It seems to me that there is a certain amount of freedom that comes from working wihtin your own world. You have total control, within reason, of what the rules are and where/how the characters grow. *Minor Digression* It's a pet peeve of mine when an author sets the rules and then breaks them for whatever reason. The laws that govern the world/abilities/magic should be immutable. We can't randomly decide that for the next five minutes gravity doesn't exist because it is inconvenient (extreme example but you get the idea) * End Digression*
Your audience still has expectations for your work but you may not be aware of them because your world view and personality determined in part how & what you write. The expectations are generally based on any pre-existing work or events within the confines of the story. As a result, you (the author) get to stay within your own POV and still meet expectations. When writing for someone else's world the writer should attempt to write from a set of assumptions or perspective different from their own. This strikes me as being vastly more difficult.
Granted I have read very, very little fanfic and have never had any desire to do so but most authors I like write about an idea or underlying concept about society or humanity while fanfic seems to focus on the characters they (the writers) adore. For example: C.S. Friedman has the concept of faith versus religion underlying most of her work, Tad Williams deals with someone's desire to escape the tedium of their life only to find that what they thought was grand just has a different set of problems. You (Michelle) tend to write about the pain that is inherent in life but that pain cannot be allowed to control what one does.
In a similar vein, most authors' self created world is a reflection of themselves to a certian extent. The characters are amplifications of certain parts of their personality (I know, it sounds like schizophrenia). When a fanfic writer writes in someone else's world, they are lacking that rather essential tool for making everything mesh and flow.
I'll shut up now. This has gone far longer than I intended.
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branchandroot
no subject
Date: 2004-10-21 03:40 pm (UTC)*Minor Digression* It's a pet peeve of mine when an author sets the rules and then breaks them for whatever reason. The laws that govern the world/abilities/magic should be immutable. We can't randomly decide that for the next five minutes gravity doesn't exist because it is inconvenient (extreme example but you get the idea) * End Digression*
Your audience still has expectations for your work but you may not be aware of them because your world view and personality determined in part how & what you write. The expectations are generally based on any pre-existing work or events within the confines of the story. As a result, you (the author) get to stay within your own POV and still meet expectations. When writing for someone else's world the writer should attempt to write from a set of assumptions or perspective different from their own. This strikes me as being vastly more difficult.
Granted I have read very, very little fanfic and have never had any desire to do so but most authors I like write about an idea or underlying concept about society or humanity while fanfic seems to focus on the characters they (the writers) adore. For example: C.S. Friedman has the concept of faith versus religion underlying most of her work, Tad Williams deals with someone's desire to escape the tedium of their life only to find that what they thought was grand just has a different set of problems. You (Michelle) tend to write about the pain that is inherent in life but that pain cannot be allowed to control what one does.
In a similar vein, most authors' self created world is a reflection of themselves to a certian extent. The characters are amplifications of certain parts of their personality (I know, it sounds like schizophrenia). When a fanfic writer writes in someone else's world, they are lacking that rather essential tool for making everything mesh and flow.
I'll shut up now. This has gone far longer than I intended.