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All of the latest Mists of Pandaria newsBreakfast Topic: Do you read or write WoW fanfic?
by Heather Aagaard 
Nov 7th 2011 at 8:00AM
The creative community surrounding World of Warcraft is a varied one. No matter what genre of art you look into, you will find a WoW geek making something amazing somewhere. If you search hard enough, you can find everything from fan-made jewelry to cosplay, digital art to sculpture, machinima to comic strips, and so much more. Also included in this world of WoW-based arts is the writing community.
The topics covered in the writing community are as different and vast as the playerbase itself. You have your eclectic WoW blogs, the number-crunching, class-based fan sites, and everything in between. The one area of the writing community that has been getting my interest lately though has been the fanfic section. I'm an absolute sucker for a great story.
Do you write fan fiction? Do you use a blogging platform to showcase your work, or do you use a site like Fanfiction.net? If you write your own fanfic, what sort of characters do you write about? Do you write about well-known characters, or do you prefer to tell the story of some unknown face who just so happens to live in Azeroth? Do you tell the stories of your characters that you play in game, or do you tell the tale of the mysterious bread lady of Ironforge? If you don't write fanfic (either because you don't feel like you could ever do such a thing, which everyone should at least try, in my honest opinion), what is the story you wish you could tell, or what is a story that you would love to see told?
Filed under: Breakfast Topics, Guest Posts
Reader Comments (Page 4 of 4)
Kylenne Nov 7th 2011 2:04PM
I can think of any number of pro writers who are terrible and have huge egos, though (popular ones, even!). That's hardly unique to fanfic writers.
furrama Nov 7th 2011 2:38PM
True. But my argument shall be that it provides false confidence and thus makes it seem far worse by comparison.
Tell me which angers you more? Someone who wrote a, lets say at least somewhat original, five thousand page epic with a big ego, or someone who wrote a fanfic on that same world with the same sort of ego? At least the first person made the world and the characters, one can begrudge him a little bit of pride. The other guy though? What has he really done in the end?
RiderGeshtar Nov 7th 2011 3:04PM
@furrama - False equivalence, my dear boy. ;) A lot of 'original' work is frightfully derivative. And working within the confines of someone else's worldbuilding can be a fun exercise in how best to deal with limitations. Consider it like writing a sonnet instead of free verse.
Original work is not necessarily superior. I've read some amazing dreck in my day whilst acting as a beta for friends; original work can be just as jejune, obnoxious, cliched, pedestrian, flat, lifeless and dull as bad fanfiction. Trust me on this one. When you've beta'd as much as I have, you will understand.
It comes down to skill--technical, mechanical, and artistic. An original-work-type unskilled in all of those fields is going to produce inferior work to a fanfic author who is skilled in all three.
And sometimes a derivative work can be superior to its source material. I've read a lot of doujinshi (Japanese fanmade comics) where this is the case. At any rate your argument is sounding suspiciously like the high-art-versus-low-art routine I saw over and over from freshman students at my university. It didn't hold water there either. Some Renaissance-era paintings are utter shit and some comic books are beautiful. So it is with fanfiction versus original work. Savvy?
Kylenne Nov 7th 2011 3:07PM
The only thing that angers me is shitty writers thinking their shit don't stink. I don't especially give a damn if their shitty writing is original or derivative. I'm not especially inclined to give a giant ego a pass just because--as is usually the case with ego-driven pro writers--20 years ago they wrote something decent and they've been skating on that ever since. Or, worse yet, think that because they wrote something decent 20 years ago, that gives them a pass to pontificate on any and everything (Orson Scott Card, I'm looking at you). If anything, that makes me side-eye harder, because they're a professional and should know better than the 13 year old Zutara shipper causing wank on Livejournal.
To be honest, I'm pretty much done with people who make a big deal of making huge distinctions between fanfic and original work, because 9 times out of 10 when they do so, they're doing what you're doing and demeaning fanfic writers. I've written both. I've had a short story published and have been world building my own original setting for about, oh, 17 years now. I've also been writing fanfic for about that long. And there is absolutely zero difference in the difficulty level to me. Both can be as simple or complex as the story and the amount of effort dictates. The only difference is building a world from scratch takes more time. That's it. Sometimes, especially in the case of fandoms where canon is an absolute goddamn mess rife with retconning, plot holes big enough to drive a truck through, and characterization inconsistencies like WoW, untangling that shit and forcing it to make sense can be even more difficult than making something from scratch.
furrama Nov 7th 2011 3:27PM
So, your argument is basically thus:
There is little to no difference between original work and fanfic, because nothing is original.
First of all, Sturgeon's Law is in effect always, and I believe in it. 90% of everything is crap. That is to say, both fanfiction and original works are subject to this. However, to me, good fanfiction is still fanfiction. A good original novel will always be worth far more to the literary field, and heck, I'd argue a bad novel will add more than a good fanfic.
Second of all, let me address "there's nothing new under the sun". This is a true statement... and yet it isn't. The repackage, the remix, the allegory, satire, the deconstruction, they all bring something new to common tropes in these tales as old as time. This is what makes something original, the telling, not the tale. If a creative mind can't think of a way to say a very old message and repurpose it as something wholly new then they are creatively bankrupt.
*I* think fanfic is by-in-large a waste of time for both the writer and the reader. Read what I linked above, I mostly agree with her. And please, please remember: just because it is popular doesn't mean it is good. Don't get these things confused.
EVOXPISCES Nov 7th 2011 1:51PM
Nope
Kylenne Nov 7th 2011 2:21PM
I write a lot of fic in various fandoms, and Warcraft's no exception, though I tend to focus on lore characters more often than not. My number one motivation for writing WoW fic is that I have a ridiculous amount of love for certain lore characters and despise the way they've been treated in the game, so I write from my own headcanon and try to make it internally consistent and make sense in a way I feel canon doesn't. I write an awful lot of Kael-centric fic, largely for that reason.
I do write stories with my own OCs, mainly because I never really got to RP with them the way I would have liked when I was still playing on an RP server, but as a rule I tend not to post them. They crop up once in a while in my lore character fics as extras or subtle cameos, but they don't take the spotlight from the lore characters and I don't try to shoehorn them in where they wouldn't make sense, which is what I feel is the problem with most fic people write about their OCs. As an example, just the other day I wrote a short fic about Kael's return to Quel'Thalas after the Scourge invasion, in which he held a candlelight vigil for the fallen, and as people were speaking the names of their dead loved ones, my Death Knight's name popped up as one of them (spoken by his lover, who went unnamed).
I'll give OC-centric fics a chance, but I'm wary from being burned by too many Sues. I really only read those if someone's rec'd one to me.
dugmet Nov 7th 2011 3:41PM
If I spent any time writing, I wouldn't have time to stick my daggers in the backs of other players.
Destron Nov 7th 2011 5:25PM
Despite writing fanfic, I haven't actually read very much of it. However, one that's quite good is "Fresh," by Meaghan O'Hara. The story is sometimes poignant and very well-written, and gives sort of a ground-eye view of events. You can find it here.
http://meghanohara.wordpress.com/2011/04/21/fresh/
Saz Nov 7th 2011 6:34PM
I have been working on a fanfiction project for the past several months. I'm not a roleplayer, I'm certainly not a lore buff, so this project is really just something I do because I enjoy writing in general and like writing about my characters. Over the years many of my Warcraft characters have grown on me to the point where in my mind they all have taken on a life, personality, and history of their own and I get some personal enjoyment out of telling their tales. While character figures that are currently in the WoW lore may make an appearance in my stories now and again, I don't really care to tell their story. I'd rather write about some every day "boring" person rather than a character who we're all familiar with; the famous characters we all know and love (or in some cases, hate) have for the most part already had their story told. I'm a fan of getting to know the unknown personalities of Azeroth. Did I mention that I'm no good at keeping the official lore straight? Sad, but true.
http://slashpounce.blogspot.com/
Both the blog and the story located in that link are a constant work in progress. I don't claim to be all that great, but maybe a few of you folks will get some sort of enjoyment out of it.
Warrickale Nov 7th 2011 6:40PM
I actually like to write fan ficition.
Currently I do not have any way to get it out there other than the forums for wow, which probably isn't the best place but it's the only one I know to use!
My current work is "The Fall of Zul'gurub" wherein I pay tribute to one of my favorite mangas, full metal alchemist. This particular female witch doctor is both cursed and blessed by the Loa the trolls worship. The story will take place somewhere between the last patch of the Wrath of the lich king expansion and the cataclysm.(and I realize as i write this its probably the most hum drum synopsis ever written!)
The whole thing will tell how Zul'Gurub finally fell to the way side and hints of how the new 5 man came about.
Look for it to be on the worlds end taverns forums on the wow forums some time in the next couple months(hey, it'll be ready when it's ready!).
matix.jc Nov 7th 2011 7:55PM
I've been struggling with my own novel for a couple years. Fantasy fiction apparently requires a lot of planning. Or at least, it's the most difficult genre I've dabbled in with writing in a while, which is odd because it's pretty well all I read.
I've never written fan-fic before, but lately I've been debating writing out some short stories based on the Warcraft universe, just to get myself in the mode for self-motivation to keep at my own original idea.
Even when thinking about fan-fic though I can never pinpoint where to start. There's so many characters I adore, and so many of my own characters I'd like to write about in a Warcraft setting.
Though upon starting a piece of WoW fan-fic, I'd probably center the story around one of my own characters, and throw in some of my favorite characters already implemented in the lore.
Anyone got any tips? I'd love to hear them. Trying to get in the mood to write consistently again, that's all!
romanjk Nov 7th 2011 9:41PM
I found that the best way for me to start off was with the snippets of story that were most prominent in my mind. The great part about something you write for yourself is that it does not need a beginning, middle and end - or even a plot. Some of my story ideas for my RP characters have simply been descriptions of my character, the current state of mind or one event they spend mere moments participating in.
My biggest focus currently is my namesake - Effraeti. She has been my main since I started playing WoW. Now, she has her own blog. :) And it started with a snippet story and I built from there.
http://effysrponwyrmrestaccord.wordpress.com/
~ Effy
Effraeti Nov 7th 2011 8:29PM
I recently moved to an RP server, and since I have begun to actively craft stories for my characters on a blog. I suppose they could be considered fanfiction, as they are based upon the world and creatures and lore of WoW.
I have not actively delved into reading much fanfiction. So far, only the winners of the Blizzard-run WoW contests. I would love suggestions of websites of fanfiction and community RP'ers. I love the lore, but it is so much more interesting reading it in a story then in an article... and unfortunately, I have run out of WoW books to read. heh
~ Effy
Gimmlette Nov 8th 2011 9:44AM
I'm trying to get the guild story, set in Wrath, finished by Christmas. I set myself some lofty goals and now it's been a bit of a struggle to tie up all the loose ends.
matix.jc Nov 13th 2011 5:14AM
Delayed response, I apologize! Thanks for the tips though. I didn't even think about starting a separate blog for one specific character and rolling some ideas out on that ... hmmmm. I may have to give that a go.