Fan Fiction, anyone?
By Kathleen Bolton | June 4, 2007 |
I’m a little embarrassed.
I’m pretty well-versed in the ins-and-outs of publishing. I know how to craft a compelling scene and keep the adverbs in check. I’ve interviewed tons of terrific authors about their work. But I know nothing about the biggest area of genre fiction going right now: fan fiction.
I mean, I’d heard about it. Writers would drop casually that they’d written a little fanfic on the side just to keep themselves limber between projects, or a fansite would have a section devoted to fanfic. Slowly it dawned on me that this was a viable outlet for writing fiction, and I wanted to know more.
So I do what I do, get online and start digging away. Last week I also asked our readers if they’d written any fanfic. Sure enough, many did, and a few have shared their experiences.
So what is fan fiction?
In short, it’s an original work of fiction based on someone else’s characters and settings. The practice has an illustrious history. Folks have been writing privately about their favorite characters ever since books have come into existence. Whole societies have sprung up in the service of fanfiction, and there are many fanzines and clubs that support it (no surprise that the Trekkies transformed the practice into an art form). Wikipedia has a great rundown on the history of fanfic.
With the advent of the internet, with Livepage Journals and blogs, fanfic has exploded. I googled a few t.v. shows and movies, and I was stunned to find literally thousands of sites devoted to fanfiction. I read some, too.
And you know what? Some of it is gripping fiction. Sure there was a lot of badly-written stuff, just like there is anywhere, but depending on the topic and the site, there’s some compelling storytelling out there, free to whoever wants to read it. The scales literally fell from my eyes.
If you’re curious about trying your hand at fanfiction, there are a few things you should know before taking the plunge:
- It’s online. Which means anything you post isn’t copywrighted. In other words, people can steal your stuff.
- It’s anonymous. Some writers have legendary followings. And yet know one knows who they are. So if you think to build your name up on fanfic to help support your published career, think twice.
- Each site has its own customs and level of graphic descriptions. Some boards are strictly G-rated. Others can get pretty hardcore (slash, bsdm, same-sex, etc). Know what kind of board you are posting to before you do it. Moderators can pull work off at will if the rules are violated.
- Get a beta-reader to read your stuff first. A beta-reader is a critique partner. Many boards offer beta-readers. You can post a request for a beta-reader and have plenty of eager eyes willing to read your efforts first before you post. And you’ll want that because flaming can occur if your work’s not up to snuff.
Here are some of the biggest fan fiction websites:
FanFic.net. The big daddy. Truly boggles the mind.
Harry Potter Fan Fiction. Self-explanatory. Humongous site.
Fiction Press.com. Not just for fanfic.
Godawful Fan Fiction. The place to mock fanfic.
This is just a tiny scratch in a global-sized surface. Like I said, there are thousands of fanfic sites and fanfic writers.
In my next post, I’m going talk about fanfiction from the writer’s point of view. I’ll share some of the experiences our readers have had in writing their fan fiction. And I’ll tell you about my recent foray into the world of fan fiction. That’s right. I’m road-testing fanfic for WU.
I’ll let you know how that went very soon.
Kathleen Bolton is co-founder of Writer Unboxed. She writes under a variety of pseudonyms, including Ani Bolton.
She has written two novels as Cassidy Calloway: Confessions of a First Daughter, and Secrets of a First Daughter–both books in a YA series about the misadventures of the U.S. President’s teen-aged daughter, published by HarperCollins, and Tamara Blake, for the novel Slumber.
I have a friend who writes Duran Duran fan fiction. I thought the whole idea was really lame until I read some. It’s actually pretty darn good, and I’ve noticed huge improvements in her “real” fiction writing since she got into fan fic.
One is delusional to expect fame and fortune to come from fan fic, but writing and sharing with others will naturally lead to improvement, so in a way, it’s like any other writing exercise. Who cares what spark someone uses to inspire their creative muse?
Besides, writing is supposed to be fun. If fan fiction is fun for someone, they should enjoy it without shame.
I’m looking forward to what you found out.
Hopefully my one and only fanfic helped my writing somewhat…but I’d rather imagine something original now.
Hi Kathleen!
It’s anonymous. Some writers have legendary followings. And yet know one knows who they are. So if you think to build your name up on fanfic to help support your published career, think twice.
That’s not entirely true. The vast majority of fan fic is written under usernames rather than real names, but some writers do use their fan fic to make the leap to original, published fiction.
One that comes to mind is the (in)famous Cassandra Claire. She wrote a very well-received series of Harry Potter fan fiction stories and, in large part due to those stories, now has a published young adult novel. (Incidentally, there was a great hullabaloo not long before her book came out where it was revealed that large portions of her fan fic had been directly plagiarized from various sources (though not Harry Potter). I never heard what became of that or if it was only a rumor.)
And just as another note, you are correct that fan fic isn’t copyrighted — because it is already treading dangerously close to copyright infringement on its own. Only by posting the stories for free and not seeking any profits from them are we even moderately safe from prosecution. Even still, many fic writers and websites post a standard disclaimer (“I don’t own any of this! Not for profit!”) to protect themselves from possible litigation. In addition, some authors, most notably Ann Rice, HATE fan fiction, and many (but not all) fans abide by those authors’ wishes.
I know AVON Romance editors had a fanlit contest a few months back and i think it was pretty successful although the published authors they had helping with it probably had more work than they expected. but basically these picked a romance sub-genre, and each week everyone read and voted on the chapter submissions until someone won, and so on until the story was finished. they offered some great prizes including having your ms. read by the editors at avon. i suppose one could consider it a distraction from focusing on their WIPs, though. but as bunnygirl said above, some of it is really good.
This is an interesting subject I know next-to-nothing about. I’m looking forward to hearing more, Kath!
Thanks for the clarifications, Lacy! But as you pointed out, there are dangers lurking for writers who use the anonymity of fanfic then suddenly reveal their secret identities. Maybe I’ll try to track down the fallout from the Claire flap….it’s a good lesson for us to learn.
I no longer read any fanfic or roleplays based on my books, because it’s a legal minefield for an author. If I happen to write something that in some way resembles someone’s fanfic plotline I could be sued for stealing their ideas. Seems a little upside down, but most writers of speculative fiction adopt this approach to fanfic in order to protect themselves. Once, long ago before I found out about this, readers used to send me fanfic to post on my website, and people liked reading it. I still put my readers’ creative work up there but I have a ban on fanfic.