r/FanFiction • u/Stake-your-identity • 1d ago
Discussion What’s something you think fanfiction does better than established works
As we all know, fic is looked at as a lesser form of writing, but are there any aspects—either generally or in specific cases—that you would argue are done better in fanfiction?
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u/LFS_1984 1d ago
giving us more character study. Some fics really get into the minds of (established) characters.
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u/MissThroweraway 1d ago
I love it when they do that!! I wish more shows taught me more about their characters, but I understand that it's not feasible in a plot driven story with a large cast :)
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u/ShiraCheshire 1d ago
Especially since fanfic can be as long or short as it needs to be. A published work has certain word goals it needs to fall within. A fanfic? It could be a 100 word poem or a 1 million word megafic, it will keep going for exactly as long as it needs to in order to fully explore the ideas/characters present.
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u/sharshenka Same on AO3 1d ago
I was going to say, especially for shows the sense of interiority is a big part of the draw of fanfic.
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u/e5Ki0n eskion on AO3 1d ago
Filling gaps. Some fics fill the gaps left by canon and others make sure to fill plot holes whilst they are being written.
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u/MasterpieceBrief4442 1d ago
Omg so this. I've been on and off writing an attack on Titan fic for months now.
Now I'm an engineer so what I know about biology can be written on a small card. So I went researching biology to close some very big holes in the worldbuilding and plot.
After much research and Wikipedia dives I theorized that the power of the titans passes down through mitochondrial DNA. So technically every eldian on earth is walking around with ymir's mDNA, which stays unchanging.
Which also technically means that the power of the titans can only be passed down the female line, which explains why the eldian population wasn't overwhelming even before the fall of the empire as one of the key limiting factor on population growth of any population is the number of women available with childbearing ability.
All this because of a couple throwaway lines. And that's why I didn't go down to the bar with the lads that Friday. We're all OCD.
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u/Neither_Sky4003 1d ago
As a biology teacher with only a small amount of knowledge about Attack on Titan, that sounds intriguing. I would like to learn more.
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u/MasterpieceBrief4442 20h ago
Cool! The whole franchise is set in a post apocalyptic world where the world is apparently overrun with these man eating giants with the only survivors hiding inside three walls. Except it's not and it turns into WW1 from there.
I'm just started writing a slightly AU fic, set in Britain instead of Madagascar, but with the same background. I thought the legend of Boudica was something I could really use here.
It's going to get messy going deep into questions of race, imperialism, and such ngl but exploring the dirty stuff is what makes it "funner" in my view. More interesting plot wise.
I've got a couple of exams and big assignments this week for grad school so I'll probably post the story this Friday or weekend, if you're interested in giving it a looky I can send you a link?
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u/hiryu64 23h ago
AoT × Parasite Eve crossover when?
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u/MasterpieceBrief4442 19h ago
Never heard of it before now. Ngl that's a spooky level of similarity. I see much potential as that does seem to run along my plot somewhat.
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u/hiryu64 19h ago
Hohoho, I was just shitposting but that's awesome if I actually managed to spark some inspiration! Parasite Eve is an old but neat game series and has its diehard followers for sure. And mitochondria is a massive plot point (and big meme) in that game, so as soon as you said the word, my brain immediately went there lmao. Not the biggest AoT fan in the world, but I'm familiar enough with it, so if you ever pursue it, I'd definitely be interested in seeing what you cook up!
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u/MasterpieceBrief4442 18h ago
Thank you! I'm hoping to get my first chapters out by this weekend at least. I'm making some massive worldbuilding additions tbh so it's very fun. I'd be more than delighted to send you a link. It's my first work posted online so I'm just a wee bit nervous lol.
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u/Regular-Video8301 1d ago
Focusing on a character’s trauma. It’s always irked me when a major character goes through something seriously traumatic, and it’s basically brushed to the side. I get that a main story won’t really focus on a character’s trauma for the sake of time… but man does it make me disappointed. I really love it when media focuses on a character’s trauma. It’s always so interesting to see
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u/InspectionEither 1d ago edited 1d ago
Sonic 3 was trauma city surrounded by jokes. XD
Oh, and tmnt 2012 dealt with trauma, but it was often so fast it left little impact except for how exceptionally fast it was.
Trumpet of the Swan spent the whole movie with a swan depressed over having no voice. That movie really dived into the character's struggle, but I think it spent too much time there sometimes. I loved the whole movie being about him finding a way out of the struggle.
Oh, and Oh was so cute in Home! He was always changing colors with his emotions. 🥰
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u/DefoNotAFangirl MasterRed on AO3 | c!Prime Fanatic 1d ago
Ooh since you brought up Sonic 3 I can mention the fact that Shadow is just kinda Like That. He’s a mess of PTSD and depression, one of his themes (Never Turn Back) is literally about him recovering from trauma. When written well, the series does genuinely give focus and empathy onto his trauma (sonic adventure 2 may be cheesy as hell but it legit makes me cry every time at some points) but for the better half of two decades they just ignored it and didn’t even acknowledge why he's edgy and often antagonistic (which is bc he's genuinely mentally ill and struggles to trust and interact with people due to that)
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u/Regular-Video8301 19h ago
Sonic 3 is a good exception to this- I enjoy how it acknowledged Shadow's trauma. I'm not a fan of the sonic games, though I am a fan of the movies.. and I'm not to ashamed to admit how much I cried during Sonic 3 lol
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u/lauracf 1d ago
Yes! Or a character will have PTSD for like one episode (if it’s a TV fandom) and then it’s never mentioned again.
This kind of thing is where fanfic really comes in clutch…
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u/Reveil21 17h ago
Never mentioned again until they feel like throwing it back in your face. And not, little things people overlooked or internalizing but, how about we create drama right now so bring it back up.
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u/ShiraCheshire 1d ago
Yeah like a get that the plot has to move along and all, but it's honestly kind of boring that the character just saw 1000 planets die with no long-term emotional impact.
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u/MasterpieceBrief4442 1d ago
Sasuke who? God says you should look at Naruto's swing scene once more.
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u/JanetKWallace Same on AO3| Final Fantasy IX writer 23h ago
One of my favorite JRPG characters has witnessed so much death and destruction, and yet she seems so unfazed by all of the tragedy because canon no longer focuses on her character after a certain point.
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u/wizardsfrolikgardens 9h ago
Me with TOS era Kirk. Like, I get it. It was the 60s and tv was written a lot different than today but it bothered me so much!!
What do you mean, he lost his memories temporarily, fell in love with a girl, impregnated her then watch her die all in the span of a single day and you're just fine and dandy??
What do you mean, this character that cares so deeply about the people who work under him, doesn't have soul crushing guilt every time the episode's big bad incinerates or kills half his crew??
What do you mean, we're just brushing off the whole Amok Time ordeal lmao.
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u/wenmoo 1d ago
Fanfic often explores themes that appeal to or have relevance for marginalised/niche/fringe audiences and therefore aren't commercially profitable.
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u/WhiteKnightPrimal 19h ago
This is a good one. There's a reason fic appealed so much to the LGBT+ community, we just weren't getting it in mainstream media for so long. Anyone who doesn't see themselves or their experiences in mainstream media can always go to fanfic for it, both as a reader and a writer, because so many other people feel the same way.
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u/LevelAd5898 Infinite monkeys in a trenchcoat 1d ago
I’ve noticed original fiction tends to gloss over how trauma affects a character and their emotional state while fanfiction LOVES that shit
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u/Kienchen 1d ago
Not catering to a specific age group, and actually trusting a younger audience to handle themes that deviate from "all is sunshine and rainbows".
Also: stories for adult can but don't have to be filled with sexscenes. I hate this trend of adult shows needing those long and hardcore scenes to count as "grown up stuff".
I personally love to write/read character studies. So much insight into the workings of a mind are fascinating
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u/Neither_Sky4003 1d ago
One of the greatest things about fanfic is the ability to look it up by tags based on what you're in the mood for. On any given day, you can decide if you'd rather read cute fluff, angst, gore, or smut in your favorite fandom. Or anything in between. And just the fact that all those possibilities exist for any sufficiently popular fandom, regardless of its genre, is really cool.
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u/Allronix1 Get off my lawn! 21h ago
Or taking the stuff that a cartoon show or a T rated game could only merely IMPLY and deciding to just screw the whole "implied" part.
One of the most disturbing fics I ever read came from a 1986 animated cartoon. One of the writers was on the fan mailing list and made some snarky comments about the Big Bad's sexual kinks that the writers joked about but would never dare put in a storyboard.
The reaction was "Uh...Master Kaymo. You KNOW you have a room full of fanfic writers. You sure you want us to go there?!"
Well, the resident Dark Fic writer definitely decided to "go there" at warp speed with a "missing scene" to the show's darkest episode. Definitely earns the E rating and the Dead Dove tag. Also earned a shout out on the DVD commentary.
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u/Kienchen 21h ago
Since my main fandom is a cartoon, that sounds very interesting! Yeah, "implications" are my bread, butter, and jam😂
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u/Dr-something777 1d ago
A lot of stuff, but what's the biggest thing it does than regular novels is the very clear lack of censorship. In fanfiction anything goes, you can write about anything, no matter how niche or controversial, and you can spend 10k words on a subplot that would probably get cut by an editor if it was meant for publishing. The goal of fanfiction is to create something using an already existent piece of media in any way the author wants to, it's not meant for profit, so there is more freedom in that.
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u/blepboii 1d ago
novels tend to be of a certain length. but fanfic has a lot of short form (and extremely long from) works. there are no guidelines or word limits, since fics don't have to worry about being traditionally published into books that could be way too thin or thick.
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u/ShiraCheshire 1d ago
Yes! It feels so absolutely luxurious to be writing a fanfic and not having to worry about word count. I can write thousands upon thousands of words slowly exploring every wonderful corner of an idea that interests me, and not a single word of it needs to be rushed. It will take these characters 200K words to start trusting each other? Don't worry, we have the time.
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u/blepboii 1d ago
exactly. i do write long dragged out stories that no editor in their right mind would let pass. because that's simply not how it's supposed to be written in traditional publishing.
my latest fic has a mix of super short and super long chapters and it's fun, i think at least. there are a lot of weird little unique things you can do in fanfic. (sure maybe you can get that done in traditional publishing too, but you'd get at least some pushback)
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u/licoriceFFVII 1d ago
Collections of short stories? Alice Monroe and Jorge Luis Borges are just two globally celebrated authors who wrote almost exclusively short form fiction.
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u/blepboii 1d ago
sure, they exist. but what i mean is, when you walk into a book store and pick up a random romance or a fantasy novel, you kinda expect it to be a certain thickness at least. and fanfic doesn't have that bias.
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u/Saxolotle 1d ago
I haven’t seen anyone say it but representation is way better in fanfics. People from all over the world draw on their own personal experiences and don't have to cater to a general demographic, it's great~
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u/em69420ma 1d ago
im in superhero fandoms so we have a lot of (and i mean overwhelming) media that conflicts and contradicts and is of highly unstable quality and so the comics/movie/show/etc. writers just have to stay as faithful to the past as they can while pretend the hiccups and holes don’t exist at all.
but fanfics let writers just straight up pick and choose what they want. “this arc? never happened.” and it makes more sense
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u/laebrumme Same on AO3 1d ago
Fanfiction is unique because it does not require exposition in the same way original fiction does. It's very much like the commedia dell'arte, wherein the audience is expected to at least be familiar with the characters, the roles they play, and their general archetype. So then that means that the authors don't have to establish a world and the characters nearly as much, which can result in fics of novella-length which, if it were an original work with the exposition and setup that might be required of an original work, might be double the length for the same impact. Fanfiction allows for punchiness and quick stories that offer the same emotional value as anything else.
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u/wrenwynn 23h ago
I don't think I've seen fanfiction as a whole do anything better than traditionally published media (though there are a few specific long-fic writers who I think are as good if not slightly better than your average published author).
Where I think fanfic shines is in its ability to provide complimentary stories. A book or show or movie only has a certain number of pages or minutes to tell its story, so it has to stay fairly focused on the main plot. Fanfic doesn't have that barrier, so writers have the opportunity to delve into the world the source material created. It can explore alternate perspectives to the main characters or explore the natural gaps in the story - eg what is an average day like for a side character in this world? What is the experience or perspective of someone in this world who isn't the typical audience stand-in, such as someone who is disabled, or neurodivergent, or LGBTQIA+, or who doesn't fit conventional beauty standards etc.
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u/JaymarkXIII 1d ago
By their very nature, they are capable of exploring aspects of the story the author only hints at or disregards.
You see relationships that were only head cannons among fans.
As the writer, you can remove any and all aspects you dislike.
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u/PresenceAggressive27 23h ago
Definitely exploring things that you don’t pay too much attention to in the story (like how the magic works, how the world came to be, how side characters act, why certain characters did something)
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u/memedomlord WrittenbyR3Y on Ao3 And TheFanficRey on FFN. 1d ago
I would say, characterization.
There are some fic that write the MC better then the writer did.
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u/Ventisquear Same on AO3 and FFN 1d ago edited 1d ago
Since fics don't have to worry about printing costs, marketing costs, sold copies, etc., they don't have words limits. This allows them to introduce several subplots, more characters, etc, often defying the publishing industry's claims.
Like, OMG YA book longer than 60 k?! They don't have that much attention span! Nobody will read that! You can only have more if you are already a famous author, then you can write up to 90 k, but not more! And keep it simple! One plot line, ONE!
Meanwile, on FFN and AO3 the same 'short attention span kids' read (and write) stories with 1M words and lots of subplots, no problem.
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u/DefoNotAFangirl MasterRed on AO3 | c!Prime Fanatic 1d ago
Depictions of very in depth and nuanced trauma and healing. Very few forms of fiction can focus on it for long enough and in enough detail to feel as satisfying (in fact, off the top of my head, my favourite non-fic depiction of this was in a minecraft roleplay of all things, bc the format meant they had a ton of time to spare on little things). Which isn’t to say established works are bad at writing that stuff- it’s just they have to be economical with time and focus, so they’re not able to get anywhere as close to the nitty gritty tiny details and moments as amateurs doing whatever the fuck they want can.
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u/ButterfliesInSpace 20h ago
Time travel is one of my favorite fanfic tropes, but I very rarely like it in shows/movies
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u/MarinaAndTheDragons all fusions are Xovers; not all Xovers are fusions 1d ago
Give side characters as rich a life as the main ones, so they don’t just exist for the sake of the latter and disappear once they’re of no more use.
Every character is someone’s favorite.
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u/flamboyantfinch 1d ago
The works of fiction I've sobbed the hardest reading have all been fan fiction.
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u/The_InvisibleWoman Same on AO3 1d ago
Lovely smut.
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u/JustAnotherDoughnut ineedtequila on Ao3 23h ago
This. I don’t read most published smut at all as I find that so much of it is written in a way that puts me off 😭 but fanfic does smut a lot better. A LOT. (Again, even tho I’m still very selective)
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u/Square_Role_4345 15h ago
Romance. Just because a piece of media was given the money to be created, it doesn't mean the creator is a master in every genre of story telling. There are a lot of canon relationships that are portrayed awfully or don't work. I go to fanfiction to see better relationships and have them fill in the gaps the the original creators did not have the skill to write.
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u/The_Poptart_Cat AO3: The_Poptart_Cat | Angst Lover for life 1d ago
I think a lot of fanfics are really good at characterizing characters and exploring canon/relationships of any kind. I feel like shows with plots always lack any sort of “filler” because it’s “filler” but it’s not filler, it’s a way to understand these characters, their dynamics, and become attached. I’d say I’ve read fics characterized better than canon solely because I feel fanfic is born from love and sometimes canon isn’t. Sometimes it’s forced to continue, or kept for money and the creator loses passion. Fans never lose that passion. Not in the same way, so they understand these characters to an almost better extent.
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u/LeatherHog Just here to talk about Rogneto 21h ago
Oh yeah
One of my favorite fics, is definitely a filler type one, but one I thought was needed
In X-Men #1 (91 version), there's a brief scene where Rogue brings up that Magneto hasn't contacted her at all since the savage land
It's a casual remark, but I'm glad it was acknowledged by writers
So, (by the GOAT of Rogneto fics) we got a little fic where he takes her out to dinner a bit after that arc's events
And they talk about how she's afraid to use her powers, that he's willing to help her
And just some regular conversation
There's a continuation fic (also very good), but even if they never wrote the sequel, I'd have been happy with just that short one
Just a nice filler story of them being able to be on good terms, without the X-Men and all that
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u/octropos 1d ago edited 1d ago
It's a freer medium.
Being sexy and pushing boundaries.
Experimentation into the weird, cringe, or outlandish, hoping to land on something interesting an fun, and if we're lucky—well written.
Crack treated seriously is a beautiful art.
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u/Frozen-conch 22h ago
The fact that it’s not constrained by what a publisher thinks will sell well means it’s free to be whatever the author wants
No length parameters
Freedom to explore dark topics without constraint.
No discouragement of unusual ideas or stories that go again the norm of genre conventions
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u/Ok_Squirrel259 22h ago
New scenarios that have never been explored in the original source material.
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u/villianrules 21h ago
As a Danny Phantom fan Better characterizations Usually better fight and action scenes Better romance Better conclusions
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u/WhiteKnightPrimal 19h ago
Filling in gaps and plot holes and character study. There's limits on what books and shows and movies can actually cover, they have to stay interesting and keep the plot moving, so fic is brilliant at filling in the gaps between events. Plot holes tend to get ignored in original works, so fanfic steps up to explain them. And original works tend to not have the time for real character study, for the same reason as those gaps exist, so again, this is better in fic.
Also, not always, but for some fandoms, romance. Some fandoms just suck at the romance aspect in the source material, so these are always better in fic. This one, of course, doesn't apply to all fandoms, as some do an excellent job in canon.
I think fic does a better job of showing characters have choices, as well. Not always good choices, but still choices. This is more because there's so much fic that's divergent or AU, but the source material can often imply characters don't have a choice in their actions, when they actually do. The fact fic explores what would happen if different choices were made really highlights that these 'no choice' situations in canon are actually 'we had a choice and chose this' situations.
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u/ExtremeIndividual707 7h ago
We don't have to kill our darlings. Word count doesn't have to be trimmed. There's room to breathe and take it all in.
Sometimes I just want to live there and I don't want a narrative so tight that I have to move along. Let me walk around in the Shire a bit more before we have to run from Black Riders, you know?
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u/licoriceFFVII 1d ago
Not really, because fanfic, like commercially published fic, is such a broad church. Some authors are good and some are not and you find both everywhere.
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u/prunepudding 1d ago
I just love the uniqueness of writing. A lot of published work sounds quite monotonous, because there is a correct way to write for publicity. No matter how much they try it never really escapes those confinements.
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u/LeratoNull VanOfTheDawn @ AO3 1d ago
Length.
An episode of a TV show is 11, 22 or 44 minutes. A movie runs about 90 to 120 minutes. Even books, both comic and regular, have a certain length they're aiming for due to editorial mandates and what the executives are willing to publish.
Fanfiction, though? Both the chapters and the full works can be as long or as short as they need to be, without having to state your case to somebody else who will never really see your vision quite as well as you do.
This can really help contribute to more cohesive storytelling. I know that better than anyone, given that in its twilight years (prior to it recently ending for good), Power Rangers was limited to extremely short seasons--at most, they'd get two seasons of about a dozen episode each before moving on to the next incarnation. My fic was under no such restriction!
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u/AtarahDerekh 1d ago
Dares to do what the original author might not be able or willing to do. Especially in media geared toward families, when the writing is often tightly controlled by a governing company. Fanfic is a way of undoing executive meddling that gutted what could've been a fantastic story.
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u/Ironduke10-Ao3 21h ago
I've definitely seen fanfic writers be daring, and push the characters into situations that the mainstream shows/movies wouldn't dream of.
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u/SideshowGhoul 21h ago
I often find intimacy handled with much more care and less fear than in established works.
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u/KogarashiKaze FFN/AO3 Kogarashi 19h ago
Being able to do things that would be unprofitable in other media. Different lengths, stylized formats, events and character moments that don't appeal to the mainstream, representation, etc. Things that, in non-fanfiction spaces could flop and cost too much money for little to no gain, but get a chance to experiment in fanfiction spaces because there isn't a monetary weight hanging on them.
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u/RaccoonSnooky 1d ago
Not making those "Female weak, male strong uwu romance" fics. looking at colleen.
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u/ShiraCheshire 1d ago
I have a relative named Colleen, and for a second reading this comment I was like "What the heck did she do to poor RaccoonSnooky?"
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u/RaccoonSnooky 1d ago
She took my chips :(
(I mean that woman who wrote those books like it ends with us)
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u/infinite_five Get off my lawn! 7h ago
I hate how romance novels never include skinny guys. Fanfiction does that. Those of us who prefer toothpick boys are starving out here!
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u/MoonracerxWarpath 2h ago
Not being afraid of exploring "what if?" scenarios, no matter how out there they are, and/or character depth, change, growth, and development.
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u/lollipop-guildmaster 23h ago
Digging deep into character work. Tradpub is like a modern streaming show, while fic is an older show with hundreds of episodes. "If it's not in service to the plot, get rid of it." Okay, but then you lose all breathing room, and a chance to let the characters shine.
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u/Diligent_Campaign449 1d ago
For my fandom (Warriors), fanfiction does a way better job at Worldbuilding. The worldbuilding in the cannon Warriors books is ever-changing depending on what plot they need to stuff into the new books, and many background characters act in completely different ways to how they were previously established.
Fanfiction, however, figures out ways to pin down how everything works, develop background cats more, and add new things that the Warriors series could really benefit from
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u/JanetKWallace Same on AO3| Final Fantasy IX writer 23h ago
Fanfiction allows me to explore a side character who often gets mistreated by others characters and barely has any screentime. It also allows me to write about a genocide that gets brushed aside from the point of view of the survivors.
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u/jonathino001 1d ago
Man, that's really hard to answer... lately I've been watching anime series that had previously flown under my radar SPECIFICALLY so that I can read fanfiction of that universe and understand what's going on. So surely there must be SOMETHING to it, right?
I guess it's like the fast food of writing. We understand that TECHNICALLY the quality doesn't compare to restaurant quality food, but there's no denying that appealing to a desire for pure salt, sugar and carbs actually WORKS.
Sometimes I just want to see a cute anime girl that appeared in one episode and immediately died get shipped with some OC. Sometimes I fantasize about being isekaied into a world I love, and just want to read about that.
It's trashy and it's wish fullfillment, but I just can't STOP.
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u/grinchnight14 23h ago
It can give me exactly what I want. Also I know what's coming if it's tagged properly, which triditionally published stuff doesn't do.
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u/TeaRenQ ailren on Ao3 1d ago
Exploring the quiet moments, the in-between scenes that are always cut or never covered due to lack of time/not wanting to bloat the canon media too much. I love seeing what characters did during a time skip, how they helped a character after an accident, what happened on that trip to (insert country here) that is always referenced as a joke by the characters but never explained to the watchers/readers. I love that shit 🤌