Real Person Fanfic: Your Opinions - Lost-Forum.com

pftsobfreak · 02-28-2006, 09:34 PM

I don't think this is really serious discussion. Besides, I think it would be good to have more actual discussion threads in this section, rather than just games and website sharing.

Anyhoot, I'm just curious as to what your opinions are on RPF (Real Person Fanfic). Some consider it wrong and immoral, while others think it's just as fine as character fanfic.

Me, personally, I think it's okay. I write and read several Pray for the Soul of Betty fanfics for the forum Betty Love. I think it's a great way to let out our daydreams and how we think the people live and whatnot. And I think the person will be flattered to know that we write stories inspired by them.

Stace · 02-28-2006, 09:37 PM

I'm actually against Real-Person Fan fiction. I think it's sort of creepy... it's great to live out your fantasies, but when you write yourself having "relations" with celebrities.... :/
I put myself in their position: would I want people writing about me? ...No.

honeyrabbit321 · 02-28-2006, 09:59 PM

ain't those "blogs"?

Eternal_Darkness · 02-28-2006, 10:02 PM

LOL, honey rabbit!

I actually find these kind of disturbing.... I've found NC-17 real fanfics before.... Never read them of course....

pftsobfreak · 02-28-2006, 10:17 PM

I'm not talking about me dating my favorite celeb fanfics. The fics my friends and I have written have actual plots. I recently wrote one where Constantine is a psychic, then he dreams that his girlfriend (made up character) is going to die, so he has to keep it from happening.

**Gabs** · 02-28-2006, 10:17 PM

I find RPF very disturbing, especially when people 'ship' themselves with real people. Even worse when the real people leave spouses and children. It's one thing to be a fan of someone, but I think that's taking it over the line.

pftsobfreak · 02-28-2006, 10:49 PM

I definetely agree with you on that.

Eternal_Darkness · 03-01-2006, 09:20 AM

I've attempted to read these, but the thing is, they are sooooooooooooo bad most of the time. (I'm sure yours is fine, I've read some of your stuff, well... course you know that) They are just weird, and almost every single one of the fics that I've seen are shipping! How can people do that?

I know you have fantasies people, but that doesn't mean other people want to read about you snogging Prince William!

andrewbash · 03-01-2006, 09:31 AM

It depends on the content, if someone is cheating on thier spouce and beating their kids and whatnot, I'm against them.

heatdamaged · 03-01-2006, 11:57 AM

Fanfic is an odd animal in and of itself. At it's best, it is an homage to a favorite show or character, a creative exercise that can be entertaining. At it's worse(and most RPF falls into this category IMO) it is the fantasies of obsessed minds immortalized for everyone to view and wince at.

Sean O · 03-01-2006, 03:57 PM

Personally, I think fanfic is really, really creepy, about akin to furries and hentai fans. Obviously it's not only of a sexual nature, but I don't get why people would rather write about the lives of others, as opposed to simply living their own life. I have my own obsessions, of course, but I would much rather read new situations and characters than rehashing the creations of another.

I suppose you could consider it the same as covering another artist's work musically, but I guess I've just been turned off by some of the weird, cruel, or frightening fanfic I've heard about on the net. Some things seriously need to stay out of the light of day.

But that's just me, maybe I'm just a weirdo. Who knows.

thefilmchick · 03-01-2006, 04:12 PM

I agree, to an extent. I write it just as a mental exercise between law classes, because I am admittedly lazy and don't have the time or creativity when I get out of property, as soul-sucking as it is, to use my own characters in writing. So it's easier just to grab characters. However, I don't write sexual furry slash fanfic or anything like that, and don't think my writing practice is going to be published. In fact, I'd much rather it not.

This is more just a mental game of sorts (esp. using songs as chapter titles and having to work them in), and thus a way to keep my writing chops primed in between bouts of future interests (die) and present possessory interests (double die) and landlord-tenant relations and why that is not real property and thus subject to the rule of quiet enjoyment (what we did today, which I actually understood, thank God), because I can't waste the brainpower working on my own characters there. Am I doing a cover? Yes. Definitely. But I hope I'm doing a cover a la Warren Zevon covering Steve Winwood than anything less classy.

My real work, screenwriting, I do during the weekends and on breaks from class, but I can't spare the time for that in the middle of the week and yet am accustomed to daily writing. Fanfic seems a decent solution for now, 'til I've tapped that well dry.

Real person fanfic creeps me out, too. It smacks of obsession, even when it's not sexual (sorry ptfsob). Sexually based fanfic is the same way, and I wonder at that why people do not just experience the things that they want to write about, just like Sean O said. Sometimes, it seems like the escapism of fanfic coupled with the lack of creative responsibility (because these are not your characters, you do not have to be true to them and are free to bend and twist them any which way you want) can combine for some really terrible results.

UltraHyperShadow · 03-01-2006, 04:20 PM

Well, my opinion matters on whether it's nonfictional or fictional. If you write a true story about yourself and some friends, why not? Fictional stories, to me it really matters what happens in the stories.