All fanfic writers are creatively bankrupt thieves.

[Navillus]

Where's my popcorn and lawn chair!

 

[RepresentingWrath]

Where's my popcorn and lawn chair!

?

 

[3guanoff]

TL;DR: Standards for fanfiction are lower. But fanfiction is not inherently lesser. Every writer poaches from his predecessors. Read Gilgamesh... or Mahabharata or any of the greats.

Where do you draw the line? If the author changes the names of the characters, is it no longer fanfiction? If the author changes the setting but keeps the plot and the character personalities and development is it fanfiction?

So many of the old myths and tales are fanfics of each other. They are still brilliant masterpieces. And modern writers poach them ruthlessly. If you've read the great works of literature (the greats), works like Game of Thrones are nothing but a Tolkien crossover/mash. Of course, Tolkien took plenty of inspiration himself.

In my eyes, fanfiction can be creative if it is done well. Often, it is not. And it is usually not written in a way people can understand without knowing the original work. As someone who stays away from most American television, I cannot read them.
The good thing about most of the greats is that even if you do not get the subtle countless references, they are still enjoyable. Some works of fanfiction are written much the same way.
Thus when, recently, "someone" recommended me a great piece of Russian fanfiction, I enjoyed it despite not knowing many of the original works involved. Of course, since Russian is not my first language, my standards were somewhat lower.

Edit: To comment on some other posts and the question of whether you should profit of fanfictions if the author is still alive, tentative no. Do not use the authors name to promote yourself. Figure out which of the greats they covered, and make a modified copy. It is very simple. Rich man having people build gadgets for him, so that he can fight crime? Very creative idea that has never been written before.
Using someone else's name is bad. Using someone else's characters? Look at Greek and Roman gods. They reused each other and people are still using them today.

 

[Nolff]

TL;DR: Standards for fanfiction are lower. But fanfiction is not inherently lesser. Every writer poaches from his predecessors. Read Gilgamesh.

Where do you draw the line? If the author changes the names of the characters, is it no longer fanfiction? If the author changes the setting but keeps the plot and the character personalities and development is it fanfiction?

So many of the old myths and tales are fanfics of each other. They are still brilliant masterpieces. And modern writers poach them ruthlessly. If you've read the great works of literature (the greats), works like Game of Thrones are nothing but a Tolkien crossover/mash. Of course, Tolkien took plenty of inspiration himself.

In my eyes, fanfiction can be creative if it is done well. Often, it is not. And it is usually not written in a way people can understand without knowing the original work. As someone who stays away from most American television, I cannot read them.
The good thing about most of the greats is that even if you do not get the subtle countless references, they are still enjoyable. Some works of fanfiction are written much the same way.
Thus when, recently, "someone" recommended me a great piece of Russian fanfiction, I enjoyed it despite not knowing many of the original works involved. Of course, since Russian is not my first language, my standards were somewhat lower.

Edit: To comment on some other posts and the question of whether you should profit of fanfictions if the author is still alive, tentative no. Do not use the authors name to promote yourself. Figure out which of the greats they covered, and make a modified copy. It is very simple. Rich man having people build gadgets for him, so that he can fight crime? Very creative idea that has never been written before.
Using someone else's name is bad. Using someone else's characters? Look at Greek and Roman gods. They reused each other and people are still using them today.

Someone finally uplifted our honor!!

 

[3guanoff]

Someone finally uplifted our honor!!

I think no one stained your honor in the first place. Is there anyone qualified in this thread? I am not qualified. Some people are obviously very confident, speaking of laws and money. Telling people they will not be able to sell their work or find a job as if that were the mark of literary greatness.
Honor and riches do not necessarily go hand in hand. Vermeer, van Gogh, Pukirev - were they without honor?

As for the ridiculous claim that pople who merely piggyback off others' success are not contributors to society, that comrade must be a staunch anti-capitalist. Unfortunately, trends exist, and what is a trend but people piggybacking off others' successes? How many people are bending their stories to incorporate isekai and litrpg elements because it is trending?
Do I judge them? No! Money-making and capitalism are all about capitalizing on trends, which is a rather nice way of saying "taking the road most traveled". Few people pioneer new genres and art styles.

 

[Nolff]

I think no one stained your honor in the first place. Is there anyone qualified in this thread? I am not qualified. Some people are obviously very confident, speaking of laws and money. Telling people they will not be able to sell their work or find a job as if that were the mark of literary greatness.
Honor and riches do not necessarily go hand in hand. Vermeer, van Gogh, Pukirev - were they without honor?

As for the ridiculous claim that pople who merely piggyback off others' success are not contributors to society, that comrade must be a staunch anti-capitalist. Unfortunately, trends exist, and what is a trend but people piggybacking off others' successes? How many people are bending their stories to incorporate isekai and litrpg elements because it is trending?
Do I judge them? No! Money-making and capitalism are all about capitalizing on trends, which is a rather nice way of saying "taking the road most traveled". Few people pioneer new genres and art styles.

Mf that was a joke.

 

[Anonjohn20]

In that case all fantasy writers are creatively bankrupt thieves; they all resort to stealing things that have been used before, such as: races (elves, fairies, dwarves, undead, goblins, etc.), powers (sorcery, witchcraft, chi/qi, blessings), quests, etc.

 

[Deleted member 84247]

In that case all fantasy writers are creatively bankrupt thieves; they all resort to stealing things that have been used before, such as: races (elves, fairies, dwarves, undead, goblins, etc.), powers (sorcery, witchcraft, chi/qi, blessings), quests, etc.

 

[ThisAdamGuy]

I've never understood fanfiction authors. It's like, your brain is a toybox that will magically fill itself with whatever toys you can imagine, and you decided you'd rather take the toys from the kid next door's toybox instead?

 

[Anonjohn20]

I've never understood fanfiction authors. It's like, your brain is a toybox that will magically fill itself with whatever toys you can imagine, and you decided you'd rather take the toys from the kid next door's toybox instead?

I suppose they wanted to just skip the worldbuilding, it's already there. They can just focus on rewriting characters or whatever it is they do.

 

[Zinless]

I've never understood fanfiction authors. It's like, your brain is a toybox that will magically fill itself with whatever toys you can imagine, and you decided you'd rather take the toys from the kid next door's toybox instead?

I suppose they wanted to just skip the worldbuilding, it's already there. They can just focus on rewriting characters or whatever it is they do.

I saw a Naruto fanfic once, but the desc was something like:

"In this story, Naruto is a lot more depressed and Sasuke does not exist. Naruto will actually seek revenge and not be a coward, and people are a lot more cruel in general, so don't expect the same characters from the anime."

At that point... Just make your own world building man...

 

[Gray_Mann]

That's right, I said it, what're you gonna do? Go fuck another young masters girl to get stronger?

I mean.....if you're offering such a thing it would be VERY rude of me to refuse....so when do I meet her?

Most mythology (including portions of the Bible, to be honest)

The Christian Bible is just a rehashed version of the Old Testament with some extensive editing.
The Old Testament is just a rehashed version of Akkadian, and by extension the even older Sumerian mythology/traditions. They just changed some names and tossed a few bits and pieces of original material to "seem different." All belief systems are bits and pieces stolen from those around them. This is why I'm always amused when Christians pull that "One true God" crap. Nah, you're entire belief system was stolen from Jews and then SLIGHTLY altered, whereas the Jews stole it from others even older than them, namely the Akkadians, and the Akkadians got their shtick from the Sumerians before them.

Hell, Jesus is almost a carbon-copy of Apollo if you ignore all of the "he's such a good boy" shtick Christians spew at the very hint of criticism, and the Christian God could be confused with Zeus if you think about. The only different between Zeus and the Christian God, is Zeus got it on with numerous mortal women, the Christian God, only one. Both however, did some very brutal and cruel shit, if you read the texts and don't fall into the trap of making excuses for the actions they took.

Not digging at Christians, they are just the most obvious example here. Just pointing out that ALL RELIGIONS are a fan-fiction of other, older beliefs.

What if Harry Potter boned Hermione instead of drooling after Cho Chang?"

I've read the series, and while I like it, I'm not a super-fan of Harry Potter.
That said, while I have no opinion of Cho Chang one way or the other, the fact that Hermione ended up with Ron Weasley, still makes absolutely no sense to me even after all these years. Harry and Hermione had by far, much greater chemistry and many more interactions that could be considered affectionate.

Hermione didn't begin showing any interest in Ron until the 4th Book, and only near the end, and it wasn't cemented truly until the middle of the 5th. Before that, I saw nothing to show any hint of growing affection between Ron and Hermione, and looking back at the text, she seemed closer to Harry. The Harry and Ginny thing didn't become truly noticeably reciprocated until the 5th book, and ONLY after it was becoming more apparent that Ron and Hermione would be a thing.

It just seems like it was an unintended outcome that happened narratively by mistake, meaning J.K. Rowling never planned for it, but once written, she just couldn't see a way to undo it without changing too much.

 

[CharlesEBrown]

It just seems like it was an unintended outcome that happened narratively by mistake, meaning J.K. Rowling never planned for it, but once written, she just couldn't see a way to undo it without changing too much.

I know that happens. Had a character who was supposed to be a minor character who just keeps showing up in passing - either coming home or going to work when the others are getting stuck in adventures - decide she HAD to be an MC; I tried to resist but then she pointed out plot holes that her presence could plug so...

 

[Gray_Mann]

created the best bits of NuWho

Anything after Peter Capaldi is trash, and even Peter Capaldi wasn't the best. Matt Smith was the last good one.

In that case all fantasy writers are creatively bankrupt thieves; they all resort to stealing things that have been used before, such as: races (elves, fairies, dwarves, undead, goblins, etc.), powers (sorcery, witchcraft, chi/qi, blessings), quests, etc.

Thank you for noticing. I try to mug at least one local in my neighborhood once a week. I don't even know how I'm still a free man at this point...

 

[Anonjohn20]

I saw a Naruto fanfic once, but the desc was something like:

"In this story, Naruto is a lot more depressed and Sasuke does not exist. Naruto will actually seek revenge and not be a coward, and people are a lot more cruel in general, so don't expect the same characters from the anime."

At that point... Just make your own world building man...

See, he wanted ninja clans, ninjutsu, chakra, etc. He wanted Naruto's worldbuilding.

 

[Gray_Mann]

See, he wanted ninja clans, ninjutsu, chakra, etc. He wanted Naruto's worldbuilding.

No Sasuke? It's already better than the original....

 

[Nolff]

I've never understood fanfiction authors. It's like, your brain is a toybox that will magically fill itself with whatever toys you can imagine, and you decided you'd rather take the toys from the kid next door's toybox instead?

No, we take a more futuristic approach.

We genetically and mentally modify the kid's next-door toys and alter their form, either many or a little bit. We sometimes improve it too!

 

[Anonjohn20]

No, we take a more futuristic approach.

We genetically and mentally modify the kid's next-door toys and alter their form, either many or a little bit. We sometimes improve it too!

Its only an improvement if they add smut to it. lol jk

 

[Samsonchui]

I love reading any type of Hollywood self insert fan fiction.
i think I’ve read all of them on here, and RR.
…..not webnovel though because of stupid paywalls

 

[RepresentingDesire]

Isekai authors have shown to be as creatively bankrupt.