If you've ever read a Ciaphas Cain or Drizzt Do Urden book, you've read published fanfic.
But I think the question was about fanfics put up online becoming canon. I've read some that I think would be awesome, but honestly most of the best stuff I've read is AU to some extent - making it canon would usually shift the direction of the original work.
That’s the epitome of privilege right there, not considering armed nazis a threat to your life. - SilaswBecause I dwell in the comic book fandom a lot, many fanfics I read would work really well/just as well in the media, because the vast majority of superhero comics are basically official fanfiction. Some, though, like Polarity, would not work in mainstream continuity because it changes too much.
A lot of times, the really good fics just naturally do things that the writers would not be allowed/have the guts to do. The majority of slash and femslash, for example. Or they just have medium limitations, like Western Animation being unable to do an extremely long and well thought out plot arc because it will be canceled or would require being the focus of too many episodes compared to the episodic but with a Story Arc and/or Myth Arc nature of television.
But yes, there ate many fics that deserve to be cannon, if not solely for the sheer thought put into them and passion.
My AO3Most fan fics I've read are about animes of dubious quality. A lot of said fan fics have trope pages, where the author usually tries to sell their fic as Better Than Canon, while the fic itself plays much of the story against characters they don't like. Said authors deck out their profile pages with messages defaming the original series, even claiming "(insert author here) is ruining their manga, if you agree copy and paste this here."
Stuff like that often pisses me off. So while I come from a biased point of view, I generally haven't seen too many fan fics I'd actually want to see made into real works. Because usually it's the fics that shout "I'm better than the original" that turn out to be less than spectacular.
But that's only speaking out about anime and manga-based fan fiction.
This about sums it up:
i.imgur.com/Ibmwv 4 N.png
edited 5th Mar '14 11:07:24 PM by Dartz-IRL
Wait. What. I typo'd and accidentally created a second profile? Fix it.Depends on the ones, but say Imperfect Metamorphosis becoming canon? That would be pretty awesome... and a sudden drop into Darker and Edgier for the fandom.
On the other hand, it would probably help spread the fandom to other people by presenting a kind of story more in line with the usual bleaker fantasy found these days.
...Most of the fanfics I read tend to be 'Darker and Edgier' than the original material unless it's already ridiculously grimdark. Oh well.
edited 6th Mar '14 4:03:10 PM by Cryptovirus
I'm leaving for a better world again~!
I agree that some fan fictions are pretty good and I have read some fan fictions that I think should have been cannon in whatever universe the fan fiction is being written in. At the same time, I have read some pretty bad fan fictions and if they were cannon, it could ruin the story rather than help it become better. So, it all depends on how good the story really is.
I love animation, TV, movies, YOU NAME IT!Depends, I have found a few small fanfictions that are so good it can be considered Better Than Canon. Albeit these fanfictions usually from what I have seen are received that way because the canon of whichever work is a jumbled mess with unfavorable characters, contrived plots, and unnecessary padding.
edited 6th Mar '14 5:47:45 PM by Bleddyn
One instance I think the Better Than Canon trope can be interestingly applied is if the fic suceed in a point where canon failed. I can think of two examples:
The first is on Neon Genesis Evangelion. Hideaki Anno wanted Rei to be unsettling and people liked her for her "moeness" (notice the quotation marks). This fanfic
(which is highly recommended for its historic research and adaptation) fixed this, turning Rei into an unsettling being.
The second one is on Pokemon Blackand White. They realized that people misunderstood N's character, so the writers of the manga wrote him different from the usual interpretation of him, but they exaggerated, Pokespe!N is a just a creeper instead of an innocent but extremely problematic antivillain. This fanfic
fixed this.
But I don't know, sometimes I see that good fanfics may end up overwriting the way I like to see the characters. When this happen, the author should try original fanfiction.
My work is here. Current main fic: Tengen Toppa Gurren SolverniaBut even with good fics, there are some fics that are amazing but you don't want to be canon, because the story is complete in and of itself, or it's an interesting alternate continuity but becoming part of main Canon would screw the main work over.
Then there are fandoms that have an issue where even the good fics tend to bash one particular character.
My AO3
I agree with this. Even if some of the fan fictions are really good, putting them in cannon might not work out well, especially if it's an entirely different take on the characters, despite being written well. Heck, there are already fans of the mainstream works complaining about the alternative universe in some works such as the "Ultimate Universe" for Marvel Comics.
I love animation, TV, movies, YOU NAME IT!
I don't think Valve would go that way. It's pretty clear from the developer's commentary that Wheatley was just using Chell the whole time to get at G La DOS. The only problem was he wasn't too good at it due to being stupid. That's why I have a hard time reading fics that portray him as some innocent.
I wouldn't mind if Robert Brown and Francis Tolbert's runs on Sonic the Hedgehog was made cannon in the Sonic Satam TV series since it did a great job at continuing the events after the "Doomsday Project" episode and it showed Sonic and friends growing up gradually throughout their adventures.
edited 16th Mar '14 11:37:20 AM by Rabbitearsblog
I love animation, TV, movies, YOU NAME IT!

If people who normally write fan fictions get their fan fictions into a real work such as comic books or TV shows and they become canon, how would you feel about that?
For me, it would depend on what the fan fiction is all about and even though some people said that most of the work written in some comic books and TV shows are fan fictions to a certain degree, I would hope that the fan fiction in question is well written and actually found interesting ways to create good stories for the characters.
I love animation, TV, movies, YOU NAME IT!