A Question: Non-SW Fan Fiction

Ok, I didn't know where else I could possibly post this, but I had a question. Since the recently created Sci-Fi/Fantasy Books and Comic books forum to discuss well...sci-fi/fantasy books and comic books. I was wondering though, would it be possibly to create another forum in that section for Stories written by members that are in the Sci-Fi/Fantasy genre? Or maybe even a all around Stories forum for members to post their stories/poems?

If not then where would one be able to post their stories?

 

Well, there's several forums for fan-fiction. I think it's only Star Wars stuff allowed, however...

 

I'm pretty sure it came up in our discussion and I'm pretty sure we decided against it. It's just that I'm also pretty sure that I don't know the reason anymore...

 

If you want to post stories and they continue to allow only SW ones here, there's always fanfiction.net and fictionpress.com.

 

Actually Senny I do believe a SFF fic section will be created in the near future, a month or two. It never got dismissed just kinda pushed out of the spotlight with the SFF forum.

 

It's something that was brought up as part of going forward, and the idea is fascinating, but it could only be considered in the "what if" stage. If you look at the links that Jes has provided, you'll see those are HUGE sites. Our Fan Fic section probably has the most posts per day than any other forum on this board, even ROTS and YJCC, when combined....but that is nothing compared to the size of those sites. There are many things to consider, including the fact that not all franchises or authors "allow" or appreciate FanFic. Lucas has been very benevolent with us as a whole. We're going to try to make sure we do the right thing. All in all, it would be very exciting, though!

 

in due time, whenever that should be decided upon, i say go for it.

 

I don't see anything wrong with a science fiction forum. There is only star wars allowed in the fan fiction area. However, I would not put it in the new science fiction thread, I'd put it in the fan fiction area and give it its on forum.

 

I changed the title of the thread to better reflect the content of the initial post.

The short answer to your question as to whether or not the new Sci-Fi & Fantasy (SFF) forums allow non-SW fan fic is no. It's a rule we've followed on the boards for years. As mentioned above, there is a great deal of interest in the topic but we have maintained a SW-focus. That's fine.

When I presented my JC New Year's Resolution thread in the Communications Forum, it was edited. In the original thread that exists in the Mod Squad, there are a number of ideas I'd like to entertain with a larger audience that involve non-SW discussion. The one I felt would have the most success early on and would be an exciting addition to a time when we are all wondering, "Okay, RotS is out. Now what? A SW TV series maybe in a few years? See ya." I had this idea of a SFF in the back of my head for a long, long time. The time finally became the right time to start discussion. The end result is the two new forums folks are enjoying. I'm excited about those and I appreciate all of the positive feedback.

Since it is now brought up in this thread, I will tell you that another of the ideas in my head to explore was the addition of forums that allow non-SW fan fiction. It would be a forum(s) for any and all sci-fi and fantasy fan fiction. This was something I was only going to begin to talk about once the new SFF took off and could sustain itself. I wanted to see what the fan fic mods and the users in fan fic thought of it. And then based on what I learned would give me an idea of how to proceed or not proceed. That's really all I can say at this time because the idea is just that. It's not a blip on the radar screen.

As I alluded to in the Comms resolution thread, there are a few other ideas I will be pursuing and a bunch of others that are just jotted down on my notepad at work. But I won't rush into anything without making sure it's in the best interest of our boards, that it won't dilute our forums, that it does allow for expansion within the genre while maintaining a SW-focus overall, and I won't initiate one thing right after the other all year long. Some of these ideas are likely a year away or longer. That's good because I hope that if each new idea takes off, word gets around and as many current people stay with us and lots of new folks want to join. That's the goal.

 

I see, well...I understand now, I think. My other concern was and I think I may have worded the question wrong. Was...is there anyway there could be a forum for just literary works in general? I mean not sci-fi/fantasy related or things of that nature? Meaning a place to talk about regular books outside of Star Wars and the Sci-Fi/Fantasy genre's? Also a place to post written stories for that as well?

I hope you get what I'm talking about, <.<'.

 

Fan Fiction is really looking up, then. It's been sometime since the possibility has come up about such a board on the forums. But I'm certain that such a forum would be very well recieved, considering just how much Fan Fiction has grown over the last few years alone. Many of us have longed to see something like that happen for a very long time. Such a board would only farther meet the needs of the readers and writers on this site. At least, I think it would.

 

Dark Prince we do (sort of) have a forum like the one that you're describing. It's called Ampitheatre. It's a general forum to discuss non-SciFi movies, tv, and art, as well as regular non-SciFi literature.

Hope I understood your question correctly.

 

Ah...yea..I just realized that about that forum. However, what I was also asking was if there could possibly be a forum for just writing in general. Meaning posting stories not relating to the Sci-Fi/Fantasy genre's. I'm sure there are a lot of people who write stories that aren't related to Sci-Fi or Fantasy in any way and would like to post them without going away from the site. What I mean is a forum that isn't FanFic related. If you hopefully get what I mean.

 

A general original fiction forum is what you're looking for, correct?

 

Yes, that's exactly what I'm talking about.

 

I can't really see that ever happening. We are a Star Wars fansite first and foremost, at least in SciFi/Fantasy we'd be sticking in the same genre if we chose to do that (which we haven't). If we moved to general fiction, we'd be getting a good deal away from our purpose.

 

True...I guess it wouldn't really fit right in these forums. Hmm, oh well. If it doesn't happen that's fine by me, it's not really a big deal. <.<'

 

In my opinion, the JC should not expand the scope of fanfiction to fandoms other than Star Wars.


Aside from the fact that this is a Star Wars site first and foremost (which is a strong argument in its own right), there are other arguments to maintaining this single focus on Star Wars fanfiction.

The first is identity. We're known as the largest SW fan site and especially in terms of fanfiction, I don't know another message board that even comes close. The official site won't touch fanfiction with a ten foot cattle prod (for their own very good reasons which aren't the focus of this thread) and other fan sites that host fanfiction simply do not have our numbers or diversity.

In addition to our identity, one argument I've often heard is that other large fanfiction sites that cross all fandoms and genres are too impersonal and that it's difficult to garner interest in a specific fandom due to the sheer number of competition. So occasionally people want to convert the JC to a multi-fandom site to take advantage of the audience they already have. The problem with that is that you're inevitably back to the point where there's so many competing fandoms vying for space that the waters become murky and eventually the JC is no different from the other multi-fandom sites.


The real kicker, though, is the legal issue. Fanfiction lurks at the fringes of legality and usually exists only at the sufferance of the creators of each individual fandom. It's for this very reason why, when TFN created the Fanfic Archive, it strongly declared that fics that crossover to other fandoms (Star Wars meets Battlestar Galactica for example) are not allowed at all, unlike the forums where crossover fics are overlooked. This was done to protect TFN from any potential legal hassles from irate sci-fi writers who do not tolerate fanfiction. There are all sorts of stories of authors who have had fanfiction sites shut down and filed lawsuits to protect their creative property.

George Lucas has so far been very kind to fanfiction in that he doesn't seem to mind that his fans enjoy writing and sharing their own stories using his intellectual property.

 

From here:

And all the way through, "Quoted for Truth", Herman put it elegantly and consisely enough for me just to say "Yes, what he said."

 

I must agree that non-SW FF is something that we do not need. Though that shouldn't stop one from posting their stories on the own personal website as long as that particular user isn't spamming in an attempt to get traffic.

 

Why is everyone presuming that if a new writing forum was to be opened in the future, why do you presume that it'd be for fan fiction? Wouldn't it be better to just allow original work instead of taking a slant in someone elses universe? It'd be easier IMO to work with than having to worry about x author not wanting fan fic done to his/her work. And having to constantly look over your shoulder wondering if some author is going to come in here and have a cow (not that I'd worry but some would).

Original fic would be the way to go IMO.

 

I have to echo Herman with my opinion in this manner. There would be absolutely no way to contain non-SW fanfic forums. If you do look at ff.net, there are 226,305 stories for Harry Potter fiction posted there ALONE. Would/could we end up with that many stories? Quite possibly. I can't tell you how many of our own Fanfic writers here also write other genres of stories who'd probably jump out of their skin w/ excitement to be able to post those stories here as well.

As others have mentioned there are lots of authors/producers/directors who not only frown upon fanfiction, but will happily do what's possible to pursue lawsuits against those who post fanfiction. Do we really want to have to worry about offending someone? How could moderators even police such boards? Do we limit it to only a couple of specific genres or open the field to anything sci-fi/fantasy and hope for the best?

Although I know that we might have some user drop-offs between ROTS and the TV films, I don't think adding a SF Fanfic forum is the answer. There are WAYYY too many franchises and sci-fi catagories. I think that we'd probably end up with SF fanfic boards being even larger than our SW FF boards.

Unless we want to turn into a general sci-fi/fantasy site w/ SW as a main emphasis, I wouldn't go down that road. Would it be nice, considering that we all love more Sci-Fi/Fantasy genres than just SW? Of course. But I don't see how it would enhance our boards. I think such a decision could hurt us in the end. Do we really want FF writers of other genres hearing about our site and only come here to post their stories and not participate in any of our SW board discussions? I don't think we'd want that - but it's a real possibility.

I think if such boards were open, we'd end up losing our true identity in the end and that would be a shame. The sci-fi/fantasy boards are really just a spin off of the Amphitheatre and I doubt that they'll ever swell to the size of the YJCC. Non-SW fanfic is a whole different can of worms that I certainly wouldn't recommend opening.

 

As much as I would LOVE to see a non-SW fanfic forum (I do love my X-Files fic), right now the biggest hurdle would be laying down rules. The Fan Fic FAQ is full of them, and while most could be applied to any kind of fanfic, there are a few that LFL and the owners handed down (such as the slash rule). To apply those particular rules to other fandoms (such as Buffy) complicates things, and while you could easily write a story about Willow and not focus on her sexuality, something's still seems to be missing.

But any more discussion of that is probably wayyyyyy down the line.

With original fic, I'm worried more about plagiarism than anything else. If people feel the need to steal fanfic, I can't imagine what they'll do with original and publishable works.

 

Correct me if I'm wrong, Jade, but aren't there a lot of agents and publishers that won't touch work that's been posted on the Internet?

 

I'm not well-versed in fan fiction and what you can and can't do. It just seems to me all the legalities would tie into things you've written that are being published illegally with the intent to earn money from it. I never really understood how fan fiction on a board that has nothing to do with money can't be done and is a bad thing. I figure that if someone did try to lift a story off the net and publish it, that's when the authors and lawyers would come into action. The real world where real money is the issue. Just writing up some stories about characters you like within the rules of the TOS is being a good, enthusiastic fan. How's it much different from us guessing what the script would be on Episode III, Indiana Jones 4, or our Virtual Sequels? As long as you're writing for fun and sharing with fans for fun only here, then I don't see the problem.