fanfiction issues
kyotaku had found and posted a journal entry from a writer Robin Hobb about a fanfiction, stating that she agrees with her. I don't. And so I wanted to comment on her note and state my own opinion, but it turned out to be too long for a comment, so instead I'm doing a response post.
it's going to be looong XD
Fan fiction is like any other form of identity theft. It injures the name of the party whose identity is stolen. [...] Anyone who read fan fiction about Harry Potter, for instance, would have an entirely different idea of what those stories are about than if he had simply read J.K. Rowlings books.My name is irrevocably attached to my stories and characters. Writers who post a story at Fanfiction.net or anywhere else and identify it as a Robin Hobb fan fiction or a Farseer fan fiction are claiming my groundwork as their own. That is just not right.
First and all - fanfiction is not something that was created in modern times, the sole term - maybe, but writing with usage of someone other's world, idea, characters was not. If you look close enough on world literature you will find many books based more or less on someother, written earlier that left a person in so much awe that they wrote something similar, or something exactly the same but in another language. The latter happened in Poland quite often around 1900s. To go further back in our native literary history, to the period we usually really like - romantism. „Pan Tadeusz” however wonderful and genius it may seem is a... fanfiction. He wrote it basing it on some other book that was not known in Poland. Many of Słowacki's dramas are dramas of others, non-Polish writers, changed here and there, made more fitting, sometimes making the resemblance not so apparent. And they are Writers. Prophets. Of course, the time was different and they were genious in their own way. But what they wrote was indeed a fanfiction according to Robb's definition. And how many writers use Shakepseare as a base? And Tolkien? They use elves as tall and immortal and THAT is using Tolkien's creation of this species, since the folklore's elves are small and mean.
Next - fan fiction is not about impersonating. The authors don't claim their rights to the book, they don't claim they are the author. They're just basing their stories, their wild ideas created around the writers hard work and meticulous work of fiction and word creation for their own purpose never claiming that the idea is theirs. Or so it should look. If you read a fanfiction you know that it's based on a book, as it is usually labeled, but is not the book itself. Like movies that are based on a book, but it doesn't mean they're exactly portraying it. Sure in case of movies authors sell the rights for their idea to be made a movie, but let's just skip the financial aspect as Robin Hobb in her note.
I should be flattered that readers like my stories enough to want to continue them.That's not flattering. That's insulting. Every fan fiction I've read to date, based on my world or any other writer's world, had focused on changing the writer's careful work to suit the foible of the fan writer. [...] 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.' At the extreme low end of the spectrum, fan fiction becomes personal masturbation fantasy in which the fan reader is interacting with the writer's character. That isn't healthy for anyone.
It may not be healthy for the author herself, but I wouldn't say it's not healthy for those who write them or read them. That in fact may turn out to be very health for some - to overcome so complex, to deal with some issues that the writer/reader of the fanfiction isn't capable of doing any other way. At some point in age, around 13 up to 14 or 15 writing stories based on favourite books is normal and from the development point of view desired. It is written usually out of some need, and comes out from the one who is writing it, so of course it's not the same as the book was designed.
Changes. Oh yeah, that seems to annoy Hobb the most. Well, knowing the effort that has to be made in order to create a consistent story, to connect all the dots, close some things, some left open, plan everything, think of literally everything I can understand her annoyance. But. Oh yes, but. The book after being written and still in authors hands is theirs. When it goes of to the world it's no longer theirs - it is fated to gain more meanings, more angles, more interpretations. And to stir emotions that the author couldn't even predict. A book is a living thing and it changes from reader to reader - and this is not my claim but those who study theory of literature (a subject I currently have at uni and, mind you, think it's mostly funny and out of place, but not always). Let my use a personal example, while I was reading “Magic's Pawn” Mercedes Lackey I cried like mad when one my favourite characters died. Oh how I wished he survived, though I knew some things wouldn't develop, some would not happen as they had to. Still that made me wonder into the world of “what ifs”. I did commit some fan fiction based on anime, and only let one to be read, though I usually wrote them for myself to look it my scenarios could happen it the presented system. It was an exercise that I enjoyed and nothing more and I enjoy reading it now and then now too, though I usually look for some kind of inspiration or mental rest in them now.
I seem to got lost a little, excuse me. The story lives on it's own, it's been written and released to the public, like a child it grows in hearts and minds of others and that is inevitable. As everywhere we find in books characters that annoy us, sadden us, make us laugh, make us fall in love with them, so if our author kills them or harm them we will mourn or cry for them. I have a bad habit of book throwing if the author is too cruel for my favourite characters, even if I understand why he or she had done it, what purpose does it have. Still it's a book and not a real world, I have a person I can get mad at.
Fan fiction is a good way for people to learn to be writers. No. It isn't. If this is true, then karaoke is the path to become a singer, coloring books produce great artists, and all great chefs have a shelf of cake mixes. Fan fiction is a good way to avoid learning how to be a writer. Fan fiction allows the writer to pretend to be creating a story, while using someone else's world, characters, and plot. Coloring Barbie's hair green in a coloring book is not a great act of creativity. Neither is putting lipstick on Ken. Fan fiction does exactly those kinds of things. The first step to becoming a writer is to have your own idea. Not to take someone else's idea, put a dent in it, and claim it as your own. You will learn more from writing one story of your own, no matter how bad it is, than the most polished Inuyasha fan fiction that you write.
I had already adressed some of the issues here. Fanfiction is a way to learn how to be a writer if it is used as a tool, as an exercise. To try some syntax tricks, some phrasing, so way of narrative style or characters interactions, to try own ideas in the already existing system. The first step to become a writer is to want to write, the idea usually comes later and shapes itself. And again using the terroriststheorists' thesis I will say that the world of fiction is all about interetxtaulity, borrowing ideas, using something that we once saw or read, even unconsciously, and incorporate them to own story or book. We have 3 or 4 millennium history of writing, how can anyone think they can think of something that wasn't thought before? We cannot read every existing book to know if someone had thought of something similar in the history or in the contemporary time. I dare say we'll always find a piece of that book or work that was already written somewhere else. And I dare argue that there is no author that created a totally original and reality-detached world. It's just not possible, since authors always use their own experience, characters breath, function, eat, make love, have problems, there are trees, there's earth, air, water and so on. I could be mean and ask who gave them permission to use Goddes's/God's creation to use in their stories, but that would be too childlike (yeah, I know I just did that). I'm not judging the circle of ideas, the hidden hints woven in to the text, on the contrary finding them and recognizing them is like a good, rewarding hunt. And it saves the author some writing and explaining! Think of used symbols, they are usually not explained since the author just thinks that the readers would read them just fine. So, yes, karaoke is a way to become a singer, since you train your voice and experiment freely, finding your way. Colouring books are a beginning to the world of art since you can try many colour mixings and placing freely.
I'm done!
I'll just add that I usually don't read fan fiction since my eyes tire too quickly. I did read fanfiction of few of my favourite authors, not become of the world they were based on, but because of the new and fresh ideas, sometimes innovative, crazy and/or funny. Or because the sex was nicely written and the author too meek to include the scenes in the book. Or it just wasn't necessary for her/him to include the description, since the imagination should do it's won work. Yep, it would. But even imagination sometimes needs holidays ;3
For those who read - my sincere gratulations ;)
Sorry for the mistakes I could made. I'm not really in the perfect condition.
Please mind it's just my own opinion on the matter, it wasn't my inention to sound or seem that only my opinion is the only one correct. I'm far from that. I just think there's more to the matter than the writer I'm quotating saw.
Jya, A.
it's going to be looong XD
Fan fiction is like any other form of identity theft. It injures the name of the party whose identity is stolen. [...] Anyone who read fan fiction about Harry Potter, for instance, would have an entirely different idea of what those stories are about than if he had simply read J.K. Rowlings books.My name is irrevocably attached to my stories and characters. Writers who post a story at Fanfiction.net or anywhere else and identify it as a Robin Hobb fan fiction or a Farseer fan fiction are claiming my groundwork as their own. That is just not right.
First and all - fanfiction is not something that was created in modern times, the sole term - maybe, but writing with usage of someone other's world, idea, characters was not. If you look close enough on world literature you will find many books based more or less on someother, written earlier that left a person in so much awe that they wrote something similar, or something exactly the same but in another language. The latter happened in Poland quite often around 1900s. To go further back in our native literary history, to the period we usually really like - romantism. „Pan Tadeusz” however wonderful and genius it may seem is a... fanfiction. He wrote it basing it on some other book that was not known in Poland. Many of Słowacki's dramas are dramas of others, non-Polish writers, changed here and there, made more fitting, sometimes making the resemblance not so apparent. And they are Writers. Prophets. Of course, the time was different and they were genious in their own way. But what they wrote was indeed a fanfiction according to Robb's definition. And how many writers use Shakepseare as a base? And Tolkien? They use elves as tall and immortal and THAT is using Tolkien's creation of this species, since the folklore's elves are small and mean.
Next - fan fiction is not about impersonating. The authors don't claim their rights to the book, they don't claim they are the author. They're just basing their stories, their wild ideas created around the writers hard work and meticulous work of fiction and word creation for their own purpose never claiming that the idea is theirs. Or so it should look. If you read a fanfiction you know that it's based on a book, as it is usually labeled, but is not the book itself. Like movies that are based on a book, but it doesn't mean they're exactly portraying it. Sure in case of movies authors sell the rights for their idea to be made a movie, but let's just skip the financial aspect as Robin Hobb in her note.
I should be flattered that readers like my stories enough to want to continue them.That's not flattering. That's insulting. Every fan fiction I've read to date, based on my world or any other writer's world, had focused on changing the writer's careful work to suit the foible of the fan writer. [...] 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.' At the extreme low end of the spectrum, fan fiction becomes personal masturbation fantasy in which the fan reader is interacting with the writer's character. That isn't healthy for anyone.
It may not be healthy for the author herself, but I wouldn't say it's not healthy for those who write them or read them. That in fact may turn out to be very health for some - to overcome so complex, to deal with some issues that the writer/reader of the fanfiction isn't capable of doing any other way. At some point in age, around 13 up to 14 or 15 writing stories based on favourite books is normal and from the development point of view desired. It is written usually out of some need, and comes out from the one who is writing it, so of course it's not the same as the book was designed.
Changes. Oh yeah, that seems to annoy Hobb the most. Well, knowing the effort that has to be made in order to create a consistent story, to connect all the dots, close some things, some left open, plan everything, think of literally everything I can understand her annoyance. But. Oh yes, but. The book after being written and still in authors hands is theirs. When it goes of to the world it's no longer theirs - it is fated to gain more meanings, more angles, more interpretations. And to stir emotions that the author couldn't even predict. A book is a living thing and it changes from reader to reader - and this is not my claim but those who study theory of literature (a subject I currently have at uni and, mind you, think it's mostly funny and out of place, but not always). Let my use a personal example, while I was reading “Magic's Pawn” Mercedes Lackey I cried like mad when one my favourite characters died. Oh how I wished he survived, though I knew some things wouldn't develop, some would not happen as they had to. Still that made me wonder into the world of “what ifs”. I did commit some fan fiction based on anime, and only let one to be read, though I usually wrote them for myself to look it my scenarios could happen it the presented system. It was an exercise that I enjoyed and nothing more and I enjoy reading it now and then now too, though I usually look for some kind of inspiration or mental rest in them now.
I seem to got lost a little, excuse me. The story lives on it's own, it's been written and released to the public, like a child it grows in hearts and minds of others and that is inevitable. As everywhere we find in books characters that annoy us, sadden us, make us laugh, make us fall in love with them, so if our author kills them or harm them we will mourn or cry for them. I have a bad habit of book throwing if the author is too cruel for my favourite characters, even if I understand why he or she had done it, what purpose does it have. Still it's a book and not a real world, I have a person I can get mad at.
Fan fiction is a good way for people to learn to be writers. No. It isn't. If this is true, then karaoke is the path to become a singer, coloring books produce great artists, and all great chefs have a shelf of cake mixes. Fan fiction is a good way to avoid learning how to be a writer. Fan fiction allows the writer to pretend to be creating a story, while using someone else's world, characters, and plot. Coloring Barbie's hair green in a coloring book is not a great act of creativity. Neither is putting lipstick on Ken. Fan fiction does exactly those kinds of things. The first step to becoming a writer is to have your own idea. Not to take someone else's idea, put a dent in it, and claim it as your own. You will learn more from writing one story of your own, no matter how bad it is, than the most polished Inuyasha fan fiction that you write.
I had already adressed some of the issues here. Fanfiction is a way to learn how to be a writer if it is used as a tool, as an exercise. To try some syntax tricks, some phrasing, so way of narrative style or characters interactions, to try own ideas in the already existing system. The first step to become a writer is to want to write, the idea usually comes later and shapes itself. And again using the terroriststheorists' thesis I will say that the world of fiction is all about interetxtaulity, borrowing ideas, using something that we once saw or read, even unconsciously, and incorporate them to own story or book. We have 3 or 4 millennium history of writing, how can anyone think they can think of something that wasn't thought before? We cannot read every existing book to know if someone had thought of something similar in the history or in the contemporary time. I dare say we'll always find a piece of that book or work that was already written somewhere else. And I dare argue that there is no author that created a totally original and reality-detached world. It's just not possible, since authors always use their own experience, characters breath, function, eat, make love, have problems, there are trees, there's earth, air, water and so on. I could be mean and ask who gave them permission to use Goddes's/God's creation to use in their stories, but that would be too childlike (yeah, I know I just did that). I'm not judging the circle of ideas, the hidden hints woven in to the text, on the contrary finding them and recognizing them is like a good, rewarding hunt. And it saves the author some writing and explaining! Think of used symbols, they are usually not explained since the author just thinks that the readers would read them just fine. So, yes, karaoke is a way to become a singer, since you train your voice and experiment freely, finding your way. Colouring books are a beginning to the world of art since you can try many colour mixings and placing freely.
I'm done!
I'll just add that I usually don't read fan fiction since my eyes tire too quickly. I did read fanfiction of few of my favourite authors, not become of the world they were based on, but because of the new and fresh ideas, sometimes innovative, crazy and/or funny. Or because the sex was nicely written and the author too meek to include the scenes in the book. Or it just wasn't necessary for her/him to include the description, since the imagination should do it's won work. Yep, it would. But even imagination sometimes needs holidays ;3
For those who read - my sincere gratulations ;)
Sorry for the mistakes I could made. I'm not really in the perfect condition.
Please mind it's just my own opinion on the matter, it wasn't my inention to sound or seem that only my opinion is the only one correct. I'm far from that. I just think there's more to the matter than the writer I'm quotating saw.
Jya, A.