Fan Fiction-To Do or Not to Do
Copyright 2006 Gideon O
Fan fiction is fiction written by people who enjoy a film,
novel, or other media work, using the characters and situations
developed in it to create new plots in which to use these
characters.
Fan fiction has been going on for decades, centuries, I'm sure
even millenniums. It could be noted as far back as the ancient
Egyptians. For example, the ancient Egyptians lauded many gods
in their society and even wrote literature on these gods, such
as Horis and Isis. When the Egyptians came in contact with the
Greeks many centuries later, the Greeks picked up some of the
Egyptian gods as their own and wrote stories on them. When the
Romans came into the picture, they picked up some of the Greek
gods as their own and wrote new plots for them. Up to this day
many of the mythological gods people are aware of are usually
seen as Roman or Greek myths and fiction. Some people don't even
think to link them back to Egypt. Of course this is thousands of
years ago when copyright didn't exist and the population of the
world was a lot smaller. There wasn't any technology like the
Internet. Most literature creators at that time probably did not
worry too much about infringement. I mean, it's not like the
Egyptians could have rode to Greece in their chariots and accuse
them of violating copyright laws. However, even back then people
faced severe punishment for changing or misrepresenting a story
or literature renowned in their society, and the law was not
kind on what we call fan fiction today.
We are in the twenty-first century; technology is at an all time
high and increasing. Fans can get access to almost any media
work published in an instant. And, the copyright laws of course
still favor the originator. Okay, what about fanfiction in the
twenty first century? The simple answer is it is still frowned
upon. Then, is there any spot for fan fiction publishing? Of
course there is. What I believe is that fanfiction keeps the
world of literature revolving. I've observed that this is
especially true for popular published literature. Usually when a
book hits the shelf or a story is told, may even be on
historical facts, despite the popularity and liking of the
story, everyone is not satisfied. Many fans may think to
themselves, "what if it happened this way?" Some fans even go
out and create a fiction based on how they think the story
should have happened. Some of these fans share their version
with others in chat groups, message boards and so on. The effect
of these fans actions? We now have more text and a wider
audience.
If fan fiction makes the world of storytelling go round should
fanfiction be allowed to broaden audiences and possibly allow
economic growth due to the purchasing of the fictions by the
curious minded? Or maybe the stories should be left as was
created. But what if the story is unfinished? Should the
curiosity of the audience be quenched by imaginative family
members, friends, hired publishers or most of all, fans? I
believe this is up to the originator to decide. If the
originator doesn't want any changes to his story then the fans
have to respect that.
Due to infringement many creators are afraid to tamper with any
original copyright work. Nobody wants to get in trouble for
plagiarism. What creators have to know is that fan fiction is
usually frowned upon when it misrepresents the original
character and mostly when the creator tries to commercialize it.
You can think of it this way, it is like taking money from your
boss. Most publishers are cool when fan fiction is in the
closet, meaning hidden, not commercialized and intended for your
group of people or family like setting. Doing this is just like
telling a story to your family or friends.
Fan fiction creators must remember that the only reason your fan
fiction exists is because of the originator of the fiction or
story. Fan fictions have an audience because the original had an
audience. As mentioned before, think of it like working for a
boss. People are usually at their job because their boss hired
them. I'm saying this because writing fanfiction is a good way
to get noticed as a writer or creator. Some people make a living
off writing fanfiction. This is alright as long as fan fiction
creators respect the requests of the original author or
publisher and not try to commercialize it.