For one thing, I always wonder how much of a "fan" the people who write that stuff are. They seem to miss a lot of big things about the world, story and characters that they're using, let alone the subtleties. I can't read a fanfiction without screaming in my head, "that character would never do that!!!" or "That shouldn't be able to happen!!!" It makes them so frustrating.
On the other hand, even if the writer has the skill to write something good and interesting, I still feel like their talent is being put to waste. Why not create something original if you're that good? I have the same problem with fanart, too - why waste your talent on other peoples' works instead of focusing on your own unique works? Isn't far more satisfying to create something that came solely from you? I've seen far too much talent wasted on what is essentially copying, and not enough on creating something new. Is it really that hard? I just don't understand it one bit...
I could go on and on, but I think you get my point: I don't like fanfiction. Not one bit.
Yeah, originality leaves less room for a reader's knowledge of any given universe to get in the way. I do think, particularely for writing beginners, it's a fine way to practice writing chops without having to worry about world building. If we're talking stories of more fantastical nature.
@CanisWolfred: Have you never said to yourself, 'what if this character could have that ability instead' or 'geez, if i'd written this movie/game/anime/book/whatever, i would've done (insert thing here) much differently'? how about 'oh man, what if (insert situation here) happened to (this character or set of characters)' or 'what if (so-and-so) was actually a(n) (alien/werewolf/policeman/etc.)'? Fanfiction can be an outlet for people who would like to have seen other things happen, or perhaps they genuinely wanted to explore a different idea with their favorite characters. They have a genuine love for what it is they've watched, read, or played and want to take that love farther on into the realm of creation. It doesn't always turn out amazing, and many fanfiction authors don't quite have the full-on writing skill to back up their ambitious ideas, but to question their status as 'fans' of something just because they've had another idea that the original author did not and chose to write it out is silly.
regarding the second part of your post, who are you to tell someone else what to do with their time? just because you personally think someone is great at (x), that doesn't mean they feel they're ready or that they even want to take it any farther than they are, perhaps they're happy for now. Sometimes it's fun to play with someone else's characters and someone else's world for a bit instead of going through the hassle of designing and creating your own. Perhaps you should try it sometime, just open a wordpad file and let fly. You may even wind up liking it. :3
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I do think, particularely for writing beginners, it's a fine way to practice writing chops without having to worry about world building. If we're talking stories of more fantastical nature.
As long as it's in parody form or intentionally distinct from the canon. Perhaps as a fitting offshoot to an unexplored facet of some character.
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[16:43] James: I should learn these site rules more clearly
[16:44] LztheBlehBird: James doesn't know the rules? For shame!!!
I'm not big on fanfiction at all, I guess it's like what Canis said, I'd rather move on to another original work than spend extra time in a fan-extended universe. There is some true talent out there though, I will admit, and there's many logical reasons why a person would stick to fanfiction instead of making original works. The clearest one, for me at least, is that it's a lot easier to get people to read your work when it's about well known characters. If it's completely original, it's just a random story posted on the internet and people won't give it a second thought no matter how good it was.
I've never written any before, but all my ideas (if you can call them that) have been something along the lines of exploring parts of the story which the original text brushed over. For example, if one character left on a journey and the original followed that character, I'd write what the rest of the party was up to in order to fill in the blanks. I don't know why I've considered so many ideas and never put them onto paper though :/
always thought I'd change to Gyarados after I turned 20 but hey, this is more fitting I guess. (also somebody registered under the original Magikarp name and I can't get back to it anymore orz)
I don't read'em, but I met a girl this summer that rights homosexual (I think, she might have specified that or someone was joking, not sure) fan fiction for marvel characters. She's very nice and pretty, so as far as I care fan fiction is just there. No big deal.
If true, she's likely talking about Yaoi, which is boyxboy homoerotic story stuff. How do I know about this? Well let's just say I shouldn't have blundered into the M rated section while reading Smash Bros. stories (I can never look at Ike, Marth, Pit, Link, and Roy the same way again o_0).
Perhaps you should try it sometime, just open a wordpad file and let fly. You may even wind up liking it. :3
Oh, I do. I'm talking from experience, here, and I will admit that my own works have suffered from similar problems. Forgot to mention that earlier. It's just that I'm not dumb enough to think other people should read it, so I don't publish it for the world to see. And I still don't find it particularly interesting, it's just something I do when I have spare time and can't think of what else to do with it. I'm sure as hell never gonna have people read the stuff I write when I'm bored. It'd be a waste of both our time.
About the gay Marvel fanfic writer, I actually know several people who wrote that. A popular ship (pairing of two characters) is Iron Man and Captain America. You would really be surprised by the amount of people who actually have gay ships like that.
Granted, I'm not a huge fan of them. Unless a fic is really well written, it seems forced and completely out of character. I feel that most characters in games don't have enough character development to realistically have a fic written about them and another character. But some 'ships' such as Watson/Sherlock can be considered believable based on scenes from the show and the personalities of characters. But there are some ships where I will just scream 'No!' because they just don't make sense. For example, in Supernatural, a show about two brothers who right demons, many people ship the two brothers with each other. And don't see a problem with it.
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WORDS OF WISDOM:
Always throw a sandwich across the room during an argument for a dramatic effect.
During a bar brawl, look out for people trying to hurt you.
When you lose, you do not win.
Sarcasm tends to be sarcastic.
If you take laxatives, your colon will vomi...
@DiabolicalSoup9 I personally agree with you on this. AUs are all right, depending on what they are, but shipping just seems kind of silly to me. Especially when people try to insist that a ship is canon. I think it's just kind of a waste of creative force, because these people COULD write about extended adventures of a character or something, but instead they just paid characters together.
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I'll read some fanfics from time to time, and there are some good ones. There are definetly some really bad ones and some really good ones, but hey, it's like that with everything, amirite?
The Sonic fanbase is particulary prone to high school stories. It makes me feel ashamed and dirty when I say I'm a Sonic fan. Oh well, at least it's the moronic fans' fault, not mine.
WORDS OF WISDOM:
Always throw a sandwich across the room during an argument for a dramatic effect.
During a bar brawl, look out for people trying to hurt you.
When you lose, you do not win.
Sarcasm tends to be sarcastic.
If you take laxatives, your colon will vomi...
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Topic: Opinion on Fanfictions?
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