Just Curious: What is easier to write - fanfiction, translation, or original?

[Toomanysorrows]

Haven't done translations (well, I've tried to translate papers a few times, but I assume that doesn't translate), but I have written original fiction and fanfiction and I'd say original fiction is easier than fanfiction. With fanfiction, you have to put in the extra effort of keeping what you're writing at least somewhat consistent or related to the canon, on top of all the other work of figuring out how to write the characters, figure out a plot, structure it well, etc. It's a whole lot more work. If you write original fiction you're kind of your own boss and don't have to worry about the extra burden of the source material. (To an extent, I write historical fiction sometimes and that has the similar issue of having to worry about keeping it fit for the setting).

I would actually push back against the idea that fanfiction is easier because you have story and characters and settings all figured out, because very often fanfiction still requires thought about that. It's not uncommon for fanfiction to have it's own story independent of the main story to figure out. Writing characters from a different medium also requires some thought to do well, it's not always easy to take a character from the story and write them well on your own, especially if they're kind of a blank slate. And on the level of worldbuilding it's not uncommon to have to think of entirely new aspects of worldbuilding not addressed in canon. And that's not factoring in AUs: I have a friend whose au is so divergent from the canon that in terms of characters and worldbuilding it's essentially the same workload as an original story.

 

[Moonpearl]

Haven't done translations (well, I've tried to translate papers a few times, but I assume that doesn't translate), but I have written original fiction and fanfiction and I'd say original fiction is easier than fanfiction. With fanfiction, you have to put in the extra effort of keeping what you're writing at least somewhat consistent or related to the canon, on top of all the other work of figuring out how to write the characters, figure out a plot, structure it well, etc. It's a whole lot more work. If you write original fiction you're kind of your own boss and don't have to worry about the extra burden of the source material. (To an extent, I write historical fiction sometimes and that has the similar issue of having to worry about keeping it fit for the setting).

I would actually push back against the idea that fanfiction is easier because you have story and characters and settings all figured out, because very often fanfiction still requires thought about that. It's not uncommon for fanfiction to have it's own story independent of the main story to figure out. Writing characters from a different medium also requires some thought to do well, it's not always easy to take a character from the story and write them well on your own, especially if they're kind of a blank slate. And on the level of worldbuilding it's not uncommon to have to think of entirely new aspects of worldbuilding not addressed in canon. And that's not factoring in AUs: I have a friend whose au is so divergent from the canon that in terms of characters and worldbuilding it's essentially the same workload as an original story.

Hm... I've written both "normal" fanfiction and AU fanfiction and, either way, I've always found it far, far easier.

That's because you have a base to guide you when you create your AU world. You know how you want things to work, so you just have to figure out what you need to make in your new setting that supports things to be just as they are.

For example, the story I'm working on now is technically an AU fanfiction of another one of my stories, and it's much easier than starting anew.
I don't have to figure out who Ankh and Llew are or how they're going to interact - I just have to figure out how to translate what they've got into a modern, non-magical setting.

Even turning the anime Princess Tutu into a cultivation novel was quite easy, as opposed to making one truly from scratch.

 

[Toomanysorrows]

Hm... I've written both "normal" fanfiction and AU fanfiction and, either way, I've always found it far, far easier.

That's because you have a base to guide you when you create your AU world. You know how you want things to work, so you just have to figure out what you need to make in your new setting that supports things to be just as they are.

For example, the story I'm working on now is technically an AU fanfiction of another one of my stories, and it's much easier than starting anew.
I don't have to figure out who Ankh and Llew are or how they're going to interact - I just have to figure out how to translate what they've got into a modern, non-magical setting.

Even turning the anime Princess Tutu into a cultivation novel was quite easy, as opposed to making one truly from scratch.

That's very fair. Honestly I don't necessarily disagree with the statement that fanfiction is often easier in that way, because it is. It's just going to depend on the kind of fanfiction you write, and how much you're changing/adding onto canon. For example, the work of my friend I talked about involved taking their own very particular spin of rwby characters (and by very particular I mean practically OCs in their own right), putting them in a prehistory of the setting they'd figured out entirely themselves based on a faunus culture and history they'd also pretty much made entirely from scratch, and setting up an original plot in that with no relation to the plot of the actual show. At that point I do think it's pretty much the equivalent of an original work in terms of effort. Granted, it's an extreme example, but I do think it's a good illustration: whether or not fanfiction is easier than original writing is going to depend heavily on what exactly your fanfiction entails (and vice versa, if you're just writing cute original oneshots about owning a cat that's going to be very different from rewriting an entire show based on a new take on a character).

 

[OkuraTsukiko]

For me, it would be fanfics. I have tried written it since middle school and overall, it was easy because the characters and lores of the original franchise have been provided for us to tweak with. Unlike originals, we would have to build it up from scratch, characters and all.

But the one with more satisfying results for me is to create originals

 

[Moonpearl]

That's very fair. Honestly I don't necessarily disagree with the statement that fanfiction is often easier in that way, because it is. It's just going to depend on the kind of fanfiction you write, and how much you're changing/adding onto canon. For example, the work of my friend I talked about involved taking their own very particular spin of rwby characters (and by very particular I mean practically OCs in their own right), putting them in a prehistory of the setting they'd figured out entirely themselves based on a faunus culture and history they'd also pretty much made entirely from scratch, and setting up an original plot in that with no relation to the plot of the actual show. At that point I do think it's pretty much the equivalent of an original work in terms of effort. Granted, it's an extreme example, but I do think it's a good illustration: whether or not fanfiction is easier than original writing is going to depend heavily on what exactly your fanfiction entails (and vice versa, if you're just writing cute original oneshots about owning a cat that's going to be very different from rewriting an entire show based on a new take on a character).

I suppose it also depends on what you, as a writer, find the hardest/easiest about writing.

I did write a whole original setting for that Chinese cultivation fic, along with new character backgrounds and motivations designed to mimic the originals. (For example, using family background/sect pressure to recreate Rue's insecurity and need to compete with Ahiru.)

But I found that really easy. Took me no time at all, really.

Whereas planning and writing original oneshots sometimes feels like it takes years off my life, even if the setting is less defined.

 

[DevilPogoStick]

I get kind of creative and found myself more comfortable making original fiction.

I always felt that I might annoy someone who doesn't like my own take on established stuff. I mean who knows, I might end up trying it out though.

 

[skillet]

Ahem ahem, as someone who is bilingual and have done translations, fanfics, and original works--

Translations were easiest, and actually really satisfying since I don't have to think about where things are going (the original author did all that, so all I gotta do is focus on making the words work).
Fanfics weren't bad either, since I already have character settings and personalities and an established chemistry (!!!!) that I can work right off of without having to introduce them too in-depth-ly (?).
Original works have honestly been the hardest for me because I have a plot I really want to get down so I have to think about things a lot more. Haha. Though to be fair, the less plot there is, the easier it is for me to write it. So the problem might not lie in the originality but in the plot-making.

Just adding my twopence as late as this is lol ^^

 

[Ai-chan]

As one who has written fanfiction on Ao3, posted translations of Chinese webnovels on NU and recently started my own original work on SH, I was just curious which one writers find the easiest? And by easiest I mean actually able to stay motivated and finish?

The easiest is whatever floats your boat.

Fanfiction is easy because you don't need to think up all the characters and create the universe. All you have to do is self-insert one character to interact with the original characters and you're ready to go. You do need to know the source materials, though. Some official novels based off TV series such as Star Trek are often not considered canon because the authors didn't really know the universe and just wrote a story set in the Star Trek universe. The problem is, their stories contradict canon and therefore they cannot become canon.

Translation is easy because you don't need to think up the characters or the plot and can pretty much copy-paste the source material, only into a different language. The difficulty comes when the terminologies are hard to translate and you're stuck with either keeping the original term or try to translate it.

Original work is often considered harder, but only if you have no creativity. Even so, there are many tools that help you create the bare bones of the story. Ai-chan too made many such tools such as a tool to help Ai-chan create truly unique names with like 20 million possible permutations. To Ai-chan, creating original works is easier as Ai-chan doesn't have to abide by the rules or facts set by others and can bullshit Ai-chan's way with the help of a random number generator.

In fact, Ai-chan's been writing a story based on whatever cards Ai-chan pulled out of a card game for every chapter. The card game doesn't exist in real life. It's called Rebellion and Ai-chan hasn't released it yet because of the technicalities with getting card game patents.