Nicely put.

A hypothetical question... by Artic Blade on 2008-06-19 11:09:00 UTC Reply

And here it is. Is is possible for the PPC Agents to go into a good fanfic and kill a Sue?

Explanation behind this:
We've all read a good fanfic that we've enjoyed, and when it was done, sat back and sighed with contentment. In some cases, some authors write a fanfic of the fanfic, using the original fanfic's world in their story.

Now, would it be feasible for the PPC to go into the secondary fanfics world if the characters and things were screwing up the world of the original fanfic?

I'd say it's a very fine line... by Sedri on 2008-06-20 00:45:00 UTC Reply

But possible. It probably wouldn't be a standard mission, though; I imagine the agent(s) would get a specific debriefing from the Flower and told exactly what they could and could not do.
Certainly a bit of a quandary. :/ by Lycaenion on 2008-06-19 19:58:00 UTC Reply

I don't truly know; I've heard of the whole "fic of a pre-existing fic" concept, but:
It seems to me that this kind of fanfic is not as wholly based on the true canon as its predecessor would have been.

Fanfic 1 is directly based on canon, with the author's own ideas added in. Fanfic 2 is based on the first author's ideas, before the normal canon, rather than an original idea.

Of course, if the first fic was perfect, well-written, well-thought-out, and canon-adherent, while the second fic is a disgrace to not only the fandom but to the first author's work, there would be due cause, especially if the first author is outraged.

I suppose it could work, but I would definitely acknowledge the author of the fic it's based on, as well as the author who originally created the fandom, in the disclaimer.

And I might even ask the first author's permission, because you never know; they might have let a not-as-talented friend write something based on their story, and if they discover you've gruesomely killed it they might get mad.

I agree. by SealRat on 2008-06-19 20:51:00 UTC Reply

But fics of fics are still rather annoying. I wish people wouldn't write them; it get's far too confusing sometimes to try and differential the different aspects of the fic from the canon or the author's ideas. It's like playing 'telephone'. Things get garbled along the way.

Nicely put. by Lycaenion on 2008-06-20 03:07:00 UTC Reply

Agreed. I mean, it's fine to admire a good fanfiction, and if it inspires unique ideas that's even better, but the whole point of fanfiction, I think, is that it's your own take on an author's work. Not your take on a take.

I second your other point as well; suppose this was the first fanfiction you'd ever read for the fandom. You'd have a devil of a time trying to remember what was the canon and what the first fanfic's author put in there.

If it was based on a fic that was an AU to start with, that could get really confusing.

Funfunfun by Artic Blade on 2008-06-21 15:08:00 UTC Reply

Well, that solves that. It was one of my random little thoughts that I have while I try to go to sleep at night... Ah the mysterious ways of Artic's mind...
Expect more of these random thoughts eventually though, proudly bought to you by the letters 'W', 'T' and 'F'

Re: Funfunfun by Lycaenion on 2008-06-21 19:50:00 UTC Reply

Ah, I love those letters! I once wrote a short story in an English assignment using that as the title, which, if you'll believe me, was one the teacher suggested. Yes, really. ^-^

I have those random thoughts too; it's often how I come up with fanfic ideas or whatnot, and that's actually how I invented the agents I'm going to use in the future. :)

Well, technically... by Cassie Cameron-Young on 2008-06-19 11:38:00 UTC Reply

the original fanfic would have been using the world of an esablished canon- that's what fanfic *does*. Therefore, a fanfic of the fanfic should still be in that same world.

E.g. a really good fic set in the Tolkienverse is still IN the 'verse. So fanfic of that fic would also be set in the Tolkienverse (unless they've done something really screwy, in which case they should be cleared out anyway.)

So basically, a fic of a fic would probably be violating the original canon, not the fic canon. If they're using the same characters, it'd probably be counted as a very bad copy of the fic, not a secondary fic, and would be screwing up the Canon world. It could also be nabbed for plagarism.