George R.R. Martin calls fanfiction writing 'lazy'.
POSTED BY: DeSangro
UPDATED: Tuesday, October 5, 2004 16:04
VIEWED: 8154
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As a writer and 'GunRunner' {Hiyo Maniac!} myself, I'll have to side with Mr. RR Martin.
It is lazy - OK hear me out. The roughest stuff to do in creating a universe is the backstory and how everything interlinks.
Some authors make the barest framework and let the story/characters et al evolve more organically.
Other authors (Herbert comes to mind} plot and plan the structure of their 'Verse.
Martin is saying to find your true talent/enjoyment, you have to create this type of framework - to follow through with the whole experence of crafting a full 'Verse - instead of only writing situations and characters that you hang on anothers 'Verse backstorys framework.
It is not ment as a slam - just a prod to get folks to try doing something new and fresh. Remember, blending mythologys is how Lucas and Tolkean {ex sp} got SO huge.
Heh, that must be why I love Farscape - it dares to go boldly where angels fear to nuke. 
"Remember, there is only ONE absolute - There ARE NO absolutes!!!"
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Quote:
Originally posted by CapnRahn:
As Martin is saying to find your true talent/enjoyment, you have to create this type of framework - to follow through with the whole experence of crafting a full 'Verse - instead of only writing situations and characters that you hang on anothers 'Verse backstorys framework.
It is not ment as a slam - just a prod to get folks to try doing something new and fresh. Remember, blending mythologys is how Lucas and Tolkean {ex sp} got SO huge.
It's a matter of opinion really. Many people can and do find their "true enjoyment" in different ways. Unfortunately, I haven't read GRRM's entire thoughts on this matter, but if you're saying that he believes "that" about everyone's creative writing, he has diminished himself. I hope you're not saying that.
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I guess I'd consider myself a writer. I'm not published, but I've got just a tiny bit of recognition online. I've never written a fanfic and I've read next to none, so I'll be the first to admit that I'm in no position to criticize.
However, I think what we have here is a matter of differing intentions. Seems to me that there are people who write fanfiction because they love the universe so much, and they want to further explore it. Whether or not they do a good job is another matter, but I know that whenever I see something really exceptional (A movie, a story, a work of art) I always get a powerful urge to create 'my own version'. This doesn't neccessarily mean I want to copy, rip-off, or even create something within the same universe as that work; it simply means that I have identified with some aspect of the work and wish to interpret it in my own way. I generally find that, the closer I imitate someone else's work, the less I am interested.
This is obviously not the case for the numerous people who write fanfics. They connect with a universe they respect and enjoy through taking in the cannon work and producing new stories through it.
The problem that Mr. Martin is identifying is not fanfic as a whole, it's people who aspire to become published writers using the worlds they like as a crutch. Therein lies the difference. A person who writes fanfic for the sake of writing fanfic is not 'lazy', but a person who writes fanfic and expects it to be recognized on the same level as original work is, at the very least, handicapping themselves. I thoroughly agree that a truly good writer creates his or her own worlds. At the same time, I am by no means saying that no one should be allowed to be influenced by anyone else's work; this is the basis of modern fiction: combining various elements in new and exciting ways.
That's my two cents. Take it and spend it as you will.
http://blackbirdcomic.keenspace.com/
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Well, Having spoken with Mr. Martin via email on this very subject I fell that I can speak with some authority here. I wanted to start a site for folks to continue writing using the Wild Cards universe. At the time no new books had been out in years and I thought that it would be nice to see some of those characters live and breath again. After a short email telling him what I was wanting to do, I received a polite but sharply worded email back saying that this would be violating copy write laws and he would have to ask me not to continue with my plans. I love his stories (Wild Cards and the Fire and Ice books) But as to this subject....... Wasnt Wild Cards created as a shared universe with different writers writing short stories for their roll playing games? They each created a small part of the world, and shared their creations and made a greater whole. Well, thats my opinion...I may be wrong :-)
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Speaking of the Fire & Ice books, we're still waiting (albeit somewhat impatiently) for the next book. When I met him at a scifi con in January 2003, I was assured that it would be out in the next year.....
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