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 fanziness, 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.

Japanese fan fiction manga are known as doujinshi.

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.

(In anime/manga fan fiction, there are specialized terminologies in common use, brought into English from Japanese fandom. Explicit sex stories between male/female couples can be classifed as lemonss, when the story is very hardcore, sometimes almost entirely a long sex scene or series thereof. Lime is a moderated version of the lemon: it has some details of sex, but not in the same quantity as the lemon, and it usually has a normal storyline as well, just interspersed with sex scenes every now and then. Male/male romantic relationships are called shounen-ai or in the case of the explicit sex variety, yaoi. Female/female fan fiction are likewise called shoujo-ai and the more sex related yuri.)

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.

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

Whether fan fiction actually infringes copyright is a matter of some debate.

According to current copyright laws in the United States of America, 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 legal power over fanfic. (An exception to this is parody fanfic, since parodies are granted special status as fair use under copyright law.)

However, it is a matter of argument whether a given piece of fan fiction may truly be a "derivative work." As a matter of fact, because generally it will not actually contain any material taken from the copyrighted work(s) or be in any way otherwise derived from the actual copyrighted work itself, but merely from the (uncopyrightable) ideas that the (copyrighted) work draws upon, most fan fiction is in fact not a derivative work and does not infringe current U. S. copyright law. Nevertheless, some creators of original works mislead the public about the law in an attempt to stop the creation of fan fiction based on their ideas and characters. Despite the fact that fan fiction is rarely actually infringing, the theoretical result of a court battle is irrelevant-- 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 in America.

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.

It is also argued 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, though under the law copyright (and trademark) infringement still occurs even when the infringer does not profit from it. 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 counterexample, 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.

See also: fanon, fandom

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