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dweomeroflightIn this mini essay I just want to cover the positives about fan fiction, which are often overlooked, its popularity and the issues others may have with it. This is really a response to a post Katherine Kerr made in a thread at Deverry 15. I do not disagree on all of the points she made, but I do wish to talk about them further so if anyone wants to join the discussion please do, regardless of wether you agree with me or not. Just don't be rude to other people and if anyone has links to interesting articles on fan fics and why they may or may not be a good thing, feel free to post a link in the comments. If you are going to reply, please take the time to have a reason for your answer, dont simply say you agree or disagree :)
Okay, so fan fiction according to wikipedia (that denizen of accurate information) says that fan fiction is defined as creative writing that uses preexisting characters and worlds from books, films, TV programs and other media. According to US copyright laws, these deriviative works are plagarism, however parodies of books are exempt from this. Hence, books like Wicked are in fact fan fictions; if darned popular ones. With such a definition most Broadway musicals in fact become fanfics eg Phantom of the opera was originally a french novel as was les miserables, into the woods and sweeney todd (perhaps the greatest musical ever) are also based off previous sources making them fan fics. Heck, every King Arthur and Merlin story/movie ever made is a fan fic of the original myths and legends as written by Troyes and Monmouth. Poems based off other poems are fan fics, poems or songs based off books etc the list is endless, and yet for some reason there is still this sense of elitism surrounding fan fics. Why is it OK for some people to write fan fics, and why is it not alright for the rest of us to do so? What makes Wicked "pure genius" and my online fan fics plagarism? I don't know, but tell me if you know?
so why do common plebs like me write fan fic's if it is not my own world? my friend on fanfic.net has the best answer I've come across to this...
"Because 87% of endings are cliche's
Because 95% of plot twists are dumb or predictable
Because the best characters always die
Because sometimes evil deserves to win
Because an author is just not willing to rewrite the book in every possible perspective so that fans can see all the possibilties."
To me the last point is the most important. Why do fan write fan fics? The answer is also why I think Wicked is so popular... because fans want to know and havn't always been told enough. Why did they do that? What reason for this? That seemed out of character? How would that have occured after this? There is blank space here that we do not get told about so we have to fill it in for ourselves? Katherine Kerr wrote on Deverry 15, "there's a current rage of course for recycling other people's famous characters, like Sherlock Holmes or the Wicked Witch of the West. To me this looks like an utter decline in the genre writing world, not the cleverness its usually called." Now, clearly Katherine is referring to Wicked and in response to Kit's comment, I would like to point out that the popularity of the book is perhaps less to do with its so called 'famous character' (who in the original book is just the one dimensional run of the mill baddie) and more to do with the originality and creativity behind the author's concept. you cannot deny that wicked is original. it turns the story completely on its head and makes us actually care about the wicked witch. and at the end of the day, fan fic or no fan fic, is it the authors fault if he did a better job at filling in the gaps than the original author? Wicked is a good book (and a decent musical) in its own right, regardless of the fact it is fan fic, because it enriched the original story for its fans. This is why I suspect that ipcookiemonstor wrote in the same thread as Kit that the characters were more important to her than the actual world. Fans do notice when characters arn't explained properly or when they are reduced to cardboard cut outs and sometimes, what they come up with might be better than the original.
Katherine Kerr if you are reading this, you may (or may not be as the case may be) be pleased to know that fanfiction.net, the biggest website to host fan fics, only has one Deverry related fan fic, and this is a parody crossover of Buffy (I know I did a search whilst writing this), which indicates to me t least that your storytelling is such that there is no real need for Deverry fan fiction. However, if you are still concerned about Deverry fan fiction, you can request to be a no go zone on fan fic.net. Writers such as Raymond E Fesit and Anne Rice have already registered as 'no go zones' on the website.
Now, while the author of the original material has the perfect right to choose to do this on fanfic.net and other such similar sites, I believe there is a negative result that can occur due to this, which may need to be considered and that is that you piss fans off to be blunt, when they have to take down the related material or risk having their account deleted. Now this may not matter so much, I mean after all, they chose to write fan fic, but as an author, do you want to be associated with the negativity? I am not sure if there is an answer to that? Bear in mind that the fan is not doing this for profit or to annoy the author deliberately, but rather for enjoyment and to share with other fellow fans a fellow love.
With the advent of the internet, fan fiction has exploded, and now that people can write it and publish it internationally, there is little a person can do about it legally, because people go by usernames and there's absolutely no way a person could sue everyone writing the fics, and thats on top of the problem of different copyright laws in different countries. Frankly, I think this could be a good thing, fan fiction, if anything, would increase a person's fan base and inclination to buy that author or scripwriter's product. In fact, some film production companies encourage fan fics because they maintain the customer's interest in the product during the 'waiting period' for the next book or film to be released.
On top of this, writing short fan fics means that a person can focus on their writing style, in depth characterisation and plot because the world building is already done for them (ie the hard part), and this in fact could potentially improve ones writing when writing an original novel. I know that writing fan fics has defintiely done this for me, especially when others can offer constructive criticism for free.
so in conclusion: though I think an author is within their rights to dislike fan fiction on the basis of plagarism reasons, I think that too often people write off fan fiction as having no benefits, when it is evident (to me at least) that it does. I feel that in this post modern world, where everyone thinks they can do what they want... because hey, who's to say the original author's got it right anyway, fan fiction is here to stay, for better or for worse, simply because there's a demand for it. That dosen't mean people have to endorse fan fiction, but I do object to elitist attitudes towards it which claim that there are no benefits at all.
I hope this was interesting to someone out there amd feel free to comment!
* Just to make things clear... this is NOT A PERSONAL ATTACK on Katherine Kerr or any other authors who may disagree with fan fiction. This is rather an essay designe for rational discussion where all opinions are welcomed.
Okay, so fan fiction according to wikipedia (that denizen of accurate information) says that fan fiction is defined as creative writing that uses preexisting characters and worlds from books, films, TV programs and other media. According to US copyright laws, these deriviative works are plagarism, however parodies of books are exempt from this. Hence, books like Wicked are in fact fan fictions; if darned popular ones. With such a definition most Broadway musicals in fact become fanfics eg Phantom of the opera was originally a french novel as was les miserables, into the woods and sweeney todd (perhaps the greatest musical ever) are also based off previous sources making them fan fics. Heck, every King Arthur and Merlin story/movie ever made is a fan fic of the original myths and legends as written by Troyes and Monmouth. Poems based off other poems are fan fics, poems or songs based off books etc the list is endless, and yet for some reason there is still this sense of elitism surrounding fan fics. Why is it OK for some people to write fan fics, and why is it not alright for the rest of us to do so? What makes Wicked "pure genius" and my online fan fics plagarism? I don't know, but tell me if you know?
so why do common plebs like me write fan fic's if it is not my own world? my friend on fanfic.net has the best answer I've come across to this...
"Because 87% of endings are cliche's
Because 95% of plot twists are dumb or predictable
Because the best characters always die
Because sometimes evil deserves to win
Because an author is just not willing to rewrite the book in every possible perspective so that fans can see all the possibilties."
To me the last point is the most important. Why do fan write fan fics? The answer is also why I think Wicked is so popular... because fans want to know and havn't always been told enough. Why did they do that? What reason for this? That seemed out of character? How would that have occured after this? There is blank space here that we do not get told about so we have to fill it in for ourselves? Katherine Kerr wrote on Deverry 15, "there's a current rage of course for recycling other people's famous characters, like Sherlock Holmes or the Wicked Witch of the West. To me this looks like an utter decline in the genre writing world, not the cleverness its usually called." Now, clearly Katherine is referring to Wicked and in response to Kit's comment, I would like to point out that the popularity of the book is perhaps less to do with its so called 'famous character' (who in the original book is just the one dimensional run of the mill baddie) and more to do with the originality and creativity behind the author's concept. you cannot deny that wicked is original. it turns the story completely on its head and makes us actually care about the wicked witch. and at the end of the day, fan fic or no fan fic, is it the authors fault if he did a better job at filling in the gaps than the original author? Wicked is a good book (and a decent musical) in its own right, regardless of the fact it is fan fic, because it enriched the original story for its fans. This is why I suspect that ipcookiemonstor wrote in the same thread as Kit that the characters were more important to her than the actual world. Fans do notice when characters arn't explained properly or when they are reduced to cardboard cut outs and sometimes, what they come up with might be better than the original.
Katherine Kerr if you are reading this, you may (or may not be as the case may be) be pleased to know that fanfiction.net, the biggest website to host fan fics, only has one Deverry related fan fic, and this is a parody crossover of Buffy (I know I did a search whilst writing this), which indicates to me t least that your storytelling is such that there is no real need for Deverry fan fiction. However, if you are still concerned about Deverry fan fiction, you can request to be a no go zone on fan fic.net. Writers such as Raymond E Fesit and Anne Rice have already registered as 'no go zones' on the website.
Now, while the author of the original material has the perfect right to choose to do this on fanfic.net and other such similar sites, I believe there is a negative result that can occur due to this, which may need to be considered and that is that you piss fans off to be blunt, when they have to take down the related material or risk having their account deleted. Now this may not matter so much, I mean after all, they chose to write fan fic, but as an author, do you want to be associated with the negativity? I am not sure if there is an answer to that? Bear in mind that the fan is not doing this for profit or to annoy the author deliberately, but rather for enjoyment and to share with other fellow fans a fellow love.
With the advent of the internet, fan fiction has exploded, and now that people can write it and publish it internationally, there is little a person can do about it legally, because people go by usernames and there's absolutely no way a person could sue everyone writing the fics, and thats on top of the problem of different copyright laws in different countries. Frankly, I think this could be a good thing, fan fiction, if anything, would increase a person's fan base and inclination to buy that author or scripwriter's product. In fact, some film production companies encourage fan fics because they maintain the customer's interest in the product during the 'waiting period' for the next book or film to be released.
On top of this, writing short fan fics means that a person can focus on their writing style, in depth characterisation and plot because the world building is already done for them (ie the hard part), and this in fact could potentially improve ones writing when writing an original novel. I know that writing fan fics has defintiely done this for me, especially when others can offer constructive criticism for free.
so in conclusion: though I think an author is within their rights to dislike fan fiction on the basis of plagarism reasons, I think that too often people write off fan fiction as having no benefits, when it is evident (to me at least) that it does. I feel that in this post modern world, where everyone thinks they can do what they want... because hey, who's to say the original author's got it right anyway, fan fiction is here to stay, for better or for worse, simply because there's a demand for it. That dosen't mean people have to endorse fan fiction, but I do object to elitist attitudes towards it which claim that there are no benefits at all.
I hope this was interesting to someone out there amd feel free to comment!
* Just to make things clear... this is NOT A PERSONAL ATTACK on Katherine Kerr or any other authors who may disagree with fan fiction. This is rather an essay designe for rational discussion where all opinions are welcomed.
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no subject
Date: 2009-11-11 04:31 am (UTC)It's just that it's dangerous for authors to allow people to post ideas where they can see them. Some dolt actually sued Ray Feist for plagarism because something he'd said in Ray's listserve was echoed in one of Ray's books. No, I do NOT think you'd do that, but I just don't want to let people get in the habit of embroidering my stuff publicly. The suit was thrown out of court, but Ray ended up spending money on lawyers nonetheless.
BTW, just as a matter of general interest: one cannot copywrite "ideas". One can only copyright the physical (in this case, words) manifestation of ideas. Thus I could never copyright "a Celtic kingdom develops in another universe without Romans or Christians." But words like "Deverry, Aberwyn, malover," and so on are copyrightable in the specific sense that I use them.
I was the offender in that case with suggestions on possible ways a prequel could work.
no subject
Date: 2009-11-11 06:33 am (UTC)However, I'm not saying Kit can't disagree with fan fiction, especially of her own books, I'm just saying that there are benefits to fan fics which are often overlooked.
no subject
Date: 2009-11-11 08:20 am (UTC)While I am inclined personally to keeping an author's world sacrosanct if you look at all the Star Wars and StarTrek books what are they but professionally written Fan Fic? And as much as I despise much of the Harry Potter fanfic(Not to hot on the original either to tell the truth) when things like The Naked Quiddich Match are produced how can you only hate?
no subject
Date: 2009-11-11 11:39 pm (UTC)and some of the Twilight fan fic I've read is actually better than the original :P
I think fan fic's can actually enhance the original material for fans eg I have had people tell me my Doctor Who fan fics about The Master and his wife have made them like those episodes more because I was able to describe his feelings during those episodes clearly enough, that it enhanced the original script for them. In fact, the BBC almost actively encourages Doctor Who role playing and fan fics with its official website, as well as the other fake ones they've set up. So far, without even trying I've found 2 vote saxon websites made by the BBC, as well as a 'have you seen the doctor?' website which actually asks fans to send in accounts of when they 'met the doctor' which is essentially fan fiction.
I think if the fan fic is not for profit and is for the enjoyment of other fans, it is both useful to the fan fic writer to write fan fics and it also can enhance plots or fandom for fans.
However, personally, I write fan fics for film or TV shows because normally I find that as scripts have less time to do things, there are more gaps I feel the compulsive need to fill in.
to me the need and want for fan fic exists because authors dont (and cant always) cover everything in their novels/scripts so fans do it for themselves and share with others.
To me, there is absolutely nothing wrong with that. and after all, how many true fans go sue the author? I'd say the percentage would be very small, and the risk is ditto
no subject
Date: 2009-11-18 10:17 pm (UTC)For me, I have never tried to write any. I just don't like the idea of using someone elses ideas, they have already defined how the charcters/world etc should act/exist it wouldnt be true to them to go aganist that. I also love the process of creating my own things. I did try to read some the other day and I couldn't really get into it. I probably wasn't reading the right stuff, but it was some Twilight stuff and it just felt so wrong to me. I felt that either whoever was writing it had taken a really boring idea to write about, or else they just buthered the essence of the story by trying out really weird combinations of characters. It just dodn't sit right with me.
But that doesnt mean I don't see its uses, or don't like it yet. I just havent found anything good (and I havent really looked!). I think I like more the idea of using the world and telling a story that hasn't been told, or backgorund on some characters that havent been told, rather than rewriting an alternate possibilty.
If I was ever published I have no idea if I would want people to write fanfic or not. I can see the problems with not being able to read any incase you get done for plagarism, but I don't know if I would like the idea of people changing what my charcters did. Couldn't they write the same story but just change the names of the characters, and give them a different hair colour or something?
But this has really got me thinking anyway, so thank you!
no subject
Date: 2009-11-19 03:20 am (UTC)With me personally, I only write fan fic for films or TV shows (because things are left ambiguous or unexplained), and because normally a novel has more time to cover everything so I don't have the need to fill in gaps or the inclination.
I definitely understand your point about using another person's ideas and changing them, but with me I don't change ideas so much as work with the ideas to add more of a back story (doctor who being a case in point. There are alot of blank spots left deliberately by the scriptwriters for fans to go crazy over so alot of fans write and share fan fics to fill that gap. As previously mentioned, I have a sneaking suspicion that both Stephan Moffat and Russel T Davies do this deliberately.)
And I'm still unsure of wether or not I'd like fan fics written about my novels, but to be honest I think I'd just ignore them. Let the fans enjoy their fics, and I'll just keep writing and sharing my ideas with them, I guess. In other words I'd tolerate it, is what I think I mean.
To rest your mind a little: yes a fan could change characters but write the same story if they wanted as long as it was not for profit and only for the benefit of others to read for free. As soon as they tried to publish for profit, it would be a violation of the authors copyright.
Interestingly enough, Sherwood Smith was actually advocating fan fiction on Deverry 15 to help world build, saying that if you started with similar characters and world but then gradually changed things about them, you'd end up with a whole new original story, as you kept tweaking. I have never done that, but it sounds interesting.