# I am writing a fanfiction: I hang my head in shame. **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [January 25, 2005, 2:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-am-writing-a-fanfiction-i-hang-my-head-in-shame/286584 "2005-01-25T14:33:31Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 6\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![teleute12](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/3d9bf3/32.png) [@teleute12](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/teleute12)\ **Post date:** [January 26, 2005, 8:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-am-writing-a-fanfiction-i-hang-my-head-in-shame/286584/21 "2005-01-26T08:25:38Z")
Mmm, fanfic. **Jayn\_Newell** , what’s your FMA fic gonna be about? ---
**Author:** ![iampunha](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/74df32/32.png) [@iampunha](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/iampunha)\ **Post date:** [January 26, 2005, 8:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-am-writing-a-fanfiction-i-hang-my-head-in-shame/286584/22 "2005-01-26T08:53:41Z")
With a place this diverse, you knew this had to happen… Not only have I written fanfic (no slash), I’m an admin at [a fanfic library](http://tdl.diabloii.net). While the majority of pieces there are based out of one of three worlds (WoW, the Diablo series and Warcraft), there are certainly slots for pieces from other storylines. If anyone here wants to publish something, simply create an account there - it’s free - and submit your story. If it’s good, it’ll get in (hell, even some bad pieces have made the cut). ---
**Author:** ![Jayn\_Newell](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/f9ae1b/32.png) [@Jayn\_Newell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jayn_Newell)\ **Post date:** [January 26, 2005, 12:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-am-writing-a-fanfiction-i-hang-my-head-in-shame/286584/23 "2005-01-26T12:29:04Z")
It’ll be a sort of ‘what happened after the show ended’ thing. I liked the ending, but it really left me wanting to see more–I honestly think that the last episode is one of, if not the best in the series. I’m not going to say more than that, because I realise a lot of dopers haven’t seen much of the series yet (assuming they’re watching, but for the purposes of this post, I’ll make that assumption), let alone the end. If you want some more details, e-mail me. I’ll be happy to give them, as well as a link once the story is finished. ---
**Author:** ![ArrMatey](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/arrmatey/32/3522_2.png) [@ArrMatey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ArrMatey)\ **Post date:** [January 26, 2005, 6:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-am-writing-a-fanfiction-i-hang-my-head-in-shame/286584/24 "2005-01-26T18:27:57Z")
_hangs head in shame_ Is it fanfic if: 1. You’re doing it colaberatively? 2. It’s based on an RPG? I ran a 7th sea game for some time that died due to problems with some of the players. One of the players convinced me that, although the game died, the characters did not have to. A year and a half later, and we’ve co-written several hundred pages of fiction dealing with the characters and, lord help us, their children. :o ---
**Author:** ![MacSpon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/34f0e0/32.png) [@MacSpon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MacSpon)\ **Post date:** [January 26, 2005, 7:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-am-writing-a-fanfiction-i-hang-my-head-in-shame/286584/25 "2005-01-26T19:57:03Z")
_sigh_ Yes, I have committed acts of fanfiction. I still do. I’d like to move on to original writing, but there’s this one story I … have … to … finish … first … _sigh_ By the way, the site [fanfiction.net](http://fanfiction.net) is remarkable in that it actually _exceeds_ Sturgeon’s Law. There are good stories there, but the percentage of crap is a lot higher than 90%. ---
**Author:** ![racinchikki](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/eada6e/32.png) [@racinchikki](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/racinchikki)\ **Post date:** [January 27, 2005, 12:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-am-writing-a-fanfiction-i-hang-my-head-in-shame/286584/26 "2005-01-27T00:11:25Z")
The ratio of crap to quality varies by fandom. There’s a lot more crap in Harry Potter than in Horatio Hornblower; there’s hardly any crap in the Patrick O’Brian fandom, mainly because in order to write any fanfic you need to have read and comprehended several witty and well-written, though rather dense of prose, novels. (Fanfic based solely on the movie _Master and Commander_, however, falls into a different category and has an astronomically higher rate of suck.) I don’t write, though. I don’t trust myself to keep the characters’ voices true without becoming a pastiche. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-am-writing-a-fanfiction-i-hang-my-head-in-shame/286584.md?page=1)