Since in the country I come from (Italy) I've the hardest time finding a site like this to post extract from my original works and get them reviewed, I thought I'd try and write a fanfic. It was actually a lot easier finding a nice site to post it to. But I'm unsure on how you actually go and write a fanfic. Let's say I have a nebulous idea of what a fanfic is, but I'm unsure on how I should treat characters, situations and locations and blend them with a storyline which is my own. And make it NOT a plagiarism. Since it's a fanfic, I suppose it's a given that you're using someone else's characters. But how should I go about describing/using them? Should I keep the originals as they are? Or am I allowed to change them a little, like keeping the name but changing the surname, or changing their background while keeping their general appearance/attitude? Next, situations. Am I allowed to re-elaborate a situation from the original work I based my own from, or to make, like a quotation? Or is that plagiarism? What if I insert in my piece of writing a situation that's slightly different from the original but it still refers to it? And what about locations? If I locate my story in THE SAME WORLD as the original story took place, is that plagiarism, too? And if I'm writing a crossover + alternate universe piece, am I allowed to use the characters freely? Or are there restrictions or something? I also wanted to ask about original characters, that is, characters that are my own and are inserted in the flow of the story alongside characters I picked from the work/works I'm basing my own from. Can I do that?
Okay, lets say - I know this is a frequently used example but... - in New Moon, book two of the Twilight Saga, when Edward leaves you think it would be better if he never came back. Your fanfic, would be how Bella survives without Edward, how her and Jacobs relationship evolves, whether Jacob imprints. That sort of thing. Most people tend to stick with the full character names - unless you just swap the names around, Bella Cullen, Edward Swan, that sort of thing - but as a rule, I've always been told to keep the history and atitudes the same, as they are what makes a character who they are. Cross-over worlds are another thing commonly done with the Twilght Saga, with Harry Potter, as Robert Pattinson plays Cedric Diggery and Edward Cullen, these can be fun to write, but can be a bit trickey. I have tried a few myself, but they have never gone very well. As another example, say you want to write a Disk World Novel, you can have diffrent characters, but keep the world the same, yes this is acceptable. As a rule you can do anything with a fanfic, as long as you keep the basic information the same. :0) Hope this helps. Fantasy Girl xx
my question is, why do you want to write hobby things that you can never get published or make money with, instead of your own work, which can establish you as a writer?
Mammamia, maybe she is just writing for a hobbie, not all people wish to get their work published. I personally write Fan-Fiction because it is fun and gives me ideas on other stories. When I'm suffering from Writers Block with one of my real projects, I work on one of my many Twilight Fan-Fics, it is fun and gets the brain working. And, if I'm not mistaken, wasn't there a Fan-Fic published at the beginning of last year, the Author had died before finishing a series of books, so a big fan wrote to the publisher of the books with a coppy of her Fan-Fiction and it got published. Fantasy Girl xx
I agree with Fantasy, writing fanfics is more of a hobbie and often helps when a writer is trying to think of something to do with their own works. As for Sophia's subject, fanfics can pretty much be whatever you want them to be as long as you keep the characters' personality and names as original as possible. Otherwise if you want to stick, let's say... Harry Potter in a Naruto setting, btw, this was totally out of the top of my head, then by all means go ahead with it. There are a lot of works that tends to do that. There are also a lot of fanfics that changes a character's background, position, etc. If you wish to check out some more on fanfics while also posting some of your own I suggest fanfiction.net, it's a great place for fan fics and their readers.
