Explaining fanfiction to someone?

[Shauna]

I'm not sure if we've talked about this on here before but I thought I throw this out there. Fanfiction is a big genre in the online community, not just the BSB fandom but there's tons of others on fanfiction.net alone. Still, some people have never heard of it. I'll admit I wrote it before I knew it had a name. It can be hard to explain an author's reasoning behind writing fanfic to someone who had never heard of it.

My question is if you met someone who had never heard of it how would you go about explaining it?

I'm just curious.

[Karina]

umm...
They are stories written about something or someone by fans of it.
lol. im not sure.

[kristy]

I didn't know it even exsisted until a few years ago, and I didn't know what it was called either. I just randomly wrote a story in 8th grade, and used Nick as the male lead's name. The rest was history, I seriously thought I was the only who had ever done it. LMAO

[A-RokzStalker]

I would probably say that fan fiction is where a fan of a celebrity (or anyone) writes a story where the celebrity (or whoever) is one of the main characters.

[kristy]

Exactly, but before I discovered the online world of stories...I didn't know what it was.

[Julie]

As far as what it is, I think that's pretty self-explanatory - fictional stories about celebrities or characters that you're a fan of. With real-people fanfics, it's making up stories about real people you admire, and in fandoms based on books/movies/shows/video games, etc., it's writing stories that expand upon the universe created in this book/movie/show/whatever that you enjoy.

As far as WHY we write fanfic, that's harder to explain to people who don't understand. I mean, even as a Bsb fanfic writer, I find it hard to understand why someone would want to write a fanfic about Super Mario Brothers or the Rugrats or something like that LOL. But to other people, it probably sounds just as ridiculous that I'm a 23-year-old writing stories about the Backstreet Boys LOL. My mom is one of the only people in my real life who knows and has attempted to talk to me about it, and she doesn't understand. Whenever it comes up, she asks me when I'm going to start writing real stories that aren't about Nick Carter - and then I change the subject LOL. I can't explain to her why I like writing what I do.

[kristy]

Jun 7, 2008 15:23:48 GMT -6 Julie said:

As far as what it is, I think that's pretty self-explanatory - fictional stories about celebrities or characters that you're a fan of. With real-people fanfics, it's making up stories about real people you admire, and in fandoms based on books/movies/shows/video games, etc., it's writing stories that expand upon the universe created in this book/movie/show/whatever that you enjoy.

As far as WHY we write fanfic, that's harder to explain to people who don't understand. I mean, even as a Bsb fanfic writer, I find it hard to understand why someone would want to write a fanfic about Super Mario Brothers or the Rugrats or something like that LOL. But to other people, it probably sounds just as ridiculous that I'm a 23-year-old writing stories about the Backstreet Boys LOL. My mom is one of the only people in my real life who knows and has attempted to talk to me about it, and she doesn't understand. Whenever it comes up, she asks me when I'm going to start writing real stories that aren't about Nick Carter - and then I change the subject LOL. I can't explain to her why I like writing what I do.

Super Mario...wow. At least you can come up with great ideas with BSB...

[Shauna]

Jun 7, 2008 15:23:48 GMT -6 Julie said:

As far as what it is, I think that's pretty self-explanatory - fictional stories about celebrities or characters that you're a fan of. With real-people fanfics, it's making up stories about real people you admire, and in fandoms based on books/movies/shows/video games, etc., it's writing stories that expand upon the universe created in this book/movie/show/whatever that you enjoy.

As far as WHY we write fanfic, that's harder to explain to people who don't understand. I mean, even as a Bsb fanfic writer, I find it hard to understand why someone would want to write a fanfic about Super Mario Brothers or the Rugrats or something like that LOL. But to other people, it probably sounds just as ridiculous that I'm a 23-year-old writing stories about the Backstreet Boys LOL. My mom is one of the only people in my real life who knows and has attempted to talk to me about it, and she doesn't understand. Whenever it comes up, she asks me when I'm going to start writing real stories that aren't about Nick Carter - and then I change the subject LOL. I can't explain to her why I like writing what I do.

That's exactly what I mean Julie, as you said what it is is self-explanatory but our reasons behind doing it can be harder to explain. I've dealt with people who don't understand and it's frustrating because it's a hobby just like anything else. Like your mom, my family thinks that I should focus on original stuff and I love writing original stuff but the thing is I enjoy fanfic as well. I guess fanfiction can be viewed in a bad light because some people automatically assume that if you take the time to write about a celebrity that your obsessed which is totally untrue.

[Julie]

^ LOL I dunno, I AM obsessed! But I don't think it's an unhealthy obsession... I still have a life, so I don't care, and no one else should care either - that's my business. Everyone's got something they're into, or at least they should. How sad, to not feel passionate about ANYTHING, ya know? At least we've got a hobby.

[kristy]

^Exactly! I enjoy writing it, but it's not ALL I do. So I don't think anyone has any right to comment on what I do in my own spare time.