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The Grey Elf
Grey Havens
Sep 19 2014, 3:17pm
Post #1 of 9
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What do you think of fan fiction?
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Just a fun hobby? Legitimate writing for the masses or the stuff of a self-serving hack? Do you believe it can be the gateway to a professional career?
I realize feelings can run strong on this subject -- e.g. the accusations of fan writing made against PJ and his Hobbit deviations -- but please keep in mind this is supposed to be a discussion rather than a debate. All civil opinions are welcome! 
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arithmancer
Grey Havens
Sep 19 2014, 4:08pm
Post #2 of 9
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It is a fun hobby and a legitimate way to write for, if not the masses, the fans left hungry for more of a beloved world/character. Though I would consider it unethical to profit from such writing based on works still under copyright unless one has somehow obtained the rights. Film adaptations, or novels based on older sources, are fine of course. I enjoy various financially successful Sherlock Holmes stories that are not the original Doyle's, for example, whether it is the BBC programme, or Nicholas Meyers' novel, or what have you.
I have in the past been involved in Fan Fiction as a writer - I'm the author of an unfinished novel, a finished novel, and various shorter pieces of fan fiction set in the world of J. K. Rowling's Harry Potter novels. While I enjoy writing as a creative way to express myself, I have a well-established career doing something both unrelated and well-compensated. Fan fiction for me has been a good creative outlet, a way to enjoy the process of writing about characters and situations that catch my imagination, while having the satisfaction that I am writing FOR a real audience, if a fairly small one.
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Annael
Immortal
Sep 19 2014, 4:15pm
Post #3 of 9
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It's a great way to practice writing
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and play with one's imagination. I write it myself sometimes when I can't stop wondering what happened to the characters after the story ends, or when I don't like where the story went and want to imagine a different ending.
I recently heard Bill Kenower, the editor-in-chief of Author magazine, talk. He mentioned that a lot of writers write books because they read a similar book but didn't like the direction that author went in, so they write a book to take the story where they think it should go.
(Kenower said something that really struck me: he said when you are moved to say "that's not true!" or otherwise argue with something someone else said, it's not about who is right and who is wrong. Everyone speaks their own truth, he said, and when you feel the urge to disagree with something someone else says, it's really because you haven't been speaking your truth. So instead of getting all wrought up about what the other person said, the best reaction is to sit back and say to yourself "well, what do I think about all this, what is it that I want to say?")
I have the same problems with most fanfiction that I have with much of the fiction getting out there today--especially since the advent of self-publishing--it's poorly written. One wouldn't publish what one writes while doing any other kind of writing exercise. But there are skilled writers doing it and I enjoy reading their work. (Our own Eledhwen is one!)
I myself found that after writing fanfiction for-my-eyes-only for a while, I finally got inspired to take a stab at creative fiction writing, something I've never done (being a nonfiction writer for a very long time). So I think it can be a springboard.
To be sane we must recognize our beliefs as fictions.
- James Hillman, Healing Fiction
* * * * * * * * * *
NARF and member of Deplorable Cultus since 1967
(This post was edited by Annael on Sep 19 2014, 4:17pm)
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Aunt Dora Baggins
Immortal
Sep 19 2014, 4:34pm
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It can be a very satisfying adventure for the one writing it.
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I remember wishing and wishing that someday they'd make a movie of The Hobbit and that Estel would make an appearance at Rivendell. Well, the movie got made, but no Estel. But in the meantime, I made up my own version Ten years later, when I read The Hobbit again recently, I went back and re-read my own chapter, because it felt like it belonged. It may never please anybody but me, but I don't care about that. I shared it because I felt like I ought to, but having done that, I've done my part.
When I was a kid, I used to insert myself into my favorite stories all the time, but I never wrote down my adventures, because it never occurred to me. I had a Mary Sue character that went along on the LotR journey (because I was so young, she ended up being adopted by Aragorn and Arwen, not getting romantically involved with anybody.)
And my mom used to say that if you didn't like the way a movie ended, you could change the ending in your mind. So in *my* version of Romeo and Juliet, their plan works and they live happily ever after. I never wrote it down, but that's how it plays out in my mind.
So for me fanfiction (and fiction writing in general) is a fun hobby. I self-publish for the same reason I put my music on youtube, not because it's great, but just on the off chance that somebody would enjoy it. And because I really, really love having nice copies of the stories I've loved my whole life.
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"For DORA BAGGINS in memory of a LONG correspondence, with love from Bilbo; on a large wastebasket. Dora was Drogo's sister, and the eldest surviving female relative of Bilbo and Frodo; she was ninety-nine, and had written reams of good advice for more than half a century."
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"A Chance Meeting at Rivendell" and other stories
leleni at hotmail dot com
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(This post was edited by Aunt Dora Baggins on Sep 19 2014, 4:35pm)
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Dwarewien
Rohan
Sep 19 2014, 10:06pm
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I write it myself sometimes when I can't stop wondering what happened to the characters after the story ends, or when I don't like where the story went and want to imagine a different ending. since I think most of you know by now that I do not like what happens to Thorin during the BoFA (even though I prefer the latest movie version to the book version, but that's beside the point), so it's not happening in any of my fan fic stories (though it might be a while before I get this far, and I may have to come up with a believable alternative). After all, it's my story, if I don't want that happening to a particular character, it's not happening (and I'm not planning on becoming a grieving widow anytime soon). I write mostly for fun, since the only other stories I've written is one I made up when I was upgrading in college. The course inquired us to keep a journal, and since I find writing about your day incredibly dull and dreary, I made up a story instead. It was similar to Narnia (people finding a gateway into another world), but grounded a little in reality, because the fort my cousins made in my grandparents' raspberry bushes kind of gave me an idea: what if that hole led into another world? I never finished it, and it's been so long since I wrote it that I probably don't remember it all (except the names of the characters and a few other details). I also answered an ad in the mail to see if I was qualified to write children's books. I was, but it was a little too pricey to follow up on it.
"Will you follow me... one last time?"
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Kilidoescartwheels
Valinor
Sep 20 2014, 12:24am
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I've written a few pieces of fanfic, so I think of it as good practice for crafting a story. But I have (for the most part) avoided writing any Hobbit fanfics because I've reached a point where I want to write my own story. It's good for what it's good for, but fanfics also violate copyright laws, so be careful!
Why yes, I DO look like Anna Friel!
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Dwarewien
Rohan
Sep 20 2014, 10:14pm
Post #7 of 9
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How do they violate copyright laws?
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After all, you're not making a movie out of it, you're just writing a story with characters from a published work (or a movie or TV series based on a published work). Last time I checked, that was allowed. There are some authors that don't want you to use any of their characters in any kind of fan fiction story (FanFiction.net even tells you who they are, so that if you do write a fan fic that includes any of their characters, FF.net will delete your stories and your account, if necessary), but for ones not listed, feel free. If this was actually true, we wouldn't be allowed to role-play canon characters either, and that's something else I do all of the time (though most of my characters are original characters, the only thing that's canon is their race and the locations).
"Will you follow me... one last time?"
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Kilidoescartwheels
Valinor
Sep 21 2014, 2:05am
Post #8 of 9
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After all, you're not making a movie out of it, you're just writing a story with characters from a published work (or a movie or TV series based on a published work). Last time I checked, that was allowed. There are some authors that don't want you to use any of their characters in any kind of fan fiction story (FanFiction.net even tells you who they are, so that if you do write a fan fic that includes any of their characters, FF.net will delete your stories and your account, if necessary), but for ones not listed, feel free. If this was actually true, we wouldn't be allowed to role-play canon characters either, and that's something else I do all of the time (though most of my characters are original characters, the only thing that's canon is their race and the locations).
First, I am not an attorney, BUT I work at a law school for the professors, some of whom teach copyright law. Basically you need permission, unless you're doing a parody or referencing a character/story, which falls under Fair Use doctrine. It doesn't matter if you profit from the copyrighted material or not (as in making a movie, etc.), without permission you would be violating copyright & could be sued - highly unlikely they would sue over fan fiction, but I understand some authors really hate it. Post it online for others to read, and they could force its removal. Happens on YouTube all the time. Hope that explains things.
Why yes, I DO look like Anna Friel!
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Otaku-sempai
Immortal
Sep 21 2014, 1:47pm
Post #9 of 9
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Fan ficion is perfectly fine...
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There is nothing wrong with writing fan fiction for your own amusement. It is only if you try to publish it or otherwise give it wide deseminatin that you could be in trouble.
As for quality, it varies from the good, the bad and the ugly. I would apply a variation of Sturgeon's Law: Ninety percent of anything is crud; fan fiction even more so.
'There are older and fouler things than Orcs in the deep places of the world.' - Gandalf the Grey, The Fellowship of the Ring
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