As a novice writer, I have written many a fan-fiction. In fact, my first ever story was a Harry Potter fan-fiction, where I was Sirius Black's wife and were very happy together. We fought dementors together at a castle in Ireland. Then, I realized that I had gone completely MAD, and I threw it out. To this day, I will admit that I do write a fan-fic from time to time, though I don't flaunt them. A good friend and I are always cracking jokes about how Lestat and all the other vampires from Anne Rice's famed Vampire Chronicles would react if we showed them Twilight. (Trust me, it's not pretty.) But I digress. I am writing here today, AT MY VERY OWN COMPUTER, to say that though I approve of fan-fiction, not many authors do. Again, I will mention Anne Rice. On her facebook, she has said countless times that she HATES fan-fiction based on her characters. To Ms. Rice, fan-fiction steals her characters and makes them into something she never wanted. I applaud her for this, simply because she is 100% correct. In fan-fiction, most characters personalities are tweaked a bit. In my stories relating to the Vampire Chronicles I believe that I have stayed true to the personalities of the characters, but I'm not going to send any of these stories to Ms. Rice! Good Lord, she'd come all the way from California and slap some sense into me! *shudders*
We're going to play pretend now. Imagine you have just had a novel published. Think hard....(Oh, I see smoke! You're using your brains!) Anyway, you have just had a novel published and it is a New York Times Bestseller; Millions of copies have been sold, you've been praised with every award imaginable. Now imagine that fan-fictions are being written about your work, and your ever-faithful hero is being snogged by every woman imaginable. You'd be pretty ticked off, right? Right. So, although this may sound hypocritical, if I was an author, I wouldn't want my characters being whisked off into worlds they have no place being in. But, speaking as an occasional fan-fiction writer, Fan-fictions are a part of society. As a writer, sometimes it helps me blow off steam while I'm trying to get over writer's block from another story. I don't want my fan-fics published; I don't want them on the internet. I write them for fun; to get a good laugh or two. I most certainly DO NOT write fan-fiction to appease some sort of disgusting fantasy. (*cough* Twilight *cough*) My few fan-fictions are not romance in the slightest.
This is where fanfiction.net comes in. I HATE THAT SITE WITH THE BURNING PASSION OF A THOUSAND SUNS. Why, you ask? Because of all the sappy love stories written about characters whose personalities have been changed completely. I actually found a Potter fan-fiction once where George Weasley had given up being a prankster and sold the shop in Diagon Alley to become a Defense Against the Dark Arts professor. He married the Mary-Sue heroine and they had sex a lot. I honestly thought I was reading a 13-year old's version of erotica, it was vomit-inducing. (You could tell that they had been inspired by the Queen of the Mary-Sues herself, Stephenie Meyer.)
Now, I have a question for any of my readers out there: What are your thoughts on Fan-Fiction? Do you hate it/love it? I want to know what you think.
Atra esterni ono thelduin.
I applaud your honesty and opinion on fan-fics. I had them as a youngster, and they were the stuff of nightmares. Thankfully when fire was discovered and some dude invented the wheel (Stupid idea, if you ask me. Round rocks, what WILL they think of next?) I realized it was horrid, and started penance immediately.
ReplyDeleteAs per your query, I despise fan-fiction. Role-plays are quite funny, and don't count, because it's like dressing up for halloween (so long as it remains canon and all). I love parodies to pieces, since it's humour, and humour and/or commentary aren't in the same category.
I also like crispy bacon, but you didn't ask to know that. :P
-The Sock Puppets
Curse my typos! The sock puppets were drunk, I swear.
ReplyDeleteSock Puppets, eh?
ReplyDeleteIf they're a bit loopy, you should have them lay off the cider; It makes them tame.
Thank for your support, it means a lot. :3
I don't mind good fan-fiction. The only problem is that it's a very rare beast, and I can't really be bothered to spend hours trawling through poorly-written OOC porn in order to get to something interesting. Original characters are always a warning sign- people might as well just have a big flashing 'MARY SUE' sign because 99% of 'original' characters are self-inserts with better hair who are 'lyk totally goffick'. As you say, it's often an excuse to over-share fantasies. I mean, I had a dream about eating sandwiches on a park bench with Draco Malfoy and the 11th Doctor, but I'm not going to write a story about it because NOBODY WANTS TO KNOW ABOUT MY WEIRD SUBCONSCIOUS (and although I am now over-sharing myself, it's not some awful sex scene so I guess that's fine).
ReplyDeleteOn the other hand, if I'm in the right mood- and by 'in the right mood' I mean 'on a sugar high'- I find the really terrible stuff quite funny. I don't suppose you've got a link to that George Weasley one, have you? It sounds so excruciatingly bad that I might get some perverse pleasure out of reading it to other people.
Like you, I've written fanfiction. In the glory days of 2001 to 2003, I wrote many LOTR stories. But I had my own code of ethics when writing fanfiction based off other's novels. I used their characters, exactly as they'd been written. It wasn't my right to change a character's personality and make them do something completely off balance. So all of my stories, I'd like to think, remain true to the actions and convictions of the original characters.
ReplyDeleteI will say that I don't write much fanfiction anymore. I'm happy with the original. I view all these "Sense & Sensibility and Sea Monsters" type books with a disgust that knows no bounds. That takes fanfiction to the horrific level. And what's more, they're published! Never should have happened. Never!
Gemma: Unfortunately, I do not have the link. :(
ReplyDeleteI found that fan-fic a little over a year ago, and I haven't been able to find it since. (Good riddance to it, too. Be glad you haven't read it, because what has been read can not be un-read.)
sparklingangel: I can respect your opinion on 'Sense and Sensibility & Sea Monsters'. Many of my friends have read those novels saying only good things about them. I have not had the chance to read them yet, but I would like to ask: Is it just Jane Austen's novel, but with monsters and zombies and such?
ReplyDelete