It's been nearly 11 months since I started on this most recent fan fiction bender. In the past, the benders only lasted three or four months and then I'd move off of it. This time, though, I see no end in sight. Probably because, this time, I'm doing most of my reading in between the pushing of paper at work.
Anyway, there's a site I can get to while here at work. It's full of lots of fan fiction based on Daria, and the guy who writes it is one of the muchly better writers of fan fiction to boot. (My biggest qualm with his stuff is that he has the characters hug and say, "I love you." too easily. It may just be my problem, though.) As I'm working my way through his stuff (copy/paste into Word and read from there) I've started to wonder about fan fiction writers, in general and this one in particular, and their need to take the characters they love and place them in other times, other worlds, and such and, quite often, changing the character in probably unintended ways.
This fan fiction writer has done this sort of thing several times: In one he has the Cuban Missile Crisis lead to war, although he doesn't explore what happens after the first day and it's really about the childhood of a parent. In another, Charles Manson's dream sort of comes true. Siblings and a ghost. A girl out of time, think The Flight of the Navigator. In the mid-40s, two girls bond over rockets, not yet finished. And a Daria who knew of the girl who hated Mondays moves to Lawndale, after attending an "alternative" school, in 2007. All of these are quite good and very interesting. All of them have characters that are similar to their TV show counterparts, but often not the same in important ways.
(I'd like to be clear that I'm not writing about crossover fan fiction. That's a whole other beast.)
There are always "logical" reason for the differences -- age, zombie white people, a death, aliens, war, Brenda Spencer -- but it's still jarring, to me. And the fact that the changes are often jarring leads me to wonder: Why make these stories, which are in so many ways different than the TV show, into fan fiction? Why not make them wholly original stories with original characters?
Okay, so some are challenges: "Take a character and drop him/her into D-Day." or whatever. But to write an 85000 word novel seems overkill to me.
I suppose people could say it's done for the love of writing:
"its fan fiction. It's not going to be published. I did it because I love to write."
Couldn't you still love writing and use original characters for this original plot?
"But I love these characters."
You altered the characters so much that really only their names are the same.
"I had to change the characters some. A war's on. They wouldn't be the same people in 1944."
But why'd you have to kill her sister? Getting rid of that relationship alters a lot about the main character.
"It increased the drama and let her show her emotions more than she did on TV."
Wasn't the fact that she held onto her emotions with an iron grip part of the reason you love the character, though?
"Yeah. So?"
I could be wrong about that whole conversation, but I don't think I am.
After writing this and forcing myself to think about it, I bet the real reason this kind of fan fiction is written is because putting labeling as such ensures it'll be read. It ensures some kind of feedback.
You won't always get that writing for the love of writing and then posting it somewhere or sending it out to an editor or an agent. And there's no way to track how often it may have been read.
I think a hugely important part of fan fiction, for the writers, is knowing that, no matter what's written, it'll be read by people who will, in some way, appreciate it. Even if it's only because the characters share names and appearances with characters who appeared on TV, or in a movie, or in a book, or on stage, or where ever.
There are always "logical" reason for the differences -- age, zombie white people, a death, aliens, war, Brenda Spencer -- but it's still jarring, to me. And the fact that the changes are often jarring leads me to wonder why make this stories, that are in so many ways different than the TV show, into fan fiction? Why not make them wholly original stories with original characters?
Okay, so some are challenges: "Take a character and drop him/her into D-Day." or whatever. But to write an 85000 word novel seems overkill to me.
I suppose people could say it's done for the love of writing:
"It's fan fiction. It's not going to be published. I did it because I love to write."
Couldn't you still love writing and use original characters for this original plot?
"But I love these characters."
You altered the characters so much that really only their names are the same.
"I had to change the characters some. A war's on. They wouldn't be the same people in 1944."
But why'd you have to kill her sister? Getting rid of that relationship alters a lot about the main character.
"It increased the drama and let her show her emotions more than she did on TV."
Wasn't the fact that she held onto her emotions with an iron grip part of the reason you love the character, though?
"Yeah. So?"
I could be wrong about that whole conversation, but I don't think I am.
After writing this and forcing myself to think about it, I bet the real reason this kind of fan fiction is written is because putting labeling as such ensures it'll be read. It ensures some kind of feedback.
You won't always get that writing for the love of writing and then posting it somewhere or sending it out to an editor or an agent. And there's no way to track how often it may have been read.
I think a hugely important part of fan fiction, for the writers, is knowing that, no matter what's written, it'll be read by people who will, in some way, appreciate it. Even if it's only because the characters share names and appearances with characters who appeared on TV, or in a movie, or in a book, or on stage, or where ever.
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