Standoff: OF vs FF

I've noticed in the past, and the recent past, I may have come off as a bitch on the Forums. Particularly on the Original Fiction versus Fanfiction thread. I'd like to say I'm just an unmannered, hick who knows absolutely nothing about netiquette, but I'm not. I am truly offended by people who say fanfiction is a total waste of time, and that original fiction is so much better.

The first thing I ever posted online was a sad little Mary Sue Lord of the Rings fanfiction on Quizilla. I've come very far from that sad little post of eleven chapters. I can honestly say fanfiction has improved my writing. Now don't get me wrong, I write original fiction as well, always have. I'd like to think my OF isn't that bad, but I'm biased there. Maybe you other Mibbians can tell me.

Since I first started on Quizilla I've written a grand total of 10 fanfictions:
- The Hope of Another [Lord of the Rings]
- A Year of Silence [Yu Yu Hakusho]
- Carpe Diem [National Treasure]
- The Little Spaniard Girl [Young Guns]
- Kick Flip Kids [Bam Margera]
- Samui Kaze [Samurai Champloo]
- I am the Otter [Jacob Black]
- Killjoy [Joker/Batman]
- Way Down [Gerard Way]
- Bridging the Gap [Tuck Everlasting]

The Bam Margera and the Gerard Way were discontinued due to me feeling like a creep writing about these people I didn't know personally, and possibly never would. Not to mention, Kick Flip Kids was released after the Bissy wedding. Since then, only one of the fanfictions has ever been completed. And I'd post my first fic if I still had it saved, just to compare it to Bridging the Gap.

During the same time I wrote several entrance chapters to original works, most of which were cliche to the brim; the first being My Vampire, a tragic story about a teenage orphan who is kidnapped by a vampire to become his bride... because you've not seen that before. I've had several original fictions posted online:
- My Vampire
- Dear Mr Spook, I Love You
- Arcane
- Gypsy Road
- The Scientist
- Necropolis
- Janie & Joe
- Valour
- Parachutes
- The Kodacolor Love Story

My Vampire was revamped (haha) to be Necropolis. The original plot was about Althea Gross who lived in England with her Aunt, Uncle, and cousin. The story opened with her crying under a tree while it rained, and soon her boyfriend came to save her. He took her home where she got online and started chatting with friends via Instant-Message. She kept getting odd messages from a stranger and ignored them, and as she went to bed something knocked her down and left her a rose.

Necropolis was set with Althea Gross being Jeniffer Gross, who was into older guys and having an affair. Jeniffer was an artist who was being stalked by a man in black, who she had been dreaming about and painting. A little cliche, but not near as bad as the first draft.

If I hadn't been a member of the fanfiction community, I would never have heard the terms Mary Sue or Gary Stu, meaning I would never have learned to make my characters less of a molded figure of words and more of a lopsided sculpture. If I hadn't been a fanfictioner I wouldn't have been messaged by very awesome people who became my Betas, telling me what was wrong. Luckily I did use spell check for everything after The Hope of Another.

All of my own accomplishments aside, there is a thick wall between original fiction and fanfiction, and I find it hard to believe there really is such prejudice against it. It's a way of expression. I'm not a sculptor, but I don't hate sculptures. I don't think sculpting is fun, but I am jealous of how beautiful a lot of that art comes out. Is it really that big of a deal? No.

There is always the old stand by: "if you don't like it, don't read it", but what fun is that? I can say I think a majority of original fiction I find on this website is not well written as a whole, and I will have enemies. I didn't like it, but I read it, and I still didn't like it. Great. Now what? I move on to another unfulfilling story, fanfiction or original fiction? Because either genre has it's vast majority of bad.

Not all fanfiction has to be about a celebrity. I think outside of the Mibba box, and I write the fanfiction I want to write. I mean, how many Tuck Everlasting fanfictions do you see on Mibba? Two? What about Young Guns fanfiction? It's unfair to say all fanfiction sucks, just as saying all original fiction sucks. We can all agree to disagree, if that makes you happy. I write both FF and OF, and I'm proud of both. I haven't written about original vampires in months, and my writing isn't horrible. We can't just clump everything and everyone together.

As an author, I find it difficult to pick out the honestly good stories-- fanfiction or original -- from the bad. We all complain about cliche and Mary Sue, but that's what everyone reads, and it's what has the most stars. If such a story can be written in sarcasm, or amazing artistry, then let it be. But if the story must have photos to describe characters, or the story must be about ten bands and a fourteen year old love decagon, then something is not right. As authors we're supposed to convey feeling and imagery through our words, and many of us aren't able to do it perfectly. That is the honest truth.

We can either condone something we hate, or we can actually abolish it by putting aside differences. The Berlin Wall did a lot of damage, but this isn't the Berlin Wall. There are extremists on either side and there is one platform in between for those who are halved. I don't hate fanfiction, but neither am I going to only read original fiction from published books. I encourage fanfiction, as do some published authors. I find it to have improved my writing, and I think it can do so for others.

My stance on fanfiction is that I write for plots that have loop holes, which could possibly sustain a character addition and small plot tweaks. In Carpe Diem, my OC works at a museum. She is intelligent, but not for action or adventure. She fits in well with the movie's original plot; she is tailored to fit. As was my OC for my Gerard Way fic, which wasn't even about romance, love, or sex. I tailor characters to fit into plots that already exist, my plots are based on the originals, and can be seen off the beaten path.

I write OF and FF, and I don't see how either affects my work as a whole. For my fanfics, I still have to create an OC who has depth and a history, just as I would for an original.
July 19th, 2009 at 08:23am