Tuesday, October 5, 2010

FanFic: What's Your Take?

I just finished reading the new Buffy the Vampire Slayer story anthology, volume 1 (I have a cat named Buffy; obviously, I couldn't resist something Buffy related).  It was fun reading, and I couldn't help but think it would be fun writing.  In a geekier past (let's pretend), I also loved the Star Wars spin-off novels, like the adventures of young Han Solo.  And maybe the Indiana Jones books, too.

Obviously, the professionally licensed fan-fic is a little bit different; it's considered canon, but there's also a certain level of writing quality guaranteed.  When I go looking for Veronica Mars fan-fic on the web, on the other hand, because I need to know that Logan and Veronica eventually get back together, what I find is sometimes find are great imaginative storylines without the technical writing skills to back them up.

And, I'm reluctant to write my own fan-fic because I don't generally write for my eyes alone. Although I write for myself first, I want to share my work with readers. I guess I could writer something for the interwebs, but that's out of my usual lane.


Do any of you write fan-fic? Or read it? I'd love to hear about it!

10 comments:

Sara {Rhapsody and Chaos} said...

I'd never even heard of fanfic until about a year ago... (I'm SO behind the times!)

I have a lot of writer friends who've written it in the past, none who really do anymore. I could see how much fun it'd be! But I love creating my own characters and I think I heard about fanfic too far into my own writing "career" to be all that interested in it.

However, had I heard about it during the Harry Potter years and before I started really pursuing my own writing career, I totally would have written fanfic :)

Summer Frey said...

If you consider the Star Wars novels fanfic, then absolutely. I read all of them up until about 7 years ago, but my brother is still current. And I loved the young Han Solo ones. Loved them!

And yeah, I wrote plenty of Star Wars fanfic. A tiny attempt at Harry Potter that didn't get very far...and I'm sure plenty of others!

Liz said...

I cut my teeth writing fanfic, and it was a lot of fun. It was also a great way for me to focus on things like spelling and grammar, sentence structure, and storytelling, because the other stuff - characters, plot, worldbuilding, conflict - had already been taken care of. I know a lot of people give fanfic the stink eye, but I wouldn't trade in those stories for anything; they taught me more than any creative writing class, that's for sure.

I say if you've got the itch, scratch it. And if you're worried about how it'll reflect on you as a writer, use a pseudonym. No one will ever know.

Old Kitty said...

Gosh I love love love fan-fic especially the star trek ones! My sister used to write tons of wonder woman/bionic man/woman fanfic and they were great and a wonderful tribute to the originals!! I say go for it!!! But just don't forget to acknowledge the originals though! Take care
x

Matthew MacNish said...

My daughter is a huge fan of Naruto and writes a lot of fanfiction for that world. She posts it all over fanfiction.net.

I don't see anything wrong with it for a kid like her, I mean it must be good writing practice, but I think for adults, who are serious writers it doesn't have much point. I mean I'm sure it's fun, but it just seems to me that writing is such hard work already, why spend your time writing something that you can never seriously submit because of copyright infringement issues?

Franchise tie ins that are licensed are completely different.

If someone does it for fun or just for practice there is obviously nothing wrong with that, but personally I only have time for original stories. Actually I don't even really have enough time for those.

LMB said...

How coincidental- this is the second post in my reader that references Veronica Mars today. I’ve never seen the show. Maybe I need to?

Private said...

Hi:) Thanks for following my blog - yours is great too!

I liked the Young Indiana Jones when I was younger too - he was hot:) I think that if it's done well, and done for the right audience, it's okay. But if you "steal" a character and incorporate him / her into your story just because it's a well established persona, that's wrong. I revently read a book that featured Sherlock Holmes, and it was truly horrid.

Neurotic Workaholic said...

When I was obsessed with the boy bands, I used to read online fan fiction. They were usually written by teenage girls who wrote fictional heroines based on themselves that all the guys in the bands fought over. I haven't read any of the Buffy fan fiction, though. I think it'd be interesting to read one where Buffy and Angel can finally be together without Angel becoming all evil and crazed again.

Andrea Coulter said...

I used to read Star Trek novels; some were pretty awesome! I've never written any fanfic, although I admit I have painted an elaborate happily-ever-after story for Veronica and Logan in my head :)

Unknown said...

I've never read fanfic but my sister really enjoys it and writes a lot of it. I've never written it because I always think that it's not fair to take someone else's characters and manipulate them. I don't care that other people write it, but I have a weird hangup about writing it myself, lol. :)