Writing Blog Number 2

20240303 Writing Fan Fiction

Writing Fan Fiction

Now, telling a fan fiction writer what to write and how to write is somewhat counterproductive. The whole idea of fan fiction is to re-imagine and recontextualise the works of their fandom to suit themselves. That makes it incredibly non-prescriptive.

However, having said that, there are four things that scholars (and I have mentioned a few of them in "20240301 An Academic Essay On Fan Fiction" ) feel make a work of fan fiction something that is more palatable to a wider audience.

Before I begin, this does not mean selling works. Fan fiction may not be sold to any market to make profit; some authors do not even like it on sites like ff.net and ao3. However, if a work is a parody, then this rule does not apply in the USA, Australia and the UK (though may in Japan). Further, if a work is transgressive enough so as to take it out of the realm of its original genre, then it may also be allowed. Having said that, I did get permission to have my own works of fan fiction published in a manner that earns me money.

None of that applies to works out of copyright - public domain works.

Now, back to the point of this - there are actually more than four things, but most of them are technical (about writing in proper English) or sequel-based, and that is not the point of this.

1) Any characters used should reflect the characters as portrayed in the original works. This might seem logical, but many fan fiction writers change the original characters in some way to work within the new story. If that is seen as necessary, then just make up new characters. It should be pointed out that this most often happens in erotic fan fiction.

2) Any settings used should reflect the places as portrayed in the original works. Again, this would seem logical and, although not as common, changing settings to suit a story is something that many fan fiction works do. Again, if you need to change it, create a new setting.

3) Do not use a Mary Sue/Marty (Gary) Stu character. Author avatars are going to happen in fan fiction; it is often the reason for fan fiction being written in the first place. But to make that character into someone so perfect is never good for a tale. See "20240215 Mary Sue/Marty Stu (Gary Stu)"  for further details.

4) Do not mirror stories already written by the original author. This does not apply to parody, however. While a person may not like the way a certain story goes, copying those story beats to change them is not just fan fiction, but could well be seen to cross the line into total plagiarism.

Now, these are not rules. These are suggestions to make fan fiction more acceptable as a genre for others to read.

If, as a fan fiction writer, a person does not want to follow this and do their own thing, that is fine - it is their work and so it is their choice. However, they can then not complain that people do not take their fan fiction seriously.