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I am always looking for new books to read and the best finds often come from recommendations so if you have a book you would like to see reviewed please send me an email at bookchaos.blogspot@hotmail.com

Tuesday, August 30, 2011

Fan fiction: Good or Bad?

This article on the role of fan fiction in the literary market intrigued me. I first learned about fan fiction last year when I was in teachers college. We discussed how you could use fan fiction in the English classroom to get students actively involved in their own writing using inspiration from characters and stories that they love. I checked out the site and perused stories from books and TV shows that I love such as Harry Potter and I was hooked. The quality of some of the writing surprised me the most as there are some amazing writers out there creating truly inspired stories. I also started noticing fan fiction in the literary world at large. I read a book titled The Lost Memoirs of Jane Austen that took fan fiction from the interweb and put it on the page. A quick look around the book store showed me that this was not the only novel that took its inspiration from other books and I started wondering what role does fan fiction play in writing, inspiration, and creativity??

I'll leave you with some examples of fan fiction that I have found in the book world. If you can think of any others or if you have any thoughts to share on fan fiction please feel free to comment.






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1 comment:

  1. maryjaSep 7, 2011, 5:44:00 p.m.

    I've read several 'fan fiction' over the years and have always been very disappointed.

    Alexandra Ripley's "Scarlett" was a travesty.
    The several Pride & Prejudice sequels I've read were equally horrific.

    In all of these instances, the common thread was that they were written as 'romance novels' completely ignoring that, while each of the originals had a strong central relationship they were not really what the books were about - or at least not ALL the books were about. Both had a great deal of social commentary about the time(s) the authors (Mitchell and Austen) were living in and the types of people in those social circles.

    To give you an example,I read one P&P sequel that was obsessed by how much great sex Darcy & Elizabeth were having. Of course they are going to have great sex, but it completely missed the spirit of the original.

    Another relied on that old trope of Darcy keeping secrets from Elizabeth and the strain it put on their marriage. It was straight out of soap opera.

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