Turning fanfics into original fiction

[mdperera]

I just read this blog post, where an editor from Dreamspinner Press discusses a particular kind of crossover - how fanfics inspire, influence and finally get reworked as original fiction. The post has two major points: 1. whether it's ethical to turn a fanfic into original work that can then be submitted to a publisher without wasting anyone's time

Comments

[peacewish]

After I spent three years of my life composing an epic 600 page fanfic for my old fandom, I thought to myself, surely I can milk this into something publishable! It was an AU setting anyway, and I didn't think it would be any hard thing to switch out the names and call it a genuine story of my own

[mdperera]

"That's when I realized that anyone who does a good job with their fanfic is never going to be able to make it original fiction."

Good point. There would just be too many details to change, to the point where it would be simpler to just come up with one's own characters and setting. Ironic that it's probably the authors who use the names but, as you said, distort the personalities, who would find it easier to translate their fics into an original-work context.

[pl2363]

I will say I see things in comics that make me wonder if those writers read the Transformers fan fic. It starts to blur for me sometimes as to why certain characters will end together in comic story lines... was it because of the G1 cartoon? Or are they still working together now because they know we love it?

As far as changing fan fic into something publishable, that seems kind of a stretch, especially for Transformers. Which is too bad... There isn't enough Giant Robot Love.

[mdperera]

Completely agree on that last point. With Star Trek you can keep the idea of people on spaceships seeking out new life and new civilizations. With Star Wars, the central aspects of the Force, the Jedi and the Empire can be changed into something else. But the concept of robots that change into vehicles? What can you do with that?

Reminds me of that short-lived and forgotten series called "Rock Lords" about robots which transformed into, well, rocks.