So I wanted to hopefully start just a small discussion regarding Twilight fan fiction or just fan fiction in general. Way before I began blogging, I used to read fan fiction. I think for a period of about 2 years that was all I was reading during and after I read the Twilight books. At first I didn't want to get involved in fan fiction because of how my favorite books characters would be portrayed in other types of stories. Then of course I wanted to keep reading about Jacob, Edward and Bella because it was all I could think about. I had the chance to read fan fic that would continue with an alternate ending to Twilight or what if Edward never returned in New moon. Or I could just read about them but as humans in real life settings with real life problems. So when I asked my friend which fic should be the first one I should read, without hesitation she said I had to read Wide Awake.
I read Wide Awake and the rest became history. At first I was like wait, where are my vampires but then once the story began to own you, you forgot all those details from Twilight and just start to think about the story itself. Well as soon as I was done with Wide Awake, I asked her to tell me all the fan fics she had read and love that I had to read. This began my obsession with Twilight fan fic. I was reading every second I could and anywhere I was. I started out reading them in my computer and quickly figured out I could read from my cell phone. So the fan fics went with me everywhere. Back then my phone didn't had the huge screen they have now and its didn't matter, I had to read this addicting stories. What was so incredible was that none of these stories were created from authors, these were people like you and me, that one day just felt that need to create this tale with these characters we loved and hope maybe someone would take notice and read it. There was and is some real talent in the fan fic world. Im sure not just in the twilight fan fic but just in general. I would finish a fan fic and say to my self, WOW I would have bought this if it was a real book on the shelf at the store. So in that time frame that I read fan fic I was lucky to have read multiple GREAT and Addicting stories. Then I began blogging and just could not fit in any more time to read fan fic since I had books to read and review. Some days I think hey maybe I should read a new one and just remember how great and enjoyable reading these fan fic stories were.
So this post really is just to say how super HAPPY I was when I heard that one of my favorite twilight fan fics had been published. I would chat with my friends and say these people have real talent and should try really hard at getting published. So to know that Fifty Shades series happen just made my day because Master of the Universe was always one of my top choices when recommending a fan fic to someone new. Now I get to recommend it all over again but with physical books and honestly I think she tweak it and just made it more awesome!!!! So I just wanted to know out there who writes fan fic and have you ever thought of what if or could I? The fact that Fifty Shades now exist, should be reason enough for all fan fic writers to try and get their stories published. Also if you read fan fic what are other stories, you would like to see on book shelves and have paperback copies of? I know I have a long list of those, maybe now we will start to see some appear in the book world after all the fame that Fifty Shades has created.
Fifty Shades
series is written by E.L. James and its a trilogy that contains Fifty Shades of Grey, Fifty Shades Darker and Fifty Shade Freed. This series originated from Master of the Universe fan fic. In this series Edward became Christian and Bella became Anastasia. Locations have been altered and others characters too. Master of the Universe came out in the fan fic world around 2008 or earlier. E.L. James went by the fan fic name of Snowqueens Icedragon. This series is one of those fics that was label mature over 18 because of its content. Fifty Shades didn't loose any of that content and sexy times. I still would only recommend it to adult over the age of 18 and that have real open minds, since the content in the pages is not one everybody can understand. This series is erotica but has its romance and angst. You can check out the web for articles and features about this hot commodity! It might even make the big screen, that would be AWESOME!!!!
series is written by E.L. James and its a trilogy that contains Fifty Shades of Grey, Fifty Shades Darker and Fifty Shade Freed. This series originated from Master of the Universe fan fic. In this series Edward became Christian and Bella became Anastasia. Locations have been altered and others characters too. Master of the Universe came out in the fan fic world around 2008 or earlier. E.L. James went by the fan fic name of Snowqueens Icedragon. This series is one of those fics that was label mature over 18 because of its content. Fifty Shades didn't loose any of that content and sexy times. I still would only recommend it to adult over the age of 18 and that have real open minds, since the content in the pages is not one everybody can understand. This series is erotica but has its romance and angst. You can check out the web for articles and features about this hot commodity! It might even make the big screen, that would be AWESOME!!!!
Here are a few I would love to see turned in to books:
- Wicked Angel
- Emancipation Proclamation
- The Ex Factor: Edward and Bella
- Let Your Light Shine
- Laid Bare
- I'll Be Your Lover Too
- Wide Awake (this is the mecca of all Twilight fan fic)
So tell us what you think of fan fic, have you read it, do you love it or hate it? What do you think about getting them to convert and publish? Are you a writer of fan fic, have you thought to publish? Love to hear everyone thoughts!!!!
UPDATE: after posting this, I have come to find out that another one of those fan fics I love has also been published. Emancipation Proclamation is now available as Sempre
written by J.M. Darhower. This really makes my heart sing, to see these great fan fics getting their time in the lime light.
UPDATE (12/5/14): This post was created almost 5 years ago before many of these fanfic stories could one day actually become published books. I'm sure many of you know by now that several of our favorites Twilight fanfics have and will continue to be published. So you might not find those original fanfics stories online anymore because they have been pulled. I encourage you all to buy the published books, these books have been edited and revamped by the publishers and agents that have bought the rights to these stories. They are even better than the originals. Happy Reading!!!
UPDATE: after posting this, I have come to find out that another one of those fan fics I love has also been published. Emancipation Proclamation is now available as Sempre
written by J.M. Darhower. This really makes my heart sing, to see these great fan fics getting their time in the lime light.UPDATE (12/5/14): This post was created almost 5 years ago before many of these fanfic stories could one day actually become published books. I'm sure many of you know by now that several of our favorites Twilight fanfics have and will continue to be published. So you might not find those original fanfics stories online anymore because they have been pulled. I encourage you all to buy the published books, these books have been edited and revamped by the publishers and agents that have bought the rights to these stories. They are even better than the originals. Happy Reading!!!
Posts
I love fanfic! I don't read Twilight fanfic, but I read it in a variety of other fandoms
ReplyDeleteWould you mind if I wrote a post on my blog about fanfic? Your post has really inspired me. I would credit, of course. =)
I only read Twilight fan fic but I have met a few published authors that in the beginning wrote some sort of fan fic. I think its great as a starting point for them to hone their talent and later on become a published author.
DeleteI think that would be supe rice if you did and Thanks for asking. Tweet me the link when you do so I can read it.
I don't read fanfic. Not because I don't want to, but because I have no idea where to find them. I did read ONE (and I have no idea how I came across it) about Jace and Clary from City of Bones by Cassandra Clare. I liked it a lot.
ReplyDeleteI am a huge fan of Fifty Shades of Grey, so to hear it was a fanfic makes me sort of want to search some fanfics to read. I see your little list above and I am curious and want to find these. Link me! lol
Dee you have come to the perfect source to get on your fan fic on! lol!!!
DeleteYes Ive heard of City of Bones fic and also Harry Potter, but never read any expect of Twilight ones.
Is that what the site is called? Perfect Source? I want to check it out now. LOL
DeleteI meant Im your go to person for guiding you in the right way to reading fan fic
DeleteFanfiction.net is a great place to start reading fanfic. It's got a lot of crap, but there's also a lot of gems.
DeleteI've also found some just by doing a google search.
I admit that I read wide awake too and also barflies story . It did feel a need and I didn't read the 50 shades story. But I am glad that its out there
ReplyDeleteTo answer your questions quickly ... yes, I read fanfiction (twilight, harry potter) .... no, I don't agree that fanfic stories should be published. Fanfic is supposed to be a place to exercise your writing skills, but if you want to write a story, write your own from start to finish, without using someone else's characters (whether you change the names or not).
ReplyDeleteAs for 50 shades, I read part of it when it was MotU and I thought it was deplorable. I don't understand why people think its so great. I thought the writing was amateurish, the grammar and punctuation were awful, and the dialogue was dreadful. As for the mature content, I wouldn't have called it a "consensual BDSM" relationship but rather an emotionally and physically abusive relationship.
But that's just my opinion. Many twilight fans disagree with me, and that's fine. They're entitled to their opinions, just as I am entitled to mine. I just wish this would all go away. The news articles and the FB posts and now EW's cover story. I have a pre-teen at home who is seeing these books discussed on the Today show and Entertainment Weekly's website (she reads it for the Hunger Games content) and is now asking me about the plotline. This is NOT what I want my daughter exposed to, and the rabid twi fans and James's publicist are making sure its crammed down everyone's throat. I really look forward to the day that this book fades into obscurity.
Thank you for your opinion. Its great to see what both sides think of fan fic and its stories.
DeleteAs far fan fic goes, their are a few that it is their own story. They are only using names that ppl can associate with. Why else would we read fan fic then. If fan fic didn't have a character name we were familiar with then you couldn't call it fan fic, it would juts be some unpublished story and no one would give it a chance. By giving these stories a name we all know, you peak readers interest and actually get them to read it and that when you discover who great the story itself is.
As far as the fame that Fifty shades is getting, that can be any erotica books or really any adult book. It would still capture the attention of minors just because its on EW or MTV or any other big media platform. So Fifty shouldn't take the blame for that at all. What gets promoted sells, simple equation.
I hate to nit pic, but your post is a good example of what drives me nuts in poorly written fanfics. "Their are a few ... " should be "There are a few... " You don't "peak" a readers interest, you "pique" their interest.
ReplyDeleteBut I digress.
I fully understand what fanfic is for. I have used it myself to test out whether or not my own writing style was something that would interest readers, or if it was too stilted, or if it was too confusing. I got the feedback and used that to (hopefully) improve my own writing. But what I was writing (with the idea of maybe submitting for publishing) was not based on the fanfic story.
In any case, as for the 'fame' that the book is receiving, I think you missed my point. My daughter wouldn't know of its existence if it weren't for Entertainment Weekly or the Today show and their hype of it. I don't blame the book for that - I blame her publicist and I blame publications like EW that have to jump on every bandwagon in their need to get those extra dollars into their bottom line.
I get that mature books detail mature adult relationships between the characters. BUT, I think that if this book had a toned down sexual relationship between the characters, people wouldn't be nearly as interested in it. I honestly question if ANYONE would be as interested in this story if it weren't pornography. Plain & simple.
Oh, and just for conversations sake, I have also read Wide Awake & I also feel that it is an incredible story. An interesting premise, very well researched, with a detailed outline & very few holes in the final product. I have also suggested this story to fanfic readers and I have only ever had one person come back to me stating that they didn't think it was a good story.
DeleteWhich only supports the age old saying "you can't win them all".
Great discussion post Yara!
ReplyDeleteI love reading fanfic; Most of the books I read are YA, so when I need a break or just some good smut & BDSM I read fanfic. I stayed away from MoTu and some of the other "highly talked about fics" I just wasn't into all of the hype. I normally stick with o/s.
I think the idea of getting the work published is pretty awesome. Its a backwards way of doing things, if you think about it, they grabbed their fans first and then published. Some people think that's wrong, and I disagree. The fact that these fanfic authors went into writing something for fun, and found out that there were enough people that enjoyed it to publish... good for them! What I would like to see though is more differences between the fanfiction and the actual published version. Not a plot change rather, but something so that its not a dry "cut & paste"
I have all the Fifty books & Sempre. And plan on reading those soon... but I won't read the fanfiction version.
The one fic I would LOVE to see go to print is Clipped Wings and Inked Armour... it stole my heart and I'd buy it in a heartbeat.
Thanks Andrea.
DeleteI also loved Clicked Wings and Inked Armour. tattoos and a hot guy= WIN
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ReplyDeleteI don't think fanfic should be published. Like Ohana said, it's basically another story, same characters, and manipulating it the way you want. If it was a completely new story with new characters, then that wouldn't be fan fiction, that would be originality.
ReplyDeleteFanfic is as the name suggests, fan written fiction. It should stay on the internet where it was created and just let readers enjoy.
I've seen fan fiction about celebrities, books, movies and anything else that involves someone or something that already exists.
For it to be published would seem , to me, plagiarized.
If someone wants to publish a book, write something original. Or just use self-publishing methods. Otherwise, keep it fun & free.
Great post Yara! I too read Wide Awake and loved it. I found it through Hisgoldeneyes.com and was immediately hooked.
ReplyDeleteAs far as fan fic being published, why not. Technically you do keep the characters but the ideas are yours. I think it's great to exercise your witting as well as get good feed back to make the story even better. That's is what writers do after all. Write, edit, get feedback, etc.
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ReplyDeleteI've been reading fanfic for years. I've found some Twilight fanfic that's better written than the actual books.
ReplyDeleteI know of at least two series that were fanfic that are now published works. Fifty Shades is one. The other is from a different fandom, and it was huge (in terms of word count -- the series was at least 8 stories long). I never read the fanfic that used to be Fifty Shades, but I haven't heard great things about it so far.
I'm a little torn about whether fanfic should be published. If the writer takes their fanfic, changes the character names, and gets it published, I think I would be less ok with it than if they took their fanfic, took the general idea, and re-wrote the whole thing (which is the case with the second fanfic-turned-book I mentioned above).
Not sure how I feel about fanfics being published, I'll have to think about that one. I have read quite a few fanfics though, mostly ones based on the Twilight series. I like the tamer ones, and some of my favorites have been Sacrifices (my absolute favorite!!), Puppet Master, and Extraordinary/Evening Falls. There is another one that I follow and still get updates on once in a while, but for the life of me, I can't remember the name of it! :o)
ReplyDeleteNow I guess I'll have to go and read some other fanfics...
I really do approve of fan fiction and find it entertaining. However, I don't approve of someone profiting of another author's characters by publishing their work. Fan fiction should stay free, in my opinion. If these authors really want to publish, they should create their own characters from scratch.
ReplyDeleteI haven't read Fan Fic, unfortunately, but I can understand the appeal. I've heard loads about the Fifty Shades books and look forward to reading them. Thanks for this lovely post!
ReplyDeletei love me some good fanfic. the puppet master by glitch in the system is one of my favorites! :)
ReplyDelete