Do You Consider FF Writers "Real" Authors?

*THWACK*



My favorite definition for a writer is this:

A writer writes.

 

Of course.

Fan fiction, for me, is much harder than my original story. Mainly because the characters I've created for my original story are fairly new, and I've known the characters from the Star Wars universe for so long, I'd hate myself if I messed them up. And I think my readers would feel the same; if I read a story that mutilated the characters I hold so close to my heart, I would never continue to read it. If fan fiction becomes easy for me, I know there's a problem with what I've written.

As has been said before, there's not much of a difference between writing a novel and writing fan fiction. You have to do the research, make sure the characters make sense, and at times, (in the case of sci-fi/fantasy stories) you gotta think up some funny names. But, especially if you're writing major canon characters, the fans are a given (as the term will surely hint at ), so you can't just write Han or Anakin however you see fit. If you want a good story, it's essential that you follow the set guidelines. With original stories, you make up the rules. Your word is canon, you are the creator. You make the characters, you make the worlds, you make the laws. True, in practice it's not all that easy, but the same goes for fan fic as well. Some people see fan fic and go, "Oh, write a story about Luke. No problem." Uh-huh.

So we don't get paid. Big deal. So I'm not published. Too bad. I'm not going to quit fan fic because it doesn't pay the bills. If I want a steady income, I'll get a job. I write because it's a part of who I am, I write because it's what I love to do. And fan fiction is just a wonderful combination of two things I love - writing and Star Wars. I write a novel, I am an author. I write fan fic, I'm still an author. I write limericks on a regular basis, by golly, I'm still an author.

As always, forgive me if none of that made sense.

 

Alright, let me throw in my two cents:

I voted yes - but in some ways and I would like to explain why.

I think that we are "real" authors despite what it is we are writing. As for the fan fiction aspect here is my take on it.

The only difference between fan fiction authors and other authors is that one is sanctioned where as the other isn't. What I mean by that is this: Take authors like Timothy Zahn, Kevin J. Anderson, A.C. Crispin, plus many more who have written SW novels. They had to get clearence in some sense for what they wrote, but we do not consider them any "less original" because they have used George's characters. Also, we do not go to the Continuity people saying, hey can I do this so that this fits in here? We just write whatever it is we want. Regardless of how true to the SW galaxy it is.

I have a tendency to call our, meaning the authors on the boards, work regular fan fiction. Because we love the characters and want to place them in situations that we would like to read them in. On the other hand, I call all those books in the book stores under Star Wars/Science Fiction "authorized" fan fiction. They enjoy the topic, possibly, and get paid for writing them.

And an author that writes stories that are mostly OC, can not be considered un-original, since they are not canon chars. But if we're to truely gripe than no one could truely be considered original. We all write about the world we live in some fashion or another. We just have different ways of expressing the world around us.

But like I said in some ways we are not, and the main reason I say that, is because we don't get paid for doing this.

I hope this made some sort of sense. Now go out and write!!

 

When it gets down to "official" authors, people like Kevin J. Anderson and Dave Wolverin are just like us! They started by wrting FF and were lucky enough to get a break adn they now can write proffesionaly. I have read true works of art on here that I love alot more then published books.
Dave Wolverins "break" came when he entered a story in the Writers of the Future contest and it was one of the ones that won. They published his story and he has since written proffesionaly.

I think that if you write, you are an author.

Amd I agree with Melenna, I am a stickler for things being JUST RIGHT and going along with all of the SWs rules. Its easier AND its harder to make up your own work.

 

I think fanfic authors definitely real authors. It takes an enormous amount of thought and skill to write a fanfic, because, like Mely said, there is such a structure you have to fit into. And not only that, you have to write in such a way that you keep your reviewers keep coming back and reading day after day after day.

I find it incredibly more difficult to write fanfics, because not only do I have to keep up that suspense, I also have to work out exactly where I want it to go. That's difficult for me, because I'm used to sitting down and letting myself go.

Anyway, Rogue's random opinion for the day.

~Rogue

 

When I first started writing I would have said no, but now that I've been writing longer and I've read more of the other author's work I would say it's a definite yes.

Fan Fiction writers spend a long time developing their work and improving their skills just like published writers. Most, in fact, write fics that are better than some books I've read.

I've even found myself comparing books to my favorite FF author's stories now days.

 

There's no question in my mind that anyone who writes a fanfic is an author... a REAL author. Everything that must be taken care of for a non-fanfic story must be taken care of within a fanfic story.

For those who argue that writing fanfic isn't the same as "professional" writing because we're using someone else's story, let me offer an analogy: historical fiction.

Historical fiction takes a historical event that is interesting (a war, the beginning of a government or church, etc), and weaves a fictional character into the story. The events, setting, circumstances, and a great deal of the plot are shaped by something already established -- history.

Historical fiction is no less original than any other style of fiction. Historical fiction writers are still authors in every sense of the word.

Fanfiction uses a created history, and bases the characters and plots upon that.

The only differences between fanfiction and any other fiction are the legalities of it. Sadly, LFL does not have access for fanwriters like so many other fandoms do, and it is something I deeply wish they would change their policy on.

Sreya

 

sreya - exactly. we just can't publish our fanfics without consent.

 

Anyone that puts their neck out on the line and write anything for the public to read is a real author in my book.

A lot of my fan-fics ideas have ened up fueling my original fiction stories. Fan-fic is a good place for me to work out the mechanical kinks of the overall plot and idea without having to worry about world building and character development. Plus fan-fic is a good relaxtion from developing my original fiction when it all becomes overwhelming

 

I've always thought that an author was someone who... well, who wrote. That it didn't really matter how wonderful it was, how great of a masterpiece it was, that they wrote it or typed it out-- an artist is an artist whether or not their art is appreciated. We're like the other starving artists in the world, suffering and working at our art-- but not quite as well respected.

Mostly, though, it takes a lot of courage to be able to put up your work for the world's scrutiny-- though I admit that there are some things sitting in my hardrive that would make people wonder how in heck my lil' brother got hold of my keyboard and started rambling...

Because to write fanfic-- especially here-- is a commitment. We have to devote at least some of our time to it, lest our dear beloved readers come to crucify us.

I don't know if doing original work is all that different from fanfic. I've never honestly tried. But I can quite honestly say that a lot of published work lacks the caliber that some of the fanfic writers here put up. *shrugs* The world works in strange ways.

 

See, this is where I have the problem. I think that we are all "writers" because we write, but the definition of "author" with regards to writing, is someone who writes professionaly for pay.

Thus, I would consider us all "writers" because we write, but not "authors" because we do not do so professionally (i.e. for pay). I include myself in this. I consider myself a writer rather than an author, despite writing several novels, simply because I am not published.

Just my two pennies worth...

 

I disagree with the idea that you are only an author if you are both published AND paid.

I'm a published author (scary concept huh!), I didn't get paid for it, but my work appeared in a published book. So does that make me an author?

I would say that I was one before I ever had my name in a published book. I became a writer and an author when I started writing properly and devoting time to writing my own stories down and putting them up here.

Besides, isn't posting them on the web a sort of publication all in itself?

Kithera

 

Sreya,

Actaully Lucas film is incredibly liberal when it comes to it's fan usage... there are some authors *cough* Anne Rice, Anne McCafferey *cough* who have explicitly said "Hands Off" (look at the notice on Fan fic.net for a list of the 4 or 5 authors who are a little too P****... I tink they're afraid that in many cases the fan work will be better than the pap that they've put out in recent years...)

Lucas Film subscribes to the most basic tenant that any thing that keeps the people talking about your product is an OK thing...

 

Though many years ago, when I was a young kid with a Star Wars website, they threatened to shut down every Star wars website on the internet. They were convinced otherwise after a huge campaign on part of the sites. Though I think that what really occurred is they realized that they had *free* advertising.

 

Oh, I know LFL is generous to let us continue to play online. I just wish they had a way for fan authors to contribute somehow. For instance, Marion Zimmer Bradley actually endorses anthologies of fanwork based on her stories, and helps in the editing process of those works.

Of course, I have a feeling MZB doesn't have quite as many people submitting work as there would be submitted by Star Wars fans. But I do wish there was some kind of fan-magazine that would accept fanfiction. Dangit, even when they had the fanfilm awards, the only films accepted were parodies -- none with original (fanfiction) plots.

It's just a bit frustrating at times. But on the other hand, it also takes some of the competetive edge away, and just lets us enjoy fanfiction amongst ourselves.

Sreya

 

I don't believe FF writers can be considered real authors, as in the sense of published authors who write stories longer than a meagre 50 pages, in which little has time to take place. I'm the resistant who voted "No, it's nothing like real writing" (no, don't ban me ! ), but I didn't have time to reply in detail by then. For the sake of this argument, I'll be assuming that we're comparing FanFiction to actually published books.
I may also be writing about FanFiction authors at some point of this work (I won't call this an essay, it would have required some additionnal planning from my part other than write it on the fly over the course of an hour). Know that I do make a difference between published authoring and FanFiction authoring (there are differences, objectively ) and that I don't use the "author" word in the expression "FanFiction author" as I do in the expression "real author" or "published author". The expression "published author" also includes here yet unpublished authors who have been through most of the process of writing an original book, whose approach of their work will sensibly differ from that of a FanFiction author. Also, the word "author" on its own refers to the "published author" unless specifically stated otherwise.

I shall elaborate on what I think makes a difference now, putting an emphasis on a couple of points : the originality of the writing and the work behind the writing.


First of all, FanFictions, though they are not stories written before (or not to their authors' knowledge), generally contain less original elements than more independant work. Being operas based on universes, stories and characters that already exist, the fundation of a FanFiction does not require a lot of work per se. In fact, it is possible and even easy to write FanFic without adding any new elements to the universes, characters and stories. And new elements are generally rarer than published work on the same universes, and almost always rarer than there are new elements in original work.

When it comes to characters, new characters are probably the most easy element to find in FanFiction. Indeed, there are quite often more original characters in Star Wars FanFiction than there are in some original Star Wars novels.
Characters are also the easiest element to add to the existing corpus, as they're the elements that writers naturally feel will bring them the most rewards. It is one thing to design the geography of a world, it's a completely different thing to write a new character. Besides, there will very often be a degree of identification between the FanFic writer and her original character or characters ; they're, after all, elements that allow her to explore the corpus in a way original characters don't, and she'll write characters that'll lead her to explore things she wants to explore in the corpus.
New characters nevertheless remain almost always less numerous than they are in an original piece of work. The reason for this is pretty obvious ; what is less obvious is the fact designing characters from scratch in an original work is much harder than designing a character for FanFiction purposes. The FanFiction writer will have an easy time connecting her original characters to already existing characters in the corpus ; she already knows (or most often knows) the part she wants her original character to play. An author working on an original setting, on the other hand, has to define the entire web of relationships between all her characters, and she will probably pay attention to developing her characters so that they behave like they are when she writes them, a point many FanFiction writers don't take fully into account (nor do some professionnal authors, alas !) when writing characters they didn't create in the first place, leading to an incredible lot of off-character elements in FanFiction (for those who want to doubt this, ask George Lucas to read even only the best pieces of FanFiction here, and he would certainly say that at some points, he doesn't think his characters would have reacted "

 

Short and sweet:

Stephen King, on writing "The Green Mile" wrote it as many fan fic writers do (with far more serious implications). On the spec... I remember reading about how he was sweating bullets about getting the story out at reasonable intervels, indeed even being able to finish it!

An author is an author... the only differeance is "Professional authors" get paid...

 

Okay. So, I am published - but not as a writer of fiction. I have been paid, but have never had a book on the stands. I'd say that no matter what I write, I am a 'real' writer.

Being paid does not make any writer more 'real' than another. It just means that your work fits the 'purchase order' for which a particular buyer is willing to write a check.

As for the writers of 'FranchiseFic' - they are simply fanfic writers who are filling a work order from George Lucas.

"Here is what I want, here is what you can do and what you can't and I have this ending in mind. Go for it, call me if you have any questions."

I think that fanfic is a sort of training camp for those who may or may not decide to go on to writing for a paycheck. This is where you apply what you've been reading about in Stephen King's On Writing.

For myself, I am just working up the nerve to send in my first non-fan-fiction fiction submission to a rather prestigious magazine. I might chicken out, but that does not make my tale any less 'real.'

 

I agree with much of what Chaos Rose said, but my final answer was "Yes - but only in some ways."

I won't feel comfortable calling myself an "author" until I feel I can write it on my tax return.

I'm a storyteller.

 

I write, therefore I am.... or something like that....

 

Thank you all for voting and discussing. This is a question I've always wondered what other people's thoughts were.