Original Fiction vs Fanfiction.

It's something that gets brought up a lot, so I figure we could have a thread to discuss it. This isn't a place to attack people who write fan fiction or original fiction. This is a place to discuss your preference and why you prefer one to the other, answer questions people might have about why you'd rather write about Panic! at the Disco than a made up girl named Annie and a made up boy named Rick.

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I like fan fiction for several reasons. The first one is that I'm not the greatest and discussing what my characters look like physically. I like that I don't have to do that to the extreme. I do it somewhat, of course, but it's not like the books you pick up with the two paragraphs describing everything from her nose to her ankles. Pass.

Secondly, I like the people I write about. They make me smile, make me laugh, make me feel comfortable. I'm not writing about them, I'm writing about characters based off them.

Thirdly, I very rarely read original fiction unless it's published and in a book. When I read original fiction I want to sit down for one-two hours and read a book. I have not found any original fiction pieces on Mibba that are like the plotlines of the books I read.

Personally I like orginal fiction because most of the plotlines for fan-fic is overdone. Plus there's way to much fanfic in my opinion, and they're all about the same bands.
The thing I like about orginal fiction is how you can completely make up a character and how you're not really limited by anything.

I write both fan fiction and original fiction. This year, however, I've been getting more and more into original fiction; I suppose it's the fact that these are my characters, my plots, and therefore are all mine are rather appealing. It makes me sound greedy, I know, but they're a lot easier to work with, seeing as I make them up myself. If you're a fan fiction writer for, say, the Harry Potter series, and you make Lord Voldemort like the nicest guy in the world, what does that say? It's either a parody or you're a bad writer. You're limited to writing about how other people view the character, and if you don't and it's not supposed to be a parody/comedy, chances are people are going to be turned off by your story. I just don't enjoy that feeling of limitation, and prefer to explore characterization through my own thoughts and creations.

Although, I do read fan fiction and I still do write the occasional fan fiction every now and then.

i like fanfiction because it's fun to read. it makes me feel closer to them. i could never write it because it didn't feel right to me. i absolutely love original fiction, not just for the creative freedom, but also because i just love the fact that i didn't need anything else to make something so beautiful. most of my characters have a little peice of my personality. it's hard not to leave myself in them when i write about them.

I like fanfiction and original fiction. I read and write both.

I enjoy fanfic for many the same reasons Dru originally said. I feel comfortable with the characters, even if they're not themselves at all. I am a fan of them...and well...I just like it. I've found quite a bit of good, well-written fanfic, and the plots aren't overused at all.

I also like original fiction, however. Sometimes I just need a break from exhaustive slash and romance, and I turn to an OF horror. I like OF cuz it's...just original. It's new, and I can think whatever I like about it.

i WRITE fanfiction because i'm lazy and prefer to start knowing exactly what my characters look like, and knowing that my readers know what they look like.

that said, i usually don't write in canon, and simply use the names and physical descriptions of famous people and force my own characters onto them.

i also find that fanfic generates more readers and reveiws than OF, so from a feedback point of view, it makes more sense for me to use names of some blokes in a band and get the readers and comments, than to use my own names and be lucky to make anyone care at all. when i started writing, i NEEDED the feedback. and now it's just a habit to use those names, they're like old friends.

it's like playing with barbies and kens. even though they always look the same, and are always called 'barbie' and 'ken' - you can make them be whoever you want them to be, when you'r eplaying with them. they're just a tangible object on which to hang your story. i use the physical forms of the musicians to act out my own stories.

however, i have a much greater respect for original fiction - as i believe that a 'good' OF writer has to be MUCH better than a 'good' fanfic writer to generate the same interest in their story. if an original fiction is 'good', it'll usually be better quality than a 'good' fanfic.

gah, i'm probably not making much sense, sorry.

i'm trying to say that FF is fun and easy, but that if you can pull off writing OF, you'll probably be a stronger writer, simply because it IS harder to get people interested in original characters than in characters they already have an interest in [from the band/movie/whatever]

i'm a published writer, and write for a living, and i live in fear that one day i'll get outed as a fanfic writer - in the real-world writing world, it's definitely seen as one of the lowest forms of the art... but, dammit - it makes me HAPPY.

There's a lot of fan fics and I write them so I'm not bashing them. Really, all I'm asking is for something other than MCR or A7X. Yes, I have Avenged Sevenfold fics but really I have an Aiden one too.

I'm a big shipper for original fics or something other than band fics because it's different.

I also write original fics. I think they're much more interesting to write and read because for those who really want to become authors, it's good practice. I'll read them whether they're bad or good because like I said... It's different.

I just think that they should be read equally.

I like both fanfic and OF.

I like fanfic because you're given a setup and have to play with that to get what you want, have to try and make it realistic. (so mostly, I think that AU is pretty lame. I read it if it's well written, but I think it's a pathetic stand in for OF most of the time.)

Original fiction has the bonus of it being new ideas, not some recycled thing, and only being limited by what you can do with it, rather than an existing piece of work. And it requires more creativity, whereas the other requires more flow, more adherance to a style.

I think they both have merits, but I think people write too much fanfiction when they should be writing OF rather than disguising it so it's "hott".

bright eyes.:

i like fanfiction because it's fun to read. it makes me feel closer to them. i could never write it because it didn't feel right to me. i absolutely love original fiction, not just for the creative freedom, but also because i just love the fact that i didn't need anything else to make something so beautiful. most of my characters have a little peice of my personality. it's hard not to leave myself in them when i write about them.

^ I agree.

I read fanfics because there is nothing else to read on Mibba and I'm not really going to go out of my way and go on other sites. I have only found a handful of OF stories on here.

Now, I write OF because I feel awkward writing about the stars I know and love. I also want to one day have a book published. Not make a living off of it. Just as a hobby and just to say that I did it. And no one is going to publish fanfiction. Also, I find it more challenging to write OF because with fanfiction you already have your characters laid out in front of you. Description for appeareance is easy to write since everyone already knows what they look like. Idk. I find it too easy.

No offense or anything, of course.

I like Original fiction because It's not based on anything and it's completly original. I also find it kinda creepy to write about real people unless they know you personally. Especially sex scenes I would be so creeped out if I were them. Especially Waycest that creeps the hell out of me.

Oh and I agree with the part about writing original fiction. It's feels so good when you put a little piece of you into you characters. I've only made two fanfics and they were about harrypotter and that's a little bit different. Plus they were about the Marauders (Harry's dad, Sirius Black, Remus Lupin, and Peter Pettigrew) when they were young.

I write original fiction and fanfic; however, when it comes to reading, I prefer fanfic.

I've read very few original fics on here that can pull it off. We're all developing authors and very few of us are professionals, so we don't have countless hours to develop complicated characters and plotlines of published stories. So most OF stories I've seen don't have as much depth as published ones. Nevertheless, I write it myself simply because I like making up my own characters every now and then, and it's just a nice break.

I read and write fanfic because I don't think it's not creative. Mostly I think it gets a bad rap because there are a lot of lazy fanfic authors who come up with cliche plots. But a fanfic can be just as creative and an enjoyable read as any OF if it's written by a talented author. I love it because you get to explore a real person's personality and as mentioned early, it's fun and a great way to build up writing skills.

SnowXwhite:

Oh and I agree with the part about writing original fiction. It's feels so good when you put a little piece of you into you characters.

You can put yourself into a fanfiction character, too. It's really not that difficult...

I have been writing original and fan fic for 10 years and i love both so much. but i am not going to read anybody's original fic unless i know them and can expect it to be good. because character development is the key. can they create a character i can care about? but that's a big problem in fan fics, too.

i think mostly i will read other people's fan fics because you know what to expect. and i like the fantasy element of imagining myself living through the character they've created and having adventures with my favorite bands. and you can usually tell a bad fanfic about a paragraph in and just stop reading it.

I'll read either one, but I pefer original-fiction.

I honestly feel odd writting fan-fic and if I do I find it "selling out"

One of the other reasons I write fanfiction is because I have this weird obsessive thing where I just get obsessed with something. And since I'm a writer, that's how I carry out my obsession.

The only fanfiction I really read is Green Day fanfiction. MCR is pretty common and I don't have a connection with that band like I do with others. It's just me.

I love original fiction, but I haven't found many OF's on Mibba that I became obsessed with. They tend to have fairly typical plotlines or be about teen romances, and it's just a little overused so it sounds the same to me.

druscilla; ryden.:

One of the other reasons I write fanfiction is because I have this weird obsessive thing where I just get obsessed with something. And since I'm a writer, that's how I carry out my obsession.

Yeah. I wrote for more than 20 categories in Fanfiction.net, releasing 109 stories for them.

I've been writing fanfiction since 4 years ago, even if I just picked up the habit if using band members a year ago.

There's something fun and creative, for me, to use a certain situation in the given fandom and twist it, or to make your own situation with those characters.

I actually read a lot of fanfiction where the story can actually live without using names of characters that already exist. Not just AUs. Like, I read a brotherly fic that could actually stand by itself without using the names Gerard and Mikey.

Right now, I like writing fanfic because it garners more readers, and therefore more con-crit to help me improve. I know I won't be able to publish my fanfics, so I also consider them training for my THE novel that I want to get published. I already have the plot, but it's really ambitious and I need to be a more skilled writer to pull it off.

Also, I believe writing must have a message, and my message will be more read in a fanfic. And I dunno... I just like writing them!

Online, I prefer reading fanfic more since I already get my dose of OF in published books, and sometimes the fanfic are actually 100000x better than those published ones. It's not the fandom, or genre, but the style of writing, but one has to admit that for every 20,000 crappy fanfic writers there's a gem of a writer waiting to be discovered.

I love both. I don't bash on either.
It's just that - some of the fanfics, are written poorly.
I try to write mine as good, but - gahd, I failed.
Original Fiction, it's really creative - especially I read awesome ones here, just go to show you they're creative as hell. Fanfic - I write. Because it's fun, yeah know.
Using characters that you know the personality and looks - it's just fun.
In OF's you really have to be detailed about each aspect. But you know, you could exclude things out so the reader can spark their imagination.

Other than that - I love both categories :]

I like fanfiction as long as it's interesting. I like original fiction as long as it's interesting.

Have to say I slightly prefer original fiction because...I just prefer it.