Fan Fiction vs. Original Characters

[Philo Hunter]

I had a question for everyone that writes and reads stories that use mainstream characters. What is the attraction of using those characters and not creating your own?

I want to be clear about my tone: I'm not trying to say fan fiction is inherently any worse than original characters in anyway. It's just something I've never been interested in writing or reading and was curious what the attraction is for other people.

[Disciple]

Well... I have my own reasons, but they might well cause others to think less of me...

(NOTE: The above largely applies to this board's brand of superheroine-in-peril fanfic. I have different standards regarding other kinds of fiction, which I won't bother to put here unless someone wants me to.)

When I read stories with a big-name heroine like Wonder Woman, there's a certain bundle of knowledge and expectations I've already got about the main character. I know that she's supposed to be a big name, serious business, and widely respected/feared...

... which automatically makes it more humiliating (and thus exciting) when she gets taken down by the villain(ess) of the story.

With an original heroine, I need time to be sold on her power and recognition for that same effect, and... well, to put it frankly, I'm not a very patient reader.

[Heroine Addict]

Well... I have my own reasons, but they might well cause others to think less of me...

(NOTE: The above largely applies to this board's brand of superheroine-in-peril fanfic. I have different standards regarding other kinds of fiction, which I won't bother to put here unless someone wants me to.)

When I read stories with a big-name heroine like Wonder Woman, there's a certain bundle of knowledge and expectations I've already got about the main character. I know that she's supposed to be a big name, serious business, and widely respected/feared...

... which automatically makes it more humiliating (and thus exciting) when she gets taken down by the villain(ess) of the story.

With an original heroine, I need time to be sold on her power and recognition for that same effect, and... well, to put it frankly, I'm not a very patient reader.

Thanks for saving me some time. That post sums up my opinion nicely. It's much easier to "cut to the chase" with an established character.

One thing I would say to people creating an original superheroine is that commissioning an artist or doing your own artwork to "bring her to life" would go a long way towards selling the character. Just one or two pics alongside the text story would:
A) Get your character shown in the rolling gallery at the top of the forum.
and
B) Give readers the best idea of how you see the character.

I know it seems shallow, but a good picture really is worth a thousand words when it comes to introducing a character or concept to potential readers.

[Philo Hunter]

I know it seems shallow, but a good picture really is worth a thousand words when it comes to introducing a character or concept to potential readers.

I totally agree, this is a VERY visual medium. If I had the skill I would probably be making my stories into comics, but at this point I have to struggle just to get a cover for my books in DAZ3D.

Heroine costumes especially need some visual cues. Unless your will to keep the costume REALLY simple it's hard to get a proper description in a story. And going on for a paragraph or two of descriptions of a costume can really pull you out of a story. If there is a picture with the story that you know the reader will see that does half your work for you.

Most of the stories I see pasted here are pretty short (at least from my vantage, which is that of someone writing stories to sell as ebooks). It does seem much easier with work that short to just "cut and paste" an established character into a story.

Omega Woman (and others): do you read real comics of the characters you write about?

Personally I am a HUGE Marvel fan and go through at least five trade paperbacks a month. I LOVE my comic characters, especially the female ones. But I have a VERY clear delineation in my mind of the Super Hero stories I read and the Porn/Erotica I read. It's a personal preference that I probably don't share with most into this fetish, but I don't like seeing my "real" heroes humiliated and sexed. But like I said, it's a personal preference and I don't think any less of someone that feels differently.

That's all not to say that some of my characters haven't started out as knock offs of established heroines. But I have found that the more I write those characters the more they take on their own life and voice and move further and further away from their inspiration.

[Disciple]

For the record: I am a giant comics nerd, though mostly with Batman. I've read very few Wonder Woman comics all the way through (though I've seen a good portion of her 1970s TV series). As of late, I've started trying to get into Marvel (with Silver Sable's ongoing), as well as more "artsy" comics done by the likes of Alan Moore and Neil Gaiman.

When it comes to the erotica/porn stories, most of my "inspiration" for the heroines comes from the TV shows and such more than the comics versions. A lot of the old Wonder Woman, Batgirl, etc. stories are unbearably dull to my whippersnapper mind and patience, and even the art isn't particularly sexy.

[tallyho]

As said above if you go with an established character, it saves a lot of time on a back story which kinda detracts from the current story you actually want to tell.

[digitalbleh]

Most people know of the mainstream characters, you do not have to go into much detail about what their powers are or what they look like, it makes it easier as a reader to understand and visualize what is happening, and easier for the writer.

I sometimes dislike reading stories which contain superheroines that i have not heard of before, i find that some of the time reading through the story i cant see the character, i don't get a good enough description of what they can do or what they look like. It would help i think with a newer created heroine if a picture was included sometimes, but that dosern't always happen. As said above you kind of need to establish a new character, and that can take several stories to read through so you know about them, but most of the time you only get 1 story.
I have no issue with stories having a non mainstream character, even one that you create yourself, but i would suggest that you do a few stories with them to build them up. Kinda like what happened with Ms Americana..

[Razerriddick]

[lordgriffin]

Wow:

I am pleased to see so many people have agreed with my previous post that a Canon character gets to the point of the story faster and you need not spend the time building back story. You might take a look at my "How to write fanfiction" post as I went into much of this in detail

[dbud]

May not be adding much new but I agree with preferring existing characters. It's not that an original one can't be good but like most readers of stories I want to be hooked quick and tons of back story gets dry and without it there is no connection to the character. So it's a catch-22. With a known character I am instantly on the same page. I know who Hitgirl or Wonder Woman or Black Widow is and all the writer has to is fill in around the edges for that story.

[Femina]

Doesn't matter to me. What matters to me is quality of writing, how well the battles/peril unfolds. If there isn't enough buildup I'm bored anyway because it usually means that the heroine was taken down so fast she couldn't have been a very good heroine ANYWAY, and if she's an established heroine going down to fast, it's a total crock of unbelievability...

So Original Heroine or Established heroine my standards are pretty much the same.

[NoonShadow]

Sorry to necro this thread (a year old), but this was something I was thinking about on my own before I saw this thread.

I'm actually fairly new to the medium. I had very, very little exposure to comics growing up. Just about the only thing I ever read or explored was the X-men comic books, and that was after the X-men animated series of the early 90s. Then I kinda forgot about them until the X-men films started, and I never really got back into comics.

Since I didn't grow up with many comic book characters, I tend to prefer original character stories. Too many stories that are fanfics of established characters will assume the audience knows many pertinent details that I'm not that privvy too. I've been exposed to enough that I know, for instance, that Carol Danvers is Captain Marvel, that she gets her powers from an infusion of alien DNA, and is one of the more powerful characters in Marvel canon...but I don't know anything about her personality or her personal history. The things that make a superhero interesting aren't the superhuman things they can do-it's how they, as a person, live within this scope of superhuman ability. The Avengers are interesting not because they have a guy in an iron suit and a guy with an invulnerable shield, but because you have an arrogant, abrasive personality trying to work with a buttoned-up boyscout.

Typically, I prefer to read about OCs because I feel that people who create OCs actually work to establish the personality of their OCs. There's some people who write Wonder Woman fan-fic that really want to explore Diana's character, but I see tons and tons of Wonder Woman stories where she has no written personality because she's an established property, and the writer doesn't have to do the work to build her up. I'm usually not drawn to stuff using established characters for this reason-I want the writers to do the work.

[Philo Hunter]

Typically, I prefer to read about OCs because I feel that people who create OCs actually work to establish the personality of their OCs. There's some people who write Wonder Woman fan-fic that really want to explore Diana's character, but I see tons and tons of Wonder Woman stories where she has no written personality because she's an established property, and the writer doesn't have to do the work to build her up. I'm usually not drawn to stuff using established characters for this reason-I want the writers to do the work.

I've noticed too that the wonder woman stuff seems to be the most devoid of characters. Most I've tried to read, it didn't even feel like it was Wonder Woman in the story, just "generic heroine, blah blah blah I don't want to do all the work you know what I mean." Which, I mean, in a way is great for jerk off fiction, but as a writer I want more from what I read and what I write.

Also, question for those that use established characters in their stories: isn't it SUPER limiting? If your using the character well aren't you locked into who and what they are? The very idea of that feels so limited... I mean, I have an ever expanding roster of heroines because of ideas I've had that didn't fit specific heroines.

[lionbadger]

I prefer OCs, established characters are great but they often get used so the writer doesn't have to create backstory while simultaneously hammering the character's personality into their own unrecognised version. Its like advertising in a way, slap "wonder woman" on the label and you're guaranteed to sell 20% more cat food, sort of thinking where the advert really has nothing to do with the product.

[DonShip]

I enjoy reading and writing both heroine fan fic and my own original characters. Writing my own OC character is much more interesting and fulfilling.

[NoonShadow]

There's nothing wrong with established characters if they are being explored AS original characters. The psychology and the character study is what tends to makes the character interesting. But if a writer is working to establish their own character, then usually they're doing more work to set up what their character specifically is.

[ywf]

Original characters, or slightly more sexualized parodies of established characters, not into over-exaggerated body types.

[Dazzle1]

As a reader or writer, I find that with a few exception so called original characters are just variations and not that original.

A couple of exceptions are:

Mr X's Ms Marvelous series which turned into the M Girls
Literotica's Falcon and Domino series

[Philo Hunter]

As a reader or writer, I find that with a few exception so called original characters are just variations and not that original.

I mean, aren't ALL heroines variations on some kind of archetype or trope that's been done countless times at this point? The genre is so well defined that anything that's totally "original" and "hasn't been done before" would probably feel out of place within the genre.

[Dazzle1]

As a reader or writer, I find that with a few exception so called original characters are just variations and not that original.

I mean, aren't ALL heroines variations on some kind of archetype or trope that's been done countless times at this point? The genre is so well defined that anything that's totally "original" and "hasn't been done before" would probably feel out of place within the genre.

What I meant was you have someone in this genre replacing the emblem but female has same powers and mannerisms.

These are the characters I would say are fairly original in DC/ Marvel for superheroine
Wonder Woman, Storm Rouge, Jean Grey , StarFire Raven I know I am missing a few but most are female versions of males

[Philo Hunter]

What I meant was you have someone in this genre replacing the emblem but female has same powers and mannerisms.

But ins't a good character, a well written character, FAR more than just their power set? If the only things that are differentiating female characters are how they can magically take on the bad guys than those characters aren't well developed.

[Dazzle1]

What I meant was you have someone in this genre replacing the emblem but female has same powers and mannerisms.

But ins't a good character, a well written character, FAR more than just their power set? If the only things that are differentiating female characters are how they can magically take on the bad guys than those characters aren't well developed.

well my original point, I have not seen many original characters that are well written as opposed to knock offs.

An example outside this genre

There was an article about Dynasty coming back, Dynasty was a Dallas rip off

[Philo Hunter]

well my original point, I have not seen many original characters that are well written as opposed to knock offs.

What makes a character a knock off? Is it having similar powers to a mainstream character? I think you'd find it rather hard coming up with something that hasn't been done a ton of times.

[Dazzle1]

Fairly recent Superhero intros that are fairly original (maybenot good but original)

FireStorm
Dazzler
Question

[girlofsteel]

I'm late to this thread but wanted to comment because, like the rest of you, it's a subject that interests me. In short, what I look for in a story, beyond the character, is the quality of the writing. And yet, regardless of whether you're using an established character or your own creation there must be some element of originality.

And in some ways this is harder to achieve with established characters because of pre-existing parameters. But these parameters aren't completely rigid. I'm a huge Supergirl fan, but even though she has been around for 50+ years, I don't feel limited or trapped by this history when writing. Why? Because even after all this time there is no definitive version of the character. Everything from her look to personality has changed depending on the era/writer. Reinvention is a constant in comics, films and novels. For that reason I don't believe it's easier to tell a story with an established character.

In fact, it takes a good writer to tell a new story involving a character that is already known (think James Bond) because of this history. Not only is there less ground available to you, but your story will automatically be compared to all those that came before. So, just like with an original character, you must have a strong vision to stand out - even with the pre-existing fan base.

I also agree that it's difficult to determine what is an original character. To some degree everyone steals from someone or somewhere. That's why I tip my hat to anyone, regardless of whether they're using original or pre-existing characters, that not only invents something new but succeeds in telling it in a way that's enjoyable to read - which I think is what ultimately matters here.

[Johanna]

My (personal) view; when an established character that you've identified with in some form or other gets put through a painful/deadly ordeal it's more stimulating because of the connection.