Fan Fiction

[DarkKnightJared]

I've written a few in my day--participate in a story-based RPG on another forum that's basically a group fan-fic--so I personally don't have a problem with it. I've heard before that the first few million words a writer does is crap--why not use up some of those millions on writing it?

[austin42]

I read fan-fiction from time to time, mostly Inheritance Cycle fan-fiction, and I found a few good ones on FF.net. Most of these that I read are Eragon/Saphira pairings, but they are written really well. As of now, there are two that I read whenever there is an update, a few others that haven't updated in a while yet I'm still patiently waiting for them to be updated, one that is complete but I haven't finished reading it yet, and one that is relatively new.

The ones I like that still update regularly are are:

1. The Future Begins- This is a really good one with a nice plot. With plot twists at every turn.
2. Bonded- Again, another good one, but it is too short for the plot to have the same intricate design as "The Future Begins"

[Klapaucius]

I read fan-fiction from time to time, mostly Inheritance Cycle fan-fiction, and I found a few good ones on FF.net. Most of these that I read are Eragon/Saphira pairings, but they are written really well. As of now, there are two that I read whenever there is an update, a few others that haven't updated in a while yet I'm still patiently waiting for them to be updated, one that is complete but I haven't finished reading it yet, and one that is relatively new.

The ones I like that still update regularly are are:

1. The Future Begins- This is a really good one with a nice plot. With plot twists at every turn.
2. Bonded- Again, another good one, but it is too short for the plot to have the same intricate design as "The Future Begins"

"The Future Begins"? Is it a sequel to "The Present Continues"?

[LuNatic]

There is one or two reasonable fan-fics in the half life and battletech/mechwarrior sections of fictionpress.com

[eightysevendegrees]

Fan fiction is my guilty pleasure. I write serious, original stories, I've had pieces in magazines and my first published novel will be in print next year, but I still return to fanfiction.

Sometimes it's just fun to take someone else's characters and have a play with them (though I agree with previous comments about writing them out of character). Sometimes it's nice to expand on the original. I think all my favourites of the fanfics I've written have been for kids' shows. In a show for kids, you're never going to get much depth. I really like putting that depth in, exploring the difficult issues and putting the characters in situations too dark for it ever to appear in the original.

I don't read that much. There is some excellent fanfiction out there. The best fanfic I ever read was a very long Stargate SG-1 fic called Dr Jackson's Diary, which has since vanished from the web. There are a few authors whose stories I will read and enjoy. Unfortunately, there is a load of utter rubbish. I don't like sites like fanfiction.net because it's just not worth wading through all the garbage to find the one or two readable pieces. You need to go to sites where there's some sort of quality filter or, at the very least, spell checking and grammar correction.

[Cleverdan22]

The first fanfic I read was just about one of the best: Pom Pom's Eleven, a Homestar fanfic. I'll post a link later, but it's only on some deep, dank region of the interblag, and I have it on another computer.

But I've read some okay fanfics since then. A couple of good Smash Brothers ones and a single good Bleach one.

[tarun321]

this is for the user nyarlathotep especially! hi my name is tarun and i read your angel of justice hp fanfic and really enjoyed it. I tried sending you an email but it was rejected for some reason. Anyway I just wanted to let you know that my email id is Address Removed and I would really like if you could send me your ancient library (even if it not finished) for a beta read. Please reply soon
p.s.-Your website also does not seem to be opening and can you send your new email id to me please. Thanks a ton.
tarun

Putting your e-mail address in a publicly readable forum is just asking for spam. Having it linked to your profile is different. Do that. Address removed for YOUR protection. All of this is, of course, assuming our Nyar and the Nyar you're rambling about are the same person. - ST

[podbaydoor]

Fanfiction is not my guilty pleasure. I like it, I read it all the time, and I write it. I don't feel that being involved with fanfiction diminishes my intellectual standing in any way. It helps that I stay mainly on Livejournal, where the ration of crap to good is much more favorable to the reader.

Fanfiction is mainly a "what if?" endeavor, or a challenge for the author to make a "what if?" premise work in character. People who decry fanfiction as out-of-character crap are arguing a false premise - that's not an inherent property of fanfiction, because there is plenty of in-character, well-written fics. And what's better, there are plenty of in-character fics that take different interpretations on things and still come out in-character, especially where you can tell the author put a lot of thought and care into the fic.

[Meowgan]

I generally only read Hermione/Draco HP fanfiction. Mostly because the 5th book was god-awful and can't be broken any further. I like the clichéd fics and the parodies of clichéd fics and the occasionally great one that I find.

I have written two HG/DM drabbles. I like experimenting with Rowling's world and pissing her characters off. Also, it's so much easier than bothering to create your own characters and worlds.

The problem with reading fanfics is that I can now spot a Mary Sue from a mile away. Which is one of the reasons why I can't get into Twilight and most of the movies I've seen lately.

[Jorpho]

I'm not sure if this deserves its own thread or not, but it's not every day fan fiction makes the news.

Here's a story about "The Last Ringbearer", an apparently very popular Russian-translated account of The Lord of the Rings, from the perspective of the bad guys:
http://www.salon.com/entertainment/movi ... ringbearer

[Burning]

Probably the most interesting fic I've ever read is Harry Potter and the Methods of Rationality by Eliezer Yudkowsky. Basically it's an Alternate Universe where Harry was raised by a scientist. It's notable for being funny and very original and unpredictable, although sometimes the science and rationality bits seem out of place (though they can also be pretty interesting. From what I can tell, people tend to either love it or hate it - as it says in the first chapter, you should read the first ten chapters are so and if you don't like it by then, give up. Also, be warned - it's almost 400,000 words long and still in Harry's first year.

http://www.fanfiction.net/s/5782108/1/Harry_Potter_and_the_Methods_of_Rationality

Edit: I see there's actually a whole thread for it.

[Triangle_Man]

For some reason I have read fanfictions for Homestuck, even though I stopped this kind of behavior after a spectacular incedent where I made myself depressed through an obsession with tragic fanficitons.

This is likely a testiment to the level at which this comic has warped my mind.

[Ambermutt]

I sometimes get a bit obsessed with series/books/movies and go looking for fanfiction. Actually, I don't start looking until after I've finished the canon (afraid of spoilers) or I can guarantee that I can limit the fanfiction up to a certain point in the series.

I've written two stories for X-Men (one was movieverse and the other from the animated series), and right now I have an idea for a Harry Potter one.

The thing is, I can only read fanfiction about things that I don't think are all that great. For example, I can't read Lord of the Rings fanfiction, but Harry Potter is fine. I think a lot of it is that I know the fans can't possibly get close in style or characterization to what the original author wrote.

I think it's an excellent exercise for people who like to write. They can work with dialogue without going through the trouble of making up characters, or learn how to narrate, present scenes from different views, foreshadow, flashback, create suspense, etc. And of course there's a lot of crap out there, especially on sites like fanfiction.net where anyone can post anything, but on sites with readers who approve the fics, its a lot easier to find good writing without having to sift through the crap.

Here is a links to one of my posted stories (because someone else requested we post our own fanfiction, and because I don't believe in hiding our mistakes)
Awakenings


Tip: if you ever write a fanfiction, run a search on the title you want to use. I just tried to find Awakenings and there are thousands of stories with that same title. Color me unoriginal.

[Czhorat]

I'm not sure if this deserves its own thread or not, but it's not every day fan fiction makes the news.

Here's a story about "The Last Ringbearer", an apparently very popular Russian-translated account of The Lord of the Rings, from the perspective of the bad guys:
http://www.salon.com/entertainment/movi ... ringbearer

That's an interesting idea; I've downloaded it and will read it eventually.

Have you read Jaqueline Carey's Banewreaker series? It's a two-part fantasy epic which is essentially Tolkien with the serial numbers filed off from the POV of a servant of the dark lord. I found it a very compelling read.

[fullmoonmidget]

I have to much fanfiction on my brain. I read way to much for way to many fandoms. There are a few series in most that I have fallen in love with and I treat like a published novel. I treasure connecting with the author and read them over and over. When an author understands a character, even one they may not have originally come up with, it makes for an amazing story. Whether or not they ever make any money on it.

There is an amazing amount of complete crap on fanfiction sites, and I have given up on harry potter fanfiction entirely (with the exception of one truly inspiring author), but there are some beautiful stories. Fanfiction plays out things that the original author could never get away with. Pairings that are impossible, alternate endings, epilogues, prologues, next gen. With fanfic, the possibilities are endless. I just wish I could stop reading the crappy ones.

[Vellup]

I have yet to read an enjoyable piece of fanfiction, but I have to admit, most amateur original fiction is hardly any better in comparison. I mean, a lot of beginner fiction is just so derivative that it's hardly different from preparing a fan fic.

I actually discovered amatuer fiction through ff.net's sister site, fictionpress, which stockpiles original fiction instead of ff.

Though I have come across some pretty good pieces of amateur original fiction in my day... it's just that there is an extremely annoying flaw in the way those sites work that really turns me off--99% of what you read on either site is unfinished and will probably never be finished.

That being said, there are two stories on fictionpress (a site that was originally part of ff.net) that I actually thought were quite above the rest of the work around them:

The Graveyard Tales: Probably one of the most popular stories on the site. It's about zombies, and it actually isn't a waste of time. It's also occasionally updated.

Limbocide: Long abandoned by its writer, I thought this was a cut above the rest, much like the Graveyard Tales. It has a bit more of a niche appeal, but it's still entertaining. It's better than stuff you'll find surfing through the front page.

[paraffinpopper]

I think that fan fiction can be a bit much sometimes, but you can't just discard the whole lot because of a couple (okay maybe more than a couple) bad apples. A well written fan fiction is a gem that helps someone imagine a favorite character in a different setting or it could be something featuring a minor character going on epic adventures that are only in the same universe as the canon work, but if it works out it makes it so much more satisfying. It adds depth that technically doesn't exist but is now in that sacred temple of head-canon or maybe just something that doesn't really hold up to the cannon but it's great fun anyway. Granted, some people wonder why someone just doesn't make a work of their own in the first place, but the most important part is FAN fiction, something that's based off something someone loves and to just change the characters names would probably feel like stealing, not an homage.

[rmsgrey]

Robin Hobbs once wrote a rant about fanfiction. She started out by explicitly distinguishing between "fanfiction" and "anything that resembles fanfiction but happens to have the original author's okay, which is absolutely not fanfiction, and none of this rant applies to it in any way whatsoever" and then proceeded through maybe a dozen arguments that fanfiction is evil, based on arguments about the inherent value of being the original creator (nobody mention any of the examples of published series where the original author has little to do with the sequels), the horrors of bad writing, the encouragement of bad habits in not forcing people to be entirely original, and the absolute right of the author to create areas of uncertainty that no-one should fill in for anyone else. Particularly that last point stuck with me, so, since she is opposed to anyone discussing her works, I have avoided the problem by avoiding the author...

The best argument I've encountered against reading fan fiction is that most of it is not very good (which also applies to self-published fiction - one of the legitimate functions of traditional publishers is to provide a degree of quality control on what gets published), which is a sound argument for not reading the stuff (or at least not without specific recommendations of what to read) but says nothing about whether one should write and/or publish it.

On the other hand, some of the great works of our cultural heritage are derivative works - Shakespeare is widely acknowledged to have, in the finest tradition of the English language's approach to expanding its vocabulary, taken his plots from wherever he could find them. Walt Disney made his name, in part, by retelling traditional stories (which clearly was not explicitly permitted by the original authors). Two thirds of the Heidi books (maybe not quite great works, but beloved classics) were written, not by the original author of Heidi, but by the English translator.

[sem]

For people who liked the Earth's Children series by Jean Auel,, there is some good fan fiction at ecfans.com
http://ecfans.com/cgi-bin/forums/ultimatebb.cgi?ubb=forum;f=15

[Biliboy]

I'm one of those people that experiences physical pain when reading bad writing... So I only read stuff that's been vetted pretty well.

One I found years ago was a Star Wars fanfic about Thrawn.

http://users.owt.com/bluefox/Bluefox/Dirt.htm

There's a sequel somewhere, return of dirt, and some other story by the same author, all not too bad.

[raudorn]

I think fanworks also benefit from a narrative inertia given by the canon work. It is often that after consuming any fiction, I'm left with wanting more. Unless it's part of a series, fanfiction provides exactly that. Fanfics don't have to introduce the characters, they don't have to build an entire world, they can just use things that are already there. Yes, from a writer's perspective that may seems lazy, but as a reader it's simply perfect. Fanfics get right down to the what-ifs, the plot or simply a barrel full of references and metamatter. Any standalone work can't get away with explaining nothing.
Heck, given the volume of fanfics I've read about some works, the canon material seems more like the player's handbook and the fanfics are the actual adventures. Here's the world, there are some characters, now go storm the castle!

Quality is a concern, but as long as I can enjoy 7 out of 10 cherries eaten, I don't complain. Besides, it is a rife training ground for writers. They have no requirements, no restrictions and it's easy to get some feedback. Then again, that feedback is less productive criticism and more moral support and acknowledgement. And whatever grows on the gnarly, lurky fanfiction tree, some of those fruits are the best I've eaten so far. Compared to those, the concepts of professional works seem downright pedestrian. Oh, a book about a magical fantasy land with elves and dragons? And there is a war and maybe a prophecy? Oh my, how novel.

Edit: Given the nature of fanfiction that also means, that the canon work and sometimes even other fanfics are required reading/watching/consuming. So, unless someone's looking for a long list of MLP fanfics or most of the already known popular HP fanfics, I can't provide much link-wise.