F - Fanfiction
I'm not going to completely rehash old news. I will however provide a couple of links from people who have made arguments about fanfiction.
Diana Gabledon
(who is fervently against fanfiction)George R.R. Martin (who also dislikes it)
Neither for nor against, just some facts
Robin Hobb
took down her original post about the evils of fanfiction, but as we all know, once word is out, once a page is up,
it never truly goes away
... Then there's the other side of the coin, a cautionary tale, well told by author Jim Hines (
regarding Marion Zimmer Bradley
).And on the other end of the spectrum (although she's not alone) here are
Anne McCaffrey's Rules for Fanfiction
involving her works and worlds. I thought it might be nice to end on a nice note, before taking off into my own thoughts. And actually, I *am* going to quote and discuss Ms. Hobb's words a bit, not to rehash or stir up the cauldron, but because her arguments aren't unique. I do, however, think they're wrong. Okay, here's the quote (the bold is the general statement about fanfiction that Ms. Hobb is responding to, the italics is her response. I'll keep my post in plain ol' text). “Fan fiction is a good way for people to learn to be writers.”
No. It isn’t. If this is true, then karaoke is the path to become a singer I don't think I could disagree more if I tried. I know several good singers who love karoke; it gives them a chance to get in front of an audience and practice singing with people staring at them, which can be pretty unnerving. It's a chance to get over stage fright...kind of like singing in the school choir, which, by the way doesn't require you to write your own songs either. coloring books produce great artists, and all great chefs have a shelf of cake mixes. Fan fiction is a good way to avoid learning how to be a writer. Fan fiction allows the writer to pretend to be creating a story, while using someone else’s world, characters, and plot. Not all fanfiction is well written, no arguments there. But seriously, I've written over 200,000 words of Torchwood fiction; don't tell me there isn't a story line! The only short cut is using someone else's world and characters (which actually helped me get a better handle on writing dialogue). I've read very few fanfiction stories that didn't have original plots (some wildly so), seeing as to most of us, that's kinda the point. Coloring Barbie’s hair green in a coloring book is not a great act of creativity. Neither is putting lipstick on Ken. Fan fiction does exactly those kinds of things. Seriously? It's not creative to color Barbie's hair green? (And by the way, I'm an artist and I started out coloring in coloring books, kinda like most little kids I know. It's no guarentee, but I think I was on to something when I decided that *this* picture was going to be in all different blue and *that one* all different shades of red. A creative child will be creative with whatever medium is set before them).
The first step to becoming a writer is to have your own idea. Not to take someone else’s idea, put a dent in it, and claim it as your own. You will learn more from writing one story of your own, no matter how bad it is, than the most polished Inuyasha fan fiction that you write. No, the first step to becoming a writer is to write. It's learning basic grammar and sentence structure, plotting, dialogue, character development, tension, story arc, etc. ANYBODY can have an idea, it's exicuting it that becomes trickly. Which pretty much sums up where I stand on fanfiction and why I support it...but there's more. I read somewhere else (and for the life of me I can't find the link) that fanfiction is a waste of time. It's no more a waste of time than playing baseball or chess or watching your favorite TV show--in fact, I think it's less a waste of time than the latter, because you're accomplishing something even if it's something that only makes you, the writer, happy.
Now, definitely do not misunderstand, authors have just as much right to their opinions as the next guy and certainly saying, hey this is copyright infringement is totally legit. Even saying, "I would really appreciate it if you didn't write it" is perfectly fine. But sometimes what authors say is a bit over the top. Gabledon said something to the effect of "it's one thing for fans to like red headed men and another for one of them to try and seduce my husband" when speaking of fanfic writers...so...she's equating someone who writes a story about one of her characters or otherwise set in her world with that aome someone trying to get Mr. Gabledon into bed ?! Forgive me for being dense, but I just don't see the connection. I love my characters, but I'm not married to them, they aren't even real! (By the way, I met the lady once very briefly and by all accounts she was both sweet and gracious, although of course I didn't bring up the subject of fanfiction.)
I also certainly understand that there are legal ramifications, although I don't actually equate writing fanfiction with stealing. In order to steal something, you have to take a thing away from someone else in such a way that it is no longer theirs. I'm totally mind-boggled about this concept that some writers have that fanfiction infringes on their livlihood. That doesn't make it any less of a legal gray area (or maybe not so gray, because copyright exists for a reason), I'm just saying that my Torchwood fic hadn't taken any money out of Russle T. Davies' bank account and I know for a fact I brought a couple of viewers to NCIS because of my crossover stories. I don't think anyone else's fanfiction has stopped fans from buying the original novels, either.
Here's an interesting collection of pro and against authors and some of the things they've said. Click Here . Personally, I thing that attitudes on the subject are changing for the better. If you don't believe me, you are aware that Fifty Shades of Grey started out as fanfiction, right ? (And of all the irony, it now has fanfiction stories based on it).
Helen Pattskyn, Fantasy Artist, Gay Romance Author
No. It isn’t. If this is true, then karaoke is the path to become a singer I don't think I could disagree more if I tried. I know several good singers who love karoke; it gives them a chance to get in front of an audience and practice singing with people staring at them, which can be pretty unnerving. It's a chance to get over stage fright...kind of like singing in the school choir, which, by the way doesn't require you to write your own songs either. coloring books produce great artists, and all great chefs have a shelf of cake mixes. Fan fiction is a good way to avoid learning how to be a writer. Fan fiction allows the writer to pretend to be creating a story, while using someone else’s world, characters, and plot. Not all fanfiction is well written, no arguments there. But seriously, I've written over 200,000 words of Torchwood fiction; don't tell me there isn't a story line! The only short cut is using someone else's world and characters (which actually helped me get a better handle on writing dialogue). I've read very few fanfiction stories that didn't have original plots (some wildly so), seeing as to most of us, that's kinda the point. Coloring Barbie’s hair green in a coloring book is not a great act of creativity. Neither is putting lipstick on Ken. Fan fiction does exactly those kinds of things. Seriously? It's not creative to color Barbie's hair green? (And by the way, I'm an artist and I started out coloring in coloring books, kinda like most little kids I know. It's no guarentee, but I think I was on to something when I decided that *this* picture was going to be in all different blue and *that one* all different shades of red. A creative child will be creative with whatever medium is set before them).
The first step to becoming a writer is to have your own idea. Not to take someone else’s idea, put a dent in it, and claim it as your own. You will learn more from writing one story of your own, no matter how bad it is, than the most polished Inuyasha fan fiction that you write. No, the first step to becoming a writer is to write. It's learning basic grammar and sentence structure, plotting, dialogue, character development, tension, story arc, etc. ANYBODY can have an idea, it's exicuting it that becomes trickly. Which pretty much sums up where I stand on fanfiction and why I support it...but there's more. I read somewhere else (and for the life of me I can't find the link) that fanfiction is a waste of time. It's no more a waste of time than playing baseball or chess or watching your favorite TV show--in fact, I think it's less a waste of time than the latter, because you're accomplishing something even if it's something that only makes you, the writer, happy.
Now, definitely do not misunderstand, authors have just as much right to their opinions as the next guy and certainly saying, hey this is copyright infringement is totally legit. Even saying, "I would really appreciate it if you didn't write it" is perfectly fine. But sometimes what authors say is a bit over the top. Gabledon said something to the effect of "it's one thing for fans to like red headed men and another for one of them to try and seduce my husband" when speaking of fanfic writers...so...she's equating someone who writes a story about one of her characters or otherwise set in her world with that aome someone trying to get Mr. Gabledon into bed ?! Forgive me for being dense, but I just don't see the connection. I love my characters, but I'm not married to them, they aren't even real! (By the way, I met the lady once very briefly and by all accounts she was both sweet and gracious, although of course I didn't bring up the subject of fanfiction.)
I also certainly understand that there are legal ramifications, although I don't actually equate writing fanfiction with stealing. In order to steal something, you have to take a thing away from someone else in such a way that it is no longer theirs. I'm totally mind-boggled about this concept that some writers have that fanfiction infringes on their livlihood. That doesn't make it any less of a legal gray area (or maybe not so gray, because copyright exists for a reason), I'm just saying that my Torchwood fic hadn't taken any money out of Russle T. Davies' bank account and I know for a fact I brought a couple of viewers to NCIS because of my crossover stories. I don't think anyone else's fanfiction has stopped fans from buying the original novels, either.
Here's an interesting collection of pro and against authors and some of the things they've said. Click Here . Personally, I thing that attitudes on the subject are changing for the better. If you don't believe me, you are aware that Fifty Shades of Grey started out as fanfiction, right ? (And of all the irony, it now has fanfiction stories based on it).
Helen Pattskyn, Fantasy Artist, Gay Romance Author
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