Fan fiction

In the early days...

Fan fiction has been going on for decades, centuries, I’m sure even millenniums. It could be noted as far back as the ancient Egyptians. For example, the ancient Egyptians lauded many gods in their society and even wrote literature on these gods, such as Horis and Isis. When the Egyptians came in contact with the Greeks many centuries later, the Greeks picked up some of the Egyptian gods as their own and wrote stories on them.

When the Romans came into the picture they picked up some of the Greek gods as their own and wrote new plots for them. Up to this day many of the mythological gods people are aware of are usually seen as Roman or Greek myths and fiction. Some people don’t even think to link them back to Egypt.

Of course this is thousands of years ago when copyright didn’t exist and the population of the world was a lot smaller. There wasn’t any technology like the Internet. Most literature creators at that time probably did not worry about infringement. I mean, it’s not like the Egyptians could have rode to Greece in their chariots and accuse them of violating copyright laws.

The literature created and the stories told were for the general public. Stories were told in a family like setting to large congregations, and even passed down generation to generation. So everyone knew what the original story was, and any changes to the popular stories would be quickly noticed and rejected. However, this mostly applied to beliefs and stories based on facts.

The point, even back then people faced severe punishment for changing or misrepresenting a popular story or literature. And the law was not kind on what we call fan fiction today.

In the present...

We are in the twenty-first century; technology is at an all time high and increasing. Fans can get access to almost any media work published in an instant. And, the copyright laws definitely still favor the originator. Okay, what about fan-fiction in the twenty first century? The simple answer is it is still frowned upon. If this is the case, is there any spot for fan fiction publishing? Of course there is. What I believe is that fan fiction keeps the world of literature revolving.

I’ve observed that this is especially true for popular published literature. Usually when a book hits the shelf or a myth is told, may even be historical facts, despite the popularity and love for the story, everyone is not satisfied. Many fans may think to themselves, “what if it happened this way?” Some fans even go out and create a fiction based on how they think the story should have happened. Some of these fans share their version with others in chat groups, message boards and so on. The effect of these fans actions? We now have more literature and a wider audience.

If fan fiction makes the world of storytelling go round should fanfiction be allowed to broaden audiences and possibly allow some economic growth due to the purchasing of the fictions by the curious minded? Or maybe the stories should be left as was created. But what if the story is unfinished? Should the curiosity of the audience be quenched by imaginative family members, friends, hired publishers and most of all, fans? I believe this is up to the originator of the story to decide. If the originator doesn’t want any changes to his or her story then the fans have to respect that.

Commercializing and infringement...

For this reason of infringement many creators are afraid to tamper with any original copyright work. Nobody wants to get in trouble for plagiarism. What creators have to know is that fan fiction is usually frowned upon when there is a misrepresentation of the original character or the creator tries to commercialize the fan fiction work. Some authors view it as taking money out of their pocket, or distorting their work, while a few others don’t care. Most publishers are cool when fan fiction is in the closet, meaning hidden, not commercialized and intended for small group of people or family like setting. Doing this is just like telling a story to your family or friends.

Fan fic creators' duty...

Fan fiction creators must remember that the only reason your fan fiction exists is because of the originator of the fiction or story. Fan fictions have an audience because the original had an audience. Think of it like working for a boss. People are usually at their job because their boss hired them.

I’m saying this because writing fanfiction is a good way to get noticed as a writer or creator. Some people make a living off writing fan fiction. This is alright as long as fanfiction creators respect the requests of the original author or publisher and not try to commercialize it.

Always keep in mind that only the creator or publisher who has rights to the characters can make significant changes to the work. That is why the publishers with the rights to these characters create things like “alternate universes” to try and cater to the desires of some fans and hopefully even reach out and get new audiences. One of the best things fans can do is offer their opinions to the author of the original work and hope their comments are taking into consideration.

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