Thoughts on Fanfiction?

[skillbox]

I was curious to what the reaction would be for works based on other works. Not other works written here, but movies/games/tv shows.

If done, would anyone have any reservations about content/how much prerequisite knowledge you should expect the reader to have?

[Executionus]

I was curious to what the reaction would be for works based on other works. Not other works written here, but movies/games/tv shows.

If done, would anyone have any reservations about content/how much prerequisite knowledge you should expect the reader to have?

I've written stories based on (or inspired by) all sorts of things, including Tales From the Crypt, the Grinch, Hitchhiker's Guide, Hunger Games, Freddy Krueger, Warwick Davis's Leprechaun, Macy's Thanksgiving Parade, and the freaking crucifixion. I think I'd look pretty foolish if I said anything against parody works at this point.

As for the second question, this is something that I believe 100%: Your story should require zero prior knowledge of the source material in order to stand on its own legs. If you're doing Star Whores, Lucy Guysucker learning that Darth Player is her stepdad should play out completely in front of your audience, instead of just assuming that they already knew that was coming (and so was he).

Directly referencing outside content runs the risk of alienating any readers who are unfamiliar with the original. I've always made it a point in my parody works to keep them entirely self-contained and easy to understand even for people who have no idea what I'm even parodying. That isn't to say that indirect references are bad though, since I've included several, but they need to work on their own merit and simply be a bonus for anyone who gets the joke.

[Girlspns]

I agree with Executionus about how limiting fanfiction works can be to who reads your stories, but they do have a very distinct benefit specifically for new writers who may not be familiar with how to craft their characters and their worlds around the plot, fanfiction takes care of that and allows new writers to focus on crafting the plot according to said characters and worlds.

Just be mindful that a lot of people will not be familiar to whatever story you want to show, so maybe posting the story to one of those fanfic-specialized websites where people will read your story fully aware of the specific fandom (AO3 comes to mind, though I don't know if people still use that one).

[PhilMarlowe]

I think one benefit of fanfiction is that it helps the new writer by giving them an existing framework and cast of characters. They just have to deal with the action, dialog, story flow.

And think of all the naughty things some girls from Slytherin House might do to girls/boys from other houses and some less aggressive instructors.

[Executionus]

I wasn't intending to be seen as against fanfiction by any stretch, and I'm usually a fan of it (unless it sucks and butchers the characters). The guy who rewrote the Grinch as an ENF story, while keeping the rhythm and rhyming of the original, has very little place criticizing others on this subject. I've also had the plot for a Pokemon story in my head for about two years now, which I never get around to writing.

I think a good example of terrible fanfiction to explain what I advise against doing would be the entire OneClickChicks forum. Their story section is loaded with WWE strip fanfics staring major Divas and everything I've ever seen there was absolute trash that relied 100% on the reader just wanting to see that Diva naked and not caring about the how or why of it all. I've also seen lots of fanfics in the past that centered around the main characters breaking character about 30 seconds into the story (This is 100% of Miraculous fanfiction for example).

[dublinjohn]

....I think a good example of terrible fanfiction to explain what I advise against doing would be the entire OneClickChicks forum. Their story section is loaded with WWE strip fanfics staring major Divas and everything I've ever seen there was absolute trash that relied 100% on the reader just wanting to see that Diva naked and not caring about the how or why of it all. I've also seen lots of fanfics in the past that centered around the main characters breaking character about 30 seconds into the story (This is 100% of Miraculous fanfiction for example).

In fairness, I've seen some stories on Getdare (perhaps elsewhere too), where a plotline doesn't exist, I think you do need to write a good story, but perhaps (other people had stated that its good to use fan fic so you have characters already) a "based on" fan fiction, ie choose a senario and base your characters on them but give different names etc., but perhaps just put a note in the top line about your inspiration.

[edithdick]

I would only quibble in this regard, I wouldn’t recommend fan fiction to a new writer. Trying to make a well developed character that the readers are already familiar be believable is very difficult. I’ve seen professional writers who try to carry on a story in say, the Star Wars universe butcher beloved characters such as Han Solo.

If you are a beginner, best to try telling the simplest story you can think of, write it all the way out and then throw it away. Rewrite it twice more and you’ll probably have something worth sharing. The expectations of your audience will be a lot lower and so it is more likely to be well received.

SummerSlam is going to show us exactly how hard it is to write a character someone else created

[edithdick]

On a related topic, what is the etiquette for unofficial sequels to other erotic fiction? As I am trying to improve the eroticism in my own stories, I have been practicing by writing a sequel to an older story (2014) so I can incorporate DonJuan’s verbiage into my writing.

It’s just a practice story, but it is turning out to be pretty good. Other writers have posted their own sequels, and this would ignore those all together.

I guess my question is, do you need the original author’s permission to post a sequel to their story? I don’t want to offend anyone.

[Executionus]

On a related topic, what is the etiquette for unofficial sequels to other erotic fiction? As I am trying to improve the eroticism in my own stories, I have been practicing by writing a sequel to an older story (2014) so I can incorporate DonJuan’s verbiage into my writing.

It’s just a practice story, but it is turning out to be pretty good. Other writers have posted their own sequels, and this would ignore those all together.

I guess my question is, do you need the original author’s permission to post a sequel to their story? I don’t want to offend anyone.

Generally the idea is to ask permission for that, since it's considered rude to hijack another author's story within the community. The alternative is to change enough of your sequel to make it pass as an original story.

If you're looking for fanfiction outlets, I happen to have an open invitation for any writer to write stories within the Thirst Trap Studios universe from the Thirst Games. Basically anyone can write alternate shows on the TTS app, or any other concept that fits a universe where a creative horndog teenage multimillionaire runs an ENF-centric porn app. So far only Humilatron has ever done anything in that universe, but the invitation has been up for over a year now.

[edithdick]

Generally the idea is to ask permission for that, since it's considered rude to hijack another author's story within the community. The alternative is to change enough of your sequel to make it pass as an original story.

Thank you for the advice. I was only writing for my personal benefit, so I will plan on not posting the final product. I certainly would not want to step on anyone else's toes.

I have not made it all the way through your "Thirst Games" story line. I will consider it, if I think of a story worth telling in that milieu.