For the very first time in my life, I have the urge to write fanfiction

Nightwire · 2011-11-04 03:39:39

I do believe that this is not a healthy feeling.

Malkavian · 2011-11-04 03:43:05

Get thee to a nunnery!

MillerCross · 2011-11-04 03:47:13

Bah, if Dante could do it, so could you!

Nightwire · 2011-11-04 03:51:50

But... but I still have too much self-respect!

Saigyouji · 2011-11-04 03:54:43

...More self respect than Dante?

MillerCross · 2011-11-04 03:57:06

To be fair, Dante wasn't exactly the person with most self respect in the world

self righteous, on the other hand...

Nightwire · 2011-11-04 03:58:06

Just enough not to violate the canon of things I love, apparently.

Nightwire · 2011-11-04 04:01:35

Don't you know Batman can come back from the dead thanks to power of self righteous-ness?

MillerCross · 2011-11-04 04:03:27

but but but

Batman's cause is good! Dantes' was to ~~hate on comics~~ put everyone he hated in hell!

Malkavian · 2011-11-04 04:08:07

I wrote a bit of Batman fanfic awhile back. It was when Bruce Wayne was dead and Dick Grayson was taking over. He was fighting Scarecrow and Scarecrow was able to fight GraysonBats better because he wasn't afraid of that Batman.

It was pretty bad.

MillerCross · 2011-11-04 04:09:21

I like the premise, though.

Nightwire · 2011-11-04 04:20:03

Now come to think of it, this isn't my first time either. I drew some Doraemon doujinshi when I was 6. Though there was nothing original about it, I just ripped off a whole story and gave it a few tweaks plus terrible art. The most embarrassing part is when I showed that "masterpiece" of mine to my mom.

Waltzy · 2011-11-04 05:17:35

Not all fan fiction is inherently bad.

Unless it's a case of like you feel your own personal ability is the issue and not just simply fan fiction being fan fiction.

RedEyedAbyss · 2011-11-04 09:20:13

Aside from the usual pitfall of user-generated content, fanfiction gets derided for a similar reason as to why sequels are derided: it's lazier to reuse an existing fictional world than to build a new one from scratch. Though the good ones in both cases tend to have something that distinguishes them on their own right (mostly along the lines of doing something new with the premise).

Personally, my urges to write fanfiction often stem from that little voice that says "Let's see YOU do better" whenever I complain about a media piece's shortcomings.

MillerCross · 2011-11-04 09:24:42

it's lazier to reuse an existing fictional world than to build a new one from scratch.

Well, it's lazier, but it's actually harder. You see, when you take characters people know, you have to recapture their charming aspects as well as the setting and story's defining and unique aspects without making it a retread.

So yeah, it's the same problem with sequels with the added difficulty that you're not the original author, so you are not familiar with these aspects.