On fanfic and original fiction

[tortietta]

It's late and really not the ideal time to get into a discussion on original fiction vs. fanfiction, but I was talking with mockreality who brought up some interesting points about what you get out of writing original fiction instead of fanfiction. I don't actually agree with her POV, but it did make me think about what I get out of writing fanfiction as well as original fiction.


C/p'd with permission from a tired mockreality. SPAG and incoherancy to be ignored. :">

maevy: so i have a hankering to write a novel length hp fic... haven't had an urge to do that in a long time....

mockreality: why dont you just write something non hp... you know? if i didnt always have uni work to do, that's what i would do... and indeed tried to over the xmas holidays. i don't, i never have understood the whole reasoning why someone wants to write fics of hp or fanfics in general.. i tried once or twice, but that is someone elses idea, someone elses imagination you are taping into and using their idea to, well... because you are too lazy to think of a different storyline, different characters. sure there interesting to read, but nothing like the real thing, the real experience of writing something that is uniquely yours.. something that doesn't need to comply with rules of canon.. etc. i mean i know that's what you love, and i am in no way trying to dismiss it, but i think you'd get more satisfaction of coming up with an original storyline of your own. that's me though and when i ever get to actually sit down and extend my short stories into novels that's what will make me happy, but doing and working on what someone elses hardwork seems not right.. you probably disagree with me totally, but that's your thing..

maevy: you bring up some interesting points, but the thing is, for me at least, i do write original fiction as well as fanfiction, and there are parts to both that attract me to them. i love writing original fiction, and honestly when i made the comment that I did it was because when i have written recently it has been original fic not fanfic. original fiction is, like you said, an opportunity to explore your own creation, and that is great, i love that. you don't have limitations and you're able to let your imagination run free, but with fanfiction you don't have that option, and it's challenging because you have barriers that can be difficult to get around. and i don't think it's lazy, and i don't think it's wrong to want to be challenged in a slightly different way.

hp fanfic, or even just fanfic in general sets up characters and storylines for the duration of the marketed product (make sense?). so in regards to hp we've got a 7 seven year time frame, and in that time frame we're given details of what happens to harry and his friends, but there is a lot of secondary matter that doesn't get discussed... characters that don't have much interaction with harry, plots that don't develop because they are not directly inter-linked with harry and so forth...

for me, at least, when i write fanfic i don't want to 'step on the toes', so to speak, of what JKR has given us, but more explore the depths of this universe that has already been created... maybe it's not right because I haven't created the universe myself, but at the same stage when you write a post-hogwarts fanfic set 8 years after the kids have left school, who's to say that the universe that JKR has created will remain exactly the same? yes, you're playing with characters and ideas originally created by someone else, but that does not mean that you cannot interpret the characters yourself. it does not limit you to base characterisations, because every person will read a character different, and just like with the movies and the different representations of say ron or hermione, every person will then transcribe that character the way they see them.

as far as plots go, provided that you arn't just writing a 'smut' fic (and here I mean pure smut, no plot what-so-ever, pwp), or a fic which is deliberatly without plot, then you are using your own imagination and imaginative resources to create something which is rich with plot and character development. i suppose it comes from a yearning to know more about the characters and thir universe... to really get to know the characters in depth... and when you can do that yourself, and put your mind to the task, to explore all the various avenues available then there is something extremely satisfying about that... but yes, we all have our own likes and dislikes. as i said i love original fiction as much as i love fanfiction, i find then both challenging in their own ways.


Right, so the point of this post is to ask you all what you think. Why do you write fanfiction? What are your views on original fiction vs. fanfiction? I know a lot of you write original fic as well as fanfic so I'd very interested to hear all your views. So, speak up! Tell me what you think!

Comments

[lizardlaugh.livejournal.com]

I started out writing fanfiction with the express purpose of learning the mechanics of writing. I liken it to being apprenticed to JK Rowling. I write original fiction as well, but I knew that my original fic wasn't up to publishable standards when I started. I needed practice. And that is why I got into fanfiction.

Fanfiction is less creative in the sense that you are borrowing an existing world and characters, but many times that is actually more of a challenge and a creative art in itself. Even if you set your story far in the future or write an AU, you have to justify everything that happens to these characters and still keep them believable to anyone who has read the original work.

I think you can learn a great deal about plot and characterization and style and flow playing around in someone elses universe. You get instant feedback and instant community of other writers. I have learned and improved a tremendous amount writing fanfiction. I've made leaps in style and plot construction that would have taken me years had I simply toiled away on my own without the feedback, without the community.

NOw... that's me, the person who does write original fiction and has ambitions to be published someday. However, there is a very large group (perhaps even the majority) who enjoy fanfiction simply as fanfiction. They want to play in JKR's world for the sheer fun of it. And hey, that's me too. I enjoy this. The enjoyment I get out of my original fiction is different, and rewarding in a profound way fanfiction just isn't, but fanfiction is FUN. I get to inhabit this world I adore so much.

So... why fanfiction? It's fun. I am learning much, much faster and improving my writing a rate that exceeds what I would have sitting alone, typing away with no one to give feedback or interact with.

[maartexx.livejournal.com]

You know, I swore I'd never do it and yet I've written three in the past couple of months.

I've been an original fic writer since...cripes, I don't know. Seriously for about fifteen years. My original writing is plagued with WIP disease. I have a hard time finishing.

When I went to write a fanfic, it was AMAZING; I wrote that first story in about two days. It's a regular short-story length and it just raced out of me. It was wild. The next one I spent a bit more time on, but still, it was fast. The one I'm about to post took longer because it was a request and I had a hard time understanding one of the characters--and it was more like original fic writing for me.

Writing my original work is laborious and painful. I often don't finish. Last night I finished the first complete draft (though it's the third incarnation of this story) of a new story; that I started it in January and finished it now is an accomplishment compared to how long I usually take. It did not rush out; it crept out and dug its claws in the whole way. I had to really think hard about where each character was going.

Either way, when I finish a piece, I feel exactly the same. Odd, isn't it? It's like putting together a really hard jigsaw puzzle and setting that last piece in with a little tap.

I'm not sure why I'm writing any fanfic at all. Unlike my original work, I don't expect it to get me anywhere. But I don't keep a journal, don't keep a commonplace book or big honking notebook or anything. So I guess it's kind of like exercise. Plot is the hardest thing for me and fanfic is an opportunity to exercise the plot muscles.

And with my original work, even if it gets published the feedback is minimal. With fanfic it's instantaneous, and that is so addictive. Even if people hate it, I want to know; it's a reaction.

[pockettheroach.livejournal.com]

I've been writing both original fic and fanfic for as long as I can remember (my mother still has a comic book I made at about five years old based on the American Tail movie). Fanfic has two major plusses for me. First off, I'm primarily a short story writer--I have a couple of original novel ideas floating around in my head, but my adult ADD makes it difficult. I think a lot of the original stories I've written are pretty good and possibly selling-worthy, but short stories are damn hard to sell. With fanfic, though, I can zap off a story, post it, and there it is. That is-this-good-enough stigma is gone, because I can't sell it.

The second plus is that your characters don't have to be introduced, nor does the setting. I am admittedly terrible at introducing original characters, and that's undoubtedly my weakest point in writing. But with fanfic, I can put some blah blah in the header about Lucius and when the story starts in first person with the character in jail and scared of something circling around him, people already know exactly what's going on. Granted, in a way it's lazy writing. But there have been times when spending an evening on a fanfic and being quite pleased with the result has opened up my writer's block to writing more.

[puppy-tenchan.livejournal.com]

"fanfiction" is one of the oldest forms of fiction and storytelling. It is nowhere near less creative than original fiction, if you don't want it to be. A good author should always be aware, that working with a set of predetermined rules does not have to weaken your creativity, but indeed can strengthen it, as it needs creativity to obey these rules without copying the original. A lot of creativity to be precise. An author who sees fanfiction as something of less value than original fiction, loses a lot of points in my book. Because that's blatant disregard of the fact that a fiew of the best original stories out there are, in some way, fanfiction as well. Authors are always inspired by others, mostly other authors they have read, even if they are not aware of it. And that is perfectly fine. There is no bigger compliment for someone's work, than someone else being more or less inspired by it when writing themselves.

[redshoeson.livejournal.com]

I am an avid fanfic reader but have never written fanfic. This is b/c I find it difficult to maintain the characters as written by the original author. I'm always greatful for fanfic, however, b/c of many of the reasons you stated. Basically, I want to know more about the characters, more about their lives and what's happening to them. Fanfic provides a way of satiating that curiosity.

I always hope, however, that fanficcers will use fanfic as a jumping board into original fic, but I'm realizing more and more that that's not very likely. Just as I can't write fanfic, most fanficcers can't or don't want to write original fic. As a close friend and adamant fanficcer said to me, "I just don't have enough original material to put something together, but when I'm writing for the fandom, there's so much I can do."

Anyway, I'm all for more fanfics! Like I said above, "Fanfic, Breakfast of Champions." ^_^