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Analysis Division

Location: Narf?
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Fanfiction and Distinctions


So, here's a question: Do any of you think there's a noticeable and real distinction between fanfiction, and something officially published/released by someone who happens to be a fan?

There is this idea that there really isn't a difference. "Everyone's story is fanfiction" sort of thing. I disagree, personally. I think that fanfiction is more just off-the-cuff catharsis, and tends more to be self-indulgent (and I say that as someone who's written his share of fanfics that became self-indulgent). Alternatively, "official" stories have always struck me about the characters or their environment than about the writer (I mean, when they're well done).

But then, fanfics can have some great ideas and excellent lines, while official stuff can just take a turn for the worse (as we've all seen). So maybe there's something I'm missing?

Discuss.

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Optimal Megatron Profile
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Location: Between the panels
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Re: Fanfiction and Distinctions


Fanfiction, in its basest sense, is just storytelling someone wrote because they wanted to write it for whatever reason. No pay, no licensing. It's just that.

People may say that some officially licensed stuff is nothing more than "glorified fanfiction", but that's kind of a misrepresentation. Fanfiction can be good. Fanfic can be really really bad. Official fiction can be good. Official fiction can be really really bad.

The only difference is whether it was officially produced for the property.

Dr. Who is a big example, since it's been running so long kids that watched the original show are now old men writing the current stuff. The DC Silver Age worship similarly has this situation. But they're still officially the people running the show/making the current work. Just because someone dislikes what they're doing doesn't mean they can argue it's "just fanfiction they were paid for". That implies all fanfiction is bad, which isn't accurate.

Ergo, if it's official licensed product? It's not fanfiction. Regardless of quality. If it isn't? It's fanfiction. Again, regardless of quality.

Using Transformers as an example, a lot of the convention stuff from 3H and so on is hilariously fanwanky, and has all the earmarks someone would associate with "fan fiction". But it's still official product and thus canon to those universes. Raksha's manifestos about the glorious Decepticon righteous cause against Autobot oppressors, while hilariously predictive of where IDW went with it, even if completely differently, are still just the product of a fan for no pay or recognition, thus fanfiction.

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Re: Fanfiction and Distinctions


While OM's got the technical definition spot on, and I agree, I do think there's occasionally a bit of grey area with official stuff.

Those specific cases are when the original creator/writer/group/whatever are no longer around to "canonize" the work. Note, this does NOT refer to stuff when the rights have been BOUGHT, ie Disney decommissioning the EU into Legacy.

To me, it's more stuff like when the original author dies and someone picks up his work and clearly deviates from the original intent.

A case in point Brian Herbert pissing all over his father's masterwork, Dune. The spinoff series go against the source material in so many ways it seems that Brian and Kevin Anderson never actually READ the original novels. It's hard to say they're not "official" since Frank is dead and his son has the rights to the estate/IP, but it's also hard to take the material as anything more than fanfiction when it deviates from the canon so very much. Not to get on a tangent there, but trying to muddle through to a point, which brings me to the counterbalance:

As bad as the SW prequels were with that aspect, they were done with the intent of the creator of the property and while I despise the massive plot holes and continuity errors, they are clearly what Lucas himself intended, so that's still OFFICIAL and not fanfiction in my eyes.
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Re: Fanfiction and Distinctions


Officially licensed stuff needs to pass editorial review and approval by the licensed goods department of the IP holder. Those licensing departments will have their rules that need to be adhered to. For example, while the Star Trek spinoffs were on the air, authors of the tie-in novels for Pocket were not allowed to do anything which disrupted the status quo. Like it or not, it had to be that way since the novels couldn't conflict with what might happen on the shows. When Enterprise went off the air, the gloves came off, and !@#$ started going down in a big way. If you've read Destiny, you know what I mean.

If you're writing fanfic, you can do whatever you think is best for your story. Kirk and Spock !@#$ in a turbolift? Sure. Blow up the Enterprise permanently? Go for it. Your self insert Mary Sue becomes Fleet Admiral and leads all of Starfleet's greatest captains from throughout time to a great victory against the Borg? Why the hell not.

One way to think of it is that professionals are not only getting paid for their work, but also working under somebody else's rules. Even when publishing your own original IP, you still need to pass editorial review by your publisher who may require changes. Every kind of creative professional has to deal with this. If you can't, you can stay amateur. You may be a very good amateur, you may be better than most pros, but if nobody's paying for your work it's just a hobby.

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