It's a waste of time; you should be learning how to become a Real Writer!
But my goal (at the moment) is not to be a professional writer at all. I write fanfic because I enjoy writing it and others enjoy reading it. That's real enough for me.
It's totally different if the author is dead!
This leads from the "fanfic hurts the pro writer personally!" stance, I think. The thing is, fanfic doesn't affect you personally, or at all, except to the extent you choose to be offended by it. Kind of like the way gay people getting married doesn't actually affect the sanctity of hetero marriages. Someone lacks the ability to properly analyze the cause/effect relationship here.
How would you feel if somebody wrote fanfic about YOUR story?
Absolutely freakin' fabulous. Like I had made it. Because that would mean that my world had become the fanwriter's world to a small extent. That my characters were interesting enough to make people want to follow them outside the bounds of the story I wrote, to ask the questions I didn't answer, to explore possibilities I didn't choose. It would mean that I did something RIGHT. It would mean that I'd hooked 'em. And it would mean that they'd buy the sequel...
It's like you came by my house and stole my car!
No, it's like I made a replica of your car, tricked it out with entirely new features and put it on display (for free, to the public) because your car was just that cool.
You have to think of the children!
No, I don't. And if I had to, I'd think that a lot of fanfic writers are children. I wrote my first fanfic at age 12. I didn't know that other people did it, too. It's a natural expression of creativity, and as natural as my healthily developing sexuality at that age. But I have a feeling the people arguing this point don't approve of the latter, either.
Besides, anyone who thinks kids' minds are pure and innocent prior to outside contamination is crashingly naive and must have blocked out puberty altogether.
no subject
But my goal (at the moment) is not to be a professional writer at all. I write fanfic because I enjoy writing it and others enjoy reading it. That's real enough for me.
It's totally different if the author is dead!
This leads from the "fanfic hurts the pro writer personally!" stance, I think. The thing is, fanfic doesn't affect you personally, or at all, except to the extent you choose to be offended by it. Kind of like the way gay people getting married doesn't actually affect the sanctity of hetero marriages. Someone lacks the ability to properly analyze the cause/effect relationship here.
How would you feel if somebody wrote fanfic about YOUR story?
Absolutely freakin' fabulous. Like I had made it. Because that would mean that my world had become the fanwriter's world to a small extent. That my characters were interesting enough to make people want to follow them outside the bounds of the story I wrote, to ask the questions I didn't answer, to explore possibilities I didn't choose. It would mean that I did something RIGHT. It would mean that I'd hooked 'em. And it would mean that they'd buy the sequel...
It's like you came by my house and stole my car!
No, it's like I made a replica of your car, tricked it out with entirely new features and put it on display (for free, to the public) because your car was just that cool.
You have to think of the children!
No, I don't. And if I had to, I'd think that a lot of fanfic writers are children. I wrote my first fanfic at age 12. I didn't know that other people did it, too. It's a natural expression of creativity, and as natural as my healthily developing sexuality at that age. But I have a feeling the people arguing this point don't approve of the latter, either.
Besides, anyone who thinks kids' minds are pure and innocent prior to outside contamination is crashingly naive and must have blocked out puberty altogether.