What lies within the concept of a good fan fiction?
I have been musing over this concept for quite a long time now, I think almost all of us who have ever attempted at writing some scrap of fan fiction have asked themselves once or twice what is the main drive that pushes us all to sit in front of a white paper and start writing about the object of our fandom, or plastered to a screen to read in just one go a fan fiction, careless of the late hour, or the coffee machine boiling and humming or our relatives asking for attention.

If you surf the net, you will easily realize that communities promoting good fan fiction are abounding almost everywhere. Everyone have their own standards, everyone do their best to reach the highest expression of writing. And so, rules and guidelines are set up in order to be sure that only the best creations are hosted by this or that site.

But, what makes a story turn into a good piece of writing? What does specifically attract lots of readers towards a specific fiction? And how the readers approach this specific aspect of modern writing? Can we say without no fear of appearing silly, that fan fiction can be mentioned among the new genres of modern writing? Excellent use of grammar and appropriate construction of plot and characters are enough to turn a story into one of the most popular fanfictions on the net?

I’d love to hear what you all reckon about it, so, please, don’t be afraid to leave your two cents.

Who knows that from this discussion we will all learn something new and apply it to our own writing/site.

Interesting question you raise....especially here.
I have been thinking about that to, maybe because I heard a rather harsh statement about fanfictions some time ago.

To answer your question: is fanfiction art (or at least that is what I read in your first post...I have to have a definition about what art is. Something rather tricky cause even the great minds of our time (or any other time) aren't agreeing on that. Most people are agreeing on the mona lisa as being art or the works of Shakespeare (funny is that in his time his works where considered to be for the common man...shows how things can change) but there are more paintings and books who are considered art by one group and crap by another. There is not even concensus about that. So how about this movies, popmusic or videoclips? Can that be art? What makes people think that that isn't art? Maybe because art is usely considered as high culture....something for the elite...not meant for the common man (cause he cannot understand it). A very snobish point of view if you ask me. Can't everyone see what is beautiful and good? I do think so (call me naive if you like but I think art should be for everyone)

Now back to the topic of fanfictions and art. Great writing is literature. There is a list on what is considered literature. This list changes and is highly criticised. Why? Well because the list mainly includes white males. Not very objective if you ask me and so do a lot of other people think.

Seeing this I can only conclude that nobody knows what art or literature is. There is no objective standard that can say this is art or literature. And this means I have to go by my own standards. What is art to me?
It is timeless, has multiple meanings, it shows me something of how it is to be human. It teaches me something about humans, about our history, the society we live in, the way we interact. It gives me pleasure and something to think about and above all it tries to capture something about the eternal questions: why are we here, what is out purpose, how are we supposed to live with each other and this earth?

I think most fanfictions aren't going about the big questions and that is why I say that they aren't literature. But there are those few exceptions that do seem to go about those questions...you might not be able to see it directly but everyone feels it and that is what makes them so populair. Of course good writing skill, characters with whom you can identify and an intriging plot contribute to this too.

For me every story tells me something, learns me something.
Fanfictions are a way to express yourself, to get to know others, learn how to write and we write and read it because, and I am a strong believer of this, we try to learn and understand ourself, other people, the world around us and how to deal with it. We create moral dillema's because we want to know how other people think about it, how we must deal with it.
That we use celebrities is because we admire them, fantasize about them, draws an audience and because in a way they are a roll model.

Well that are my 2 cents...maybe I have gone a bit overboard...so excuse me if I did

Ok, well this is my two cents, as it were.

Why are fanfic's popular? Well it's like everything that has a huge fan base. The main reason is that it offers a method of escapism from this world. Whether it's films, book, fan fiction whatever it is it enables us to escape into another world for a few hours at least. That is why I end up here, nearly everyday because these stories let me get into the sitauation the characters are in and so in that way I escape.
It is also like Dana said you get to meet new people develop, your talent, learn about other cultures ideas. Those things I personally learnt while I've been floating around sites like this one. I've gone from reading to having the confidence to post my own fanfiction and thats come from the friendship and brilliant writters on this board. So most the authours of fanfiction won't become famous writters or be rich from there writting talents but that doent mean they're crap. So why do we spend time doing fanfiction, I've allready said as a form as escapism, but that is not the only reason. The main reason I write them is because they are fun, and its a brilliant way to express yourself. All art forms come from that simple action to express our idea's and belivess. It runs through all major art forms from music, to drama, to writing to painting. It's a form of letting us express ourselfs. So in that way it is art. Maybe Fan fiction won't ever be a recognised art form but thats beside the point.
It is because we are expressing our selfs using familiar characters or worlds or ideas, because it something other people can relate to.
So it is art!!!!

I hope that makes sense??? :unsure: ohh well I thing my major points are across ttfn. Anneka

There is no real definition of the word 'art', and I believe that it is each to their own regarding the classification of a piece as one of 'art' or otherwise.

In my opinion, words themselves is art. The creation of words enable the human imagination to run wild and think up meanings for each organisation of the alphabet. Weaving words together into sentences to form a piece of reading is art, even if it's not 'good literature' as insisted upon by some 'experts'.

I'd liken fanfictions to abstract paintings that seem to be unplanned when there really is a story behind the words. Feel-good chick-flicks are also art in my opinion because a certain amount of time and effort, and a goal was initiated by the 'artist'.

Not sure if I made sense.

You did peiyu

I kinda second what P.P. said. Words and ability with them are actually art.
I am not ashamed to say that some stories I'm currently reading in this forum are much better than some published books, at least to me.
Personally, i don't feel the great urge and impulse to cast famous people in my stories. They are here, I need faces, so, it happended. I don't want to sound careless but if Peter Jackson would have enrolled different people in the Lod of the Rings, I guess I would be here anyway.
I lke writing, and I like reading, and I cannot deny that sometimes the fact of casting famous people helps you to peek people's interest. Let me explain it: I can be insecure, but if I decide to post a story, that's why I want it to be read. And if some famous guest can help me in that, well, I don't find it wrong.
Sometimes it's weird, I feel like I'm intruding their privacy, using them. But again, I don't want to stiop and think about it every second.

There's a thing I've always been wondering about: I don't know if it's the same for you, but personally, I try to avoid to let people know I write fanfiction. I mean, if I'm not ashamed to say I write, what's the poblem with that maybe in the end, fiction writers are not taken that seriously... if it is art, or at least a reasonable form of talent, why a big part of authorsprefer not to show off the rock?

I partly agree with mena.

But well fanfiction in it's true meaning is not what we do, but for example taking the characters Harry Ron and Hermionee etc, the Hogwarts setting and all of J.K.Rowlings Ideas to make up their own stories. And I cannot really call that art, because it's - well stealing actually.
Sometimes even major abuse (The net is full of disgusting stuff where the two underage Harry and Malfoy engage is various homosexual and bizar sexual activities - come on that is kinda... yuck, said as a fan of Rowling)

Real person fanfiction is a different thing. Of course we steal the "characters" - partly but we make up most of it anyway. Here we find a different problem though - invasion of privacy - that I really think about a lot lately.
I fopr example have fun seing my name in a fanfiction of someone else - but do we know if the same goes for the guys? I highly doubt it.
Sure writing fanfiction ensures you an audience, and that is what brought me to it in the first place.

Of course it is art, I'd say thinking of ppl like Kim, Ursi, Adri and many more.
And Hell no, if the I think of the majority (not necessarily here but in general - go have a look at ewfn again!)
I think art is when it is the story, the style that draws ppl in and it's not the actors who are the only appeal. Stories that would work without the famous names as well.

*shrugs* But Fanfiction is a kind of secret art, it's nothing that can be published etc. And to go on and grow in ones talent maybe at some point fanfiction is just not enough anymore - I don't know...

It's both. And a good example is my story "More Than a Fan". The original version was just going to be a horrific sex romp about a girl going back and forth between Dom and Elijah. After a reality check and two rewrites, we now have my current version. As long as we put in our disclaimers, I see it as all good.

I think it's whatever the writer wants it to be. Mine is a cross between both but I wrote it because I love to write so I don't consider mine just entertainment...or even simple for that matter. The story wasn't totally inspired by being a fan, I just find it easier to have a character everyone knows through media eyes and create a personality for them. It poses a challange in some areas and makes other areas easier to cover.

I think if a story has a weak plot, undeveloped characters, and countless chapters of smut, it would be simple entertainment which isn't really a bad thing, it just isn't how I write lately.

I don't think that a fan fic has a certian recipe that makes it better than another. For me, it's simply the story line and the quality of writing that makes it a 'good' or a 'bad' fanfic.

I think we put way too much time into our fan fictions for them to just be simple entertainment. At least that's the way I feel about mine.

I mean, I write to entertain but I also find that I need to write and I'm sort of new to it all, I haven't been writing for very long, I think it's easier to write about the people I look up to and respect. Another part of it, for me, is that I wonder what their lives are like and while I wonder I come up with stories and then write them. Sometimes I feel guilty about it, and I don't go announcing to everyone that I meet that I write fanfiction because I don't think they'd really understand. They'd probably think that it was indeed just smut that the authors are writing for perverse pleasure or whatever, but here I've found that's not really what it's all about. To me these fics are just as good as a published book I'd find at a local Chapters or Indigo or whatever. I think it's kind of like we're just writing a part for our favourite actors. It's like a movie, but the role is made for them. If that makes sense.

Anyway, I definitely consider it art, except when it's kind of like perfect-worldish, but I don't like that in books either so yeah. Oh, and when it's all "Then Jude Law came to my house and :ups: me senseless which was really tiring after my morning with Orlando Bloom." Yeah, no, I wouldn't consider that art as more of a written down fantasy. Which is okay, any girl would love that, but maybe it shouldn't be written for the world to see....

Guh, I've been up for about 20 hours now :meh: I should be ignored hehe.

Actually Cat I think thats an acuratediscription.

I think that more than anything, fan fiction is a stepping stone. I came from EWFN and I have been there almost since the beginning, and I have seen the way some of the members have grown and developed from that (now pitiful) fan fiction section. Some of them are going to be published, and a few of them are working on novels.

People who are serious about fan fictions I find are often the ones who go on to greater things. Fan fiction is like a template, we can develop stories around a base character or story (like Lord of the Rings or Harry Potter) and in that we learn to explore our own imagination and creativity, even if a lot of our ideas are borrowed. Sometimes I find that it is more difficult to make a story work when you are basing it off of something else, and that in itself is art and is quite admirable.

Simple Entertainment is what I believe a lot of these fictions are. Most of them are not well put together, and they lack plot, character development, and basically they're just one fantasy after another written down (sexual or not).

However, I really have to say that any form of self expression through any media can be considered art. We do not need to follow a standard or a definition, because our expressions are personal, and if it is art to us, then it doesn't matter what the rest of the world thinks. There will always be at least one other person out there who likes what you're doing and what you have to say. That's all that really matters, isn't it?

I agree with Sandra.
Art is in the eye of the beholder, just like anything else. A person can be beautiful for some, but the opposite for the other. Just like art. I've seen so-called pieces of art, and found them to be utterly rubbish. Does that mean I might miss the intellect to actually understand the piece? Gosh, I hope not. LOL
No but really, it's just your basic interests that trigger a piece to be art or not. Some find cult films typical art. Why? Beats me, most of those movies I find rubbish. So again, am I just stupid? I hope not!
I just think it really is all in the eye of the beholder.

To me fanfics are just plain stories. Stories that could be published if they're well-written, good plots, good development of characters etc etc.
To me writing fanfics is just like writing stories in general. I just happen to use a certain name of a certain actor or actress, and make his or her appearance the same as the real-life actor ro actress. But I for one am not going to research how this person is in real-life to make my character exactly like the real-life version. Goodness gracious, the work!!
I want to be free in my writing and make the characters like I see them. And if they happen to have the same name as a real-life famous person, what is that more or less than reader or writing a 'normal' (without the famous name) story?

And finally, do I consider fanfics to be art. Difficult question, and yet, maybe not. It might be art to some, but to me personally, no. Not really. I do think it's a whole new level of writing in a way, just because there is this famous name in. But I don't want to place too much emphasis on this. In most stories I have read, most fanfics, the name really is all that the famous real-life person and the character in the fanfic have in common.
So truth be told, fanfics really are just another way of writing a story.

xxx
Petra