fandomsecrets | [ SECRET POST #3521 ]

⌈ Secret Post #3521 ⌋

Warning: Some secrets are NOT worksafe and may contain SPOILERS.

01.

__________________________________________________

02.

[World of Warcraft: Legion]

__________________________________________________

03.

(Fallout 4)

__________________________________________________

04.

[Doctor Who - 12/Clara]

__________________________________________________

05.

(The Hitch Hiker's Guide to the Galaxy)

__________________________________________________

06.

[Bojack Horseman]

__________________________________________________

07.

[Criminal Minds]

__________________________________________________

08.

[Elite: Dangerous]

__________________________________________________

09.

[Street Fighter]

Notes:

Secrets Left to Post: 01 pages, 24 secrets from Secret Submission Post #503.
Secrets Not Posted: [ 0 - broken links ], [ 0 - not!secrets ], [ 0 - not!fandom ], [ 0 - too big ], [ 0 - repeat ].
Current Secret Submissions Post: here.
Suggestions, comments, and concerns should go here.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

I'm seeing a lot of posts at the moment about how fanfic authors deserve to be paid/commissioned just as much as fanartists. But when I read most fanfic I think.... nahhhhh.

The last post I saw made the point that it's because everyone thinks they can write, therefore written works are devalued. I think that's true but I think that's why most authors can't justify charging for fanfic. Most people don't pick up a pen and then think they're amazing artists. A lot of fanwriters do just write terrible, OOC, cliche fic. They're not getting paid because they're not writing to a professional standard. Not because of a bias against written fanworks.

I'd be content to let capitalism solve this dilemma. If people think a writer's work is good, they will buy it/commission work from that author. If what the writer produces is OOC, cliche crap, then it's unlikely* they will get commissions.

*but not impossible. Remember Twilight.

AYRT Yeah, I think that's exactly why there aren't a lot of fanfic commissions. I enjoy a lot of fic, don't get me wrong, but there are only a handful of authors I could ever envision paying money for. And even then, I'd be much more inclined to buy original work.

Basically this. And some people are willing to pay for mediocre work if it's their rarepair - and who am I to tell them they're wrong, you know?

As a fanfic writer, I can't imagine cashing in on someone else's work. Yes, there are some exceptions, but for the most part, this is someone else's universe and I'm just playing in it. Even if what I'm writing is on par with professional works, I'm creating things out of love for the series and don't understand the argument that I "should" get paid.

AYRT Yeah. I'd feel especially skeevy charging for fanfiction. I'd probably still do it, because I'm poor and need money wherever I can get it, but I can certainly see why people are more dubious about buying/selling fic. Art at least tends to have the artist's own style, whereas fiction tends to be more about mimicking the style of the original work and stringently keeping to the characterisation somebody else laid out.

I also just don't put as much effort into fic as I do into my books. Books get drafted, typed up, revised several times, betaed, revised again, then edited by the publisher's editors, a galley to review, and then published. With fanfic I write it, type it up, and I post it never to think about it again.

It's not like fanartists get paid for everything they do and I can never look at fanart for free. I look at fanart for free all the damn time because artists post their stuff online. If I wanted a physical print or to commission a particular image, that's different and it makes sense that I can't expect to get that for free. Fic that's posted online is like art that's posted online in that both can be viewed for free. It's just that there's no fanfic equivalent of buying a print or keychain or T-shirt (but I can see commissions happening).

Also, just because people aren't going to pay anyone to write fanfic doesn't mean no one gets payed to write. When people suggest fanfic writers should get paid because people should get for their literary labor, I think "No one is actually stopping you from trying to get paid to write, you just need to write something people will pay you for, and this fanfic ain't it." (It's not like every fanartist who offers commissions actually sells any art, anyway.)

It's important to keep in mind that there are published authors (and not just E. L. James) who used to write fanfic or continue to write fanfic on the sly. Not just novelists, but non-fiction authors, journalists, screenwriters, and people who do all kinds of writing tasks for their jobs. They usually just keep their professional and fanfic-writing lives separate. Also, let's not forget people who write licensed tie-in novels or who grew up to write scripts for the latest version of whatever TV show or movie they grew up loving. It's like a form of fanfiction that pays.

It's interesting that you say that, because nearly 100 years ago the philosopher Walter Benjamin was talking about the same thing... he was very prescient about the future of writing. And it's true, people are forgetting that writing is a learned skill, and not everybody is good at it.

[ SECRET POST #3521 ]

Re: Enjoying fanfic

Re: Enjoying fanfic

Re: Enjoying fanfic

Re: Enjoying fanfic

Re: Enjoying fanfic

Re: Enjoying fanfic

Re: Enjoying fanfic

Re: Enjoying fanfic