Fan-Fiction..?

I don't get it... Fan-fiction I mean. I really just don't get it. I mean, why? Someone tell me why you would write a story about a story you already love? Are you not afraid of ruining it for yourself, or others? You all know about the protective barrier established around Amy - if you insult her over her blog at the Literary Den, you will be dealt with appropriately.

Anyway, someone actually responded to our blog with her own blog post, and it wasn't BiPagan from before (who, as it turns out, is a lovely person and didn't encourage insults en masse at Amy ^_^). This new person is called The Dead Parrot, and her post can be found here. (gosh I hope it is a girl after saying it a few times...)

I tried to respond politely to her on her blog, only to discover that I can't... Sucks, doesn't it? So I've no way of getting my comment over to her, unless she finds this blog post. Anyway, here's what I had to say to her:

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Hello there. I came across your blog through the Literary Den Blog Stats, saying that people were referred to our page through yours. Just thought a polite response was in order (if I don't come across as polite, I apologise - I sometimes fail in that manner...)

Firstly, the largely quoted paragraph... I just think I should point out that Amy has just gotten past the stage of fan-fiction meaning a lot to her (as far as I know.) We don't condemn fan-fic in the Den, Amy just wanted to discuss it in the blog (we don't like monitoring what our bloggers say; they have opinions, so let them be heard). So, please don't be angry with her for your entire point number 3 ^_^

I also thought I should bring some of the comments made on the blog to your attention, in case you didn't bother reading them (not everyone likes to read everything about a blog, I understand that ^_^). Okay, so yes the point of originality was made (“I don’t have anything against fan-fic, but I just don’t get it. If you want to write, write something origional… but I do get that it’s probably good practice for people.”) but the person in question did also say that he doesn't get fan-fiction. Much in the same way I don't. In my case though, it's not because I don't think it doesn't count (except that it can't be published for profit, because that's illegal). No, rather I don't get fan-fiction because I'm afraid that I'll be less of a fan of something if my opinion is changed about a character in the story by either reading or writing the fan-fic in question. I think you can understand that - you like fan-fiction because it lets you do what you want with a story. At least, that's the impression I'm getting from your blog post.

Another comment also said, “...there are only two types of writing, good writing and bad writing. And, if you are writing fan fiction it’s still writing, no matter what some people might think of it.” I think this is rather good support for fan-fiction, and in case you might be choosing to condemn the blog because of Amy's post, keep it in mind that there are a lot of mixed opinions out there (and the two people I quoted from are self-acclaimed writing snobs...)

So, I think that's all I had to say. Thanks for reading our blog, and I hope you come back ^_^ Also, please feel free to comment on our blog if you want to say something to the gang (not everyone is as mad as I am to go looking for who's writing about us =P)

All the very best,
Paul Carroll,
Founder of the Literary Den.

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I think I came across politely... I hope I did, anyway. If I get a response, I'll make sure to share it with y'all. (yup, I said y'all...)

So... someone explain fan-fiction, then?