I'd like to discuss published original fiction that started as a fanfic. It's becoming more popular to do and I think it's a lovely avenue for talented writers. Do you know of any stories like this? What are your thoughts on all aspects of publishing fanfiction?

I know of course of 50 shades of grey, but I have also seen at least two fics I've bookmarked to read later that state they've been published as original fiction and were allowed to keep up. I'm sure there are plenty more that have been taken offline. So I know this is definitely more of a thing than just our favorite infamous twilight fic.

I've not actually heard of this... but it greatly interests me. Though I would in my opinion think the writer should get the original author's permission in that regard, as it is their characters and such.

What exactly defines a fanfic? I had always thought it was a "remake" of another story by a fan.

Fan fiction is anything that borrows the world or characters from a published work in order to write your own story from. Oc's first appeared as a term for using characters of your own design within a non-original universe so it's not even a given that a fanfic would use the original characters.

But of course you cannot publish the fic in it's original form. If you look at 50 shades of grey, I'm sure in the original fic it was Bella and Edward in an alternate universe. In order to publish it, the characters and world must be altered enough. So while there are similarities between the original published work and the one inspired by it, it should definitely not be a remake.

Oh I see. That makes sense. I thought you meant like taking a blatant copy of hogwarts and throwing in some new people and making their own book to publish.

You're still subject to copyright laws if you publish it somewhere you can make money unless the original material is in public domain. Because if you really think about it, stuff like Alice in Zombieland and Pride,Prejudice, & Zombies are the same idea as fanfiction and no one has an issue with that.

People use Sherlock Holmes and the idea of him like the world can't get enough.

ooh, found a fun article about this topic. X

That was an interesting read

So true... Sherlock holmes is practically in everything it seems. Alice in Wonderland too. Every show has it's wonderland episode and when people get to investigating sometimes they pull out a magnifying glass and a hat.

There are a lot of good points to fanfiction for sure.

Yeah, they've become part of the popular canon like fairytales. I'm sure some of the stories from our time will become like that as well.

Yeah... curious to see what happens with Tolkien once it's been 70 years... I might live long enough to see it... just maybe...

The only real downside to fanfics is stumbling across a fanfic of your own writing if you get published

Oh yeah.

No way! I can't wait to see what people write! I would write my own stuff and troll my fandom. Like hardcore troll.

Nice. Have there been any authors to do that yet?

I have a friend I've been pushing to publish their work, but fanfics of her work are what scare her.

Fanfics are the ultimate form of flattery. And you probably won't get any or many if it's not uber popular. But I figure if any writer is trolling their own fandom they won't say anything because that kills the point.

That's true... I always only hear about Harry Potter fanfics these days, sometimes 50 shades, and I think one other I can't remember.

Well I know RR Martin or whatever his name is does some heavy trolling of his readers... but that's more because he keeps killing the most popular people

wait, people are writing fics of 50 shades of grey? Isn't that ironic? I'm pretty sure Harry Potter, Glee, Naruto, and Twilight have got to be the biggest fandoms.

Ah yes well, trolling is an art. A very fun one. I figure I would spew out a couple serious fics for my own stories and then write some utter crack, make up some new impossible pairings, and just troll some utter randomness in there for fuel. Then in an interview I'd say I hate when people write fanfiction of my stuff.

I don't know. I figured people were by now. Ah right Naruto and Twilight... those were the big 2 I was forgetting.

I would probably go around rating them. Like "I like the part where he ___ but he is a ___ so he wouldn't have done ___." or "__ is __ species, so __ and ___ couldn't actually have a child."

Oh, I'm sure there are fics. It's just funny. Oh, and Supernatural!!

And I would just laugh.

Ooh... what about leading a double life?

Posting on the forums as yourself, trolling about it, and in the media completely denying that it's you.

Yes, that is what pennames are for. I am such a troll. See, this is the joy of fanfiction. You just can't do that so well without embracing it.

Well I'm not the one too worried about it. She's the writer, I'm the rabid fan

Well, you let me know when your friend publishes and I'll go make sure she has a fandom to play with. :3

Haha... I dunno it might never happen.

Given as her personal rabid fan, I'm helping her with the side stuff. Trying to build an entire language from scratch, every single town, item, and people. Basically all of the lore nobody is ever going to actually see

sounds like you're doing as much of the work. Man, I'd be sad if all of that stuff got built just to hide in the background somewhere. I mean, I don't bother making that info if I know I won't use it at some point, haha.

I actually have a ton of fun doing it. It's a lot like what my favorite author Tolkien did with his stories. Much of the lore is between the lines and never mentioned.

The biggest reason I do it is because it prevents things from being "illogical". If say 5 books down the road you want to Add another form of magic for example, it would be helpful to make sure that they are all still going to be balanced with Lore and such.

I'm way too lax. I just deal with my rules as I need them. I don't usually do any of the research I need until I've already written some ways into it. I'd rather edit it in than wait around researching before I can write what I want.

I suppose as long as it works out. But for me covering all the loopholes is fun for me.
I wonder what method the harry potter author used.

I can point out some stories that I know they didn't plan more than a chapter ahead at a time and the uncovered loopholes still show. It's bad when it's a manga or fic that's posted chapter by chapter.

I think harry potter wasn't as planned out as a series. There's something fluid about how the world develops like the author was also discovering things book by book.