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Fan fiction

Fan fiction (commonly abbreviated to "fanfic") is fiction written by people who enjoy a film, novel, television show or other dramatic or literary work, using the characters and situations developed in it and developing new plots in which to use these characters. (As a matter of historical interest, it should be noted that in the pre-1965 era, the term "fan fiction" was used in science fiction fandom to designate science fiction written by members of fandom and published in fanzines, as distinguished from fiction professionally published; this usage is now obsolete.)

Fan fiction has come to the fore especially since the rise of the Internet, where it flourishes despite the possibility that it infringes the copyright of the film, book, TV show, or other media on which it is based.

Nowadays major genres of fanfic include those based on: Japanese anime/manga series; J.K. Rowling's Harry Potter series; J.R.R. Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings; science fiction serials (both on television and in film); other serial television (dramatic and even comedic); and American cartoon series. Popular television series which have inspired fanfic include Star Trek and Buffy the Vampire Slayer. Even video games, such as the Final Fantasy and Street Fighter series, have become sources.

In Russia, where copyright laws have been lax at best, it is not uncommon to see fanfiction based on the work of popular authors published in book form. Sergey Lukyanenko, a popular science fiction author, went as far as to incorporate some fanfiction based on his stories into official canon (with permission of the writers of the said fanfiction, of course). In the United States, officially sponsored books are another form of published fanfiction. Series like Star Trek or Star Wars all have official books that are nothing more than fanfiction, just with the profits of the company in mind as well.

A large subsection of fanfiction revolves around romantic and/or sexual relationships between characters, almost always outside the canon of the source material and often dealt with in explicit detail. Further, among relationship centered fan fiction, a large portion deals with same sex relationships, with male/male pairings being the most common; this is called slash fiction. Fanfiction revolving around pairings is often denoted by writing both names with a slash or a (usually lowercase) X, or by fusing the two names together.

In anime and manga fan fiction, there are specialized terminologies in common use, often brought into English from Japanese fandom. Explicit sex stories are known as lemons. Lime is a moderated version of the lemon, sexual but not necessarily explicit. The terms shōnen-ai, yaoi, shōjo-ai, and yuri are also often used to classify fanfiction with same-sex relationships.

Japanese fan fiction manga, an entire class unto themselves, are known as dōjinshi.

Some fanfiction falls into the category of Mary Sue fantasies, where a new character representing the writer enters the story and upstages all of the established characters. However, Mary Sue can also be a character that's 'perfect' and has no inherent faults. While Mary Sue has some fans, she's generally frowned upon.

Another fan fiction subgenre is the crossover story where characters of different media franchises interact. An example would be the human refugee fleet led by the Battlestar Galactica finding and entering the territory of Star Trek's United Federation of Planets and learning that not only does Earth exist, but it is a charter member of this powerful interstellar political entity.

Yet another subgenre is commonly known as the song-fic. This is a story, often a one-shot (a fanfic with only one chapter), where the lyrics to a song, or sometimes a poem, are included in the body of the writing, and in someway are connected to the story. For example, characters may be performing the actions described in the song, or going through the emotions described in the song. The lyrics may be used to reveal a depth to the character, or explain complex emotions. Other times it is used merely to set the general mood for the fic.

Since television is responsible for a large part of fanfiction, it's no surprise that people have also written virtual seasons on their favorite shows. These can also be known as the alternative universe fan fiction, or AU for short, if completely changing the original storyline at one point (such as removing a character, or changing events, setting things elsewhere, these are too numerous to count). Continuations are when stories are created after a series has finished (for instance, after the end of Buffy), as the facts have already been set out and are known (i.e. canon), and then it takes it to another level, continuing any remaining plot lines, or creating new ones entirely. These need to be written well in order not to contradict the canon as such stories are often set between episodes or seasons of the TV shows, between books in a serial or between movies in a series.

It is worth noting that there is no such thing as an "original fanfic." The term is a misnomer that is sometimes applied to completely original works published online. It is inaccurate, however, because the work is not based on any previously existing story. Not all amateur fiction is fan fiction, regardless of the fact that the popular site Fanfiction.net once had a section for original works (which has since been moved to Fictionpress.com). Among anime/manga fans, "original fanfic" is used to refer to an original work that borrows heavily from anime/manga themes and plot devices, and is often set in Japan, with the characters having Japanese names.

Fan fiction also exists in film and video, in the form of independent, fan-produced pastiches and parodies of established works. One of the best known is Troops, a parody of the reality television show Cops starring Star Wars stormtroopers on patrol. Another lesser known film is Batman: Dead End, by Sandy Collora. It's small, but creates an interesting scenario between Batman and the Joker, not to mention a crossover with two of the most unlikely series ever.

Legal aspects

According to current copyright laws in most countries, copyright owners have the right to control or restrict the publishing of "derivative works" of the story on which it is based, though they do not receive ownership of those works. The owner of the original work (film, TV show, etc.) therefore has some legal power over fanfics.

However, it is sometimes a matter of argument whether a given piece of fan fiction is a derivative work, and it is also sometimes questionable the extent of which a plantiff can actually recover damages even if it is. In this area, there are a number of considerations that extend beyond the already complex legal issues. For instance, the power of a cease and desist letter from an entity with deep pockets on a single person who can scarcely afford legal representation is great. Conversely, the bad publicity and ill will generated by attacking ones own fan base can give even a large corporation second thoughts about conducting a legal campaign against fan fiction.

It must also be noted that separate from copyright issues, many characters in American television and film productions are also registered trademarks of the producing company. However, this only requires that fan fiction producers make certain that their work cannot be confused as being endorsed by or produced by the trademark holder; it does not ban the mention of such a phrase any more then the registered trademark status of Coca-Cola prohibits its mention here. Most authors get around this by including short disclaimers at the beginings of stories or chapters.

It is also usually the case that fanfic does not reduce the income which the original authors can extract for their work, and the authors of the fanfic receive little or no income from it. Although under the law copyright (and trademark) infringement still technically can occur even when the infringer does not profit from it, this fact is important legally because it limits or eliminates the damages that a court could find, and also makes possible some defenses to infringement under copyright fair use.

Thus far, the major studios have generally tolerated fan fiction. A noted exception is Lucasfilm which has threatened or sued many sites precisely because of their non-commercial nature. Some studios, besides turning a blind eye to fanfic, even surreptitiously encourage it because they believe it helps them by maintaining fans' (customers') interest. J. K. Rowling for instance says she loves fan fiction of all kinds (though the more obscene ones were a bit moot), as long as the writings were credited to the author and not her (i.e. lying to get more people to read them or for her not to get in trouble from explicit stories). Douglas Adams also reportedly appreciated fan fiction based on his works, to the extent that some would say that there are scenes in So Long, and Thanks For All The Fish that seem to be inspired by fanfiction.

In contrast, Anne Rice however is the other end of the scale, preventing any fan fiction of any of her characters (mostly those from her famous Interview with the Vampire book) or anything to do with any of her books. Other authors also do this in order to protect their intellectual copyright, and prevent any dilution, saturation and distortion of the universes and people portrayed in their works.

The attitude of copyright holders toward incorporating fan fiction into the canon varies. It is generally the case that the writers hired for a television or movie are under strict orders not to read fan fiction out of fear that doing so will cause the copyright holder to be sued later for infringement. However, some copyright holders such as the case of the BBC and Doctor Who have mechanisms to allow for unsolicited submissions of stories into the official canon, and it is also the case that the writers of canon stories have sometimes been recruited from fan fiction writers.

See also: fanon, fandom

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