There’s a lot of fan fiction around these days. Some of it is published professionally- not only official Star Trek novels and such, but books based on original classic novels and approved sequels. Stephen Baxter’s Time Ships is, for example, an approved sequel to H.G Wells’ The Time Machine(personally, I prefer David Lake’s The Man Who Loved Morlocks and short story “The Truth About Weena”)
And then there are web sites crammed with fan fiction based on everything from Star Wars to computer games! Take your pick, universe of your choice. Rainbow Rowell’s wonderful novel Fangirl takes us into the world of on line fan fiction. More of this anon.
I enjoy fan fiction; I used write it myself and have book cases crammed with media fanzines. We started writing this stuff, way back when, because our favourite TV show - Star Trek, in my case - had been cancelled and this was the only way to get more. As we were dealing with scripts rather than novels, there was always something that we felt could be developed. There were plot holes we wanted to fill. Sometimes we created our own characters to have adventures aboard the Enterprise. Some people pretty much created their own universes within the universe of Star Trek - they developed entire cultures for Klingons or Vulcans, not to mention languages. That, of course, was before spinoff TV shows and films came along, bringing details that had not been there before. Then it became Alternative Universe.
I have no doubt that there were those who thought their versions were better than the originals, like the heroine of Fangirl. In case you have missed it, Cath is a fanwriter of a book series rather like Harry Potter. The last volume is about to come out and Cath is hurrying to finish her own version before it becomes non canon. She actually has her own fandom with thousands of followers loving her on line fan novels. Because of this she comes to think her work is better than the original author’s.
Which brings me to the next point: the fans who think they own the material. “I love it, so it should be the way I think it is. If the author does it any other way, they have betrayed me!” Like the ones who are carrying on about the Doctor being female. Or the woman who told me on line that “JKR is a hypocrite and we are entitled to our black Hermione.” She never said why JKR was a hypocrite and this was the response to my having said that JKR was fine with the black Hermione in Cursed Child. Hmm, according to this entitled fan, this wasn’t good enough, it seems. Hermione belongs to the fans, not to her creator. Yeah, sure. I pointed out that JKR had given us Hermione, but was fine with this, and left it at that. She never replied - for all I know she may have muted or blocked me.
Ah, that old fannish entitlement! There are plenty of real-life Caths. My main reason for this post is a Twitter discussion among authors I generally respect, one of whom has recently published a novel based on a classic written about 150 years ago. I’m reading her novel now and yeah, it’s amusing, but mostly, for me, the entertainment lies in working out which character corresponds to which original character and which event corresponds to one in the original book. This author can write, yes. But I’d rather read the original. In fact, I’m rereading it now and having a good giggle.
Personally I don’t know why this author did it when she writes such very good original fiction, but there you go. However, I was irritated to read posts by other authors(one of whom has done her own fan fiction) telling this one that her novel was better than the original.
Huh? No way! I read the original in about two days, all 650 pages, and loved it. I am still ploughing through the fan novel. The original has been read and loved for a century and a half, been dramatised over and over, has inspired other work - other work that didn’t simply take an entire novel and play with it - and it’s not as good as someone’s revamp? I could suggest that if this revamp is still getting read and loved even a few years from now let alone 150, it will be doing well.
However, I didn’t respond, as it would have just upset all the people discussing it, with no positive result. What would be the point? Which is why I’m not naming the book or the people here.
What do you think, readers? Have you ever come across a derivative story you thought better than the original?
12 comments:
This is a fascinating post. Fangirl sounds like such an interesting book. I have delved into fan fiction over the years. It can be very good but in my opinion rarely better then the original. Fans get so emotionally attached to these long running stories. I understand to s point why folks get emotional when the story takes a direction that upsets them. I differentiate though between those who get upset at an individual author who created the original, like J.K. Rawlings, as opposed to getting upset with a corporation that controls a beloved franchise like Star Wars or Star Trek. The individual author seems to have more of a “right” to take the storyline in whatever direction that they want to. When corporations control a franchise, maybe it is sometimes good that fabs hold thier feet to the fire.
Hi Brian! I think we all have the right to say when a story is no longer working for us. It’s when fans think they own it that I get annoyed. And some of the stuff that’s going on on Twitter about the last season of Dr Who - goodness! What a carry-on! And people whining about the writing being rotten when they really mean the stories aren’t to their liking...
Hi Sue - I'd rarely read fan fiction ... as the original is the original. I'd be happy to read if full credit was given to the original, without me suspecting that someone is trying to make a buck or two from a great original - if there's no credit or acknowledgement. Your friend should have faith if her own work ...
Cheers Hilary
Hi Hilary! The author is a very good author of original work. She just got a passion for this particular work via a dramatisation, though she did read the original. You are EXPECTED to know what it is. My issue is when others told her it was better than the original.
Can't think of one. Mind you, I tend to steer clear of them anyway because if I didn't like the original no desire to read fanfic of it, and if I loved the original than nothing will be as good. I did try a couple of times but just got irritated.
Fair enough, AJ! I got a lot of benefit from writing it in my time, but I only wrote it based on media - TV shows, etc. where there are gaps to fill, never books. It can be dreadful or wonderful, but never the original.
It's funny, but media based fan fiction doesn't bother me like using fiction books does. I think it's because I'm much more invested in the stories and characters in books than media.
Agreed, AJ. I have read the occasional book-based fan fiction, but some which poked fun at fan stories in general, such as “Fellowship Of The Thousands” which had the Fellowship leaving Rivendell accompanied by an army of Mary Sues. I would never write the stuff. And the quickest way to make me put down a book in the bookshop is to compare it to Tolkien in the blurb.
Hi Sue!
I found your lovely blog by chance googling for Lake's The Man Who Loved Morlocks and The Truth About Weena.
Since you are obviously familiar with both I'd like to ask you whether these two are connected. Reading the Wikipedia article on the The Time Machine (section Sequels by other authors), I get the impression that these two piece are alternative sequels, i.e. not connected with each other, but I might misinterpret the phrasing.
I'm asking because I have an anthology containing The Truth About Weena but I haven't read it yet and I'm wondering whether I should read The Man Who Loved Morlocks, which I currently do not own, first.
I'd be very happy if you could advise me! :-)
Hi Jens! It’s true, the two stories are unconnected but both wonderful. The novel is more sympathetic to the Time Traveller than the novella and is mostly about adventures he has travelling in the future. You may have to search ABEBooks for The Man Who Loved Morlocks, not sure if it’s in print any more, but definitely worth hunting up. Meanwhile, enjoy “The Truth About Weena”. And the rest of the anthology, Dreaming Down Under. It’s a classic.
Thank you so much, Sue, for your answer. It's really very much appreciated.
I'll keep an eye out on The Man Who Loved Morlocks. I've seen a few copies offered but for quite high prices. You should know that I'm based in Germany and it looks like that book was only issued in Australia so there probably won't be too many copies floating around in Europe. But you never know, maybe I'll get lucky one day or I see it on offer for a reasonable price.
By the way, the anthology I have is not Dreaming Down Under but The Mammoth Book of Time Travel SF edited by Mike Ashley! ;-)
Hi Jens! If you sign up with ABEBooks they will send you an email every time your book appears somewhere in the secondhand bookshops of the world. I think it was published by a small press that may not even exist any more and yes, quite a lot of our science fiction is published by small press, because the big ones only want fat fantasy trilogies. Do keep looking! You never know, some Aussie backpacker May have dumped it in a secondhand shop to lighten their load...
I’ve seen some of those Mike Ashley collections, even have two or three, but never realised that anything from Dreaming Down Under was in one! If you’re interested, I believe that one is still available. It’s a huge, thick collection of stories by some of Australia’s finest SF authors.
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