ith the large exception of it’s mention any time someone discusses 50 Shades of Grey, fan fiction isn’t really discussed by a lot of writers, but I’m finding more and more that (even before 50 Shades) it’s where a lot of writers got their start. And I think the answer is a lot more complicated than perhaps opponents of fanfic might have you believe. Fanfiction allows fans of a work to explore avenues that the author didn’t, but it also allows writers to explore their creativity with well established characters.
For the record, doing it well, is not as easy as you might think. Working with characters that people know a lot about, sometimes even more than you think you do, is not an easy undertaking. Believe me, I’ve tried. (I won’t give you names, but fifty points to Gryfindor if you can guess–not sure why I picked Gryfindor being I’m a Slytherin…). It was more an experiment to explore my ability at writing erotica, and depending on who you ask (isn’t that always the case?) I’m actually pretty good at it.
Fifty Shades or as it was known in it’s fanfic days, Master of the Universe ( a far better title in my opinion by the way), is not even a good example of what fanfiction looks like, or for that matter what good erotica looks like. Actually I’m sort of surprised that of all the fanfiction that exists that a ‘slash’* wasn’t the first one to make an actual novel. Mostly because it seems that there are far more ‘slash’ pairings than not.
The truth is, yes, good fanfictions are few and far between, tolerable stories are a little more common, and of course terribly written things that make your brain bleed a little are the most common, but occasionally you find a rare gem, that you actually wish you could see in stores. Because it’s Alternate Reality the characters don’t really resemble their actual counterparts and so reasonably speaking with the exception of name changes, they could make really fascinating books. Thus far, I have seen one that would be able to make the transition without much more than a few name changes and if by some miracle an editor is reading this blog who is looking for the next not-50 Shades but fanfic sensation. I urge them to click this link.
And anybody else who is curious.
Warning, it’s NSFW and guy on guy which is by the way what slash means. It’s also rather dark. But well worth it.
I would love your opinion on the fanfic debate, and which side of it you stand on.
Fanfiction is great. I started writing fanfiction in grade 9, and looking back on my early attempts, it’s amazing how far I’ve come. It provides a community for people to critique your work, but in a helpful way, because the people reading your stories also love the fandom you’re writing in and want to help you. I have no problem with writers starting off in fanfiction. The problem I have is when writers take their fanfictions, change the names and settings, and then publish it as original work. That’s just sad.
I actually wrote a fairly successful Hunger Games fanfiction, and a lot of my reviewers are like “You should publish this!” To which I reply, “No, I shouldn’t. This was written as a fanfiction, and the intellectual content isn’t my own. It’s Suzanne Collins’. If you want to support me as an author, buy my original work.”
Well it depends on the fanfic, I believe the one I mentioned ( you’ll forgive me, I wrote this post quite a while ago) was AU and so actually nothing like the show from wence it came to begin with, except the names. But I wholeheartedly agree that it is a way for writers to grow. Pretty much all writing is a means for writers to hone their craft.
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