Thoughts on Fan Fiction...

Well, I'm doubtful that too many writers of spanking-oriented fanfiction, as opposed to the general type of it, believe that they can portray the characters in print as effectively as their original creators have--it's probably just a matter of wishing to create a spanking scene which the original author never wrote.

I'm certain that Margaret Mitchell could've written a convincing passage in which Rhett Butler spanks his eventual wife Scarlett within Gone With the Wind, but she didn't do so--even though he did threaten to spank or whip the woman on several occasions--therefore it would have to be written by someone else (as spanking fanfic) to bring it in existence. To me, that would at least be a credible fanfic chastisement, since Rhett tanning Scarlett's behind strikes me as believable based on their characterizations in the novel.

On the other hand, Melanie Hamilton Wilkes paddling her cousin/husband Ashley (or actually anybody else either), I wouldn't find that credible, and I'd venture that good spanking-oriented fanfic should postulate punishments which are reasonably believable.

If a fanfic piece is entirely 'steeped' in the details of an original work, it runs the risk of confusing potential readers who aren't fans of it, thus I'd venture that good spanking fanfic shouldn't necessarily require an in-depth knowledge of the original source.

However, I wouldn't especially desire to encounter fanfic which is written so generically that its relationship to the original work turns out to be merely a matter of proper nouns. "That story about Kathryn Janeway spanking Seven of Nine on board the U.S.S. Voyager, it would've been equally effective by simply substituting Teresa Lisbon and Grace van Pelt at C.B.I. headquarters into their places." No, it shouldn't function that way, I'd venture.

Thus I'd favor the 'middle ground' in the writing of spanking-oriented fanfic, so that those who are fans of the original work can appreciate its unique characters and setting, yet non-fans can still appreciate the basic account it presents.

During the fairly rare occasions on which I attempt to write fanfic featuring red-bottomed corporal correction, that's what I'm hoping to manage... --C.K.

As others have said, the fans of the original will probably lap up well-written fanfics which incorporate believable spankings, but without the prior knowledge it can be hard to understand the assumed background. I don't have TV, so I lack a great deal of even British contemporary cultural references, let alone foreign ones, so I end up feeling somewhat ignorant.

For myself I have written a couple, one an 'Outlander' spin off which is about spanking but doesn't actually contain it (in direct opposition to the original work btw), and a PG Wodehouse one (Jeeves and the Cunning Plan) which does.
The difficulty in the latter was obviously trying to emulate a master with the inevitability of coming up short.

Thanks to everyone for the discussion!!

My thoughts at this point: I'm going to write some fan fiction. As this thread has been developing I've been writing some non-FF stories but I maybe just try my hand when and if I finish them.

The general takeaway I've received is a synthesis of the point that 'fan fiction will be mainly enjoyed by those who have an interest in the particular series, but that's not a reason not to do it anyway' and also Crimson Kid's point above, which hit it on the head for me. Namely, what separates good FF from not as good FF is using the setting/characters to create a spanking scenario that one couldn't otherwise, not just forcing a generic spanking into a setting that could be substituted at will. And, as I've read FF throughout the years, I've had that feeling in the back of my head but couldn't crystallize it into words, which was the main reason I started the thread. My first two stories I've posted have been the result of me trying to make sure each one had a singular or unique point of interest, and for FF the singular or unique point of interest should INCLUDE the borrowed setting/characters in a meaningful way.

Thanks to everyone for the great thoughts and help!!

Avalon

One of the things that does bug me about fanfic tends to be the preponderances of slash fic. I have no issue with that itself, but more that the writer have a tendency to make pairings that simply don't work from a character point of view. George Martin is an opponent of fanfic in general, but he did talk about a conversation he had with two ladies who wrote it and made one of his characters gay, he just couldn't understand it. He said he had gay characters, why not write about them? Why make a character who wasn't gay into a gay one? I once read a crossover featuring Flashman and Richard Sharpe, and the author made them have a relationship. Sex doesn't really enter into the Sharpe books all that much, but Flashman is about as violently a heterosexual character as any writer could ever hope to devise.

Crimson Kid made a good point about some fan fiction if you changed the names you would have a different story as the readers may know about the different characters better. I read one fan-fiction story and I had no idea until the last sentence who the characters were and when I read who they were I did see it and was amazed that I did not see it earlier. As most of the others have said fan fiction has its niche and I have read several that I thought were excellent then there were others that I did not know the characters and I was totally lost. Also like CK and Seegee said most people that write fan-fiction sometimes do change the characters and then it becomes unbelievable. Although in my case I think there should be spankings in most tv shows, movies and books as well and I sometimes like seeing how a spanking could be worked into it and in some cases I did want to see a particular character spanked so I would be biased in that regard. Anyway you are a good author and good luck with your fan-fiction stories and I am sure that there will be quite a few that enjoy them and others that say" HUH!". Have a great day.
Jim

Several problems with fan fiction;
The reader must know the show, the reader must know the episode, since most fan fiction is of a time and place in public story and most of all they must identify the same characters as Dom and Sub.
I wrote a story for the newsgroup SSS, Willow Weeps in which I placed exact quotes from the show to set the time, place and set up the joke. They had to be removed for copyright reasons when posted here. I don't know that people got the joke like when I posted to the newsgroup.
At least Willow is a subby character. Hard to imagine Buffy as a sub.
There used to be a set of X-Men fan fiction stories where Wolverine, because of his healing powers was the sub. It's hard to imagine a less subby person.

Definitely must know the show and its characters. But it's okay to write a story where a character is in a different role than on the show. I did that in my Xena story,where she behaved in a way very unlike she would have on the show-being a petty criminal, for which she was punished.
Just don' t come up with something totally preposterous and unbelievable, like say Superman being spanked by Lois Lane!
I certainly would never write a story with characters from a show I never watched, or knew little about. Like " Friends", which is too bad for I understand some of its characters were very much in need of a good spanking.

A lot of fanfic is wish fulfilment by the authors. I know of an author, published now and quite successful, but her first experience of writing was with fanfic, and she said it was largely motivated by a TV show that she liked finishing with what was to her an unsatisfying ending, so she wrote her own version with how she would have done it if she were in charge. A lot of people do that and they get very invested in 'ships' (short for relationship), even if the ship doesn't really exist in the actual work. The pairing of Harry and Hermione in Harry Potter fanfic is very popular, of course they also often pair Harry with Draco and I think Harry and a random apple is another one. Fifty Shades of Grey actually began its life as a Twilight fanfic.

Yeah, I was an active fanfic writer for another series at the time when I read the original version of 50 Shades online (back then it was called "Master of the Universe," I believe). So how come I'm not rich and famous now too, with book and movie rights?

As to the topic at hand, I always say to write what you enjoy and what inspires you. There will always be an audience for it. I enjoyed the few years I spent writing (non-spanko) fanfic, and had built up a decent following of readers who appreciated what I did with familiar characters and settings. Yes it was only familiar to readers of that series, but that didn't make it any less satisfying for me as a writer.

I don't hate fan fiction, but it isn't something that I seek out, I do enjoy spanking fan fiction more then non-spanking, but only because I do with some of the stories I enjoy would include spanking in them. I wouldn't worry about everyone not being interested in fan fiction, their are all kinds of stories on this site and I am sure no one is interested in every kind.