: Re: Fan Fiction: a crutch or a good start? Writing is writing, but I am not confident enough to take on creating a whole world from scratch. Will writing fanfic or writing in other shared world

@Samaraweera193

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In general, I feel that fanfic is a crutch that keeps a lot of people from honing their craft and moving on to original fiction. After years of NaNoWriMo and some side work with an editor, I've only seen one person start with fanfic and graduate to doing their own, thoroughly original work.

It's like they're just too scared to ever leave their comfort zone, and why wouldn't they be? The fanfic community tends to do its own thing, not overlapping much with other types of writing, so it's easy to feel like a big fish in a small pond -- to go from there to being a guppy in the ocean of original fiction is probably a jarring experience to say the least. Plus, if you are writing fanfic, we all know you aren't writing for publication, so it's not like not getting published would be a failure you might have to cope with. By not trying, you feel like you can't fail.

Now, I said "in general" at the beginning, and I meant it. Here's the exception:

Once something has found its way into the popular consciousness, and simmered there awhile, it can be the basis for a new work that, if not original fiction per se, is at least legitimate and useful fanfic. Some examples that come to mind are the Disney retelling of classic fairy tales, Wicked (a retake on the Oz world), and Treasure Planet (not sure if this is Disney or not, but it's a resetting of Treasure Island in the future, in space, with a cyborg).

The difference here is that instead of creating fanfic of Harry Potter, Twilight, or some other thing fresh off the presses (which in addition to the issues above does not make you look like you are serious about your craft) -- the authors took something that has had a generation or two (or more) to sink in, and instead of trying to ride the coattails of other storytellers, the authors have used the archetypal status of the characters as a tool for their own craft, playing on our preconceptions. Or, the work has been made more accessible to a new audience:

Adults who have read the original Alice in Wonderland see the Disney cartoon in a different light than children seeing the cartoon for the first time.
I'm not sure Wicked even makes as much sense if one is not at least conversant in the original Wizard of Oz.
Treasure Planet was mostly an update, both for new cultural norms in how we tell stories to children (not that my son doesn't get to hear the originals, but I know we aren't the norm) and because I'm not sure a kid born in the age of GPS units, Coast Guard cutters, satellite beacons, etc. is likely to find the same danger factor in Treasure Island that someone born in the book's time would have.

"Well, thanks for stranding me on this deserted island, but I have a SPOT with me, so I'll just turn on the emergency beacon and tweet to all my friends about what a traitor you are. The Coast Guard will be here to get us before I run out of Snickers bars." -- Yes, I can tell my little one that there were no Coast Guard, satellites, GPS, or Snickers back then, but he won't really grok it until he's older.

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