Lois & Clark Forums Forums Fan Fiction Fanfic Related Perks to Writing FanFiction over a TV Show

John mentioned something in one of his comments that got me thinking. I don't know if this thread should be here or in "Off Topic" (so, Labby feel free to move it, if I guessed wrong)... But I thought it might be fun to make a list of how...

Why Writing Fan Fiction is Better than a TV Show:

Since it was John's idea which brought upon this thread, I'll give him #1.

2. Control, baby! It's all about *control*! Nothing better than being the puppet master! (No association with the Fantastic Four villain)

3. Travel expenses are much lower, so your characters can go all over the world.

4. You don't have to worry about continuity; you can write stories with major life-changes to the characters without worrying about how they will impact future episodes.

5. You don't have to worry about your special effects budget.

6. The only schedule you are on is one that is self-imposed.

7. You have more flexibility with POV. You can relate what characters are thinking without having to rely on actors conveying the thoughts non-verbally or on cheesy voiceovers.


Joy,
Lynn

8. The Long (Or Short) Of It - Length is of no issue. You can write a few paragraphs that comprise a story, or hundreds of pages.

9. The World Is Your Oyster - Feel free to mix and match fandoms in the craziest crossovers you can imagine!

10. Plot? What Plot? - You don't have to write an A-plot if you don't want to. In fact, there are plenty of strictly B-plot relationship stories that work extremely well.

11. I Reject Your Reality And Substitute My Own - Don't like a plot point in the original show? Feel free to ignore and make up your own version of how things went!

12. To Infinity...And Beyond! - Fanfiction will never get cancelled.

Nice additions, DC.

13. You don't have to try to appeal to the lowest common denominator in an effort to get the "appropriate demographics" for your show to sell advertisements.

14. You receive near-instantaneous feedback on your work. And, on this MB at least, the feedback is often very detailed and almost always positively phrased, even when it is providing helpful suggestions for improvement.

Joy,
Lynn

Nice, Lynn!

15. Produce This! - The only one demanding that you write a specific story is your muse. No producers, no studio heads, just your muse.

16. An Alternate Lifestyle - Never feel restricted by the world a show gives you. Want to explore what would have happened if Lois was the orphan alien sent to Earth, instead of Clark? Go for it!

17. Fiction...After Dark - Family-friendly stories aren't the only things you can write, if you so choose.

18. Kerth Awards. All the fun of the Emmys without having anyone comment on how bad you looked.

19. Tone. The ability to be either as silly or as serious as you want, and still have it work.

YES! We need a LnC/Toy Story crossover. (What was the name of the episode Clark got shrunk?

20. More about continuity - or lack thereof. You want to explore several different scenarios that are mutually exclusive - like Lois marrying Clark as a teenager vs. only meeting him in her late 20s? Go for it, write two (or more) different stories!

21. Nobody forces you to insert X episodes before the wedding. See Wedding-ARGH, that's exactly what happened there.

22. You don't have to write yourself out of a corner that someone else wrote you into. You're the writer. Not you and X other people.

"It's a Small World After All" (IaSWAA) That would be funny. You could make it a Next Gen thing and poor Clark / Superman is being played with as a toy by his own kids along with their Toy Story Buzz Lightyear and Barbie dolls.

LOIS: Clark? Clark! What are you doing in bed with that blonde strumpet? (aka Barbie)

CLARK: Don't blame me! Blame CJ. He put me here.

LOIS: You're going to have to have a talk with your son about the do's and don't's of Superman. That's certainly a "Don't"!

You could call it "Honey, I Shrunk the Superhero" :p

23. You don't have to finish things. (WAIT! I'm not talking about me. I will finish some things when finals are done this week... ) I mean you don't have to wrap a story up with a nice little bow on it in 42 minutes or less. You want to leave it open ended, go right ahead. You want to leave your characters in the same mess they started out in, go for it.

24. Casting is a pain in the buttocks... And actors are even harder to work with. At least when the characters in your head argue back at you, you get the final say.

25. You can finish things left uncompleted by others, like missing scenes from certain episodes, or cliff-hangers which left us hanging.


BTW: Has anyone ever written a story where the end of the proposal was rewritten without Lois knowing CK=SM?

26. Complexity! Nothing preventing you from writing both mutually exclusive versions in one story. No budget limit, no time limit. No one will complain (provided you can get it past your Beta). Accolades and Kerths await.

Psst. 26.

27. With fanfic yuo have The opportnuity to eidt your mistaeks--after they've been published.