thoughts on derivative works and filing off the serial numbers.

[taraljc]

So I'd originally written this back in March 2008, at my pro blog. When I moved that blog to a different location, in an effort to segregate my pro work from my fannish life, I deleted it. But in light of certain meta recently, I decided to republish it here on my fannish LJ.

Comments

[clionaeilis]

Wow - the timing of this is spookily perfect. I've been thinking a lot about what it is about fan fiction and my attraction to and methodology for it, trying to find a way to talk about it. This weekend I went to a two-day writers conference (which was fabulous and I'll be posting about it soon, to make sure I don't forget my takeaways), because of the original fic inspiration I got after this year's Gosford Park yuletide piece. So, my focus was on historical fiction, and I was kind of freaking out about the parallels between the process/approach these historical fiction authors took with my own take on writing fanfic. It sounds like we are very similar in our viewpoints (although we already knew that, thanks to Ivor Novello

[pontisbright]

Brilliantly put, and dead right.

I've had the most riotous time researching for fanfic: spent an age confirming which edition of Encyclopaedia Britannica was current so I could quote it correctly. It's part of the fun.

In my other life (as a 'proper author who gets paid and everything'), I make stuff up. I think my pro-writing is aided by being a ficcer, no doubt, but I've never felt the urge to file off the serial numbers: those stories work because they're part of something the audience already recognises and adores. I wrote them, but they're not mine: they're community-owned. (If I could just figure out a way to have time to really, truly, do both, I'd be golden.)

[rj_anderson]

Hello, Allingham-derived LJ name, Amy icon, fellow Five fan, and pro author who writes fic? Friending right now.

[taraljc]

heh. I was thinking the same thing!

[renisanz]

Oh wow. A lot of interesting points to ponder here. One of the main reasons I started writing fanfiction was to get "practice" with my original fic, since I couldn't seem to get any of the stories that I had in my head down on paper.

But I agree that writing good fanfiction is just as hard as writing something original. You have to consider whether you're keeping everyone in character, and you must also be well-versed in the source material so that you can make your story believable.

[mtgat]

Exactly. The point of writing fanfiction in a particular universe (for me) is the context the audience is already bringing. The shared experience is part of the fun.

[yahtzee63]

IMHO, "filing off the serial numbers" can work -- but only when the author has already moved so far away from the original, into such a dramatic AU, that the source context is no longer necessary.

[taraljc]

I didn't say it couldn't work--as clearly people do it all the time. Cassie Clare, for example, repurposed the Draco saga as original fiction and seems to sell just fine to YA audiences. And I'm still convinced that the Maisie Dobbs novels owe a lot to Gosford Park, tho there's zero proof to support that claim.

Just that for me, I don't think I could do it because for me as a writer, the effectiveness of good fanfic relies so heavily on context and the relationship to the source. It may stand alone as a story, it would lose some of the depth and breadth, as well as the appeal of writing it for me, personally.