A few years ago one of my relatives sent me a story she’d written. I was the family’s published author. What did I think?
‘Good story,’ I said. But I had to explain that it would have been better if the characters had names that weren’t Harry, Hermione and Ron. And better again if it had been set somewhere other than a wizards’ school in a magic castle. ‘You need to make up your own characters and settings,’ I explained. Which she then did – the next story was completely original, and also very good.
The thing is, even the Harry Potter pastiche was a good story. Fan fiction is often part of the learning curve for starting writers. But it must always remain that. Apart from obvious points about copyright and plagiarism, authors who simply use the characters and settings of the latest best-selling book or sci fi TV have, to my mind, failed at Step 1 of the creative process. Even if the plot is otherwise original, even if the writing is competent, and even if the work otherwise meets every test that usually defines ‘good’ in a literary sense.
What drives people to write fan fiction? It seems to me the issue isn’t lack of imagination; it’s the intersection between the emotional response of a fan to the work they like and their imagination. Fan fiction is an attempt to extend and explore the sense of satisfaction, reward – and, quite often, sense of completeness – that the book, show or movie inspired.
That explains a lot of the ‘Mary Sue’ plots – you know, the ones where a character proxies the author in a succession of wish-fulfilment fantasies with TV characters of the author’s choice. It seems to me that some of this stuff amounts to therapy for the writer involved. Or escape. But that doesn’t translate into good reading for an audience.
Some fan fiction does work well – however, that doesn’t get away from the fact that it’s using somebody else’s original creativity. Some authors allow it. Others don’t like it. Don’t forget - strictly speaking, fan fiction is plagiarism. And even in a novel where the plot, setting and names are changed to create a new work, it seems to me there’s always going to be that niggly thing about where the original came from.
So what about that other genre - new stories about Sherlock Holmes and other old literary heroes? Should we call it fan fiction? Strictly, maybe. But these don’t pivot off the latest pop trend, or rip off the imagination of a living author, or act as a device for the author to act out their wish fantasies. These books are inevitably by an established author giving an original spin to one of the stories that have become integral to our culture. They always have that Step 1 creativity point – the author’s own original input on the concept.
Tom Stoppard showed us how that is done with Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead, which could be called Shakespearean fan fiction, except Stoppard simply used the bard’s master-work as background to a play of his own, with his own thoughts and ideas. And as for sensitive new age vampires? Back in the early 1970s Fred Saberhagen took Bram Stoker’s 1897 thrller Dracula and turned it upside down. Sheer genius, and very funny. The book was called The Dracula Tape. Read it and giggle. At the same time, Anne Rice was working on Interview with A Vampire. Everything else of that genre has followed in their footsteps.
What’s your take on all this?
Copyright © Matthew Wright 2012
What people who write Fan Fiction don’t realize is that people that write ‘Star Wars’, ‘Star Trek’novels etc. wrote original fiction before being hired to write tie-in novels.
Absolutely – not to mention the ‘authors’ universe’ type stories we’ve seen built around Isaac Asimov’s creations and Larry Niven’s Known Space. All written by leading and well established writers, by invitation from the owners.
An interesting point about “fan fiction” is that sometimes you have two universes collide; I once read an entertaining start of a story about the meeting between the characters of the unfortunately short-lived “Firefly” series and the original “Battlestar Galactica”. Starbuck (the male Starbuck) was now in command of the fleet, and the author never got around to describing the interaction between Starbuck and Mal, which had priceless potential.
“Star Trek” fan fiction might be in a universe by itself. No pun intended…! Besides, what if that script got rejected, but your agent said, Look, I know a guy…what if you turn it into a novel instead?
I also remember reading that in the 1970s a lot of female writers got started writing fan fiction based on Marion Zimmerman Bradley’s “Darkover” series. This was a fantasy setting where strong, even dominant female characters could exist believably … a hard thing to come by back then. Of course this goes along with what you said above about fan fiction being a way to try your wings, so to speak. If something about the characters and their situation speak to you, and makes the words flow, then that’s a good thing. You’ll take that extra step someday not too far away as long as you keep writing.
Ya know, I’ve got this Star Trek: Next Generation script sitting around somewhere…but no. I’ve got my own things now.
Speaking of Galactica, I remember the original when it came out – uber cheesy, I mean, it was almost literally ‘wagon train in space’, and even my 16-year old sensibilities objected. The 2000s re-imagining was wa-a-a-a-ay better in so many ways.
A friend of mine actually referred to is as “Battlestar Bonanza” given the Lorne Greene’s role as Adama. But that was how Roddenberry pitched Star Trek, if memory serves.
Well written, MJ.
I suppose opinions will side on the interest of the readers. That may seem an obvious statement. What I mean … I was not a huge fan of Twilight, which was the (supposed) inspiration for 50 Shades. Because I did not care for the ‘original’, I’m not bothered by the copycat.
However, I am a fan of Jane Austen, and I’m not thrilled with the “Jane Austen” vampire spin.
Dracula and Sherlock Holmes .. in my opinion, those are classic characters that should be written with respect to and based on the original.
Just don’t anyone mess with Doctor Who. (smile)
What – mess with Dr Who more than the BBC do?
Bring back Tom Baker, I say…
You’re right,there will be a fair number of opinions about this. As a writer, I know what mine are – and I always urge everybody to make up their own stuff. It means there is so much more creativity out there for everybody to enjoy.
Hullo!
I just wanted to add another approving voice to the clamor–I really appreciate this article, because you have sensitively and precisely handled the most irritating thing about fanfiction. I am currently in the middle of a Twitter review of the Shades series, and boy can I see the connections. Personally, I have never seen a chunk of fanfiction that wouldn’t have been improved by an original source. As well–you’ll have to pardon the sharp tone–what passes for ‘good’ work on fanfiction.net is often rather mediocre by standards of ‘real’ fiction.
My stance on fanfiction is as follows: pure pornography, satire/parody, and creative retellings are fine; however, tweaking a story solely as a vehicle for one’s own preferences is NOT OKAY, and violates the spirit of the story. As well, it’s a handicap to creativity. If you love a story, write a tribute to it–don’t try to set something in the same world. You can always, always do better.
People who write salacious versions of others’ ideas is part of what I am talking about when it comes to wish fulfilment. Sure, we live in the real world and people may well think like that. But they don’t need to inflict their lame fantasies on others.
To me, what it boils down to is that ‘fan fic’ is written by people who maybe have the potential to be good writers, but haven’t yet developed the skill set. The onus is on them to to do so – including creating their own completely original work. And I think they should.
Fanfiction can be a very helpful exercise for developing one’s writing. I definitely learned a lot more from writing fanfic than I did from taking writing courses. But it saddens me when talented fanfic authors are told to write original fiction instead, as though the fanfiction is a complete waste. Some aren’t looking to become competitive pros. Some just want to play with another writer’s toys for a while. And there are very skilled writers in fanfiction, if one knows where to look.
Unless the creator and/or rights holder objects, I don’t think there’s anything wrong with spending one’s time writing fanfiction. It’s a way of sharing ideas and character studies with like-minded people, which can foster a community of passionate fans. I’ve checked out books and other media just because I saw that people liked a franchise enough to write fanfic about it. So what if fanfic authors don’t own any sales rights and will (probably) never make money? Writing what you love for an appreciative audience is a perfectly constructive use of time. But you’re right that the fanfic author needs to remember that they don’t truly own the characters.
(Apologies if I’ve multiposted. Last time I try to write an essay on my phone.)
To me the issue comes if the fan-fic author fails to move on and create their own stuff – and if they try to sell their ‘fan fic’ material. Then it becomes plagiarism.
I just don’t get it, all these sequels to Rebecca and Wuthering Heights etc. Even Wide Sargasso Sea seemed to me like a stab in Charlotte Bronte’s back.
Actually, I’m not too sure about those mashups of old public domain works either – don’t seem to add enough that;s original to the earlier story.
See, I like this article but I’m not sure if my opinion exactly falls in line with yours.
I like fanfiction. I like reading it and when I’m REALLY bored, or stuck for a muse, writing it. I also enjoy Role-Play message boards which can play in other authors universe. I love seeing how people interpret characters, their reactions, signs as to what in the movie, series or book were pivotal to them. I see no problem with it when I read them on websites designed as archives for such work. Sometimes you can find real gems that show great potential in the author to break out and become authors of original work in their own right – sometimes you see work of people that should definitely stick to keeping it in their own computer or notebook. Fiction roulette but that can be part of the fun for me. Confined to an archive site I see no problem. It’s out there so people can read and critique to improve or not. Their playing with other’s toys to me doesn’t diminish the original work (or if their fanfiction is better – it doesn’t elevate the original work). The original work is the original work – set out exactly as intended. It is up to the reader to learn to divorce the fanfiction from the original. If your tastes are so easily swayed from the original by someone elses fanfiction then SELF examination is in order.
On the other hand – I do not now, nor have ever, believed that fanfiction should be tweaked to “original” and published as such. I know the difference between the series novels of Doctor Who, Star Trek, Star Wars and fanfiction. Published novels in those kinds of stories are not only commissioned from tried and tested writers they come with a plethora of support. The writers are given access to goodness knows how much behind-the-scenes information that a standard fan is not. Reimaginings of classics like Sherlock Holmes and so on can be fun and saitre especially funny. It’s not like authors aren’t constantly making subtle nods in original works that can be a joy to pick up on. I just draw the line at works like 50 Shades of Badly Written Porn. It’s okay that she wrote it… but for me NOT okay that she published it. Fanfiction, especially of living authors, has it’s place but it’s not in publication. I’m okay with someone telling her they enjoyed the work and her embarking on an original piece, I just get very weary and untrustful if she just changes names and settings to make it “original” because it makes her work seem like a piggy back for me. Playing with other’s universe when you make no money and it’s just for the fun of stretching your writing muscles should be fine and allowed but if you can’t come up with something that is MOSTLY original and started out in your head as original not a fanfiction it shouldn’t be published.
Maybe I’m blurry on my distinction and a bit harsh on one hand but just my two, mud-covered, two cents.
The onus is always on an author to be original. It’s part of the territory – part of what comprises being ‘a writer’.
And I understand that. I devide my work… my fanfiction is fanfiction – it’s for fun… writing exercising… NOT for publication. If I get published I want people to see it as my work, not an imitation of someone elses.
TV Tropes has an article on “Ascended Fanfic” at http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/AscendedFanfic. (tvtropes.org is a timewaster on the scale of Wikipedia or YouTube. You have been warned.)
The example that came to mind immediately for me was Naomi Novik’s Temeraire series.The article I link mentions that.
Argh! I would have responded faster but the tvtropes wormhole sucked me in…cool site….
*sigh* I find TV tropes so hard to navigate because of all the self-references! And then they refer to other things…it’s easy to spend hours there. I do love how carefully and accurately the examples for fan fiction that took off were described, though. (Also, I adore Wicked.)
I find the ideas interesting–maybe it’s a personal thing, but I just can’t write in someone else’s universe directly, and I certainly can’t play with their characters. Oh, sure, I’ve done things that had a similar feel to storylines I enjoy, but never quite with a full case of “Serial Numbers Filed Off’. I guess writing with other people’s characters irritates me? It could be one of the reasons I dislike fanfic so much.
I’m glad to see people putting limits on the originality of fanfic. Perhaps it’s just the people I’ve known, but at least one of them seriously treated her fanfic as though it deserved semi-canon status. The thing with fan fiction is that it doesn’t (in my mind) push one’s boundaries, and as writers and people, we should always seek to expand our boundaries. For example, I avoided horror, but now that I’ve added it to my style, it works well! (This means that I should write a fan fiction piece to follow my own advice.
Not sure how I feel about that.)
Also Wolfish–you do make a legit point about the tweaks to be ‘original’. See also ‘Serial Numbers Filed Off’ on the Tropes page. I see nothing wrong in being inspired by a character–well, duh, it happens. That said, a character must stand on their own, ultimately, rather than resting on the weight of their father-story.
In my own fiction, I always strive to be good rather than original, and to my surprise, it has often resulted in surprising originality. However, I’d rather describe something richly and well than try to have it be first and only in its category. Have you guys found the same?
It always seems to me that the key to it is the emotional response. Certain stories – in SF or fantasy particularly – seem to trigger particular responses in readers. Fan fiction becomes a way of exploring that response, with various degrees of originality. But there are other ways of doing it – like, figuring out what it is that triggers the response and then creating something new that does the same thing.
[...] posted the other day on the ethics of fan fiction. One of the comments, which I declined to publish, informed me that it is breaking no laws to write [...]
I don’t agree with everything, but I am loving this debate. It’s really enjoyable to see both sides of this argument, and I feel educated. I think we can all agree that it’s a starting point, but more of a snack than a meal, except in rare cases. As long as parties are willing to abide by author’s demands, as my boyfriend put it, and remove if there are complaints. I will admit my own stance has softened–I’d let people write in the universe, as long as they didn’t tamper with or change main plots. Anyone else had their opinions change?