A Tribute To Seto

[MalReynolds]

I'd just like to throw out there that I've never ever written fanfiction.

[devonin]

There'snothing necessarily wrong with writing fanfiction as a concept. Writing further adventures of characters you know and like is a perfectly fulfilling method of writing and creative output.

However, when you take someone's existing characters/world/plot whatever, and COMPLETELY CHANGE IT to make it what YOU always wished they were, I don't even call that fanfiction. You're blatantly disrespecting the author you claim to be a fan of by telling them that what they established as canon for those characters is not good enough for you to write about.

Unfortunately, the vast vast majority of "fanfic" is just that, taking existing canon, raping it for your own personal amusement, and then patting yourself on the back about how creative you are to steal someone else's characters and turn them into something that has nothing at all to do with their characters.

As far as I'm concerned, if you use an author's existing characters at -all- in your fanfiction (And I tried to avoid that as much as possible when I was writing) it should be in minor scene-establishing roles, and you should do your damndest to keep them as true as humanly possible to their established canon.

But I fail to see how appreciating another author's work enough to want to use elements of it is somehow necessarily a bad thing.

[MalReynolds]

I don't mind using setting.

I mind using characters. It's just lazy.

[Phynx]

As a person of an open mind, I find writing anything that derives from any form of inspiration is honorable in its own right. Fanfiction is nothing bad. Just bad writers making things bad. If that statement applies to this story I wrote, I'm sorry. I just wrote whatever came to my thoughts as I listened to that song. Yeah, I am far from perfect with writing. I am just a beginner starting out in the world of literature so please have some slack for me. I will work on fixing my writing and making it a bit more original, sort of like my first story was, though it too had many flaws that made it deficient in terms of literature standards. So yeah, I'll work on things. :/

[MalReynolds]

Fanfiction is inherently lazy because you're using the foundation and support that someone else already made and using it for yourself. That's the main problem - and whatever they chose to do with it is final, it's God Law. By subverting that and changing characters into something else, you're just showing that you lack the creativity to construct your own characters or situation. It's all intolerable to me. No so much setting-stealing as character destruction.

[Squeek]

What about the only creative fiction I ever wrote? The conclusion to a show that never ended?

I mean I'd never post it because fanfiction is lame as hell but still.

[MalReynolds]

You're once again taking characters that were never intended for your use and using them in ways that were unintended. It's laaazzzzzzyyyy - and wishful thinking.

[devonin]

I'd argue that in many cases it is -more- difficult to take an existing character and write them in the style and in an appropriate manner to match the pre-existing writing than it is to just make a new character from whole cloth.

[MalReynolds]

Then that arguement dictates that all fan-fiction authors are, by their nature, excellent writers due to the difficulty it takes to use someone elses characters.

[Vendetta21]

Originally Posted by MalReynolds

Then that arguement dictates that all fan-fiction authors are, by their nature, excellent writers due to the difficulty it takes to use someone elses characters.

No it doesn't. Learn to interpret. Also, you should know by now that Devonin is 99.9% right about 99.9% of things. Jeeze where have you been?

[Phynx]

In light of my story, is it such a bad thing that I elaborated on an idea that was never explained? All we find out about Seto is that he died protecting Cosmo Canyon. Is it such a bad thing that I utilized the mentioned characters to elaborate on the battle never explained? I mean, yeah, I'm using characters thought up by another person but the story itself is purely original.

[Vendetta21]

Originally Posted by Phynx

In light of my story, is it such a bad thing that I elaborated on an idea that was never explained? All we find out about Seto is that he died protecting Cosmo Canyon. Is it such a bad thing that I utilized the mentioned characters to elaborate on the battle never explained? I mean, yeah, I'm using characters thought up by another person but the story itself is purely original.

[Phynx]

:/ I don't know. I am just out of the loop of the current issue at hand