talentless, creativeless fanfic...
Mar. 1st, 2012 02:53 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
deird1So, after spending last week immersed in a debate about whether fanfic is ethical or at all legitimate, I'm spending this week... in another debate about whether fanfic is ethical or at all legitimate.
*sighs*
This time, it's a discussion on reworked fanfic being published as original fiction. An interesting topic - but the anti-fanficcers are mainly arguing that "you're taking someone else's plot/characters/setting rather than putting in the effort of coming up with your own!"
...using someone else's PLOT. By reworking my own fanfic.
*sighs again*
My dear arguers,
It may have escaped your notice, but fanfic does not consist purely of finding a transcript of a tv episode, and putting "she said" in between all the dialogue.
Supposing I go crazy and decide, for some reason, to rework a fanfic as original fiction. Say... hmm... this one here.
I change some names, alter a few words, and I have... an epistolary short story about two roommates getting on each other's nerves and an escalating prank war.
Or what about this one? I'd end up with a short story about a ghost and his friendship with two women.
It may have escaped your notice, ranting people, but Buffy the Vampire Slayer never featured stories about a woman falling in love with a coat-rack, or someone deliberately sabotaging dinner with his girlfriend's sister, or a vengeful army of trained drop-bears. And, tragically, Angel and Illyria never got it on.
Heck, half the time my fanfic doesn't even include anyone else's characters, let alone plot.
And yes, I can see you opening your mouths, about to say "Ah, but I didn't mean that kind of fanfic..." Yeah, but - you kinda did. You said "fanfic", and then promptly showed the whole world that you had no idea what "fanfic" tends to involve. Hence I will go forth and ignore your opinion.
(Actually - first I'll post a short rant on the subject. But then I'm going to ignore your opinion. Just you watch me.)
*sighs*
This time, it's a discussion on reworked fanfic being published as original fiction. An interesting topic - but the anti-fanficcers are mainly arguing that "you're taking someone else's plot/characters/setting rather than putting in the effort of coming up with your own!"
...using someone else's PLOT. By reworking my own fanfic.
*sighs again*
My dear arguers,
It may have escaped your notice, but fanfic does not consist purely of finding a transcript of a tv episode, and putting "she said" in between all the dialogue.
Supposing I go crazy and decide, for some reason, to rework a fanfic as original fiction. Say... hmm... this one here.
I change some names, alter a few words, and I have... an epistolary short story about two roommates getting on each other's nerves and an escalating prank war.
Or what about this one? I'd end up with a short story about a ghost and his friendship with two women.
It may have escaped your notice, ranting people, but Buffy the Vampire Slayer never featured stories about a woman falling in love with a coat-rack, or someone deliberately sabotaging dinner with his girlfriend's sister, or a vengeful army of trained drop-bears. And, tragically, Angel and Illyria never got it on.
Heck, half the time my fanfic doesn't even include anyone else's characters, let alone plot.
And yes, I can see you opening your mouths, about to say "Ah, but I didn't mean that kind of fanfic..." Yeah, but - you kinda did. You said "fanfic", and then promptly showed the whole world that you had no idea what "fanfic" tends to involve. Hence I will go forth and ignore your opinion.
(Actually - first I'll post a short rant on the subject. But then I'm going to ignore your opinion. Just you watch me.)
no subject
Date: 2012-03-01 04:21 am (UTC)Gabrielle
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Date: 2012-03-01 04:21 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2012-03-01 04:33 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2012-03-01 04:34 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2012-03-01 04:35 am (UTC)Never mind that the basic plots have been around forever, I can list off any number of published/produced works of fiction that are, arguably, fan fic. From updates/switches of classic tales (Robin Hood, The Three Musketeers, any number of fairy or folk tales) to episodes of Remington Steele, MacGyver, and Magnum PI (and, I believe, The Rockford Files and Simon and Simon as well), to movies - how is The Great Mouse Detective not Sherlock Holmes fan fic? (and, yes, that was based on a children's book series, so who do we throw the rocks at? The original author or Disney?) Hell, how are the most recent films and TV series not Sherlock Holmes fan fic? What about all the versions of The Seven Samurai?
Hell, I think I can come up with more examples of arguably fanfic fiction than not. Honor Harrington - Horatio Hornblower AU, Gene Roddenberry's original Star Trek pitch was "Wagon Train in outer space," Relic Hunter and Tomb Raider both amount to "Indiana Jones as a woman." What about parodies? What about every Star Trek, Star Wars, Halo, Battlestar Galactica, Man From UNCLE, Doctor Who, I could go on for some time, novels?
If we decreed that fiction absolutely must not be in any way shape or form fan fic, what would we have left?
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Date: 2012-03-01 04:40 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2012-03-01 07:18 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2012-03-01 07:42 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2012-03-01 08:47 am (UTC)Actually I was just thinking, the other day, that it would take only some minor tweaks and changes of name for my Pure Morning to be completely unrecognisable as having any links to Middle Earth. In effect most good fanfic writers are writing original plots.
I could think of submitting it somewhere as a short story if I could be bothered - except that I would have to change the name as it is a tribute to a Placebo song...
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Date: 2012-03-01 09:14 am (UTC)...which, of course, is widely acknowledged to be one of the major shortcomings of the series. I still crack up every time I think of that one.
Plot: It doesn't mean what some people think it means.
no subject
Date: 2012-03-01 09:34 am (UTC)Could you give a link to that discussion, please? I'd like to stare at these people a little while I eat this popcorn.