I snuck into a discussion on twitter about fanfic sites being so heavily visited someone should make a chatbot of fictional characters for readers to engage with, which none of them want. But someone said they were doing a piece on it so I just asked, what are you not getting from standard fiction that keeps you coming back for more fanfic? The sad part was someone else called them literary masterpieces, and I can't refute that, some of it is better written than the source material. I just wanted to know, is this so safe for you guys you'll never consider reading anything new with unknown worlds/characters? Furthermore, you're clearly limiting yourself in other mediums too, which is okay, but some people love something to death and it takes a lot for them to try anything new. It wouldn't shock me if the fanfic community overlapped with the autism community and this was just another safety blanket, it was just more knowing I couldn't get attention from people who just want to read their favourite book series over and over because millennial depression and disassociation is real. They'll choose to read a bad fanfic over a good fiction.
Having said all that, I'm worse. I read my own shit over and over, again because it's fucking safe and keeps me out of my own head. I stopped reading for leisure because of my need to compare myself to other authors, I am so bored with Firestarter but I'll finish it because it's so easy to read. I started watching another show based on a famous book serious and it doesn't suck but it's not like I'll read the related material. I want to leave the Wattpadders alone to their own thing because I can't communicate with them through my own material, and I feel sad for them they aren't able or willing to come up with their own shit. Do they seriously get no joy out of making up new characters? Are they unable to tap into anything within themselves to make a different person who isn't a self-insert for a fantasy around another character they didn't make up? What makes it so safe other than it gets them attention they wouldn't get for their own material? They claim to want to make their own shit up one day but it obviously ceases to be an issue if they're lauded over for stuff that isn't theirs. Why am I an asshole because I can actually make up my own shit and have no problem with it and don't want to play in someone else's sandbox with toys that aren't mine? They know they can't make money from it, they're pissed at this person who's suggesting some way of monetising the thing they like with AI, and I am dreading the announcement of the first AI written book, because it will just be a derivative mess of nonsense drawing from disparate texts and concepts the way they think they can with screen writing. Why would you let that happen? People who struggle with constructing a story think it'd be great to ask an AI what to do next, that's stupid, you're not challenging yourself at that point. The AI book will make novelty money. People will likely hate it, it'll need a human to proofread it at least, even if they do nothing to it structurally or fill in plot holes etc. I don't want to live in that world.
