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dagas_isaBecause you should never get a Dagas thinking.
Oh, and inspired by this post by the Chevness, and all which she links. Yes, hers is much better organized, but meh.
I used to argue pro-fanfic on the writer's message board on Gaia, and even though it's been over a year, year-and-a-half, I still stand by a lot the same points.
Writers, regardless of the side they argue for, argue from the perspective of writers. Opponents say, "Fanfiction violates the original writer's copyright and don't develop the skills of the fanficcers." Proponents say "Fanfiction can be great practice for new writers, and most of this writing is done without the intent of identity theft or profit." Personally, I want to side with the pro-fanfic people on this argument, for reasons that they can detail better than I can.
Usually they focus on the 'fiction' part of the 'fan-fiction'.
But what about the 'fan' part?
If the creator of the canon is opposed to any sort of derivative works for any reason, it is the responsibility of the fan to not make any sort of those works availible to the public. This is the first rule. The creator has made something from their own mind and made it available for others to enjoy. I believe that they deserve to have their wishes respected, and I will give that point to the anti-fic camp.
Fan-fiction can benefit the author because it has the potential to bring in fans and keep them. No author, no movie, no television show, no video game company ever releases things constantly. Television series will run what 13 new episodes a season and then go to reruns? Books in a serial might be released once every month or so at the very fastest, and the only time I see that is for the young adult serials that are only 200 large print pages at the most. How long does it take a fully realized fantasy trilogy or quartet to come out? After one series of books ends, how long does it take the author to release another one?
There's downtime there, and downtime gives the fans time to lose interest. Enter the fanfiction. A lot of it is poorly concieved and poorly written, with about as much connection to canon as say a banana peel has to a banana cream pie. However, as long as someone is writing and publishing fanfiction, that person is involved the canon. They are thinking about the canon; they are maintaining an interest.
That's a good thing, ne? Hey, that's one more person who will buy the next installment or who will watch the next season, who will go pay to see the sequel.
Or let's reverse the premise and the conclusion. Instead of: "Fanfiction creates dedicated fans" how about "Dedicated fans create fanfiction." I still don't see why fanfiction harms the author. Do you really want to alienate potential dedicated fans by refusing to allow them to enjoy your works to their fullest extent?
Someone who becomes a fan of the series is usually investing a certain amount of time and/or money into it. Dedicated fans will invest more time and/or money into your creation. They are the ones who are most likely to recommend your creation to others. They are the ones who will continue to look beyond your popular works and dig up the more obscure stuff. I'm not a professional writer, or anything near to that, but those seem like the types of fans you shouldn't actively drive away.
And this doesn't even get into the even more important part of the whole 'fan' in 'fan-fiction' experience: the communities.
Yes, I am aware that there are probably hoardes of non fan-fic writing, non fan-art drawing, non rp-ing, online fan communities for any popular canon. Just because I don't think I could really get into a community like that doesn't mean they don't exist. But fanfiction and fan art I think can make that community much more close-knit. Acts of fandom can bring people together. People make can make friends, maybe even future mates just by the act of reading and writing fanfiction. Wow...people getting to talk and know each other because of something you created. I feel your pain.
Communities can benefit the creator too. Imagine that a TV show is getting cancelled, but if enough fans write in, they could possibly save your series. Communties can spur those efforts among members. Mass action is needed? Guess what, fans who form communities are a mass that can act. And this is in addition to the fact that having a community to go into will keep their attention on your creation even after an individual might have become bored.
I see where this can hurt you too. People in communities are more likely to file share than, say, but the DVD collection. They might somehow make money off of your work. Something a fan author does can harm you or your reputation. Like I said, if an author believes that the harm of fanwork outweighs the good in it, the fans should respect their wishes.
And one more thing about fanfiction being flattery. It is. I don't know any fan of a canon who will say, "I can improve on this and make the whole series better than the original." There is no implication that the author made a big mistake in killing off a character, not killing off a character, or pairing X and Y instead of X and Z. We just like seeing the 'what might have beens'.
Here is what fanfiction says about the relationship between the fan and the work.
1. They have invested time and/or money into your creation.
2. They have read/played/watched your creation and enjoyed it.
3. They have thought (and I use this term somewhat loosely) about your creation.
4. They have invested varying amounts of effort to express all of the above.
How is that not flattering?
Looking solely at the 'fiction' issues, I can see where writers have problems with fans writing fanfiction. And I've noticed that it's usually writers who have this problems and not video game desigers, TV producers, Movie directors, etc. Writing fanfiction for them perhaps can be seen as a legitimate threat. Not as much as some of them think, maybe. But the threat is there. But 'fiction' is only half of 'fanfiction'. I think the benefits from the 'fan' side of the term can outweigh the possible problems from the 'fiction' side.
Oh and I have this weird desire to write a rant about archetypes *cough euphemism for Mary Sue*, the novel "Hagar's Daughter" and the Lais of Marie de France, and all the other stuff I guess. But I'll save that for another entry.
Oh, and inspired by this post by the Chevness, and all which she links. Yes, hers is much better organized, but meh.
I used to argue pro-fanfic on the writer's message board on Gaia, and even though it's been over a year, year-and-a-half, I still stand by a lot the same points.
Writers, regardless of the side they argue for, argue from the perspective of writers. Opponents say, "Fanfiction violates the original writer's copyright and don't develop the skills of the fanficcers." Proponents say "Fanfiction can be great practice for new writers, and most of this writing is done without the intent of identity theft or profit." Personally, I want to side with the pro-fanfic people on this argument, for reasons that they can detail better than I can.
Usually they focus on the 'fiction' part of the 'fan-fiction'.
But what about the 'fan' part?
If the creator of the canon is opposed to any sort of derivative works for any reason, it is the responsibility of the fan to not make any sort of those works availible to the public. This is the first rule. The creator has made something from their own mind and made it available for others to enjoy. I believe that they deserve to have their wishes respected, and I will give that point to the anti-fic camp.
Fan-fiction can benefit the author because it has the potential to bring in fans and keep them. No author, no movie, no television show, no video game company ever releases things constantly. Television series will run what 13 new episodes a season and then go to reruns? Books in a serial might be released once every month or so at the very fastest, and the only time I see that is for the young adult serials that are only 200 large print pages at the most. How long does it take a fully realized fantasy trilogy or quartet to come out? After one series of books ends, how long does it take the author to release another one?
There's downtime there, and downtime gives the fans time to lose interest. Enter the fanfiction. A lot of it is poorly concieved and poorly written, with about as much connection to canon as say a banana peel has to a banana cream pie. However, as long as someone is writing and publishing fanfiction, that person is involved the canon. They are thinking about the canon; they are maintaining an interest.
That's a good thing, ne? Hey, that's one more person who will buy the next installment or who will watch the next season, who will go pay to see the sequel.
Or let's reverse the premise and the conclusion. Instead of: "Fanfiction creates dedicated fans" how about "Dedicated fans create fanfiction." I still don't see why fanfiction harms the author. Do you really want to alienate potential dedicated fans by refusing to allow them to enjoy your works to their fullest extent?
Someone who becomes a fan of the series is usually investing a certain amount of time and/or money into it. Dedicated fans will invest more time and/or money into your creation. They are the ones who are most likely to recommend your creation to others. They are the ones who will continue to look beyond your popular works and dig up the more obscure stuff. I'm not a professional writer, or anything near to that, but those seem like the types of fans you shouldn't actively drive away.
And this doesn't even get into the even more important part of the whole 'fan' in 'fan-fiction' experience: the communities.
Yes, I am aware that there are probably hoardes of non fan-fic writing, non fan-art drawing, non rp-ing, online fan communities for any popular canon. Just because I don't think I could really get into a community like that doesn't mean they don't exist. But fanfiction and fan art I think can make that community much more close-knit. Acts of fandom can bring people together. People make can make friends, maybe even future mates just by the act of reading and writing fanfiction. Wow...people getting to talk and know each other because of something you created. I feel your pain.
Communities can benefit the creator too. Imagine that a TV show is getting cancelled, but if enough fans write in, they could possibly save your series. Communties can spur those efforts among members. Mass action is needed? Guess what, fans who form communities are a mass that can act. And this is in addition to the fact that having a community to go into will keep their attention on your creation even after an individual might have become bored.
I see where this can hurt you too. People in communities are more likely to file share than, say, but the DVD collection. They might somehow make money off of your work. Something a fan author does can harm you or your reputation. Like I said, if an author believes that the harm of fanwork outweighs the good in it, the fans should respect their wishes.
And one more thing about fanfiction being flattery. It is. I don't know any fan of a canon who will say, "I can improve on this and make the whole series better than the original." There is no implication that the author made a big mistake in killing off a character, not killing off a character, or pairing X and Y instead of X and Z. We just like seeing the 'what might have beens'.
Here is what fanfiction says about the relationship between the fan and the work.
1. They have invested time and/or money into your creation.
2. They have read/played/watched your creation and enjoyed it.
3. They have thought (and I use this term somewhat loosely) about your creation.
4. They have invested varying amounts of effort to express all of the above.
How is that not flattering?
Looking solely at the 'fiction' issues, I can see where writers have problems with fans writing fanfiction. And I've noticed that it's usually writers who have this problems and not video game desigers, TV producers, Movie directors, etc. Writing fanfiction for them perhaps can be seen as a legitimate threat. Not as much as some of them think, maybe. But the threat is there. But 'fiction' is only half of 'fanfiction'. I think the benefits from the 'fan' side of the term can outweigh the possible problems from the 'fiction' side.
Oh and I have this weird desire to write a rant about archetypes *cough euphemism for Mary Sue*, the novel "Hagar's Daughter" and the Lais of Marie de France, and all the other stuff I guess. But I'll save that for another entry.
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no subject
Date: 2005-10-14 08:39 pm (UTC)*pats* You and Chev should write books of rants together. You rock. ^-^x
no subject
Date: 2005-10-14 09:03 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2005-10-15 02:02 am (UTC)Serenity was made possible by fans who wouldn't give up after Firefly was cancelled /random.
And yes, you and Chev are both totally awesome.
no subject
Date: 2005-10-15 02:16 am (UTC)Of course, younger or newer writers often don't delve deep, but like you said, you have to start somewhere, you have to get better somehow, and doing it at all shows that you love the original work.
So yeah...again, great post ^^;
no subject
Date: 2005-10-15 02:08 am (UTC)But then I see this this thought-provoking post, and I also have to say that I think you're absolutely right, that fanfic is a great way to keep interest in canon alive and to draw the fan community together. I wonder if it's not because the fanfic writers always have something new to talk about -- they can discuss their own stories and ideas, not just rehash the same bits of canon over and over again. I've met some of my best online friends through my writing activities, and I don't think that's random.
Anyway. Thanks again! I hope it's not too weird to have a random stranger pop in to your LJ. :)