Why Are Fanfictions Hated ?.

[ShrimpShady]

I don't think it is stereotypically ANYTHING. Many writers start out with fan fiction - heck, two of the stories in Night Shift by Stephen King were fan fiction (one of Robert Bloch, primarily "Notebook Found in an Abandoned House") and the other, both stories part of the genesis of the arguably Dracula fan fiction novel (King does mirror a lot of beats in Stoker's novel), Salem's Lot, of H. P. Lovecraft (even down to mirroring HPL's style).
It may have become female dominated in the last few decades (especially with the success of 50 Shades of Gray which the author admits began as: "What if the characters in Twilight met as young adult professionals, and the 'vampire' gained power not through consuming blood but through S&M"), but in most cases it has been more the "training wheels" genre, the area where people who might be able to write start in - and some never leave it (whether they can write or not).

Yeah, I basically meant fanfiction in the modern sense of the word. I know you could technically call something like Paradise Lost fanfiction, but I'm referring to the modern phenomenon of derivative works posted independently online, which I assume this thread is referring to as well.

 

[CharlesEBrown]

Yeah, I basically meant fanfiction in the modern sense of the word. I know you could technically call something like Paradise Lost fanfiction, but I'm referring to the modern phenomenon of derivative works posted independently online, which I assume this thread is referring to as well.

Well, if there IS any association between "fan fiction" and "women" I would lay the blame at E. L. James's feet for that... but your comment is literally the first time I've ever seen anyone say anything like that, and, heck, my first attempts at writing were superhero fanfics, before I went for straight-up rip-offs of Godzilla and then moved to creating my own worlds (which included straight up rip-offs from Tolkien, C. S. Lewis, Lewis Carroll and a few others), and, despite my wife and stepson both often claiming otherwise, I am not at all female.

 

[Envylope]

Earning money from fanfic is illegal and taking money from other's intellectual property. There are some fanfic writers earning thousands off of a world they never built themselves and characters that aren't theirs. If you think this is okay, then that's you. I just don't understand the ones who are so blatantly bad.

And many fanfic authors disrespect the author and their original work. They will say, "I am writing this to fix the world and problems with the original writing." I get you want to fix things you don't like, but please respect the original author which is the whole reason you're making this story in the first place. If you don't like the original story, why're you making a fanfic of it?

 

[Piisfun]

Earning money from fanfic is illegal and taking money from other's intellectual property. There are some fanfic writers earning thousands off of a world they never built themselves and characters that aren't theirs. If you think this is okay, then that's you. I just don't understand the ones who are so blatantly bad.

And many fanfic authors disrespect the author and their original work. They will say, "I am writing this to fix the world and problems with the original writing." I get you want to fix things you don't like, but please respect the original author which is the whole reason you're making this story in the first place. If you don't like the original story, why're you making a fanfic of it?

Glances at the idiot who sued the Netflix and the Tolkien estate because they messed up the canon such that his fanfiction's lore broke.
I can't help but imagine the judge on that case holding his head in his hands for a minute before declaring a summary judgement.

The two biggest rules of fanfiction:

1. You do not hold the copyright and cannot sell it.
2. Don't make the original author/publisher have a reason to care about your fanfiction. If you do, they are legally obligated to crush you to protect their copyright, or the copyright may be declared invalid for failure to defend it.

 

[Valmond]

Earning money from fanfic is illegal and taking money from other's intellectual property. There are some fanfic writers earning thousands off of a world they never built themselves and characters that aren't theirs. If you think this is okay, then that's you. I just don't understand the ones who are so blatantly bad.

And many fanfic authors disrespect the author and their original work. They will say, "I am writing this to fix the world and problems with the original writing." I get you want to fix things you don't like, but please respect the original author which is the whole reason you're making this story in the first place. If you don't like the original story, why're you making a fanfic of it?

Ya know, you make a really good point here. With the why are you making a fanfic if you don’t like the original?

My guess would be that they liked it up to a point.

I really dislike the whole ‘fix it’ mentality when it comes to creatives. Always found it insulting. Though, I suppose this is the internet.

People feel emboldened to say what they say, given that there is almost no penalty.

Glances at the idiot who sued the Netflix and the Tolkien estate because they messed up the canon such that his fanfiction's lore broke.
I can't help but imagine the judge on that case holding his head in his hands for a minute before declaring a summary judgement.

The two biggest rules of fanfiction:

1. You do not hold the copyright and cannot sell it.
2. Don't make the original author/publisher have a reason to care about your fanfiction. If you do, they are legally obligated to crush you to protect their copyright, or the copyright may be declared invalid for failure to defend it.

There is a third. If you can get the author’s permission. That is the safest and best way to write one.

 

[Iloveshovels]

They suck

 

[Clo]

I skip reading them mostly because I haven't watched/read the original work.

I will read them if the pitch has a great hook. I stumbled on a Scott Pilgrim fanfic once, and adored it.

But Naruto something, Harry Potter this.. usually it's pass.

Original character set in the world of, and who interact with their own characters will get a much higher grade. After all, that's what roleplaying in a commercial campaign setting pretty much is.

 

[Kenjona]

Fan Fiction has been around forever. A lot of Silver and Bronze age comic books began as fan fiction of Gold and Silver age comic books; heck some of the first comic books were, essentially, fan fiction of pulp novels and radio plays (The Lone Ranger, The Green Hornet, The Shadow).

And the entire Flashman Papers series of books was, pretty much, fan fiction based on a minor character from Tom Brown's School Days.

Fan Fiction has been around forever. Heck, the oldest piece of fan fiction I've read was Silverlock, which was written during World War II, and the Harold Shea novels of L. Sprague deKamp and others are best described as fan fiction with modern characters inserted directly (on isekai needed) into mythological or fictional worlds.

LOL,

Loved reading all those when I was a kid (Flashman was a very guilty pleasure). But authors building and expanding on what they loved/hated from others writing is nothing new. Since stylus was put to clay.

You will note I removed the Grapelight and Shadesofgrape sentences, was not a kid then and I did not like either.
But the hate many have for Fanfiction; writers take a world and twist it away from its original premise. Most times many of those stories would easily make their own novel if everything that made it "fanfiction" was removed. But then again, would they have the immediate audience if they did that?