Poll: Glorified fanfiction?

[retsuko]

Last night, when I was at book group, I found myself looking at the shelf of "show spin-off" style books and wondering how to deal with the content in them. For example, if I bought an "Angel" novel, would I treat the information included within as canon in the Buffy universe? If yebisu9 reads the Timothy Zahn "Terminator" prequel, can he expect to see characters/information/plot elements turn up in the forthcoming movie? (And, if they do, was it really an original idea of Zahn's, or something he was paid to include?) And do these works become part of the overall canon mythology of a creative work, if they're not written by the original author(s)? Or are they just glorified, officially sanctioned fanfiction? I'm sure Lee Goldberg would have his own ideas, but I wanted to hear yours.

[Poll #1388685]

For the record, I'm not talking here about "The Story of the Movie!" books here; I'm talking about character-driven novels such as Splinter of the Mind's Eye (an excellent book that I am happy to consider Star Wars canon). Does quality have a part to play in this as well?

Comments

[retsuko.livejournal.com]

I agree on the love-interests thing. I often wonder just how much say the authors get in the works, and if they create weird 'ships as a passive-aggressive revenge.

Where does canon end and fanon begin, in your opinion?

[lady-of-mists.livejournal.com]

:grins: I could definitely see some authors looking at a new love interest and saying, "You know, I've never seen this, but apparently someone has. Now it's stuck in my head and I've got to get it out somehow. I approve it!" I've actually had it happen with some of my characters -- where one person had a decided preference for a pairing that I wasn't entirely sure about.

I think that canon starts with author approval and shades down to things that make sense in a novelization and that do not conflict with the original novel. I also believe that things that were canon in a novelization can be overridden by the author should they release another movie, book, etc. Fanon starts with a purely derivative work that doesn't have author approval and shades up to a good work (sometimes with author approval) that totally changes a basic element of the plot, a part of the characterization, etc.

I don't know that it makes sense, but for example. The first Zahn trilogy to me is canon. Lucas let Timothy Zahn play in his world and make up a few of his own characters as a supporting cast. Thus we got Mara Jade (who is awesome in those books in my opinion) and Talon Karrde. Lucas didn't invent those characters, but he approved of them. Their interactions with the lead characters enhanced your view of the leads, but didn't take over entirely from the storyline that was already set forth. You have author approval, but additionally you have elements in there that were good in the novelization and didn't detract from or change major plot points in the original work.

On the other hand, you have fanon -- which is like my fanfic of The Phantom of the Opera. I didn't have approval from Gaston Leroux or Andrew Lloyd Webber. However, I like to think that my take on the characters (while it took a lot of liberties -- Raoul became a drunk, the Phantom was a bit more sane, Christine goes back to the stage, one added character) was one that merely tweaked the source material instead of twisting it around completely to my purposes.

So I guess I would have to say that I would accept something not from the original author as canon if they were careful to consult the original author (or his/her estate) and it blended with the past in an almost seamless manner.