Maybe you guys have this thread often, but I wanted to talk about fanfiction. No, I've never read a good one either...

Maybe you guys have this thread often, but I wanted to talk about fanfiction. No, I've never read a good one either. The question is, what do YOU think about fanfiction? Is it an inalienable right? Something that you shouldn't do if it would piss the author off out of courtesy? Something you should ESPECIALLY do to tick off the author? Is it something you should never do for Moral Concerns? Is it something you SHOULD do for writing reasons? Is it illegal? (Hint: It's not.) I want to hear all about it.

I tend to be more pro-fanfiction myself but that's because I dabbled. And I mean DABBLED. Instead of bitching about authors who bitch about fanfiction I thought I'd address their concerns.

>Don't be lazy just do the rest of the work yourself
They're encouraging plagiarism. Really. If you're not encouraging people to publish their shite on Wattpad surrounded by Real Person Fiction where nobody will ever read it you're encouraging them to try and make money off it on the shitty fucking Kindle store with the words swapped out (I've seen this suggested and, hell, done, like with 50 Shades, but 50 Shades, I think, was very AU anyway). And either way you're promoting nobody ever reading it.
They're also missing the point here. People don't write fanfiction because they don't have any ideas of their own, they write fanfiction because your shitty paperback struck such a chord with them that they thought it would be interesting to recast a certain element and see how the plot would proceed or add in another parenthetical misadventure or write short sequel. This should be a sign that there was something worth remembering about your book and its characters that makes people want to revisit it. And it's not so strange that it goes places canon can't afford to.
>It's infringement!
Lol uh yeah no it's not. The only author I've seen that's aware that fair use is a thing was GRRM and what he said was "well basically my publisher's lawyers in the 80s were pussies and they told me it wasn't fair use because they didn't want to risk the chance of getting sued and inevitably winning after a long and drawn-out court battle". If it's free and transformative it's fair use and fan fiction is very transformative.

TL;DR fanfiction is about exposure and as much as it is an act of service to the work and its community. I feel like these authors saying not to make fanfiction of their work seem as ridiculous as if they also started taking down DeviantArt pages because . Because fanfiction ISN'T competing with their works. It never WILL. Fanfiction authors aren't trying to claim anything as their own (as it's been claimed) or take authors' money (as it's been claimed) or any of these other things. And I can't help but feel it's just a kneejerk reaction from internet greenhorns to seeing their characters sexualized as it often goes, especially since so many of them are old shits like GRRM and Robin.

Pic unrelated, yes Tay Zonday follows me.

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>what do YOU think about fanfiction?
I don't

>picture not really funny or interesting.
>Post is a rambling mess of incoherence.

in the trash it goes, nig boy.

It's a discussion thread, not an essay.
you're just jealous

honestly i don't see anything wrong with fanfiction. writing should be fun. it's cool to band together under shared enthusiasm for something. it can be a way to explore character arcs and ideas. plus it's often used by people who are poc, disabled, queer, etc to explore stuff

let dopey teenagers have fun. who cares

>let dopey teenagers have fun. who cares
This is basically how I feel. When people say "it's a good way to get better at writing" they mean "from B- on Miss Wormwood's 8th Grade English assignment" to "not constantly, jarringly awful, but probably boring". I mean like simple grammar and sentence structure stuff, basic "fuck no don't do that or anything like that" stuff when it comes to plotting or characters or whatever. What fanfiction does is it teaches you not to make really big stupid mistakes so you can get your metaphorical white belt. And sure you're not going to get past white belt just writing fanfiction but it's probably the best way to get your white belt. And the worst offenders realize writing isn't their thing and never try again. Win-win.

I guess since pulp magazines aren't really a thing anymore. Fanfiction is sort of the modern pulp where people do their first crack at writing and getting "published".

>what do YOU think about fanfiction? Is it an inalienable right?
Sure. Freedom of the press, dingus.

>Something that you shouldn't do if it would piss the author off out of courtesy?
Depends on their view of your use of their work and whether you care about the author's opinion.

>Something you should ESPECIALLY do to tick off the author?
No, that's juvenile. I hope you are writing because you want to and not putting actual effort into the literary equivalent of shitposting.

>Is it something you should never do for Moral Concerns?
Explain what moral concern one could possibly have about using their own time and imagination to create fiction. The opportunity cost is immense.

>Is it something you SHOULD do for writing reasons?
Sure. I think every writer has a fanfiction stage, even if they never write a word in it. They consume their books and inevitably think about what could have happened instead. Some act on these thoughts, others don't.

>TL;DR fanfiction is about exposure and as much as it is an act of service
Yeah. Why is your post trying to make fanfiction into something controversial?

Read the fucking rules. There's one rule for Veeky Forums and that is NO FAN FICTION.

Veeky Forums.org/rules#lit

^