Often, reading a book or watching a movie, viewers are unhappy with the finale. And to correct this annoying omission, they themselves take up the pen. In the past centuries, only educated people who had enough money and time to not only write but publish their creations could spend time writing sequels. However, today it is available to everyone who has the Internet.
This type of amateur literature is called fan fiction. Let's find out about its features, and also consider such a related concept as the canon.
What is fan fiction?
Before finding the answer to the question: “Canon in fan fiction - what is this?”, It is worthwhile to study this type of literature in more detail.
The term "fan fiction" comes from the English phrase fan fiction (fiction fans).
Despite the growing popularity, he is still not officially recognized in serious literary circles. He is considered the destiny of irrepressible graphomaniacs, although this is not always a fair opinion.
By the way, fan fiction is an amateur composition dedicated not only to books, films and television series, but also to comics, as well as video games.
Chronologically, they can be not only sequels, but also prequels, spin-offs, crossovers, restarts, etc.
Often, their creators take as a basis the universe of the original work and come up with their own heroes.
In addition to the name fan fiction, this concept is also called ff, fan fiction, fan fiction, or simply fik.
In the modern world, there are numerous websites for FF authors where they can publish their works absolutely free of charge, discuss them, and also read the works of colleagues. By the way, for the authors of such literature there is a special name - fiqters.
Features and varieties
It is sad to be aware, but money still rules the world, although even not all can be bought for them. As for fan fiction, unlike ordinary original literature, this type often does not bring profit to its creators.
The fact is that because of the distinctive features of fan fiction, fiction writers use plots and heroes in their works, which are already an object in someone's intellectual property. That is why making money on them is an illegal and jurisdictional matter.
Although there are lucky fixers who succeed. So, in 2001, a spin-off of the cult American novel Gone With The Wind was published. It was called The Wind Done Gone and was dedicated to the fictional black sister Scarlett Sinara.
Heirs Margaret Mitchell sued Alice Randall, who wrote this fan fiction. However, the writer had more deft advocates, and the court decided the case in her favor. So the book was published, and brought its creator a good profit.
Seth Graham Smith is another lucky guy. This author made a name for himself, composing fanfiction based on classical works of world literature, adding fantastic events to them.
Most of all he walked along Jane Austen, writing FF "Pride and Prejudice and Zombies" and "Reason and Feelings and Sea Monsters." By the way, this type of fan fiction (mashup) is becoming more and more popular today, since in this case you can bypass copyright law (due to the statute of limitations) and even publish your own works.
As for the varieties of fan fiction, there are a great many of them, and many fiqters even come up with their own. Therefore, listing them is pointless; it is easier to mention the main categories:
- By the nature of the relationship.
- By the method of creation.
- According to the plot.
- To size.
- According to the original.
- By age rating.
Canon - what does it mean in fan fiction
Having considered the features of FF, we can proceed to the main issue. So, let's find out, canon in fan fiction - what is it?
This term refers to the totality of all information about the fantasy world of a particular original work, which its author (or copyright holder) considers correct.
In fact, the canon in fan fiction is an original book / film / game, the continuation of which is written by the fixer.
In practice, following the canon for the freewriters means that in their FF they use characters or events that are described in the original works. If new heroes are added to them or the canonical characters behave differently than in the original, this is no longer a canon.
It is worth remembering that it is not always unchanged. Especially when it comes to movies. The fact is that when making a remake, the scriptwriters have to adapt the original plot to modern circumstances, and then the canon changes.
For example, this happened with the X-Men epic. To justify the restart, the scriptwriters forced Wolverine to change the past, and now the canon has changed.
Canon and fanon
Having learned the answer to the question, the canon in fan fiction is what it is, it is worth considering such an important concept as a fan. This is the so-called fan canon. That is, the totality of information about the fantasy world, which his fans consider to be true, however, it is not always such, according to the author.
Fanons often are attempts to explain various plot holes or understatements. By the way, it happens that fans can become canons.
For example, when the book Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince came out, in its final, Professor Snape kills Dumbledore and joins Voldemort.
However, fans of this character considered his act a clever intrigue to destroy the Dark Magician. It has become a fan for most of them. And when the next novel “Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows” was published, this theory and this fan became the canon in it. Harry Potter fanfiction (dedicated to this topic) after that also became canonical.
In recent years, when working on sequels or prequels, screenwriters often use the fans installed by the fixers.
One of the most recent examples is the HBO television series Game of Thrones. As you know, George Martin (on whose books this project is being shot) has so far released only 5 volumes. And, working on the scenario for the next seasons (6 and 7), the creators of the television project had to figure out how the plot would develop further. To facilitate this task, the script used the ideas of many fan fiction. In addition, some fan fans were turned into canons of the series (remaining fans for George Martin's books).
So, despite the fact that official literary criticism and cinematography refers to fan fiction and fanons created by them as a second-rate phenomenon, they are not shy about using their best practices for their own interests, and for free.
Naruto fanfiction
Having learned in more detail about fan fiction and their canons, it is worth considering practical examples of such works.
A few years ago, one of the most popular animes was Naruto, based on the eponymous manga. He talked about the adventures of the boy Naruto (aspiring to become a ninja) and his comrades: Sasuke Uchiha and the beautiful Sakura Haruno.
Although this story is more about friendship and struggle, it was precisely its love part that worried many history fans. Therefore, many fans argued about Sakura's heart preferences. And since neither the manga nor the anime gave a definite answer to this question, it is not known today which pair is canonical: Naruto / Sakura or Sasuke / Sakura.
In any case, a lot of FF is dedicated to each of the pairs. The first of them is narrated by such works as "Any place. And a bathhouse too ...", "Rent a guy", "I believe in you", "Love me through obstacles", "Prospects", etc. It is worth noting that in such compositions he often describes not only friendly or romantic, but also sexual relations between Sakura and Naruto.
There are many fan fiction according to the canon of Sakura and Sasuke. The most famous of them are: “Dangerous communication”, “This strange thing is love!”, “I will teach you”, “Love, pain, hope”, “Blooming Sakura and the Dark Prince”, etc.
However, FF on this anime is not only dedicated to love relationships. So, among the most successful Russian-language works of fan fiction on "Naruto" "Such a different canon ...". Its author is someone under the pseudonym Trump. His story is not focused on love relationships, but directly on adventures.
Fan fiction on "Naruto" "Such a different canon ..." is published on Fickbook (a popular Russian-language site where all the various fixators can post and discuss their creations).
What is this story about? About a fellow traveler (a hero from another reality, dimension, time, etc.) from the human world to the universe of Japanese mangaki.
At the moment, the fan fiction "Such a different canon ..." is not finished yet. As of January 13, 2018, 90 chapters of the declared 91th were written.
By the way, this FF is based on the canon of anime, not manga. This story is not canonical due to the presence of a new character in it, which is not found in the anime or in the manga.
Fairy Tail Fan Fiction
Having learned a little about the fan fiction "Such a different canon ..." from Fickbook, it is worth considering some other amateur work based on the popular anime.
For example, based on the series "Fairy Tail Tale", based on the eponymous manga. Unlike "Naruto", a whole group of protagonists are at the center of his events - these are wizards from the Fairy Tail guild. As is traditional for Japanese animation, there is no romantic relationship between most of them.
At the moment, on Fickbook's “Tale of the Fairy Tail”, almost 53 thousand FF are devoted (“Naruto” 58 thousand). As with the latter, most of them are about love.
Among the favorite fan couples of Natsu and Lucy (“The One Who Ghosts”, “A Gift for Lucy”, “Happy School Life Before and After”), Gerard and Elsa (“The Right to Smile”, “But I Don't Have You, Really "," Happy Holidays "), Gray and Juvia (" You are near, and everything is fine! "," Requiem for common sense "," Time of frost-bitten adventures ").
It is worth noting that attempts to more actively develop romance among these heroes correspond to the anime canon, which gives more than frank allusions to the special relationship between the aforementioned couples.
Harry Potter Epic Fanfiction
In addition to anime, FF is often written in books. Thus, almost 62 thousand works are devoted to the aforementioned Harry Potter cycle on Fickbook, and the events of many of them are concentrated on secondary heroes, and therefore remain canonical.
For example, on the friendship of Sirius Black and Remus Lupine (Reciprocity) or on the relationship of Lily Potter and Severus Snape ("The daughter of an ordinary potion"). The latter, incidentally, is non-canonical, since in the original book the professor does not have a daughter.
However, probably the most popular topic for Harry Potter fanfiction is the relationship between various canonical characters and fellow travelers, in whose faces their authors see themselves to a certain extent. FF of this kind, despite the presence of original characters, is non-canonical.
Supernatural fanfiction
Popular television series going on for years is another fertile topic for FF. For example, the project about brothers-hunters for evil spirits (Dean and Sam Winchester) is devoted to 35 thousand works.
The lion's share of them are crossovers with other well-known franchises. For example, with "Harry Potter" ("Lightbringer"), with the anime Hellsing ("Eternal"), with "Naruto" ("Demonesses"). And also, paradoxically as it sounds, with the animated series "My Cute Pony" ("Change the History of All Universes").
Needless to say, such works do not correspond to either the canon or even the fanon?
Poor Nastya Fan Fiction
It is important to note that the fruitful imagination of Russian FF writers is focused not only on foreign creations, but also on Russian film production. So, 278 fan fiction is devoted to the popular series "Poor Nastya".
Most of them are about the adventures of Anna and Vladimir. They are talking either about their childhood, or about the future after the wedding ("Stone Trilogy", "I Love ..."). Works of this kind are usually canonical and are sources for the fanon.
In addition to the above, the indefatigable fantasy of the fans of the series also created several non-canonical crossover fanfics with such projects as “Don't Be Born Beautiful” (“Indispensable”) and the book “Pride and Prejudice” (“Pride and Prejudice of Dvugorsky County”).