And a poll...

[syredronning]

[Poll #961908]

Comments

[roadstergal.livejournal.com]

I thought it was interesting that you had these choices:
...and you don't know the fandom well, you read fanfic to get the character voices right.
...and you don't know the fandom well, you read fanfic to get the setting details right.
...you keep getting sidetracked by movies/tv.

If I don't know the fandom well, I read/watch/experience the fandom to get the characters and settings right. I don't know if a given writer - even a good writer - has the fandom right unless I know the fandom. ;)

I think Harry Potter suffers particularly from fanon-takeover.

[syredronning.livejournal.com]

In principle, you are right. However, I sometimes found that the "voices" in fanfic are closer to what I want to write then e.g. in the pro-novels. And it was hard for me at times to transfer what I saw on screen (e.g. in DS9) to characteristic writing in a story. May be a language problem at parts, but fanfic did help me a lot in such cases :) But of course, I watch LOTS of the original stuff whenever I can.