Poll: What is the artistic status of fanfiction?

[Muphin_Mann]

Can be art. Arguably any setting that has multiple authors writting stories in it is fanfiction for every author.

I dont think "art" really has rules. We live in a world where you can be considered a master painter for painting a canvas solid blue or making a few red doodles.

 

[Astoria]

There are good fan fictions but you have to go through a LOT of bad ones to find them. I've written a few fan fictions and I basically take the information given in the story and write my own story using it. I think that's what others like doing too but there are those who like to ignore the parts of the story that would stop their own being...disturbing. It's kinda like ghost writing I suppose.

 

[GodEmperor47]

All possible types of fanfiction:
a) A group of people are playing (insert game here), when all of a sudden they are sucked in to the world they're playing and must fight for the survival of both!
b) Character X is emo.
c) Character X has gay love for Character Y.
d) Character X is the long forgotted relative of some godlike figure that has absolutely no place in canon subject.

Granted, there are actually a few well written, original stories, but they are few and far between.

What about the ones that are genuinely interesting expansions on the original plotlines featuring only original characters meant to fill minor roles as the focus is actually on the main characters who are carefully kept in-character and goddamn I feel like I've typed the word "characters" a dozen fucking times already but whatever.

Using the setting, concepts, etc. still eliminates a lot of the workload for the fan fiction writer. If I took everything but the characters from Peanuts, and made a strip that imitated it closely without ever bringing in Charlie Brown, I'd still be ripping off Peanuts.

 

[jo291]

Ignore this double post.

 

[jo291]

Nope it's plagarism.

I've never understood fan-fiction. Certainly a game/movie/book can inspire you to tell your own tale. But, why in god's name would you steal their characters/setting? It's not really art because they have not created anything.

The point appears to be seeing characters or a fictitious world you have some attachment to (from the beginning, something I do not comprehend) in settings the author has not allowed themselves. The most common of these by far are characters that otherwise don't give a shit about each other interacting.

But this stuff is serious to some people. Life-changingly, mood-alteringly, world-shapingly serious.

No, I don't get it either. But the indulgence appears to be the point.

I have never encountered a non-cybernetic human unable to form some kind of attachment to fictional entities. Having affections for such things, be it a childs attachment to his Teddy Bear or an adult's fondness for a favorite literary character is part of what makes us human. A big part. Therefore logic dictates I should assume you are a T-800 sent back from the future to kill John Connor.

A teddy bear is a physically existing thing that one can interact with, if in a limited manner. A fictitious character exists only in its own context, and I believe this has something to do with why I have no attachment to them; I see it as meaningless. It's proven to be a further lesson in empathy, because someone quite dear to me occasionally gains extreme attachment to fictitious characters.

...I'm personally hoping they will grow out of it. But until then (assuming then ever comes), I have to try to reign in my judgmental nature.

Then you are in the minority.

 

[Switchblade 327]

All possible types of fanfiction:
a) A group of people are playing (insert game here), when all of a sudden they are sucked in to the world they're playing and must fight for the survival of both!
b) Character X is emo.
c) Character X has gay love for Character Y.
d) Character X is the long forgotted relative of some godlike figure that has absolutely no place in canon subject.

Granted, there are actually a few well written, original stories, but they are few and far between.

What about the ones that are genuinely interesting expansions on the original plotlines featuring only original characters meant to fill minor roles as the focus is actually on the main characters who are carefully kept in-character and goddamn I feel like I've typed the word "characters" a dozen fucking times already but whatever.

Using the setting, concepts, etc. still eliminates a lot of the workload for the fan fiction writer. If I took everything but the characters from Peanuts, and made a strip that imitated it closely without ever bringing in Charlie Brown, I'd still be ripping off Peanuts.

Yeah, it does, but then again, some people like me get attached to certain characters and would like to see their adventures expanded upon while the original authors are busy jacking off.

Let's relate fan-fiction to something people might understand better: music.

Have you ever heard a truly original artist? Because there have probably been five in the entire history of the world. Some of the most unique, out-there artists we all know and love are just taking their influences and building off of them.

The Black Dahlia Murder took a lot of European melodic death metal like Carcass but then blended in their American influences like Morbid Angel into a brand of American Melodic Death Metal that only they really play, and yet apparently they aren't being original artists because their music had influence.

An even more precise analogy would be a techno artist that takes samples from other works and then blends a bunch of their own effects and melodies into it to create something that, while entirely different than the original piece, is apparently not art because there was an original piece, as per your logic.

I think that fanfictions can be art just as music can be art -.-

 

[Ampersand]

Before answering this I suggest that you consider that most if not all of your favorite Comics, TV shows and movies are basically fan fiction. Think about it.

 

[zehydra]

It's technically art, but not terribly creative. Most fanfiction is just outlets for young authors to live out fantasies.

 

[GodEmperor47]

All possible types of fanfiction:
a) A group of people are playing (insert game here), when all of a sudden they are sucked in to the world they're playing and must fight for the survival of both!
b) Character X is emo.
c) Character X has gay love for Character Y.
d) Character X is the long forgotted relative of some godlike figure that has absolutely no place in canon subject.

Granted, there are actually a few well written, original stories, but they are few and far between.

What about the ones that are genuinely interesting expansions on the original plotlines featuring only original characters meant to fill minor roles as the focus is actually on the main characters who are carefully kept in-character and goddamn I feel like I've typed the word "characters" a dozen fucking times already but whatever.

Using the setting, concepts, etc. still eliminates a lot of the workload for the fan fiction writer. If I took everything but the characters from Peanuts, and made a strip that imitated it closely without ever bringing in Charlie Brown, I'd still be ripping off Peanuts.

Yeah, it does, but then again, some people like me get attached to certain characters and would like to see their adventures expanded upon while the original authors are busy jacking off.

Let's relate fan-fiction to something people might understand better: music.

Have you ever heard a truly original artist? Because there have probably been five in the entire history of the world. Some of the most unique, out-there artists we all know and love are just taking their influences and building off of them.

The Black Dahlia Murder took a lot of European melodic death metal like Carcass but then blended in their American influences like Morbid Angel into a brand of American Melodic Death Metal that only they really play, and yet apparently they aren't being original artists because their music had influence.

An even more precise analogy would be a techno artist that takes samples from other works and then blends a bunch of their own effects and melodies into it to create something that, while entirely different than the original piece, is apparently not art because there was an original piece, as per your logic.

I think that fanfictions can be art just as music can be art -.-

What you're talking about would be akin to me taking elements of style from an author, but fan fiction involves taking specific characters and settings. It's like when Vanilla Ice sampled Queen and tried to play it off like he didn't do it. I see where you want to come from, but there's a big difference in ripping off copyrighted, original material and being similar to something. By your argument, horror genre writers are all fan fiction writers based on each other, and that's simply not the case.

 

[bubba145]

It can and has swung both ways from crap to pure art. But previously stated is that most fan fiction is pure fan service.

 

[major_chaos]

I would encourage anyone who says that there is no good fanfiction to look up Erico (http://www.fanfiction.net/u/55667/) or Magus523 (http://www.fanfiction.net/u/152431/) the two are both excellent authors IMO and some of their novelizations (adding a story to games that barely had one) are preferable to the original game's story. In particular Magus's version of Samus is ten billion times better than the official portrayal in Other M.

 

[ccggenius12]

Isn't pretty much everything put out by DC and Marvel nowadays technically fan fiction? They hold the rights, but none of these characters are being written about by their creators anymore.

At any rate, the internet seems to believe that most of the new 52 comes across as bad fan-fic.

 

[Pseudoboss]

"Given enough time, a hypothetical monkey typing at random would, as part of its output, almost surely produce all of Shakespeare's plays. In this image a chimpanzee is giving it a try."
sure, there's some good fanfic out there, but not much, not much at all from what I can tell. If you're wiling to sift through all the crap out there, then you'll find some really good stuff. But most of the time it's just easier to go, find a list of good books with some titles that you recognise and enjoy, then proceed to read that list.

 

[DarthSka]

Since anything can be considered art based on someone's own views, yeah, it can be art. Sure, a lot of fanfiction I've read (what? I was curious) is pretty bad, but every now and then, you'll find a gem. Three words, Dawn of Primacy.

 

[Malconvoker]

I would just like to direct people to TV Tropes' fanfic recommendation archive. Its a good place to start to judge for yourself what you think, offering a wide variety of fanfics to explore.

http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/FanFicRecommendations

 

[thom_cat_]

Can be, but pretty much always isn't.

 

[remnant_phoenix]

If I may use food as metaphor...

While you do have the occasional burned freestyle cooked excuse for a 'meal', most fanfics range from "Fast-Food like" to "Awesomely good home-cooking". Whether it's better then a "professional cooked meal in a restaurant" (The canon where the fanfic is based on), is up to you.

And I here I thought I'd be the first one with the food analogy. Oh well...

I was going to say that 99.999% of fan-fiction, to me, is comparable to a home cook borrowing elements from a trained chef's recipe to make something of his own at home with lower-quality ingredients. Can it be enjoyable? Sure. Is it as good as the original? Most likely not. Can it be art on the same level as the culinary arts employed by a trained chef? I would say "of course not!", but then there is the whole "art is subjective" thing...

 

[Singularly Datarific]

Good lord, here I was, thinking you said "Non-fiction", all riled up and prepping my lecture about The Right Stuff and how incredibly awesome it is.
So- fanfiction. Huh.
I have no freaking clue. Some can be good, some bad, but I do not know.

 

[Misterian]

All possible types of fanfiction:
a) A group of people are playing (insert game here), when all of a sudden they are sucked in to the world they're playing and must fight for the survival of both!
b) Character X is emo.
c) Character X has gay love for Character Y.
d) Character X is the long forgotted relative of some godlike figure that has absolutely no place in canon subject.

Granted, there are actually a few well written, original stories, but they are few and far between.

That is true in many ways, but I always personally consider the well-written ones to be worth the wait or the search depending on how you usually find them.

fanfics, like other parts of media, can be art provided it's done well by the right people with the right skills.

And oddly enough, I think fanfic writers are progressively and gradually learning, if nothing else, how NOT to write bad fanfics, partly I think because of TV Tropes teaching writers about certain elements and how can and can't work well with what you're writing.

But Mostly I'd say it's because those writers are doing, what I believe is THE most important aspect of writing a fanfic: Knowing why you like a francise and why you'd want to write about it.

For example, in many fanfics on the cartoon Codename: Kids Next Door, many writers have been more concerned with making a teenaged Kuki vulnerable, depressed, and whiny (You know, exactly like she is in the cartoon *sarcasm sarcasm*) than they sometimes claim to be shipping her with Wally or forming an interesting dramatic story with the francise.

However, I tend to keep seeing less and less of those kinds of fanfics lately, more of the recent ones involved analyzing the KND's tradition of Decommissioning, and putting the nessesity and moral highground behind it into question, which one might consider interesting if you watcheded the show and know what it is.

But that could be just the Codename: Kids Next Door fanfics that are getting better, but hopefully that counts for something.

 

[CleverCover]

It's art.

Anything can be art, it just depends on how good you personally think it is.

If it makes me cry, want to hug someone, take a step back and think, it's art.

Your definition is far to broad. My dog dieing makes me want to cry, my girlfriend laughing makes me want to hug someone, terrorist attacks make me want to step back and think. Are these art?

My first thought was, "is this a scene for a play?"

Second thought. More serious. No I don't think that's art, but I'm pretty sure someone somewhere can see that as art.

Okay, I'll try and change it for you. If it's a medium of expression designed to move me emotionally, and the medium manages to do that, I would call it art.