Tedious Debate! Fan Fiction vs. Fan Art, and Suckage Thereof

[on:]

An aside from Solid Gold Bender's Finale of Finales thread:

*ahem* Known Futurama fan artist Freako has contended that 'fan fiction sucks ass'. Some harrumphing of agreement was heard within the chamber. Boos of disagreement were also heard.

The question arose: If fan fiction stinks, why doesn't fan art stink? Or does it?

Let the flinging of excrement commence!

[Reply #1 on:]

Fan Fiction is stupid. I'm not doubting that. The only good Fan Fiction I' ve ever read was "Blame It On The Brain" by coldy. My idea was simply to make it a team effort to make it a little less fictional and a lot more plausible...

Based on my terrible "United Ravings" thread, I have a feeling this thread will fail.

[Reply #2 on:]

Fan art and fan comics are better than fan fiction, for one does not have to imagine what the scene looks like.

Fan fiction is written by some weird creepy loser guys like me, who needs to outlet their sexual frustrations and whatever else, and who hasn't moved out of their parents home yet and maybe never will, and has way to much time on the their hands, and should kill himself.

That said.

Since the characters in fan fiction are already developed it helps offer endless amounts of what if scenarios, new directions, and endless possibilities, parallel universes and whatnot! Though 99% of fan fiction sucks, so less than 1% are really good fan fiction.


Now I take my leave to creep back another time.

[Reply #3 on:]

My two cents:

Neither Fanfiction nor Fanart suck per se.

Yet, the respective artist will have to keep in mind that Fanfic/books or Fanart/Comics are just various kinds of media. Books, Movies and Comics all have their various strength and weaknesses to be used accordingly.

- A Fanfictionist will have to keep in mind that he should not be doing an Futurama episode transcript, he must remember that it's basically a book he is writing.

- A Fanartist (when it comes to comics) will have to keep in mind that he usually dose not do an illustrated book, neither some screenshots with speech bubbles, but really a comic (neither book, nor movie, but an individual piece of art in between those two).

As fanart/drawn images are closer related to TV than written books, fanart usually looks more "correct", "true to the show" than fanfic.

[Reply #4 on:]

Though 99% of fan fiction sucks, so less than 1% are really good fan fiction.

But that's just Sturgeon's law. 99% of everything is crap, especially now that everyone can have a bash at it, so saying that 90% of fanfiction is crap doesn't seem particularly profound.

And for those declaring that "all fanfition is crap": so what? If it bothers you so much maybe you should do something to change it instead of just complaining about it. I leave it up to you whether this would involve writing or nuclear weapons; it's really your choice. Just stop whining about it.

[Reply #5 on:]

I don't immerse myself in fanart or fanfic, but on occasion I stumble across something good/interesting in each, which I enjoy about as much as the original. The problem is of course that this stuff gets produced by unpaid volunteers and there's no quality control, so you have to sift through work from an entire spectrum, in order to find the gems.

[Reply #6 on:]

What I find odd is that there's really no line between fan-fiction/art and canon stuff. People who write for superhero comics, for instance - you know, the big ones that've been going for decades - all started as fans of the franchise. Essentially what they're writing is fan-fiction, but they're doing it professionally.

But at the same time, I hate fan-fiction. I suppose I feel that there's no place for uncanon stories within these worlds unless they're officially sanctioned as worthy by the people in charge of the franchise and this isn't helped by how every bit of fan-fiction I've ever read has been awful.

[Reply #7 on:]

Neither of them suck by default. It's up to the writer/artist to determine that.

[Reply #8 on:]

I determine that fan fiction sucks ass.

[Reply #9 on:]

Well we've heard from the artist, as per UnrealLegend's request. Now where's the writer?

[Reply #10 on:]

I wrote a comic remember?

And I say fan fiction sucks ass.

[Reply #11 on:]

I don't remember. Gimme a link.

I am also a fanfic writer, though my fic was geared toward PEEL/Matrix rather than Futurama itself. And Nix jumped onto the project pretty quickly. And it may have sucked, but a lot of PEEL folks liked it. Several even tried to imitate it!

[Reply #12 on:]

I didn't mean that the artist or writer says "Yes, this sucks." I mean that how they use their skills and talents determines the quality. By default, they're just a general category.

[Reply #13 on:]

The Futurama characters are not visually complex, having be simplified for animation, and are relatively easy to draw.

But they're relatively hard to write for. Therein lies the root of the problem.

Also, the format of the show - light action comedy (?) - does not make the jump well to the written word. Fan writers respond by writing in script format (please, make it go away!), or introducing a more serious element to the story.

Of course, some fan writers really are bad. No denying that. But there are some very good ones too, who deserve more consideration than 'all fanfic sucks!'.

And that's my opinion.

[Reply #14 on:]

That's the main problem with Futurama fan fiction, people seem to forgot it's a fucking sitcom.

[Reply #15 on:]

Most fan-art is pretty horrendous.  At least with the fan-fiction, I can picture the characters in my head.

[Reply #16 on:]

people seem to forgot it's a fucking sitcom.

This coming from the guy who draws pornographic situations featuring the characters from the show...

[Reply #17 on:]

people seem to forgot it's a fucking sitcom.

This coming from the guy who draws pornographic situations featuring the characters from the show...

That is the one use of fan art I can't stand...

Then there's real contributors like Professor Zoidy, and UnrealLegend. They make great art and it really has great aspects to it...

Then there's Freako, who's trying to ruin the characters by showing them naked...

Neither of them suck by default. It's up to the writer/artist to determine that.

I totally agree, it really just depends on who's making the fan fiction...I agree a lot of them are shitty, but they're not bad in general if they're done very nicely with a lot of effort.

[Reply #18 on:]

Freako's talented and there are many people who enjoy the naughty aspects of his work.

It just can't all be shown here, as this isn't that kind of website.

As for Fanfics - I currently have a Firefly fic open on another browser tab. It's called Forward. http://www.fanfiction.net/s/4099993/43/Forward

Pretty good. Not everything is canon or entirely in-character, but it's a fun read. And we're not going to get any more canon material so this is about as good as it's gonna get.

[Reply #19 on:]

people seem to forgot it's a fucking sitcom.

This coming from the guy who draws pornographic situations featuring the characters from the show...

That is the one use of fan art I can't stand...

Then there's real contributors like Professor Zoidy, and UnrealLegend. They make great art and it really has great aspects to it...

Then there's Freako, who's trying to ruin the characters by showing them naked...

Neither of them suck by default. It's up to the writer/artist to determine that.

I totally agree, it really just depends on who's making the fan fiction...I agree a lot of them are shitty, but they're not bad in general if they're done very nicely with a lot of effort.

The difference is people enjoy seeing things naked no matter what they are.
Plus the show does enough nudity related stuff itself. So it's like ultra comedy to their regular comedy.

Fan fiction is just fucking boring.

[Reply #20 on:]

This moral crusade against Freako gets more and more entertaining every time it comes up.

[Reply #21 on:]

I love how ridiculously upset SGB is about Freaksey's art. It's like he feels as though his innocence has been raped by the very idea of Rule 34.

Also, what kind of 13-year-old boy dislikes naked pictures?!

[Reply #22 on:]

I like real porn for, uh, you know...

But I prefer that the characters of the show that changed my life stay the way they are...Not into some sluts and douchebags. It's Futurama, not Jersey Shore.

[Reply #23 on:]

What's douchebaggy about 34?

[Reply #24 on:]

But I prefer that the characters of the show that changed my life stay the way they are...Not into some sluts and douchebags. It's Futurama, not Jersey Shore.

You do realise that his drawings aren't actual episodes of the show, right? They're kind of like Anthology of Interest or Reincarnation except they have even less bearing on the show because they're just drawings made by some guy in Australia.

Not to mention the fact that most of them are hilarious.

[Reply #25 on:]

Fan fiction is also like a lesser form of anthology of interest, except ALL of it is shit.

[Reply #26 on:]

I determine that fan fiction sucks ass.

That's the main problem with Futurama fan fiction, people seem to forgot it's a fucking sitcom.

people seem to forgot it's a fucking sitcom.

This coming from the guy who draws pornographic situations featuring the characters from the show...

That is the one use of fan art I can't stand...

Then there's real contributors like Professor Zoidy, and UnrealLegend. They make great art and it really has great aspects to it...

Then there's Freako, who's trying to ruin the characters by showing them naked...

Neither of them suck by default. It's up to the writer/artist to determine that.

I totally agree, it really just depends on who's making the fan fiction...I agree a lot of them are shitty, but they're not bad in general if they're done very nicely with a lot of effort.

The difference is people enjoy seeing things naked no matter what they are.
Plus the show does enough nudity related stuff itself. So it's like ultra comedy to their regular comedy.

Fan fiction is just fucking boring.

Fan fiction is also like a lesser form of anthology of interest, except ALL of it is shit.

We get your point...

[Reply #27 on:]

I was just pointing out that fan fiction has and always will suck big floppy donkey dick.

[Reply #28 on:]

Perhaps Freako feels that way because he can't write fiction.

[Reply #29 on:]

I wrote a comic, you know.

[Reply #30 on:]

I wrote a comic remember?

And I say fan fiction sucks ass.

Yes we remember..

[Reply #31 on:]

I wrote it to fix the horrible job left over by all that shitty fan fiction (and other terrible fan comics), to create something actually worth while in the exact style of the show like so many people failed to do.

Even still I think I could have done things better. That would have been done in a second comic I planned to do, but I lost interest in this show so it probably won't happen.

But, I still draw the 34 because it's quick, people enjoy it and it makes me money.

[Reply #32 on:]

It's demeaning to the name of the show!

[Reply #33 on:]

Do you even know what Rule 34 means?

Just like if something exists, there is porn of it.

If something exists it's likely there is fan fiction of it, and all fan fiction IS terrible and also demeaning to a show.

[Reply #34 on:]

It's demeaning to the name of the show!

In what way? Besides the whole point of Rule 34 is that it applies to everything so if it does "ruin it forever" then it's doing the same to everything else.

[Reply #35 on:]

Obviously me and Freako have two different views on the situation. I really don't feel like it's going anywhere, so it should be locked. NO ones view is going to change, and in some ways me and Freako agree.

[Reply #36 on:]

Another thing, what is the only kind of fan creations creators of a show partially acknowledge?

Fan art.

Nobody is putting people's fan fiction in the back of their comic books.

[Reply #37 on:]

'Cos it takes too much space.

The question remains - why isn't fan art believed to suck?

[Reply #38 on:]

Oh fan art can suck just like every thing else. But it can also be really good, whereas fan fiction can never be good.

[Reply #39 on:]

To be fair, I'm pretty sure there is more terrible fan art than good fan art, however there is a higher ratio of failure within the fan fiction category.

I think it might be that fan art doesn't require you to put in a lot of attention, and it can tell a story in less amount of time than a fan fiction can.