Fanfic… what’s with that?
By blog on Jun. 11, 2009.
I even hate the word… Who the hell writes this stuff? My body involuntarily shudders at the thought of the gazillion teen girls, and some boys, out there writing fanfic about Edward from Twilight gallantly saving them and having torrid teen courtly-love affairs.
Fanfic as it is today started in the 60’s, an homage to the sci fi genre mostly, but it originated in the many re-tellings of the Arthurian saga. So, the original Star Trek wasn’t really my bag, but I know it was (and is) incredible to some… and I suppose I can see enjoying making up story lines for your favorite characters afterward… but it just doesn’t sit right with me.
I really dislike the notion of taking a body of work, and because you don’t like that a certain something happened in that series, just taking it off in your own direction because that suits you better. What about story continuity? What about story credibility? What about what the author wanted? The only time I would condone altering major plotlines is when they utterly suck, see the Soldier Son Trilogy by Robin Hobb – her worst work by far, but if it sucks that bad, then don’t read it! As I did with the Soldier Son, stopped a short way into book two… I’m sorry, Nevare, I am so sorry for what she did to you.
As I said, apart from that, it just sits badly… like pants tailored for someone else. I find myself wondering if people who write fanfic are trying to use it as a jumping platform for launching their own writing… but I would suggest that writing your own stories, with your own characters, would actually work for you in that way.
I would have to say, though, that I could excuse fanfic that used a world, rather than chracters, as a medium. I would say that you could see some excellent second party writing for the worlds of the Malazan series, the Harry Potter series, and the Wheel of Time series. But as for the rest of it, please people, believe that you can come up with your own stuff!
Category: Technology