Do you think its possible for FanFiction author to be skilled enough to write a lucasfilm SW book?

Now, I grant you that its not how its done. Ie they have to be with agents, but within the community here do you think there is anyone /'s with enough writing skill to match the authors of the books? Not meaning to insult anyone as I've only read a few and cant judge any of the fan fiction authors found here.

I'm thinking maybe CYNICAL21 because of One Door Closes.

Agree? Disagree? I'm curious

 

I think lots of folk write just as good if not better than some licensed authors. I started writing fan fiction just to prove to myself that I could write Star Wars better than Kevin J. Anderson. Heck, I think just about ANYONE can write better Star Wars than KJA.

 

I, too, have read stories here that's writing skills have surpassed the writing skills of many of the actual authors and it would be difficult for me to list all of those deserving authors.

 

Well, I can't say for certain, since the only SW books I've read are the novelizations of the movies, but given just those, I can tell you that a LOT of fanfic authors (several names are already leaping to mind) are definitely as good as those authors. And if the AOTC novelization is any indication, then there are some authors around here who could run circles around R.A. Salvatore.

 

Well thats my question answered, makes you want to tell lucasbooks off Or At least give them pointers, as they are known to look over such a high profile set of boards

 

I definalty know a few that would be good authors. Definatly better than Luceno in the AoC books.

 

Most Star Wars books are crap, so yes. Some incredible stories have been posted on this site, and I'd read them ten times over rather than force myself through drek like The Crystal Star or Vector Prime or anything by KJA or, well, you get the idea!

Not an EU fan as you might be able to tell.

 

In some of the more technical aspects of writing, I think the various authors of the EU come out on top, mostly due to years of experience and the fact that they have professional editors backing them up.

That isn't to say that there aren't fanfic writers who have a commanding grasp on the fundamentals of writing who would easily match up with the authors of the EU books in those aspects, but on average fanfiction is most definitely plagued with more errors in such things as typos, grammatical mistakes, and other such things.


Now with the more esoteric items such as character and plot development, fanfic writers have an advantage simply because they are not as limited as the writers of the official books. Alternate universe stories allow the fans the opportunity to examine unexplored avenues that otherwise would never be touched. This ability to place a new spin on known characters and events often makes the writing that much more exciting simply because it's new and refreshing.


Let's not forget that fanfic writers ostensibly write for themselves, whereas the "official" authors are writing to sell as many books as possible to the widest audience they can. Writing to satisfy yourself and perhaps please a dozen or so loyal readers is quite a bit different from writing a novel intended to be read and enjoyed by millions.

 

What Herman said. I think the hardest part would be sustaining the quality for the length of a novel. Though I'm sure there are some fan fic authors that would be up to the task.

 

From what I have read of the NJO books and earlier on, and writing and reading fanfiction, there is a definite difference in writing style. I read Star by Star and honestly, I wasn't that impressed by the writing style and felt it bogged down the story a lot and made it drag on and on.

To answer the question: I do think there are many talented fanfiction writers that could definitly pass as liscensed writers.

(How different the NJO would be if only us fanfic writers worked on it, hmm, the possibilites...)

I think another difference is that many of the official writers don't just write SW, they write in other genres where as here on the boards, we just write Star Wars and the ocassional crossover but mostly, the focus is on Star Wars.

~aeryn

 

I think everyone here has someone in mind they could nominate, since I have at least four. I think that there's a lot of raw talent here that, coupled with the editorial skills of whoever publishes and the plotbunnies of George Lucas, would be a lot better than many of the authors. I also wrote a lot because I was sick of KJA. I started writing, inspired by Zahn (yet I still can't write a marafic!).

 

I agree with Herman.

 

yes i think that most of the fan fiction that is most forums are better then most of the published writers heck look at Troy Denning I think it stinks how he killed off Anakin Solo (no offense to Troy Denning fans out there) somw of the people who wrote fan fiction here have great writing

 

There are about two or three, that I could name at the top of my head. I'm sure there's many others that could have hope of pulling something like that off. It's difficult to say.

 

If they get noticed, maybe they can!

 

Agree with the general consensus, definitely people here where when you are reading their work you sometimes have to remind yourself that this is fanfic (especially if like me you?ve discovered the Baen Books free library and are fairly used to reading ?real? novels on your computer).

Also some of the stories here have been getting up to the length of a novel, or at least novella, and the authors have been maintaining quality.

 

I agree with DarthIshtar - there are some writers on these Boards who, given the kind of editorial backup that goes into any published novel, could EASILY meet or exceed the standards that have been set so far by many of the published Star Wars books. The problems that Herman mentions are the kinds of things any editor deals with routinely as part of his or her job - the editor works with the author to eradicate those problems and to bring the manuscript into final, publishable form.

I haven't been an avid reader of all the SW series because I got bored along the way, but even from my limited experience I would say that the quality of the authorized SW books is slowly improving. IMHO Salvatore's effort with the AOTC novelization was a painful low that could have been improved upon by any number of talented fanfic writers here. Tatooine Ghost and even more, Shatterpoint, on the other hand, have raised the bar. I have high hopes for Stover's take on the EPIII novelization.

But honestly - these Boards have some amazing writers. We're very lucky!

 

Derisa Ollamhin, JediGaladriel (AKA Fernwithy), Red Rose Knight, Jedi-Jae, Dianethx, Darth Tim, PaddyJuan - and that's just for openers. Any one of these gifted writers could produce novels to rival and, in many cases, surpass the quality produced by the pros. And I'm sure there are many more, in genres I don't read, such as NJO.

There is certainly not a dearth of talent - but there is, unfortunately, a dearth of opportunity.

So we should all be tremendously grateful for the gifts offered by these imaginative authors, which so exceed the drabble we sometimes pay for.

CYN

 

There are many authors here I'm not going to mention, because the list would go on and on. There are so many on the board whose stories already exceed the EU.

-Krystal

 

Only very few. Definately not me.

 

When Lucasfilm gives annual awards for fan films, and possibly as I hear will give out awards for fan audio too, why not for fan fiction.?

Can somebody draft a nice petition to ask Lucasfilm to institute an award to recognize fan written Star Wars fiction.?

The entries, received annually could have a word limit (like fan films have a time limit of around 15 minutes)

The winning entries could be published in the Star Wars
Insider magazine, or online at starwars.com


try

www.petitiononline.com

 

When Lucasfilm gives annual awards for fan films, and possibly as I hear will give out awards for fan audio too, why not for fan fiction.?

Exactly R2D1000. Fanfiction is as much part of Star Wars as fanfilms. However, I think the biggest issue is copyright where fanfic is concerned but isn't anything fan related to a genre infringement on copyright? I can't remember when but I think Lucasfilm put out a statement or something that they supported fanfiction as long as credit was given where it's due. In other words, the standard disclaimer in headings is a must. But they didn't look down on fanfiction either.

~aeryn

 

Thanks for all your responses
& I do think the idea of an award for Fan Fiction is very intresting and would be a tremoudous idea

 

I think a lot of the writers on the board have the potential to write a very good LucasBooks sponsored novel. I say potential because many of us are missing just that little something that could put their writing on a "professional" level. I don't know what it is, but I'm sure I'm not the only person who reads a "great" fanfic and thinks, "There is something about this story that just doesn't seem like a real novel; there's something missing."

The only "professional" SW I've read that looks like a fanfic is that book inspired by the Star Wars Galaxies game.

However, if you take 2 or 3 Fanfic writers from these boards and add in a willing and patient editor from LucasBooks, you could get one heck of a Star Wars book.