Negative Views Toward Fanfiction

[Guest jackalman22]

This is something I've noticed a lot, and I'm sure many other writers have noticed it, too. Whenever people who don't read fanfiction talk about fanfiction, they always tend to bash it as something along the lines of "...worst form of writing/art/etc..."

Now, I understand very well that fanfiction has its ups and downs. There are good writers, and there are bad writers. There are creative authors, and not-so-creative authors. However, what really confused me was when someone mentioned that only "losers" write fanfiction. Not only that, but fanfiction is the "worst" way to adapt anything, whether its a video game, a movie, a show, novel, whatever.

I wasn't personally offended by the person who said it; he wasn't talking to me, and his rant was obviously biased, but something about it really bothered me. I always thought that, ideally, fanfiction is just a fun outlet for fans to throw ideas around and cut loose. I've run into some damn fine authors on AFF, and I've seen some really creative, immersive stories. I've learned a lot about writing simply by doing Resident Evil fanfiction and receiving feedback, and I'd definitely say that my skills have improved tenfold since I started sharing my work with others. I've developed a comfortable style, and now I take a specific approach to my work.

So my question to all of you is, what the hell's the deal with all the negative views toward fanfiction? My first answer is to say that people who don't read/write it simply don't "get it," but I know it runs deeper than that. There seems to be a deep-seeded hatred toward the whole idea of fanfiction, and I simply disagree with the notion that it can't be quality.

Anyone else notice this and have any thoughts on the matter?

[NightScribe]

I haven't really come across any haters like you have, but it does make you think. They could just be snobs and view everyone interested in fafics as losers, equating them with die hard Star Trek and Star Wars fans who dress up, go to conventions and live the fandom life. I don't understand that level of devotion, but who are those people hurting, really? Answer: Nobody.

Perhaps a good argument would be to point out that there's a lot of "legitimately" published fanfic. Walk through a bookstore in the sci-fic section. There's a ton of Star Wars and Stark Trek novels (others as well, in other genres, but those two spring to mind). Are they validated by these people because they are published the old fashioned way and you have to pay to read them?

Could it be envy? Could it be the frustrated writer syndrome? Easier to bash than to try it themselves and be criticized? My brother, who dabbled in writing years ago, scoffs at fanfic. I just shrug. Like you, I find it helps with improving my skills and at least there's an outlet for getting your stuff out there. The great thing about AFF is that there's also an original section; fafic can be a stepping stone to putting a completely orignal story out there and getting feedback.

Here's another thought; if these people are bashing the fanfics, could it be that they secretly read them, like them, but don't want to admit it? Self-loathing fanfic lovers; they're afraid to be identified as "losers." Think about it. It's one thing to say, "I don't quite get it, it's not my thing," and another to really go off on a rant.

[Guest Melody Fate]

*Shrugs* No matter what you do, there will always be a group that finds what it is the "lowest form" of the craft.

When I was an avid comic book reader, people said, "You still read those? What, are you nine? Those are terrible!" At first I tried to show them how good they could be, but they weren't listening.

I saw Asimov at a convention once and he told an amusing story of running into a professor who, upon finding out he (Asimov) wrote sci-fi reacted with, "What a shame, you had such talent, I thought you'd really be able to do something with your life."

Fanfiction can and does contain some of the most horrible examples of writing, but that's because fanfiction is something anyone can do. Even idiots who have no clue how to write. Then again, so can professional writers if they want.

If people started performing brain surgery as a hobby, soon enough you'd have people going, "Brain surgery, that's the lowest form of surgery there is."

[StoryJunkie]

I had someone make a similar comment, although it was more along the lines of "consipiracy theory" wherein the people who actually own the original keep an eye on the fanfic writers to see where the next good idea is going to come from for the next real episode.

The idea of someone actually sifting through all this stuff boggles my mind. I personally think its rather far-fetched. But I do know, on another note, that the FBI tags and sifts through certain key words. When they pop up on the internet, its someone's job to check it out.

[Guest Melody Fate]

I had someone make a similar comment, although it was more along the lines of "consipiracy theory" wherein the people who actually own the original keep an eye on the fanfic writers to see where the next good idea is going to come from for the next real episode.

Meh, I strongly doubt it. As you pointed out too much crap to wade through looking for one possible idea.

Also, what fanfiction writers and fans of fanfiction want often isn't what's best for the show. Take Doctor Who for example, a lot of the fanfiction is about the Doctor bumpin' uglies with various assitants, natives of his homeworld, so on and so forth. The doctor gets an awful lot of sex in fanfiction.

But, in the show itself, well, originally it was for kids, now even with Davies being more liberal, it still has that element of eternal foreplay. Half the fun of the show is trying to see evidence of more going on between the doctor and his assistant, whether it's really there or not. But in fanfiction, since it really doesn't matter, people are free to let the Doctor persue and boff whoever they...er, I mean, he fancies.

Most story developments on TV shows, movies and so on, I could have predicted from my arm chair. You watch a show enough you know the characters, you know all the possibilites that could happen given everything. So, it really isn't shocking when fanfiction comes out with twenty stories that happen to resolve show X's cliffhanger season ender, the exact same way the show itself will resolve it, next season.

[Guest Alien Pirate Pixagi]

I've always viewed those who indiscriminatly bash fanfiction and it's writers/readers as being fandom Elitists. I was kinda like that for a while, though it only pertained to certain fandoms. And i still kind of am. I won't read Ann Rice fics or LOTR simply because I rarely find a good one that can stand up to the original. It's actually one of the reasons I like HP fics so much. While there are quite a few bad ones, there are just enough AMAZING stories to make me want to read them. It's actually gotten to the point where I like FanFiction more then JKRowling's work. I'm not saying she's a bad writer, but I've gotten used to a certain level of sophisiticationa and eloquence that she just doesn't express. She's a children's book writer, what can I say?

So, it seams to me that others likely love a certain artist/writer/whatever so much that they can't imagine another person being able to do that person's work any justice. It's just plain old elitism.

It could also be that they consider Fanfiction a waste of time.

[Guest jackalman22]

More often than not, I think mostly it's because a large amount of fanfiction contains too much low quality writing. Someone mentioned before that because anyone can do it, it's commonplace for both good and bad writers to share their work. I was mostly thinking of the issue in terms of fanfiction being a gateway to more prominent writing, such as novels and screenplays to name a couple.

Let's say you have a few fanboys/girls who have been thus far upset with the film version of "Franchise X." Let's further assume that during a discussion (on some message board or otherwise), someone chimes in with a "I wrote this fanfiction regarding...." blah blah, etc.

Now, the fanfic may indeed be excellent. Hell, it could be the best novelization of said franchise, and it could very well lead to some excellent film adaptation. The hardcore fans, meanwhile, most likely want nothing to do with it. And that's what bothers me more than anything. The blind stereotype that fanfiction = shitty authors.

I suppose after thinking about it for a bit, I can understand why fanfiction is unpopular amongst the mainstreamers, but does that mean it's impossible for a person who loves writing to use fanfiction as a gateway to bigger things?

[Guest Melody Fate]

I knew someone who was a huge Star Wars fan who hated fanfiction because he felt it distracted from the movies. The quality of the writing didn't figure in much to him, he just thought that the movies were enough and any attempt to add to them was pointless.

He also believed they belong to their creator and that to even borrow them, no matter what, was disrespectful. He said it would be like redrawing the Mona Lisa so she had a shit eating grin on her face and then saying, "This is how it should have been!"

I didn't agree at all with his opinions, but I understood why he had them. To some people, what the original creators produce is enough and we don't need anything else.

Others of us, while loving the original, still feel we have something to add to it. Maybe the creator missed something, or didn't have enough time to cover something we would like to cover.

Fanfiction is freedom. In the old days when the Xmen was the comic to be into, yet no one but real comic book fans had ever heard of Wolverine or Cyclops or the Beast, every once in awhile, they'd do a "filler" comic where the Xmen would play baseball or something. Some of us adored those issues and would read them to death. We were the fans who couldn't care less about the fighting, we wanted that one panel where Gambit was angsting over Rogue or vice versa, that's what the Xmen was about to us, the soap opera, not the action.

At conventions, writers would often admit that they knew the soap opera aspect was just as important to most fans as the action aspect. Many even said they'd love more time for exploring that, but the "powers that be" still thought the majority of the readers were young boys who didn't want character development, they wanted to see lots of spandex covered tits and ass and lots and lots of fights. The writer/artists's job was to try to keep both sides happy.

With fanfiction, we're not restricted. I don't have to care about the action at all, I can just concentrate on character development or vice versa. While I hope others will enjoy what I have to say, if they don't, eh, all I'm out is a blow to my ego and some time. If people hate that particular issue of the Xmen or the latest PotC movie, it means jobs lost, money lost, so on and so forth.

[Guest Alien Pirate Pixagi]

I suppose after thinking about it for a bit, I can understand why fanfiction is unpopular amongst the mainstreamers, but does that mean it's impossible for a person who loves writing to use fanfiction as a gateway to bigger things?

Well, i know i started writing fanfics before writing my own original work, and I'm happy I did. There are a lot of things I've done in fanfiction that helped me become a better writer.

The thing is, if I can't keep a charcter IN character in a fanfic, how can I do it in an original work?

I think another reason fanfic writers get so much shit is the idea is "If they were good writers, they wouldn't be writing about another person's characters."

[Guest lightgoddess]

There could be a million reasons that people hate fanfiction. I would say that for the most part, they probably just don't get it. They don't have the love (read: borderline obsession) for the characters that fanfic authors do. I'm sure that quite a few of the descent writers on this site also write original stuff. Personally, I'm too much of a chicken shit to post any of my originals for people to read. lol

Maybe those that hate fanfiction hate it because they have only been exposed to crappy fiction. I've definately read my fair share of the bad stuff, some of it I struggled through only because it had me laughing until I cried.

Whatever the reason for their hating of the genre, I don't care. That just means one less flamer out there to discourage the descent writers from posting their stuff.

[StoryJunkie]

What some "real" authors write about, how some movie plots unfolds excites the imagination. It affects some people, and after a while, such thoughts need an outlet. If someone else doesn't understand this, their brain just doesn't work in quite the same way as, well, as ours does.

Other people can focus on the other things in life, or go about blindly unaffected by what their eyes and ears see and hear, while a person who contemplates and meditates on those things that affect them are more prone to "waste time" making up stories.

[polywolly]

Other people can focus on the other things in life, or go about blindly unaffected by what their eyes and ears see and hear, while a person who contemplates and meditates on those things that affect them are more prone to "waste time" making up stories.

You took the words right out of my head. Someone who writes or creates understands that sort of separation from the world. A writer is constantly analyzing their emotions, their motivations, as well as the emotions and motivations of everyone they come into contact with on a daily basis. What would the literary arts be without that insatiable curiosity?

On to the topic...

I recognize a close connection between writing and music, probably because I'm involved in both. It is common practice for a musician to take a song written by another musician and practice with it, expand upon it, add their own touches to it, "cover" it. That's what it's called. A band that plays the music of other bands is called a "cover band".

It is also accepted that musicians learn another artist's songs because they like them, they enjoying playing them. The melody is something that speaks to them on a level that other songs just never manage to reach.

Isn't that what we're all doing, those of us taking part in fanfiction? Some of us use the characters other authors have created to make ourselves better writers and better storytellers. Some of us have been affected by a story and its characters so much so that we feel the need to write about them, give them our own twist, see if we can write another character as the original author might, or in some cases, even better.

Is there anything wrong with that? No.

The same people who bash fanfiction are the same people who, for example, comb their hair the same way some celebrity does. They were affected by something, perhaps something silly, and they emulated it. Some people look great with that celebrities hairstyle, while others look positively ridiculous.

The fact of the matter is that it's a free expression. Without the freedom to express ourselves, to emulate our peers, or to allow our imaginations to run wild with our own characters or those already imagined, the world would be a horribly boring place to live. Personally, I wouldn't want to live in that world.

[Guest jackalman22]

Thanks for all the insight, everyone. I'm hearing some great views on this subject, and it really is comforting to hear so many good analogies and parallels.

Thanks a bunch, and keep it coming if you want.

StoryJunkie and polywolly, really nice words you had there.

[StoryJunkie]

The same people who bash fanfiction are the same people who, for example, comb their hair the same way some celebrity does. They were affected by something, perhaps something silly, and they emulated it. Some people look great with that celebrities hairstyle, while others look positively ridiculous.

The fact of the matter is that it's a free expression. Without the freedom to express ourselves, to emulate our peers, or to allow our imaginations to run wild with our own characters or those already imagined, the world would be a horribly boring place to live. Personally, I wouldn't want to live in that world.

Good point, fellow fanfic writer! It reminds me of some anthropology class for some reason. We are all primates, and what do monkeys do? "Imitation is the best form of flattery"

[NightScribe]

I recognize a close connection between writing and music, probably because I'm involved in both. It is common practice for a musician to take a song written by another musician and practice with it, expand upon it, add their own touches to it

Excellent point. And working with a song by another musician just doesn't apply to today's music. Classical composers would do it as well, if I'm not mistaken, it's referred to as a "variation." Even Mozart would take someone else's composition and noodle around with it, creating something different. (A wonderful example of that, although fictionalized, is in the film Amadeus). Yeah, old Wolfgang was a real hack with no talent of his own.

I like HP fics so much. While there are quite a few bad ones, there are just enough AMAZING stories to make me want to read them. It's actually gotten to the point where I like FanFiction more then JKRowling's work. I'm not saying she's a bad writer, but I've gotten used to a certain level of sophisiticationa and eloquence that she just doesn't express. She's a children's book writer, what can I say?

I think there are so many adult HP fans who want to explore more "mature" themes that just aren't gonna happen in the actual books. And I'm not talking about sex, sex, and more sex. I think so many readers are drawn to the adult characters in the book and want to see them in more adult situations, behaving like adults. The HP books are told through the eyes of a child/teen (Harry). And having created characters like Voldemort, Lucius and the ever enigmatic Snape, but not revealing much about them, there's alot of people ready to satisfy not just their own, but others' cravings to know about their lives, loves, etc.

[Guest Big Samurai]

This is a slightly crude analogy, but I've always had the sense that the practice of 'fic is like the priesthood. If you feel the call, you're in, and you know exactly why you're there. From the outside, though, the priesthood might look like a shady den of child molesters. That's pretty much the way it works for the average 'ficcer.

The problem is that we have a more public profile than we used to have. It used to be that you would only find 'fic if you knew exactly how to look for it. Obviously, with the advent of major archives like AFF and several others that need not be named, that's changed. Instead of a bunch of small, private web pages scattered to the edges of the Internet cosmos, most of it's right here.

I miss that time, I admit, but having everything in one place really helps, no matter what our reputation is. We're in the priesthood. We know what's right.

[Iggy_lovechild]

It's because of people's opinions that I've felt embarassed over my love of fanfiction in the past. These days, due to the magic of blogging and hanging around forums, I don't feel bad anymore. I know I'm not alone and that there are plenty of others just as passionate as I am. ( Gods, that was such a Hallmark Moment.)

I think it's hilarious when people think fanfic writers aren't talented for using the works and characters of another author. It's pretty damned impressive to keep some characters IC, especially when they're not your own. It's even more impressive if you're keeping them IC in erotica, particularily if the characters have not been partrayed in any sort of sexual situation.