Finally, somebody has a good and exact definition of fanfiction! I think of fanfictions as like community theater. While I actually would not say "it's not supposed to be taken seriously because it's fun"-the finished product is not going to be as good as a show staged at the West End or Broadway, that has a big budget, and a cast selected from a highly competitive and often classically-trained crowd of talent. What it DOES provide is access to an audience that can't afford to fly to Broadway let alone the ticket prices of the shows in highest demand at the time, as well as allow new amateur talents to give this experience a go. Fanfiction writing sometimes has "beta readers" (editors) or a mean comments section after the fact of it being posted, but they don't have agents or publishing houses or literary critics reviewing it in the newspaper. The pressure is overall so low, that whether it's the fanfiction writer who reads books on their craft and re-reads the entire first draft several times to catch typos and edit for pacing and characterization and voice-or a fanfiction writer who learned to technically write at school and then gets images in their mind, but was never taught how to manipulate the reader and never thought they had to learn that part about writing fiction... Those works can go to the same place, the fanfiction hosting website. And I think that's perfectly fine for what that is. That's just the way it is, and it's more obvious in fanfiction even though it can happen in professional theater (a show I didn't like won an award for best book and I thought very meanly, "Been a slow year, then?") and in publishing (In my opinion Riley Sager has good concepts for his stories that could have been good writing, if only his editors or publishing house urged/allowed him to polish his work more-perhaps. I hope it's because the moneymakers are cracking the whip on his back to publish faster and make them money, that's why his books aren't good, and not that he's an egotistical author that thinks he's too smart or too talented for revisions of his first drafts.) Because those professional spheres still have so many checks and balances on quality or popularity, then even if the story being told that way isn't good, I should think that happens more rarely than a shoddy fanfiction.
Some fanfictions are really good. It's usually when the authors add something of their own while keeping the characters consistent with the original work.
20:02 is why I generally avoid reading fan fiction. Too much of it seems like sad and pathetic wish fulfillment where the author creates an avatar for self insertion. I will intentionally avoid something I know to be fan fiction unless it’s good enough that its word of mouth reputation convinces me to give it a try. I can’t bring myself to waste time on something that I know is probably going to be of sub par quality when there are too many non-derivative masterpieces out there that I’ve yet to experience.
Finally, somebody has a good and exact definition of fanfiction!
I think of fanfictions as like community theater. While I actually would not say "it's not supposed to be taken seriously because it's fun"-the finished product is not going to be as good as a show staged at the West End or Broadway, that has a big budget, and a cast selected from a highly competitive and often classically-trained crowd of talent. What it DOES provide is access to an audience that can't afford to fly to Broadway let alone the ticket prices of the shows in highest demand at the time, as well as allow new amateur talents to give this experience a go.
Fanfiction writing sometimes has "beta readers" (editors) or a mean comments section after the fact of it being posted, but they don't have agents or publishing houses or literary critics reviewing it in the newspaper. The pressure is overall so low, that whether it's the fanfiction writer who reads books on their craft and re-reads the entire first draft several times to catch typos and edit for pacing and characterization and voice-or a fanfiction writer who learned to technically write at school and then gets images in their mind, but was never taught how to manipulate the reader and never thought they had to learn that part about writing fiction... Those works can go to the same place, the fanfiction hosting website.
And I think that's perfectly fine for what that is. That's just the way it is, and it's more obvious in fanfiction even though it can happen in professional theater (a show I didn't like won an award for best book and I thought very meanly, "Been a slow year, then?") and in publishing (In my opinion Riley Sager has good concepts for his stories that could have been good writing, if only his editors or publishing house urged/allowed him to polish his work more-perhaps. I hope it's because the moneymakers are cracking the whip on his back to publish faster and make them money, that's why his books aren't good, and not that he's an egotistical author that thinks he's too smart or too talented for revisions of his first drafts.) Because those professional spheres still have so many checks and balances on quality or popularity, then even if the story being told that way isn't good, I should think that happens more rarely than a shoddy fanfiction.
I think fanfiction is just supposed to be a fun thing for the fans. It's not supposed to be taken seriously.
Some fanfictions are really good. It's usually when the authors add something of their own while keeping the characters consistent with the original work.
20:02 is why I generally avoid reading fan fiction. Too much of it seems like sad and pathetic wish fulfillment where the author creates an avatar for self insertion. I will intentionally avoid something I know to be fan fiction unless it’s good enough that its word of mouth reputation convinces me to give it a try. I can’t bring myself to waste time on something that I know is probably going to be of sub par quality when there are too many non-derivative masterpieces out there that I’ve yet to experience.
Yeah I generally agree with you here. There can be good stuff, like with anything, but there can be a lot of wish fulfillment literature too.
with all respect I totally would marry thia guy to talk lots and lots about literature. hehe