This photo is from a sculpture garden in the San Juan Islands in Washington state. In some regard, it feels like an apt metaphor for the subject of fanfic. Think of playing around in someone else's story as one of the mirrors mentioned above. While you're writing fanfic, you're getting a picture of yourself, true, but as you go from world to world (movie fanfic here, book fanfic there, game fanfic over yonder...) you see different pictures - ten different faces. You're piggybacking on someone else's magic and the mirror of that magic only reflects you as you're connected to someone else's ideas and characters.
Until you decouple - and I don't mean that in a dirty way unless, you know, that's the kind of fanfic you're writing - and polish your own stories with your own hands, you'll never know who and what you really are as a writer.
That said, I started in fanfic. This was pre-internet era. Therefore, you'll never see my fanfic. In fact, right after this post, I think I'll hie off to the storage unit and start me up a bonfire of all the tidbits I'd saved in (gasp) real paper files. Gods forbid I should die with that crap I wrote still in existence.
Except that it did serve a purpose. It kept me entertained. It taught me how to bring a story together while making it look like I was industriously taking notes during interminable classes throughout junior high and high shool. Fanfic kept me sane. Ish.
If I know those early stories are crap, why did I keep them? Because while they are useless as written, they contain the seeds of original ideas, characters and situations that could be culled for future stories NOT involving fanfic. Those stories were for me at a time in my life when I needed allies, even if they only existed on the pages of my school notebooks. I kept them to remind myself of where I came from. Those pages are a part of who I am, both as a person and as a writer. Given that, they aren't for public consumption - even if there's not a single sex scene among them.
And there's the difference, I think. Fanfic is fine as a personal, private process. I'm not keen on it being an end unto itself. And I am definitely not okay with taking it public. That's theft. It's not even subtle theft. I must have issue with it, or I might have posted some of my less horrificly written fanfic when the internet became an option, right? How hypocritical of me is it to not mind copying someone else's stuff to entertain myself, but then decide it's not okay to copy someone in order entertain anyone else?
Is fanfic good? Bad? No clue.
I'd just like to have written some characters and a world so compelling that someone wanted to write fanfic about it.
I think there's a big difference between what we do in private and what we put on public display. It's a fine distinction.
ReplyDeleteHmm. I'm thinking a number of celebrities indulging in sexual activity in public places did't get that fine distinction memo. :D
DeleteI've been following the fanfic line here with interest, and I'm commenting on the whole thought train, not just this particular post. :) I'm a soon-to-be published author of a modern retelling of Beauty and the Beast (How Beauty Met the Beast comes out on November 19th). I am also a lifelong Star Wars fan, which I admit is where my main opinions on fanfic come from. From these statements, you can probably guess that I'm pretty lenient toward fanfic.
ReplyDeleteI've been following the fanfic line here with interest, and I'm commenting on the whole thought train, not just this particular post. :) I'm a soon-to-be published author of a modern retelling of Beauty and the Beast (How Beauty Met the Beast comes out on November 19th). I am also a lifelong Star Wars fan, which I admit is where my main opinions on fanfic come from. From these statements, you can probably guess that I'm pretty lenient toward fanfic.
Personally, my very first stories were essentially fanfic. I can't name the number of times I rewrote Phantom of the Opera in my head. My first book outline I ever completed (in middle school) was a retelling of Anne of Green Gables set in a small town in the 90s. I was a huge fan of Star Wars spin-off novels in high school and college. I don't think playing in somebody else's sandbox necessarily makes you any less of a writer, mostly because I don't think there is such a thing as a truly original idea. No writer is in a vacuum. We all take our inspiration from somewhere. What makes it fan-fiction versus an “original” creation is how far afield from the original a writer takes it.
This doesn't mean I think I should be able to sell my story set in the world of Harry Potter without going through the proper legal channels and paying JK Rowling for the rights. But people posting fiction online for no profit, while a legal no-no, typically adds to the creator’s snowballing fame. George Lucas has always not only allowed but encouraged fan work, provided they are not compensated for it. Some hilariously brilliant stuff has been created because of his understanding that fans love his creation so much they want to participate. I believe his leniency is part of why Star Wars is still the enormous phenomenon it is. Personally, I live for the day when Hauk and Brayden, best friends in my book, have their own slash following (I’ll be honest and say I’m not sure I want to READ it; I don't want to know what they do together in somebody else’s head. :P But it would make me ecstatic to know it’s there.)
Fanfic is different than creating your own fully formed world. Being successful at fanfic does not mean somebody is ready for a regular publisher. When I was writing fanfic, I knew it was derivative, I knew that the real author was the owner and the creative force behind it and I was having fun and practicing my skills riding on his/her coat tails. I do think fan-fiction writers need to keep that attitude. And I do think there is a difference between writers composing fanfic for fun and writers using fanfic to forward their career. Again, unless you are licensed, fanfic should not be a for-profit enterprise. But if somebody is having fun spending their imagination in creation instead of playing Angry Birds for the zillionth time, I think that’s a better use of mental energy. And who knows, maybe a scene or a character in somebody else’s work will spark something that truly is original (or original as stories can be) that will inspire more creative derivation in the future. ~Jax Garren
Really interesting points, Jax - practically a whole guest post on the topic! I suspect most of us would be tickled (openly or not) to have someone love our worlds and characters enough to run with it. And I totally agree - better a creative application for that energy!
ReplyDelete