With regards to point two, I'm rather hesitant about agreeing; the point that the author put a great deal of effort into the story and killed X or didn't explicitly reveal Y for a reason is a good one. But presumably the author did this to engage the reader and invite reaction or possibly speculation--at any rate, to get the reader involved in the story. I can't imagine the author objecting if a reader imagines what happened that wasn't shown, or what would have happened if things had gone differently; it seems tenuous to object if the reader writes down what they've imagined. The point about bad associations (a kind of character assassination) with her creation if it's then distributed is a valid one, but the actual distribution is not a criteria of fan fiction in her definition.
With regards to point three, I disagree; writing is about the craft as well as the talent, dammit, and while fan-fic won't teach you about creating your own characters, it damn well can teach you about how to present the events you're depicting and can at least get you thinking about what the writer's done that you like and how to use writing techniques. ("Would X do this? I don't think so, why not? Oh, yeah, they've been shown to act in these ways...")
No-one is ever ever ever going to see my first tentative comic stories, with X-Men characters and then (baby steps) transparently disguised X-Men rip-offs, but dammit, I at least learned something about pacing and subtlety and dramatic tension by writing them. It wasn't much. But it was a start, and it was a hell of a lot less intimidating than starting from utter scratch.
Back in 2001 she was GoH at Fantastika, and ended up as the sole participant of a panel I moderated on writers and the Internet. Back then she said she hated fan fic, and later on (and much heated debate) promised to write up her thoughts about it. Nice to see it finally arrived!
"It's not flattery. To me, it is the fan fiction writer saying, “Look, the original author really screwed up the story, so I'm going to fix it. Here is how it should have gone.”"
Which, in most cases, is really not true. If readers did not like the original story, they would not be compelled to write more of it. I see the act of fanfiction as simply exploring other avenues the characters could possibly take.
"...you don't want to spend your life being a Rowling or Hobb or Brooks impersonator, do you? What is wrong with telling your own stories?"
Actually, many of of the fanfic writers I have encountered write original stories, as well. Fanfiction serves as a hobby... for fun.
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(no subject)
Date: 2005-06-27 07:57 pm (UTC)With regards to point three, I disagree; writing is about the craft as well as the talent, dammit, and while fan-fic won't teach you about creating your own characters, it damn well can teach you about how to present the events you're depicting and can at least get you thinking about what the writer's done that you like and how to use writing techniques. ("Would X do this? I don't think so, why not? Oh, yeah, they've been shown to act in these ways...")
No-one is ever ever ever going to see my first tentative comic stories, with X-Men characters and then (baby steps) transparently disguised X-Men rip-offs, but dammit, I at least learned something about pacing and subtlety and dramatic tension by writing them. It wasn't much. But it was a start, and it was a hell of a lot less intimidating than starting from utter scratch.
(no subject)
Date: 2005-06-27 08:18 pm (UTC)Back in 2001 she was GoH at Fantastika, and ended up as the sole participant of a panel I moderated on writers and the Internet. Back then she said she hated fan fic, and later on (and much heated debate) promised to write up her thoughts about it. Nice to see it finally arrived!
(no subject)
Date: 2005-06-27 08:49 pm (UTC)A few problems I have with her assumptions:
"It's not flattery. To me, it is the fan fiction writer saying, “Look, the original author really screwed up the story, so I'm going to fix it. Here is how it should have gone.”"
Which, in most cases, is really not true. If readers did not like the original story, they would not be compelled to write more of it. I see the act of fanfiction as simply exploring other avenues the characters could possibly take.
"...you don't want to spend your life being a Rowling or Hobb or Brooks impersonator, do you? What is wrong with telling your own stories?"
Actually, many of of the fanfic writers I have encountered write original stories, as well. Fanfiction serves as a hobby... for fun.