Fanfiction - The Intrinsic Hopelessness of This Pursuit (According to Shallow Minds?)

[Oedipus]

Tendentious threads don't normally get anywhere; most of all when started with some sententious sermon with no point. You don't need to tell me that this thread is stupid because I already know that everything I produce must contain something of me in it.

It seems to me that the vast amounts of artistic energy that has been expended on the form of fanfiction (in 2010 there were 6,095,534 stories on fanfiction.com by itself) is more or less wasted - not because of a failure of technique or of quality, although most fanfiction is trash, much like most romance, science fiction, genre fiction, literary fiction... - due to the fact that it is an appropriation of another's work in some respect; one can use only setting, characters and originate the rest, but there is still some theft of a kind. Therefore growth of artistic ability may be harmed by work in this area? Discuss - is it possible for a real talent (however you define that) to make this sort of art?

Self-loathing is honesty.

[Chance33]

I think fanfiction can ignite true talent. Although most is quite honestly as you mentioned- trash, or smut, or written so poorly it might forever scar ones mind, I've found a few gems in my time amongst a fanfiction community. Fanfiction does not have a line of rules, and some authors deviate so far from the original story that I find it hard calling it fanfiction, but rather "stories with similar character names to the original novel". Fanfiction may just be an outlet for true writers to find their voice, and from there a masterpiece can be made.

[MystyrMystyry]

I've read a fair bit, even dabbled, and quite enjoy it. The fact that it does just leap and soar away from the source material is one of the main attractions. It's a means of imaginative exploration, as practice for writing it's fine - as a hobby it's fine - as an aim for personal satisfaction too. Things done for fun don't necessarily deserve criticism for not being professional.
But that's it - it's fun for those who write it, and it's fun for those who read it.

I don't think the bloke who wrote Robinson Crusoe on Mars was expecting to make a million. I think the bloke who 'didn't write' that movie about the giant Smurfs expected nothing less.

The OP cited that there were 6 million stories in 2010 as though it's a bad thing. I believe it's far better to have too much than not enough. I really like chocolate. I hope there's never a time when there's not enough chocolate.