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| Fan Fiction I would pay to have written |
This is another post in the
A-Z blogging challenge, with today's post taking a look at fan fiction. A lot of people have a love/hate relationship with fan fiction. Many love it because they are writing about already established characters in a fully generated world, which gives them free reign to focus on the story and the action. Many hate it for this same reason, the work becomes derivative and more or less copies the established canon of works (there is also the worrying thought that fan fiction
becomes part of the canon, which means that poorly written plots somehow mar the original ideas that made the stories popular enough to warrant fan fiction in the first place.
Fan fiction is can be seen in almost every conceivable type of entertainment. There's fan fiction of
Star Wars,
Lord of the Rings,
Final Fantasy,
LOST and a hell of a lot more. The rule of fan fiction is almost identical to
Rule 34 (and in some disturbing cases, they are one and the same). Fan fiction can be a great way for a writer to start out, since if you write about a movie or a story that has a large fan base, your chances of it being read and critiqued are significantly increased. It also gives you the chance to test out new ideas for plot and characters, and you don't have to worry much about world building and character development because most of your readers will already be familiar with both. Fan fiction also grants people to glimpse into the what if's of the story e.g. 'What if The Doctor landed his TARDIS into the world of
Pirates of the Caribbean' (and yes, such stories
really do exist).
A form of fan fiction that I have written over the years is the fiction associated with the
Warhammer world, created by Games Workshop and whose official works are published by the Black Library. The fiction of
Warhammer is known as 'fluff' and it is designed to be a compliment to the miniature war game as well as a set of stories in its own right. The brilliant thing about fluff is that all of the players of the game are encouraged to create their own fiction based in the armies that they collect. This enhances the physical game but it also adds to the expansive world and its characters. The first bit of fluff I created was for an old
Warhammer forum I ran about 5 years ago, entitled 'Gifted'. If you're the kind to read such things, you can read it
here (I warn you, it's not been edited at all since I first wrote it, and is likely to be very poorly written. You have been warned!). I also created a game on this forum called 'fluff battles' where two writers would compete with each other, writing a small segment of a larger story and taking it in turns to write another piece of the story. The concept caught on and is now used on a number of fan forums across the Internet.
Whether we like it or not, fan fiction is here to stay. Do you think it's a beneficial tool to allow writers to develop their craft, or is it a useless hobby that lowers the overall quality of fiction? Opinions below ...
I think fan fiction is great, and more importantly, it gets a lot of people writing who may not have tried it, otherwise.
ReplyDeleteI remember writing a lot of Star Wars fanfiction when I was around 13, mostly centered around the Jedi Academy books. Loved it, still have it, and wouldn't change it for the world!
One of the things that has been really helpful to me since I first began blogging less than a year ago has been learning new things. I kept seeing this term "fan fiction" thrown around and had to look it up. I had never heard of it. I still haven't read any. I think I would have been more into it when I was a younger reader because I would really get into a story and want it to keep going--fan fiction basically allows that to happen.
ReplyDeleteSame with this "fluff" that you've introduced to me. I'm not even really familiar with the games, but I can see how someone who enjoys the games might want to live within those worlds more--it's just not for me.
I wouldn't necessarily say any quality is ever limited or lowered by a genre--only the writer can do that. And if that writer really catches on big then over all quality might be lowered. My guess though is the on the whole fan fiction is faddish and for it's generation and will not have the staying power of more original standout literary works.
Lee
Blogging From A to Z April Challenge
Fan fiction is great. I hope to form a niche and the recent events at CERN may help. I'm an aspiring writer kinda sorta in that genre.
ReplyDeleteStephen Tremp
I've never written fanfiction, but some of it is really good. I'd think writing fanfiction based on Warhammer or D&D would be fun, like creating your own module.
ReplyDeleteI think whatever inspires one to pick up and attempt fiction is good! I have mixed feelings...there is good n' bad out there in this medium, but there is good n' bad prior.
ReplyDeleteHello! Stopping by to check out your A-Z. :D
ReplyDeleteOn the note of Fan Fiction, I am on the fence about it. I have done my fair share, don't get me wrong. It did help me get a start. However, I have a friend who fell into Fan Fic and never came back out. She's an exceptional writer, very gifted and could write her own stuff, but feels she would fail so she never tests the waters.
There are some stories I would love to twist and turn to suit my own tastes and needs. (Can I just say here that I would pay to have that first pic written as well?) Hehe... anyway. I don't garner much satisfaction in FanFic anymore simply because it isn't a challenge. It's all done and waiting for me to just rearrange the furniture so to speak.
Thanks for a great post and look forward to reading more!