I have read fanfiction in the past, I don’t anymore but no shade or shame in it! But I have heard a lot of people say you can really tell when someone has read/written a lot of fanfic when reading their original works. So what do you all think are some identifiers?
I don’t know if I can always tell when someone has a fanfic background, but I do think it’s pretty easy to tell when a book is reworked fanfiction to make it into original characters – usually in the “wattpad-y style”. But I’ve read some kind of “literary” fanfic that I thought was good in the past, so really I’m asking what differentiates that from “real” literature?
Also do you think starting on fanfic makes someone a better or worse author? Or neutral? I remember a small twitter [x] discourse a few years ago when someone said that it makes people much worse writers and then people were all saying “everything is fanfiction!”
by lovelyluna1
6 Comments
I think people WAY overestimate their ability to “tell.”
It can be obvious with bad books, sure, but super not obvious with good ones. And also sometimes bad ones get accused of being fanfic-y when the author had nothing to do with fanfic prior.
Then there’s tons of famous authors that have shared that they write fanfic but whose penname isn’t known, and people generally miss that they write fanfic unless told. Naomi Novic, for example.
Rainbow Rowell is active in fandom, writing and reading fanfic, and also has many excellent original novels out. She’s written about how fanfic helped her fall back in love with writing when she was burned out.
I don’t think fanfic is any less “real” or worthy literature than something original (after all, in after thousands of years of storytelling, nothing is really original anymore). It’s just not monetizable, so it stays small.
Ive absolutely read fanfic better than “classic” novels. Ive also read a lot of novels (especially like romance) that were clearly reworked fanfic. Typically its easier to see if you knoe the fandom it came from as the character personalities and descriptions tend to be similar, with only minor “serial numbers filed off” changes to names, hairstyles, maybe race if theyre daring.
I think this is largely an issue of confirmation bias. You occasionally notice something very emblematic of fanfic and think you can always spot it. But you fail to notice the other 90% of fanfic writers putting out novels.
Pupils “blown wide” is my #1 tell. I love fic and books by fandom writers though, no shade.
Lots of POV switching for characters who are doing the same shit at the same time is very fanfic/ship-ey to me.