Is Fan Fiction The Least Respected Literary Genre?

[desiresjab]

Is it lower than Harlequin Romances on your scale? Is any fan fiction worth regarding, or should it all be ignored?

[EmptySeraph]

What is Fan Fiction and what is Harlequin Romances?

[Danik 2016]

Didn´t know about them either. How would we survive without wiki?

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fan_fiction

Harlequin romances seem to be escapist love stories, what the Spanish call "romance rosa".

Fan fiction is derived of a original fictional universe. The original fiction usually tends to be superior to the derived stories, unless very talented authors make something quite different of the same material. Maybe in a very ample sense one could think of Joyce´s Ulisses as a Fan fiction derived from Homer´s Odyssee.

[OrphanPip]

Harlequin romances are trashy romance novels usually sold in paperback with male models on the cover like Fabio. They get their name from the Canadian publisher Harlequin that produced massive amounts of the books for the US and Canadian market during the 80s and 90s (they used to be sold next to cash registers in shops).

I think fan fiction is a curious thing, in that by its very nature it is a genre of amateur writing. You take characters from a pre-existing work and re-imagine them in new situations. This isn't helped by the fact that a good bulk of fanfiction falls into the subgenre of slash fiction (pornographic stories about fictional characters for those not familiar with the term). Of course the most successful fan fiction was a Twilight fan fiction that gave birth to Fifty Shades of Grey.

I wouldn't say fan fiction isn't worth reading. We read for enjoyment after all, and fan fiction is usually as much about fandom as it is about community, so it has social value. However, I think when people go to read fan fiction they don't look for things like literary quality (though if it is atrociously written no one would want to read it at all) but more as a way to share ideas about a mutual interest with others. Popular forms of fan fiction imagine events that were left out of the source material, or imagined sequels. People love to imagine what happens to character after the story is finished.

[desiresjab]

Didn´t know about them either. How would we survive without wiki?

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fan_fiction

Harlequin romances seem to be escapist love stories, what the Spanish call "romance rosa".

Fan fiction is derived of a original fictional universe. The original fiction usually tends to be superior to the derived stories, unless very talented authors make something quite different of the same material. Maybe in a very ample sense one could think of Joyce´s Ulysses as a Fan fiction derived from Homer´s Odyssee.

No, I don't feel Ulysses is fan fiction, old mate. If it were, then we might as well call The Sound And The Fury fan fiction as well. For Whom The Bell Tolls would be fan fiction on John Donne.

[desiresjab]

Harlequin romances are trashy romance novels usually sold in paperback with male models on the cover like Fabio. They get their name from the Canadian publisher Harlequin that produced massive amounts of the books for the US and Canadian market during the 80s and 90s (they used to be sold next to cash registers in shops).

I think fan fiction is a curious thing, in that by its very nature it is a genre of amateur writing. You take characters from a pre-existing work and re-imagine them in new situations. This isn't helped by the fact that a good bulk of fanfiction falls into the subgenre of slash fiction (pornographic stories about fictional characters for those not familiar with the term). Of course the most successful fan fiction was a Twilight fan fiction that gave birth to Fifty Shades of Grey.

I wouldn't say fan fiction isn't worth reading. We read for enjoyment after all, and fan fiction is usually as much about fandom as it is about community, so it has social value. However, I think when people go to read fan fiction they don't look for things like literary quality (though if it is atrociously written no one would want to read it at all) but more as a way to share ideas about a mutual interest with others. Popular forms of fan fiction imagine events that were left out of the source material, or imagined sequels. People love to imagine what happens to character after the story is finished.

A very interesting post. I did not know that about the pornographic angle of much fan fiction. I know what Twilight is, but know nothing about Fifty Shades of Grey. I guess it is another vampire tale. But if it was pure fan fiction written by a lowly fan, how was it able to become a hit, do you know? What about copyright infringement? Or was the so called "fan," some Hollywood writer who already had a way in and a clear idea of what he/she would have to give up because the premise of the work was not original? I am quite curious how that shakes out in the real world. I guess I will go to Wikipeja and see what they have to say about FSOG.

[OrphanPip]

A very interesting post. I did not know that about the pornographic angle of much fan fiction. I know what Twilight is, but know nothing about Fifty Shades of Grey. I guess it is another vampire tale. But if it was pure fan fiction written by a lowly fan, how was it able to become a hit, do you know? What about copyright infringement? Or was the so called "fan," some Hollywood writer who already had a way in and a clear idea of what he/she would have to give up because the premise of the work was not original? I am quite curious how that shakes out in the real world. I guess I will go to Wikipeja and see what they have to say about FSOG.

She renamed the characters and rewrote the story without vampires when it started to gain traction, then she made millions off of what is basically an amateur pornographic novel self-published online.

[Dreamwoven]

I agree with desiresjab.

[Lemonade]

I love Fan Fiction, I actually read quite a lot of it. I look at it like chocolate biscuits*, no nutritional value whatsoever, but they're really very nice to eat.

*Insert your favourite snack here :)

[mtpspur]

I ignore most fan fiction UNIL it becomes an authorized publication. Example would be Will Murray who writes new Doc Savage novels authorized by the copyright holders adding to the original 181 pulp novels. He even included The Shadow in two of them which to my way of thinking makes those two novels canon to the Shadow's 325 novels. This is NOT a hard and fast rule with me based on personal likes and dislikes. I reject any additional Tarzan novels for instance or romance novels of Mr. and Mrs. Darcy from Jane Austen's novel. There were many additions to L. Fran Baum's Oz books but even though authorized I reject them out of hand as not 'official. It really is a personal choice.

[Dreamwoven]

I agree with watcher-by-night.

[fudgetusk]

Fan fiction could be great. If done well. But writers prefer to write their own stories. In films it tends to be horror films that get remade/expanded upon. You wouldn't see a remake of Citizen Kane. Is horror trashy? Cannot think of a horror novel that was rewritten or where someone wrote a sequel.

[kiz_paws]

Why oh why won't someone Fan fiction pen the second half to Dead Souls by Gogol??? Huh?
Now that would be worth reading...