# Is fanfiction a cheat?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-fanfiction-a-cheat/362560>\
**Category:** Cafe Society\
**Created:** [June 28, 2006, 10:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-fanfiction-a-cheat/362560 "2006-06-28T22:52:19Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 1\
**Page:** 3

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Ranchoth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ranchoth/32/1066_2.png) [@Ranchoth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ranchoth)\
**Post date:** [June 30, 2006, 1:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-fanfiction-a-cheat/362560/41 "2006-06-30T01:34:02Z")

</div>

[QUOTE=RealityChuck]  
It’s storytelling Made Simple: it avoids the really difficult parts of writing a story – creating memorable characters and (in science fiction and fantasy, at least) backgrounds.  
[/QUOTE]

I maintain that it’s not always so important where the characters and settings _come from_, but what’s _done_ with them. And I’ve seen things done with fanfiction that go a _hell_ of a lot further than merely playing with someone else’s toys. I’ve seen fanfics of “Daria”—an MTV spinoff from “Beavis & Butthead”—that have become taut sci-fi thrillers, ribald romances, psychological explorations, allegorical religious scenarios…almost anything you can think of, while remaining basically true to the characters, using settings the same as the original but with a few small changes, or with _major_ changes that are yet believable as a natural _evolution_ of the original works.

I say fanfics are like infants…you can’t condemn or deify a baby because of how it was conceived, who it’s parents were, or where it was born. You have to judge it by it’s own merits.

[Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-fanfiction-a-cheat/362560.md?page=2)