Can Fanfic Be Better? (Public Post)
Dec. 17th, 2018 01:28 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
author_by_nightI realized that I added a bunch of fandomy people... and I haven't talked about fandom all that much. (To be fair, I haven't posted much at all. It's
been a hectic last few weeks.) I do miss talking about fandom, so I'm going to get back to that. For now, here's a short post (for me) about a topic I've seen raised a few times...
Can fanfic be better than the source material?
I've seen this debate come up a lot lately, and I decided to weigh in on it, because it's an interesting topic - even if I don't have a definitive answer or opinion myself.
I think that it's a tricky question because people who claim that fanfiction they read is better might actually be saying: "I prefer where the author took the characters" or "I prefer this ship." But that's less of a true quality issue and more of a taste issue, something I think fandom frequently confuses. You may prefer how an author portrays the world the writer created, but that doesn't mean the writing itself is better.
The other problem is that writing itself is subjective. I've hated books everyone around me loved. I've loved books people thought were terrible. I think I must be the only person who doesn't think the Hunger Games books were ruined by the Peeta/Gale/Katniss love triangle. (Particularly because the way I read it, 90% of the "love triangle" was all part of the act, even if Katniss did have feelings for Peeta.) That's coming from someone who actually greatly dislikes love triangles. My point is that I can certainly prefer a fanfic over a novel, movie or episode, I can prefer how a fic writer portrayed a ship, but that's ultimately my opinion.
(And yes, even though I generally ship canon, there are still ships I prefer in fanfic. In one case I DO think the writer dropped the ball big time, I think it's hard... not to think that, yet even there people have disagreed with me.)
I'm tempted to say that there are exceptions. Maybe there are; I've read some pretty terrible books and seen some pretty terrible movies. Surely someone's come up with something better. :P
Speaking of asking and answering things, still willing to do a talk meme. Feel free to ask something fandom related, but you don't have to. :)
been a hectic last few weeks.) I do miss talking about fandom, so I'm going to get back to that. For now, here's a short post (for me) about a topic I've seen raised a few times...
Can fanfic be better than the source material?
I've seen this debate come up a lot lately, and I decided to weigh in on it, because it's an interesting topic - even if I don't have a definitive answer or opinion myself.
I think that it's a tricky question because people who claim that fanfiction they read is better might actually be saying: "I prefer where the author took the characters" or "I prefer this ship." But that's less of a true quality issue and more of a taste issue, something I think fandom frequently confuses. You may prefer how an author portrays the world the writer created, but that doesn't mean the writing itself is better.
The other problem is that writing itself is subjective. I've hated books everyone around me loved. I've loved books people thought were terrible. I think I must be the only person who doesn't think the Hunger Games books were ruined by the Peeta/Gale/Katniss love triangle. (Particularly because the way I read it, 90% of the "love triangle" was all part of the act, even if Katniss did have feelings for Peeta.) That's coming from someone who actually greatly dislikes love triangles. My point is that I can certainly prefer a fanfic over a novel, movie or episode, I can prefer how a fic writer portrayed a ship, but that's ultimately my opinion.
(And yes, even though I generally ship canon, there are still ships I prefer in fanfic. In one case I DO think the writer dropped the ball big time, I think it's hard... not to think that, yet even there people have disagreed with me.)
I'm tempted to say that there are exceptions. Maybe there are; I've read some pretty terrible books and seen some pretty terrible movies. Surely someone's come up with something better. :P
Speaking of asking and answering things, still willing to do a talk meme. Feel free to ask something fandom related, but you don't have to. :)
no subject
Date: 2018-12-19 11:58 am (UTC)But then you have actual, published works that began life as fanfic, and again it's barely recognizable unless you already KNOW it started life as a fanfic, and again everything depends on the author's skill. I think we can all agree that Fifty Shades is categorically WORSE than Twilight for example. But how does Marissa Meyers' Lunar Chronicles series compare to OG!Sailor Moon? I'd say they're at least on par.
So for "Can It?" I'd say--yeah, sure. It isn't often, but it can be. Some fans will actually grow to become better authors than the people they admire. Happens all the time in original fiction. So yeah, it *can* happen.