Lost in Space
There's a saying that there is no such thing as an original work. That is, it's impossible to write something without implicitly referencing plots, characters, and settings that have been used before, whether it's intentional or not. That's part of the basic concept underlying genres, tropes, and settings.
For example, if you write a fantasy story with dwarves, elves, and wizards, then you are paying homage to Tolkien whether you intend to or not.
What's more, many published works are direct derivatives of other works and would be considered fan fiction in today's era when strong copyright laws can be used to stop that sort of thing, but that wasn't always the case.
So, where does that leave us? Well, our definition of fan fiction is precise: it's the use of characters or settings from copyrighted works without having the permission to do so. The commercial publication of such work would thus be considered a violation of copyright.
If I write a story about the adventures of Frodo Baggins, a Hobbit from the Shire, I am violating the copyright of the Tolkien estate and thus I cannot publish my work legally. If I write about Dodo Saggins, a Hobbit from the Shire, I am also violating Tolkien's copyright because I'm using specific elements of his setting even if the character is my own. That is fan fiction.
If the owner of a copyright licenses the right to create derivative works to other authors, that is an Expanded Universe. If copyright expires or does not apply, then the work is in the public domain and derivatives may be made without penalty. Parodies and satires generally fall under Fair Use, although one has to be careful in this respect and I'm not a copyright lawyer. See, for example, Bored of the Rings and DM of the Rings.
All that said, for categorization purposes we generally limit the Fan Fiction namespace to written work. Webcomics, movies, games, and similar visual media tend to fall under their respective media categories even if they're also fan fiction by these rules.
Edited by Fighteer on Jan 4th 2019 at 8:57:17 AM
"It's Occam's Shuriken! If the answer is elusive, never rule out ninjas!"
NaNo 4328 / 50,000
On this website, any written work that violates copyright is listed in the Fanfic namespace. That means The Graveyard Book isn't considered fanfiction, while "A Trekkie's Tale" is. Master Of The Universe is fanfiction, but once the character names were filed off, Twilight is considered legally distinct. Potter Puppet Pals isn't fanfiction (because it's not written), but Harry Potter and the Methods of Rationality is.
Discussing fanfiction in general is probably best done in the fanfic forum
.
Link to TRS threads in project mode here.
Lost in Space
As an addition to the above, while only written works go in the Fan Fic namespace and are indexed under Fan Fiction, all fan-made (unlicensed) derivative works can be listed in the Fan Works subpage of a work article, as well as its Fan Fic Recs subpage.
Lastly, fanfics can themselves have fanfics, which are also considered fan fiction even if they only derive content from another unlicensed work.
Edited by Fighteer on Jan 4th 2019 at 9:18:20 AM
"It's Occam's Shuriken! If the answer is elusive, never rule out ninjas!"
NaNo 4328 / 50,000
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Fanfics aren't inherently extremely derivative or cliched.
A published work can be a "fanfic", but it's usually cited as a derivative or non-canon work. For example, The Wicked Years, Dorothy Must Die, and Oz the Great and Powerful are all derivatives based off of the original Baum-written Land of Oz series. They could be deemed fan-works, but being officially published and mass produced changes that. Something like the short story Ozma Sees Herself is considered a fanfic because it was published in a fanzine.
An original work can't be a fanfic because it's original. It can take heavy inspiration from other materials, or even start development as a fanfic, but it can't be a fanfic in itself.
Edited by Pichu-kun on Jan 5th 2019 at 8:27:06 AM
No, the other one.
Fanfics are inherently derivative, though. No need to put "extremely" there.
Fanfics do tend to be lower quality (using tired clichés and whatnot) than original work, but that's more because original work often has to go through more hoops and is edited more carefully, so the bad original works are more often sorted out. But that's still a tendency and not an absolute law.
Check out my fanfiction!
Lost in Space
This isn't about quality. A fan fic, for our purposes, is precisely defined.
"It's Occam's Shuriken! If the answer is elusive, never rule out ninjas!"
No, the other one.
That's what I said.
Check out my fanfiction!
If it's commercially published, it probably isn't fan fiction.
If it does not violate copyright (and would not even if copyright were held indefinitely), it probably isn't fan fiction.
If it's created, in whole or in part, by the creator of the original work, it probably isn't fan fiction.
Note the repeated use of "probably" in the above three sentences. There are exceptions to every rule we could come up with.
In practice, it's fairly obvious what is and what is not fan fiction. For the rare edge cases we can't predict, we can only really use the "I know it when I see it" test.
When an original work is called fan fiction, this is usually to suggest that the work is extremely derivative or cliched. However, could an original work be considered fanfiction? There are many properties that are in the public domain. It seems to me you could argue that it counts as fanfiction if an author uses one of those properties for their work. There are also works that draw heavily from previous properties, some even providing a meta commentary on that property. So could you classify something like that as fan fiction, even if it is an official work?