Fanfiction and Borrowed Sandboxes

Every writer can be said to have a sandbox of his or her own, an inner universe where stories unfold and plots are tried out. This personal sandbox can be as simple and transient as those in short stories and poems, or as elaborate and well-used as Tolkien's Middle-Earth, George Lucas' galaxy far, far away, and even James Cameron's recent hit "Avatar". In this light, writing fanfiction can be compared to borrowing someone else's sandbox. It may be fun, but it is not something you are at complete liberty to work with.

This is the one obvious downside to writing fanfiction: it cannot be claimed as something solely belonging to the writer. In the majority, if not all of fanfiction archives, all the writers are required to post a form of disclaimer. This short pargraph outlines which characters, elements, and storylines belong to the original creator, and which ones belong to the fanfiction writer. Failing to put a disclaimer may put the author at risk of litigations or lawsuits over copyright laws. This is particularly true if the original creator is of the likes of Anne Rice, who has already specified that she does not wish to see archived fanfiction of her  work. This is even truer of works that involve real people. An example of this are some fanfiction stories involving the actual cast of famous TV series such as "Glee", or the actual persons of stars such as Britney Spears. Yes, such things existed, and are possibly still present on sites known as "badfic" archives. In general, "real-person-fic" is considered taboo in fandom, because of its very real dangers as well as implications. After all, how would you feel if someone wrote a raunchy story using your relatives? Lawsuits coming from violating any of these taboos may have negative bearing on one's records, not to mention future reputation as a writer.

Of course, one may argue, "I am careful, I put disclaimers, so what's so wrong with writing fanfiction?" For the majority of fanfiction writers, their work cannot be legitimately published as a book or work on its own. Unless one is lucky to be enlisted to write the authorized sequel to a major work (as has been done in novels like Dracula and The Phantom of the Opera), most works of fanfiction are destined to remain only in the archives, available mainly to readers of that given fandom. Therefore even if a writer has spent ten years making that multi-volume epic trilogy that expands on the universe of Star Trek, if it's not recognized by the powers-that-be (in this case Paramount), then it will still reach a limited audience and not be useful for gaining monetary profit.

Another consequence of writing fanfiction, particularly for a protracted period of time, is stifling the writer's creativity. How is this so? When someone embarks on writing fanfiction, he or she has already set characters, rules of the universe, and perhaps even a timeline (in the case of historical and sci-fi fandoms) to work with. One need not expend so much effort in properly describing the characters, situations, and settings of the story since it is a given that the audience or fellow fans know what to expect. For instance, fans of C.S. Forester's "Horatio Hornblower" already expect to see their favorite 19th century fighting captain worrying about frigates and sword fights, and not about how to drive a high-speed car like the Batmobile. Likewise, fans of the Dark Knight know that Bruce Wayne and whatever other characters involved in the story are likely to tangle with the Joker and other baddies of Gotham, and not with the Dark Lord Sauron.

This is all well and good, but being overly reliant on the readers' understanding of the fictional universe does not translate as well if a fanfiction writer decides to one day try his or her hand at writing original fiction, meaning work that is completely his or hers. This difficulty with working from scratch manifests itself in a variety of ways: difficulties in creating expositions or believable universes, using too many clichés from the fandom even if these do not tie in with the plot, or coming up with characters who are "just like" a certain character that already exist.

This pitfall is something to be wary of for writers in genres that have several great authors in them, such as the fantasy genre. One may be in danger of discovering that the swashbuckling protagonist with a power-hungry relative, benevolent heart and innate magical talents is a weak carbon copy of J.K. Rowling's Harry Potter, or George Lucas' Luke Skywalker.  It will be clear that you have been using sand from someone else's box, even if inadvertently. Readers and critics will be quick to point out these similarities, and of course this will have adverse effects on how you will pitch your personal masterpiece to audiences and agents. It is possible to break out of this trap, but it takes some time and effort to shake off one's influences and begin telling a good, original story with its distinct color and shape.

In an attempt to create something outlandish or more "original", some fanfiction writers end up falling into several "badfic" traps. The most notable of these is arguably the "Mary-Sue": those extraordinarily beautiful, intelligent, virtuous, and complicated characters who serve as the author's stand-in throughout the story. Such characters are usually a major turn-off for readers who usually do not appreciate seeing their favorite characters getting upstaged by a complete stranger to the existing universe. In this writer's opinion, one of the reasons that this sort of character proliferates in fandom is the general difficulty of fanfiction writers with creating characters who are just as well-realized as those already existing in the fandom. Having an already existing context to set stories in does not equate having completely fleshed out and convincing characters. Fanfiction writers would do well to make their newcomer characters as more than just "designated love interests", "progeny of two favorite characters" or "the one who saves the day", and give them a more believable part in the universe.

Another badfic trap with fanfiction writing is the proliferation of "fanon" characterization and plotlines, which differ from "canon" in the sense that "canon" refers to the original creator's intended perception, characterization, and plot of the story, while "fanon" refers to popular sentiments, tropes, beliefs, and wishful thinking of people in the fandom. "Fanon" may not be completely negative, but it does risk boxing in newcomers to a fandom with regard to their interpretations and understanding of events and characters presented in the universe they write about. Fanfiction writers sometimes prefer to rely solely on fanon instead of exploring the actual literary context of the fandom in order to better solidify their tales. In this writer's experience, this is particuarly true of literature based fandoms such as "Harry Potter" and "Les Miserables". The fandoms of both books are running wild with all kinds of fanon interpretations of the various relationships between the characters: sexual tension between Harry and Draco in JK Rowling's work, or Marius still harboring feelings for Eponine in Victor Hugo's novel are just two of the common examples of fanon which can be quite easily disproved by a "canon" reading of the texts concerned. With a historically significant fandom like "Les Miserables", it always pays to throw aside some, if not all of the fanon cliches in favor of actually reading the text through and doing extra research in order to have better and more original interpretations of the characters and the universe one is so dead-set to write about.

Given all of this, should writers be discouraged from delving into fanfiction? Perhaps not. Writing fanfiction can be one's gateway and training ground for the world of writing. Some amateur writers start off by imagining "what-if" scenarios for their favorite stories. For instance, what if Harry Potter's parents were spared, and he was raised by them? Or what if Harry was raised by Sirius Black? Or what if Snape had not killed Dumbledore? Exploring these possibilities helps develop youngsters' creative senses and whets their appetite for developing logical means for these scenarios to come about in the fan-verse. Good fanfiction writers know how to properly explain how their "alternate universes" came to be. Using research or good solid exposition, they can make seemingly outlandish possibilities such as Voldemort becoming a Gryffindor perfectly explainable and maybe even believable. Such experience is useful in preventing plot holes in one's future stories. Learning to write believable fanfiction romances (shipping as it's sometimes called) is helpful in teaching newer writers how to set up good  character orchestrations without resorting to purple prose and "because it's destiny" in future novels and stories. Hopefully some of the people who start out writing in this way will take the leap into creating their own universes one day.

A good side to writing fanfiction is its usefulness in developing new writers' confidence in their own abilities to tell a story. This is what editors, beta-readers, or simply fellow fans are for. By showing their work to kindred spirits who will provide feedback, they may gain the insight they need to pursue that plot twist, the courage to go back and edit a massive plot hole, or the simple satisfaction from a review that says, "Glad you finished the story, but I'll miss your updates". These are the things that encourage writers and help them hone their skills. The only difference between fandom-based groups and other writers' groups is in the nature of their output.

And of course, a definite pro-side to writing fanfiction as playing in sandboxes is the sheer fun from such an exercise. There is something to be said for the release one gets in inflicting some much-needed comeuppance on fictional villains or giving a craved for happy ending for one's favorite characters. It is enjoyable, if not extremely amusing to test much-loved characters' reactions to strange situations like sending them back in time. Original characters, "borrowed" characters and well-established personas can serve as representations of parts of ourselves, or stand-ins for situations we can only dream about. After all, what writer is completely contented with the status quo, and does not wish for alternate realities or escapes from time to time? We can deal with some of this wishful thinking as well in fanfiction.

In the end, as all literary sandboxing and exploration is, fanfiction is just a part of the story-making process. Fanfiction can only add to, change, or detract from an existing tale, but it cannot be considered as creating a story in its strictest form. At best, fanfiction is a means to an end, a way of trying out ideas on a leash before setting them loose in the literary world. It is also a way of hopefully taking a bit from those who have dared and gone ahead in the literary world. After all, who said that greatness does not rub off from time to time? It is a matter of learning from others' sandboxes, then creating some real magic in our own.