Theory of Fan Fiction
Fan Fiction is designed not only to entertain, but also to present ideas and theories, and – most importantly – to satisfy the fantasies of fans. There are therefore some extra elements to be considered in its evaluation, besides the usual quality of writing. There are also some writing dangers involved exclusively with fan fiction, because of its extra underlying purpose.
An important distinction should be made between the two types of characters in fan fiction: Original characters, and borrowed characters. This is rather self-explanatory: original characters are created for the fiction by its author; borrowed characters are a part of whatever story the fan fiction is written about. Original characters can be a helper or a hindrance. They need to help further the story, and a proper relationship needs to be established between them and the borrowed characters. If this is done, they allow much greater freedom of movement and creativity within the story, and can be a wonderful display of how well the author understands his or her borrowed characters.
Borrowed characters present an extra challenge: maintaining a character created by someone else, and successfully transferring it to new situations. The imperative rule is MODERATION. Fan fiction’s worst error is embarrassing the reader. Whatever it is the author has dreamed up for ther protagonist to do, he or she has got to keep it believable. The issue is using the character as opposed to exploiting him. The goal of publishing fan fiction is to make fantasies, realized through writing, available for other fans to enjoy. The reader’s trust must not be breached through embarrassment. No matter how well written a fiction is, if it slips over the edge it will not work. The fan fic reader is looking for a continuation of experiencing a character. Thus, borrowed characters must at all costs remain who they originally were. This does not exclude all character development, but in general new sides of well-known, borrowed characters are hard to swallow.
The story and structure of a fan fiction are just as important as in any other kind of fiction. This is especially true for fictions that are designed to explore the author’s theories about a character. Fan fiction should not be used as a substitute for a literary essay. Giving a character a long, overly convenient speech as a substitute for progressing towards a point is simply another form of exploiting the character.
Many fics are set in a place all fans are familiar with. Since fan fiction is written for fans, not as an introduction to fandom, authors don’t need to spend time describing a familiar setting unless some aspect of it has changed. Go ahead! Jump right in, in medias res. This same rule applies to borrowed characters; telling us about characters we already know is painting the lily.
The plot of a fan fiction story can be almost anything, and this is the aspect in which the author has complete freedom. The more creative, harrowing, exciting, moving, the better! All of my favorite stories have good plots. No plot can work too; some fictions take place entirely within a character's mind. These are more technically difficult, since the words of the story are not directly the author's. Of course, the final end of fan fiction is to be enjoyable. So enjoy whatever fan fiction appeals to you most! Stories can be fun without being Charles Dickens or Mark Twain. If you're hankering after more fan fiction commentary, Monkeychild would be happy to help you with its tongue-in-cheek directions for Obi-Wan Kenobi Fic. May the force be with you.
