.

I disagree with you here. Even the best of authors do not just spring from the womb as fully-fledged Shakespeares. You need to learn your craft and being given the parameters (and reader following) of fanfiction can really help with this.

[Darth Richard]

Fan fiction honestly ain't that bad. I;ve just had some very very bad experiences with it.

Some of the incest slash creeps me out though.

[Jaime's Wench]

Nothing wrong with a bit of incest.

[Wicked Woodpecker of West]

Unless it's Weasley incest.

[Jaime's Wench]

Twincest at its finest right there.

[Darth Richard]

:ack:

[Jaime's Wench]

Sorry, back to serious discussion...

What do you think of fanfiction that is then manipulated/changed by the author into original fiction? I did this with an opening chapter to a fanfic once to make an original short story.

[Larry of the Lawn]

I like DP's take on fanfic, but my one complaint is that it gave the world the term Mary Sue, and you can't un-ring that bell. When I used to post in the book forums regularly the term Mary Sue was thrown so much that you couldn't even have a discussion of any Stark that wasn't punctuated by ten posts like this: " U R WRONG AN DONT NO ANYTHING Y DONT U READ THE BOOKS ____ STARK* IS A MARY SUE!!!!!!"

*or most commonly, JON SNOW

That was my first introduction to the term, and its gross overuse in the book forums really bugged me.