Fan Fiction, Legitimate Literature, and "Real" Writers
I had this thought (I know, scary, huh?) while I was writing Charlotte & Me about where fan-fiction ends and legitimate literature begins. Wikipedia defines "fan fiction" as "fiction about characters or settings from an original work of fiction, created by fans of that work rather than by its creator."
When you think about it, there's little that separates what you'd find on Fanfiction.net and the many books one can find in the Sci-Fi/Fantasy section of Books-A-Million set in the universes of Star Wars, Star Trek, Halo, and the near infinite books one can find set in the various Dungeons & Dragons settings. Hell, at one time, I had all the books featuring Drizzt Do'Urden up until The Thousand Orcs, so this is something I'm extremely familiar with.
So what are the differences?
There's really only one: legal permission.
It's not necessarily quality, since the quality of the books I was talking about earlier tend to vary wildly. Hell, when I was revisiting Salvatore's Dark Elf books, I realized that Drizzt was a blatant "Marty Stu" character. It made me wonder how many of these books were glorified self-insert fan fictions that people actually had to pay for.
I won't deny the influence a lot of the Forgotten Realms novels have had on me as a teenager. Shit, I can honestly say that they have played a huge role in making me want to tell stories in the first place, so they have real value. Basically, many of those books are the literary equivalent of bands like Metallica, AC/DC, and Kiss: there are many, many bands that are of better quality, but it's these bands that tend to inspire kids to want to make music in the first place.
I'm not going to make fan fiction out to be high literature on the level of A Tale of Two Cities, 1984, or To Kill a Mockingbird. Such a notion is ludicrous. I'm not even saying that it should be taken all that seriously. Let's not forget that, unless we get permission from the OP's respective creators and publishers, we can never legally sell what we're writing. However, to say that the creator isn't a "real writer" is equally as ludicrous. With all their mistakes, I'm proud of what I've done so far with Bicycle Cop and Charlotte & Me, and I feel that I have a right to be.
So, to my fellow fan fiction writers, keep doing it, and keep getting better at it. What you learn could be valuable should you decide to become a professional writer.
Until next time!
When you think about it, there's little that separates what you'd find on Fanfiction.net and the many books one can find in the Sci-Fi/Fantasy section of Books-A-Million set in the universes of Star Wars, Star Trek, Halo, and the near infinite books one can find set in the various Dungeons & Dragons settings. Hell, at one time, I had all the books featuring Drizzt Do'Urden up until The Thousand Orcs, so this is something I'm extremely familiar with.
So what are the differences?
There's really only one: legal permission.
It's not necessarily quality, since the quality of the books I was talking about earlier tend to vary wildly. Hell, when I was revisiting Salvatore's Dark Elf books, I realized that Drizzt was a blatant "Marty Stu" character. It made me wonder how many of these books were glorified self-insert fan fictions that people actually had to pay for.
I won't deny the influence a lot of the Forgotten Realms novels have had on me as a teenager. Shit, I can honestly say that they have played a huge role in making me want to tell stories in the first place, so they have real value. Basically, many of those books are the literary equivalent of bands like Metallica, AC/DC, and Kiss: there are many, many bands that are of better quality, but it's these bands that tend to inspire kids to want to make music in the first place.
I'm not going to make fan fiction out to be high literature on the level of A Tale of Two Cities, 1984, or To Kill a Mockingbird. Such a notion is ludicrous. I'm not even saying that it should be taken all that seriously. Let's not forget that, unless we get permission from the OP's respective creators and publishers, we can never legally sell what we're writing. However, to say that the creator isn't a "real writer" is equally as ludicrous. With all their mistakes, I'm proud of what I've done so far with Bicycle Cop and Charlotte & Me, and I feel that I have a right to be.
So, to my fellow fan fiction writers, keep doing it, and keep getting better at it. What you learn could be valuable should you decide to become a professional writer.
Until next time!
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