Fanfiction

[Manfred Belheim]

Yes yes. You've made it clear what your opinion is. If you get paid, it's not fanfiction. If you don't, it is. Very black and white, very clear. It's also been clear from the first thing I wrote that I'm talking about the style and approach. Bashing me over the head with dictionary definitions isn't going to talk me out of my opinion.

You appear to think that just because the Daleks appeared in one story, they should never appear again.

I'm sorry, but if I really do appear (to you) to think that, despite saying nothing of the sort whatsoever, then really what's the point in even trying to discuss anything.

The overdone stuff is in the nuWho stories, so put the blame on the self-indulgent twits running (ruining, in my opinion) the show during the last several years.

That's... I mean... that's exactly what I said!!!!111???# Who do you think I was putting the blame on if not them?! What do you think I was even saying if not that?!

 

[Gori the Grey]

I'm going to write a fan fiction set in the CFC:OT universe.

Just wait til you see which ones of you I'm 'shipping.

 

[Valka D'Ur]

Yes yes. You've made it clear what your opinion is. If you get paid, it's not fanfiction. If you don't, it is. Very black and white, very clear. It's also been clear from the first thing I wrote that I'm talking about the style and approach. Bashing me over the head with dictionary definitions isn't going to talk me out of my opinion.

So you're sticking with your opinion regardless of whether it's applicable in all cases?

I'm sorry, but if I really do appear (to you) to think that, despite saying nothing of the sort whatsoever, then really what's the point in even trying to discuss anything.

How about just defining your terms, instead of getting huffy? At this point I have no idea what you mean by "self-referential." Apparently once is okay, but how many more times can they refer to a past character, event, location, etc. before you decide to complain about it and insist it's "fanfiction"?

That's... I mean... that's exactly what I said!!!!111???# Who do you think I was putting the blame on if not them?! What do you think I was even saying if not that?!

You said:

It's an accepted trope of fanfiction that writers will often have two or more sets of recurring characters/groups teaming up is it not? That fanfiction writers like to play around with established lore in that way? Well that's why I said the TV show is like fanfiction.

You're accusing the showrunner/producers/writing staff of producing fanfiction. If you mean it has the quality of badly-written fanfiction, say so. It's still official canon from a legal standpoint, however, so it doesn't meet the legal definition of fanfiction.

Yes, real fanfic writers do like to play around with established lore. But they are not the show's official writers, nothing they write is canon, so it's harmless fun. It's when the official staff start doing such things, that the result can either turn out really well (ie. the Fourth Doctor and the Master agreeing to work together in "Logopolis" but the Master betrays the Doctor so the Doctor falls off the radio telescope and is so badly injured that he has to regenerate) or it can turn into garbage (pretty much everything from the Matt Smith era onward).

I'm going to write a fan fiction set in the CFC:OT universe.

Just wait til you see which ones of you I'm 'shipping.

 

[Akka]

Fanfiction is serious business.

 

[Ryika]

I'm going to write a fan fiction set in the CFC:OT universe.

Just wait til you see which ones of you I'm 'shipping.

I hereby give you official permission to use my name if you ever make that a thing.

 

[Commodore]

Just wait til you see which ones of you I'm 'shipping.

I am both excited and terrified at this prospect.

 

[Valka D'Ur]

Fanfiction is serious business.

It can be. Have a look at some of the eBay prices sometime. Fortunately, I know of some people whose prices are more reasonable.

 

[sophie]

I am both excited and terrified at this prospect.

Don't encourage him, he might actually do it!

 

[Valka D'Ur]

Don't encourage him, he might actually do it!

What would be so bad about that? It's been ages since we had an opt-in activity in this forum.

Shame the opt-in social group got zapped.

 

[Manfred Belheim]

So you're sticking with your opinion regardless of whether it's applicable in all cases?

Well it's an opinion of fanfiction (and "fanfiction") in general. Of course it's not going to be applicable to all cases. There's loads of the stuff so obviously some of it's going to be good, or not typical fan fiction. Why should I change my opinion because of some outliers?

How about just defining your terms, instead of getting huffy? At this point I have no idea what you mean by "self-referential." Apparently once is okay, but how many more times can they refer to a past character, event, location, etc. before you decide to complain about it and insist it's "fanfiction"?

I'm talking in general terms. I'm not going to put numbers on it draw graphs. How about "fanfiction is mostly self-referential, whereas in the real thing it's much less prevalent" or something like that? It's about a trend, a predilection, stemming from what fans want to see and therefore want to create, vs "normal" writers.

You're accusing the showrunner/producers/writing staff of producing fanfiction. If you mean it has the quality of badly-written fanfiction, say so. It's still official canon from a legal standpoint, however, so it doesn't meet the legal definition of fanfiction.

Legal definition!!!! "It has the quality of fanfiction". There. I mean I thought that was pretty clear from everything else I said, but I've said it clearly now. I omitted the "badly-written" part because that clause would be redundant (in my opinion).

Yes, real fanfic writers do like to play around with established lore. But they are not the show's official writers, nothing they write is canon, so it's harmless fun. It's when the official staff start doing such things, that the result can either turn out really well (ie. the Fourth Doctor and the Master agreeing to work together in "Logopolis" but the Master betrays the Doctor so the Doctor falls off the radio telescope and is so badly injured that he has to regenerate) or it can turn into garbage (pretty much everything from the Matt Smith era onward).

This bit doesn't contradict anything I said and seems to be in line with my thinking (other than drawing the line well before Matt Smith), so... no comment.

 

[Gori the Grey]

Don't encourage him, he might actually do it!

The only way that I could be encouraged to do this is if enough people were to opt in. I need a sufficiently large and diverse cast of characters.

I'll take Valessa as having opted in. Others?

 

[Valka D'Ur]

Consider me opted in. I'm curious about this. Just no anti-cat stuff, please, or I'll opt back out.

 

[sophie]

Just assume I'm always opted in. Damn shame about that opt-in social group going away...

 

[SS-18 ICBM]

Just need to find the diamonds in the rough.

 

[Gen.Mannerheim]

Just need to find the diamonds in the rough. Oh neat, Tiberium Wars updated.

Wait, there's fanfiction for the Command & Conquer series!?!?!

 

[SS-18 ICBM]

The one I mentioned was for CnC3. Great, but hasn't updated in 5 years though. It's been so long I've started to forget.

 

[Gen.Mannerheim]

The one I mentioned was for CnC3. Great, but hasn't updated in 5 years though. It's been so long I've started to forget.

This is amazing...

Also, props to the author for not abandoning the fic. What little experience with fanfiction I had has shown that a lot of fanfic stories never get finished either because the author stops writing or loses interest and begins another fic.

 

[Sommerswerd]

- Fanfiction - Yay or Nay?
Yay! George Lucas welcomed (tolerated) it, so clearly its not racist.
- Is its bad reputation justified?
Yes, obviously... most of it... like most of any genre of art... is utter garbage water. That doesn't mean it isn't worth doing or exploring. Some of it is quite good.
- Have you ever read good fanfiction? If so, what was it?
My very first foray into fanfic was The Glove of Darth Vader, back when I was a teen. It satisfied my Star Wars itch, which desperately needed scratching, given that there hadn't been any canon released in a decade.
- Rowling or Martin?
Rowling's attitude seems to be the right one. I still like Game of Thrones though

 

[Zkribbler]

We watched Hogfather last night, which got me thinking of my Discworld fanfiction, posted under my nom de plume of Runt Thunderbelch on fanfiction.com. I reviewed my poem
Miss Susan’s Hogswatch, plus my short stories The Hogfather and the Patrician and Stealing Time. They are glorious.

Unfortunately I can't publish them anywhere except on fanfiction sites.

I toyed with the idea of exorcising the Terry Pratchett portions of Stealing Time and replacing them with generic fantasy elements, but alas, 'tis impossible. Sure, I could replace the Unseen University's Tower of Arts with, say, an abandoned castle, but I need the UU's unique library, plus I have Death, Miss Susan, Gaspode the talking dog. etc., all unique characters, all critical to the story, who can neither be omitted nor disguised.

Somewhere above, Valka talks about fanfiction contests, so I just searched for some. Alas, there appear to be none for Discworld.

 

[Valka D'Ur]

You could PM some of the Discworld fanfic authors at fanfiction.net and ask them. There are a lot of sites around that don't become well-known to more than a relative few people. For instance, there are loads of Star Trek Voyager and Bonanza sites out there I've never heard of other than when someone uploads a story to fanfiction.net and mentions that "this was for the contest last Christmas/Valentine's Day/story of the month at _____.com" and I'm wondering if I should check those other sites out.

TrekBBS has monthly fanfic contests, but I think they're just for Star Trek. Other franchises are allowed in the Fanfiction forum there, and a new thread recently opened in Miscellaneous for writing and poetry.

Of course we could have a contest here, if there are any other people who would like to give it a try. I have no idea how many Discworld fans there might be here; I just know that you're one and I'm not (never read the series).