We're barely halfway into the first season of Terra Nova and ALREADY there's 35+ Terra Nova fics on fanfiction.net. Would it kill you people to let the canon develop a bit before you hit the keyboard? Fuuuuuck. I don't mind good fic in general, but the mystery and intrigue has only just started to get good* and fanbrats are jumping the gun and IT ANNOYS THE EVERLOVING SHIT OUT OF ME. Fanbrats: get your greasy paws off the keyboard and WAIT FOR SEASON TWO. PLEASE.



*

Spoiler:
	What are those rock carvings about? Who are the bartender's friends in 2149? Who is really behind the Sixers' desertion? Why did the Sixers desert? How does Mira know so much? What is Commander Taylor hiding about the real purpose of Terra Nova? Will Kara be brought through the rift? What's in the box Mira sent Leah to recover?

That's not the worst I've seen. Some fanbrats have started writing fanfic before a show even aired.

0_0


How the hell were they able to DO that?

Based on online descriptions and stuff they read on message boards. See: Young Justice

xerro, are you fucking serious with that question? When should people start writing fanfic, when the show is over?

If that was the point, Cyberwulf, we wouldn't have all the fanfiction springing up about Scourge from Archie's Sonic the Hedgehog.

Which, considering what most of them do to his character, wouldn't be such a bad thing.

Though I do agree that sometimes a writer can be more comfortable writing about a show that is over and most of the answers have (probably) been answered, it's only plausible if 1) the show is short-lived, 2) the show is an oldie and/ or 3) you, as a writer, still have an interest in the show well after it's over. However, meeting one or all three standards, isn't easy. There aren't all that many Star Treks or Star Wars that keep fans interested even 30+ years later. There aren't so many short lived shows or whatever that are that good that can keep giving creativity juices to the writers. And, let's face it, there aren't all that many writers that their love for their show doesn't wane in time - not to the point that they hate it, just to the point that they just don't feel like writing anything about it. And when you do have ideas about a show and you keep postponing them in favour of timing, the ideas themselves lose their appeal and, as a writer who has this bug of sorts to deliver, this can be considered a waste. Yes, maybe a reader can be spared from fics that are horrible that way, but you lose the potential of reading some real gems, despite - or even because of - the fact they take the story into a different direction than the original creator intended. That's why the AU label is there for.


tl;dr - Writers are impatient. They want to write.

Eh, I can see both sides of this. I mean, tearing off on a wild half-assed tangent can be fun. But at the same time, writing based off of nothing gets you stuff like that weird Nihlus fic.

A couple of episodes is a bit spare for fanfic, but it may work. Some decent fanfics have been known to appear after only a few episodes, for Firefly, for instance (written before people knew it was going to get canceled) and shows like Highlander, which only require knowing the basic traits of the main character, are ficcable after just a few episodes.

The problem I have when I want to write about budding shows is that I'm constantly pushed into AU land even if I want to stay true to canon.

Oh, his entire family died in a plane crash, so he can't have a brother. Bummer.

Oh, he comes from a filthy rich family of old blue blood and so can't have a Dad in a slum who speaks Cockney. Darn.

Oh, she was raped and can't have any more children. You wouldn't say...

Smallville was even worse. That show fucked over its own storyline, so even after 5 seasons inconsistencies that were nevertheless canon kept popping up.

I have an idea for a fic that requires The Hero to stay depowered. That ain't happening in canon, so I'm drawing a line after the material I need and giving everything after it the status of, say, Doctor Who novels compared with the main show. I might use details about the universe if I like them and they don't get in the way, but I'm not obliged to stick to that particular canon.

In this case it's like pretending that everything after the cut-off doesn't exist.

Somebody alert Ian! He's going to have to work hard to start the most ill-thought thread this week against this kind of competition!

^ What she said.

... Wait, or he.