Is fanfiction a waste of time?

[Finchbearer]

Money and feeling of ownership are 2 very strong motivators. Say you write fan-fic in the universe of an author. You write a lovely fan-fic novel, which takes 2 years to complete, and you put your heart and soul into it. The story is liked by the fan community of said universe. Now that universe blows up and becomes the next Marvel. The next movie comes out, and the story is the exact same one you wrote. The author earns $100 million.

How do you now feel? Most people would feel ripped off and cheated and like they are entitled to at least some of that $100 million. Even just 1% of that kind of money is life changing. Now imagine if you know that the author has read your story before work on said movie started?

And it can happen on a smaller scale as well, simply because most people have no idea how little an author actually earns. I mean, they see someone wrote a bestseller. That can simply mean you sold 10k copies which made you $2 each. Hardly stellar. But they don't know that. They only see bestseller and assume you're making millions. And they want some of that.

That is motivation to not write fanfic.

 

[Aldarion]

Money and feeling of ownership are 2 very strong motivators. Say you write fan-fic in the universe of an author. You write a lovely fan-fic novel, which takes 2 years to complete, and you put your heart and soul into it. The story is liked by the fan community of said universe. Now that universe blows up and becomes the next Marvel. The next movie comes out, and the story is the exact same one you wrote. The author earns $100 million.

How do you now feel? Most people would feel ripped off and cheated and like they are entitled to at least some of that $100 million. Even just 1% of that kind of money is life changing. Now imagine if you know that the author has read your story before work on said movie started?

And it can happen on a smaller scale as well, simply because most people have no idea how little an author actually earns. I mean, they see someone wrote a bestseller. That can simply mean you sold 10k copies which made you $2 each. Hardly stellar. But they don't know that. They only see bestseller and assume you're making millions. And they want some of that.

That is motivation not to write fanfiction. People who write fanfiction generally do that because they love the original universe and want to tell more stories set in it, and do not expect to earn anything from it. At least, that is true for the kind of fanfiction you see on e.g. AO3.

 

[CupofJoe]

Lord of the Rings fan fiction writer sued for publishing own sequel

A US-based author had published what he called "the pitch-perfect sequel to The Lord of the Rings".

www.bbc.co.uk

 

[pmmg]

I would note, that Tolkien himself did start to write a sequel to his series, but abandoned it, feeling that to continue the tale would serve to cheapen the story he had already written. I think mostly that should be respected.

 

[Devor]

I haven't read through all the replies, so forgive me if I've lost the thread or am just repeating everyone else. But there are two things I want to say about fanfiction.

The first is, as with any exercise or do it yourself project, you get what you put into it. If you write a lot of garbage fanfiction, it's going to train you to write garbage even when it counts in your own writing. If you write wonderful fanfiction, it can help you write wonderful things in you own writing. With that idea in mind, I think a lot of people write fanfiction in ways that wouldn't help them become a better writer, and that a lot of people read fanfiction looking for things that wouldn't work in a mainstream commercial story. "I write fanfiction" is a yellow flag for a writer, one that really depends on what you've written.

With that said, the second thing I wanted to say is: I found writing fanfiction to be really, really helpful for me as a writer. I binge watched a new TV show one week when I was down sick, and I found myself fascinated with the concept, taking notes about where it could go, and the next thing I knew I was writing fanfiction. But leaning into that compulsion helped me figure out what I loved about writing, what was missing with my work, and what I wanted to do in my own stories. It was a pivotal turning point for me that I'm very grateful to have done.

 

[Penpilot]

Something interesting I just came across in regards to why some authors don't read fanfic.

The guy who sued Amazon for infringing on his Lord of the Rings fanfic takes a massive L, now owes $134,000 to the Tolkien Estate

Author Demetrious Polychron wanted $250 million for infringement of his book The Fellowship of the King.

www.pcgamer.com

 

[LittleOwlbear]

Anything that brings you joy and has meaning to you, is not a waste of time. If it's about money, any story you are not publishing to earn money would be a waste of time and ressources then, not just fanfiction.