So, Fanfic then...

[f4f3]

Fanfic, what is it good for? No, no, it's a serious question (well, about as serious as any question about a neologism written at 6.40 because I can't be bothered filling in my expenses could be.

It occasionally bothers me that I don't get Fanfic. I mean, don't get me wrong, I'm a fan. And of roughly the right things, too. Not Harry Potter, obviously, but Jennings. Doctor Who. Firefly. Various incarnations of Star Trek.

And also I can get very into my fandom - I've gone to Cons, even a meejacon (Hitchercon, back when the continents were in a very different shape). I know more about mid-'70s Marvel Comics than anyone has a right to, but I've never been tempted to do a Deathlok the Demolisher meets Killraven story. Or even, to be slightly less obscure, Jack Aubrey meets Harry Flashman. I once considered putting Flashman into War of the Worlds, but it never got beyond a standing joke with one of my mates. Suffice to say that the Martians would have died of an easily transmitable earthly disease, but not the common cold.

It may be because writing is what I do for a living. However I've dressed up and disguised the fact in my job titles (Consultant, Relationship Manager, Proposal Manager, er, Writer) I write stuff and people pay me. When I write fiction, it's always with a view to having it published professionally. Although, when I think of what some of the semi-prozines of my cyberpunky youth paid (i.e. £Nothing) that's stretching the point a bit. Using someone else's copyrighted characters guarantees that no one will pay you to publish your stories.

So why do people do it? Most of the fan-fic I've read has been of at least a competent level (this is high praise from someone who believes as firmly in Sturgeon's Law as I do). Obviously the writers get something out of it, the readers got something out of it.

I'm not someone who thinks fan-fic is beneath him - hello, I'm the guy who cackled in glee when he found out that The Essential Moon Knight contained back up stories from The Rampaging Hulk which I hadn't read before, and who stayed up till 2 a.m. to read them.

SO WHAT AM I MISSING HERE, GUYS?

Comments

[itchyfidget.livejournal.com]

Uh, as someone who only dabbles (reading fanfic, not writing ... I'm not sure anyone will ever persuade me to write it), I think it's probably just prolonging the fun of characters being characters. The thing is, with books, that the story eventually comes to an end - but you still want to read more about the best characters, spend some time with them. Fanfic fills that hole.

Slash, obviously, is a whole 'nother subsection of this, and I'm not going to discuss the filling of holes in that context.

[f4f3.livejournal.com]

I was steering clear of slash, as I'm sure it is a whole different thing.

I suppose I'm just trying to identify my own inadequacy, and maybe get ready to dabble a bit, like.

[itchyfidget.livejournal.com]

I'm missing the part where the existence of fanfic makes you inadequate, but keep talking ...

[chickenfeet2003.livejournal.com]

I think it's a bit sad when people can't even invent their own porn characters.

[morgaine-x.livejournal.com]

I don't know what you're missing, but I'm missing it too. Even spin-offs only rarely can hold my attention. It just never has the joy of discovery that the original has.

t's like cover versions - there are a few great ones, but most of them have to reach to be classed as dross.

[f4f3.livejournal.com]

Cover versions - now there's a thing I can understand: like Lyle Lovetts cover of The Dead's "Friend of the Devil", or Steve Earle doing a Townes van Zandt song. Hmm...

[pshtaku.livejournal.com]

But the only reason you should do a cover version is if you could add to, or improve the original...

Can you do that with fanfic?

[chickenfeet2003.livejournal.com]

It baffles me. If a work of fiction so engages me that I really really wish that the author had written more about that set of characters then it means it was a damn good piece of writing. The idea that I, or some even less talented clown, is going to produce anything worthwhile with those characters seems to me most remote. This is probably why there is so little Hamlet fanfic.

[f4f3.livejournal.com]

Now that seems a perfectly reasonable pov to me. But the other hand says that lots of clever folk are into it, and from what I can see the clowns who are writing it are quite nicely made up, and do good routines.

As for Hamlet fanfic, what else has Hollywood been putting on screen for the last hundred years? But then, that's paid work, isn't it?

Hmm...

[chickenfeet2003.livejournal.com]

s for Hamlet fanfic, what else has Hollywood been putting on screen for the last hundred years?

That's the old argument about how many "original" plots there are I guess. None in Shakespeare. That much is certain.

But the other hand says that lots of clever folk are into it

Yes but I know clever folk who are into furries, vote Tory and think Arsenal are a good football team.

[ex-ajhalluk585.livejournal.com]

You mean Rosencrantz & Guildernstern Are Dead doesn't count?

[f4f3.livejournal.com]

Hee. Although it was a nice little earner.

[ex-ajhalluk585.livejournal.com]

You did ask: what are you missing here with "not getting" fanfic?

As starters, I'd suggest the following

1) The Aeneid (fanfic of the Iliad)
2) All Shakespeare's History Plays (fanfic of Holinshed, by way of St Thomas More (possibly ghosted by Morton, as observed by Josephine Tey, who was fanficcing Buck, Walpole and Markham at the time)
3) The Acts of the Apostles
4) Wide Sargasso Sea
5) Oh, and Sir Harry Flashman, of course. Where would he be if it wasn't for fanfiction?

[f4f3.livejournal.com]

This is the kind of response I was hoping for: what I meant to write at the end of the post was "What should I be reading, where do I find it?" but it came out wrong.

[widgetfox.livejournal.com]

Are you familiar with the HP canon? If so, you should be reading this (http://www.shoesforindustry.net/home.html).

If not, you should probably be reading it anyway.

[rhythmaning.livejournal.com]

Me, I am ignorant of fanfic (it took a while to work out what it was), other than Shakespeare, Flashman etc (just to prove that I read to the bottom (not bike rack) of the comments.

I agree with most of what chickenfeet2003 said (aside from the politcal porn bits, obviously): if the characters are that good, why try to improve on them?

[f4f3.livejournal.com]

Not improving, maybe, but I'm coming round to thinking that there could be fun to be had playing in their Universe. "Good Omens", one of my favourite books, is a fan fic of "Just William" meeting "The Omen" after all...

[geoviki.livejournal.com]

And of course you know there's a GO fandom? I'm only seim-literate in the classics there, and sadly for you, although not for me, what I read is slash. I'll try to find something for you to try, though.

[geoviki.livejournal.com]

Here through a mutual friend.

I write fanfiction and have done for a while now. I think you were close to the main point when you point out that writing with an eye to publication is a business. And to do it successfully takes quite a bit of time and effort. I, and nearly all my co-writers, don't want to take that extra step. We all have other jobs, mostly.

It's easy for some people to assume (and I notice you steer clear of this assumption quite well) that the quality of writing suffers because of this. Having read hundreds - yeah, probably thousands - of stories, I have to disagree. There are stories I could show you that would amaze and astound you with their quality and impact.

I'd say people connect through writing common characters and settings. In a small way, it can be a form of shorthand. All in all, it's just a form of expression that many writers find suits them. And a few people (not you) who may not know much about it find easy to mock.

[f4f3.livejournal.com]

Welcome in - pull up a beanbag. I think my mistake in this post was not expressing clearly enough that I was looking for pointers - at the moment Fan-fic (fanfic?) is a new genre to me, and as an SF (NOT Sci-Fi) fan I know how much of anything is crap, and how easy it is to be put off by grabbing the first story and deciding it's representative of the genre as a whole. So all recomendations greatfully received.

[geoviki.livejournal.com]

I'm choosing this HP one for you to try because it's unusual in several respects and shows what a fanfic author can do outside the box. It was written for a challenge - Marry Harry. Although I can't find the original conditions, I suspect the premise is something like: Harry Potter has to marry someone. Challenges are one of the many treats of fandom - they get us writers outside our comfort zones.

The Chosen (http://allecto.livejournal.com/421688.html) by allecto.

This story takes a minor HP character and makes him the central figure. It also invents new magic and a new tradition. But for me what stands out is the characterization.

Warnings for slash, serious themes, etc. Also, it was written before Half Blood Prince, so it's not canon-compliant anymore.

I also have three very unusual fanfiction stories I could add: one about real-life spies Guy Burgess and Kim Philby, one about Cain and Abel, and one about The Breakfast Club. In case you are still searching.

[widgetfox.livejournal.com]

Do you think that your understanding and appreciation of fanfic deepened when you started to write it, and if so how?

[geoviki.livejournal.com]

What a great question!

My first foray into fanfic writing happened over 20 years ago with Star Trek. And there (and in Star Wars as well), fanfic can be published - not only through novilizations of episodes and movies, but with bona fide new plots. These are copyright-sanctioned, printed books. So I didn't start out with feeling as though I was writing for no one. But I lost interest when I made the mistake of trying to write for money - it wasn't for me and the writing itself became a burden and a source of guilt.

Fast forward to 2003. I'd just finished Order of the Phoenix and discovered online HP fandom. I was immediately inspired to write, because of my earlier experience in a fandom. It's the way I respond, it seems. It's fun to compare an internet-less fandom with one that is sustained and driven through the internet. I like this state of affairs much better.

My appreciation deepened not so much through my own writing, but from reading other writers. I had this horribly naive view that I was going to be noticed right away amid the dross I'd noticed in the first month of surfing ff.net (aka the Pit of Voles). And the more I read, the more I discovered writers who are stunningly good. (And I see you know some of them, too). And yeah, 90% of fanfiction is crap, but then 90% of everything is crap, right? :-)

When I attended my first HP con last fall, I was further impressed by the caliber of smart, witty, clever people I met -- who were just like me! Well, a little younger, but not nearly as young as I'd imagined. I met MDs, professors, scientists, businesswomen, poets, musicians.... It was eye-opening.

[sobelle.livejournal.com]

And finally my ~groups~ have intersected *gazes in awe*

While I don't usually do more than lurk here, [Bad username or site: @ livejournal.com] is a friend of [Bad username or site: @ livejournal.com] where I do post... so what am I getting at?

I have enjoyed fan/fic/slash for way more years than decent for all sorts of obscure reasons and in backtracking your LJ now see several LJ friends of my own there...

And finally, yes I am old enough to still be impressed with the wonders of technology and worldwide communications... or maybe as I get even older, I am more easily entertained.

So, I'll just be wandering off now... singing to myself. Simple pleasure for simple minds and all that...

[parthenia14.livejournal.com]

I was absolutely and completely horrified by fanfic before I clicked my first link (and for quite a while after!), but I sought it out, I think, because I was quite obsessively involved in reading/thinking about that particular source.

One thing I've noticed now is that I can't always tell whether I will want to read fanfic for a particular source: I love Dr. Who as a show, but I have next to no desire to read fanfic about it; on the other hand Stargate Atlantis is middling-enjoyable as a show and yet has a lot of enjoyable fanfic.

If I revere a particular source as pretty perfect, then I think I'm unlikely to go looking for fanfic about it. On the other hand, someone did press fanfic for The Dark is Rising into my hot little hand. Yep, not bad.