Monday, June 9, 2025
Beyond The Original
As
long as creative works have existed there has always been Fan Fiction
from the expansions to ancient myths up to contemporary books and
films, so it should come as no surprise that visual novels share in
this tradition. It is a strange genre to talk about since its only
unifying characteristic is the people who produce it not being in any
way endorsed by the original creator. Yet underneath this myriad of
stories are some powerful undercurrents which the visual novel medium
makes for the perfect place to explore. The simplest of these is the
expression and engagement of a fandom in a creative act which makes
them part of that community and its identity. Next to this is the
expansion of ideas left unexplored by the original title and these are
a prime space for new stories to be woven. Of course there is no
requirement for Fan Fiction to adhere to the original’s themes and
tone and there are many which craft their own vision of what they
wanted from the title. Let’s nerd out over our favourite series and
find out why visual novel Fan Fiction has such a wide scope.
Passionate Fandoms
Creating
Fan Fiction can be a major part of how a fandom defines its identity
as a community and the way they communicate their common interest in
a work. Through their visual novels they can express core elements
from the original work extracted from their context and exaggerated
to an extreme while making them the main focus. Alongside this there
is a tendency to often miss the point of the original work in favour
of presenting common character ships, memes or other aspects created
by the fandom. Including things like these helps the creator of the
Fan Fiction fit their work within the community's expectations and
mark them as one of the group in order for it to be accepted. This is
not a paint Fan Fiction as something which entirely exists to pander
towards other fans but rather to highlight the underlying changes a
creator in this sphere makes to be part of the community. Since there
is no money or future creative prospects on the line, the love of the
original is main reason for the developer to work on their Fan
Fiction and so the larger the fandom surrounding it the more they
will have an impact on these works since they will naturally form a
common language which the creator will draw from since they are
intimately familiar with it.
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| Defining one's identity through fiction |
Perhaps the most extensive example of
this practice are the many fan titles which have sprung up from Doki
Doki Literature Club. These chose a single facet of Doki Doki and use
it as the basis of the common language they speak with to the player.
Doki Doki Literature Club! Purist Mod focuses solely on the earlier
slice of life sections of the original as its common ground and
transforms the game into a more standard romance visual novel. On the
other end of the spectrum we have Monika After Story which is only
interested in the just Monika part and playing on the memorable
elements of that sequence. What these two share is the attention they
place on the distinctive features of the original that the game’s
community have made its own through their collective interpretation
of it. This ability to be whatever its community wants is one of Doki
Doki’s most potent qualities and is responsible for the longevity
of its popularity despite it being not having all the bells and
whistles of more expensive titles. Its characters and story can be
quickly and easily referenced in the form of simple memes and iconic
lines so any person who has played it can know exactly what another
player is referencing immediately. This leads to Fan Fiction based on
it to adopt a similar structure in an attempt to recapture those
iconic moments through the lens of its community and their
interpretations of the original material.
Expanding On Ideas
Over
the course of a title there is not always space to explain or explore
every avenue and possibility due to various issues such as a need for
good pacing or it simply not being relevant to the overall title. Fan
Fiction is not bound by the same constraints as the original work
since it can generally rely on the player having experienced the
title it is based off so it free to do its own thing. As such
creators in this space often take these left over aspects of the
original and expand on them to explore new angles on the story they
love. This often leads to an interesting mix of old ideas and those
from the creators own mind with everything from new characters to new
major events while still sticking close to what came before. It is a
fine line to walk for Fan Fiction and is prone to mistakes in
continuity and out of character moments but the overall lower
expectations from the player make these easier to ignore. Not being a
professional or original work saves Fan Fiction from a lot of the
criticism that would normally be aimed at it due to its free and amateur
nature being on full display. It also frees them to be more creative in
how they engage with their material and as a result it ends up being
a genuine expression of their passion for the work in a deeply
personal way.
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| Another day in court |
Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney – The Contempt of Court
is an interesting example of how expansions on existing material can
be executed. Set after Phoenix Wright Ace Attorney: Trials and
Tribulations it uses the space opened up between entries in the
series to insert its own take on the characters while adding some
of its own to create an excuse why nobody mentions this incident in
future cannon titles. It is not afraid to make references to the
original material as a method of legitimising its content and
creating a sense of it naturally flowing out of the Trails and
Tribulations as another chapter of Phoenix Wright’s life. Of course
all of this has an amateur quality to it from the overeager love for
the series which is constantly on display to the uneven new art
assets and their out of place appearance when placed alongside the
old ones. This meets the player’s expectations for Fan Fiction and
so works in the game’s favour to help focus the player’s
attention of the dramatic court battles rather than any wrinkles
surrounding them.
Going In New Directions
At
the extreme of Fan Fiction are the works which keep only the core
concepts and name of the original and crave their own vision of what
those elements mean. These games are in many ways closer to entirely
original works rather than derivative ones and walk a fine line
between the two where old iconography is made to function for a new
purpose. It remains an expression of the creator’s passion for the
title at its core but passed through the lens of their own creative
vision. For the most part the original’s cast and locations are
stripped out and might only make cameo appearances in order for them
not to outshine the creator’s new characters and setting. There are
also a lack of meaningful connections to the existing timeline with
the work being a completely self-contained affair except for other
works from the creator. Large ideas are the focus as they are
leveraged to capture the essence of the original over the course of
its playtime and yet it is never quite the same since it has passed
through the creators interpretation of the material. The
resulting push and pull of creative intent and the limitations of the
original material can produce an uneven experience where the
creator’s own vision is rubbing up against the restrictions of Fan
Fiction.
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| Time to find the killer with a new cast |
An example of this can be seen in the Danganronpa fan games
by Linuj as they start close to their source material but slowly move
away from it. Danganronpa: Another ~Another Despair Academy~ is their
first work and it contains a original story with new
characters while still keeping most of the elements from the original
such as Monokuma. Yet as the title goes on it moves increasingly in
its own direction with its own cast completely taking over the space
and little of the original’s influence remains. However, it is
careful to make the whole thing self-contained so it does not try and
make itself important to the cannon as such the result is an even
more personal tale than the original games. This is taken even
further in its sequel Super Danganronpa Another 2 ~The Sun of Despair
and the Moon of Hope~ which is almost entirely distinct from the
original Danganronpa. Gone is Monokuma who has been replaced by a
similar looking bird named Monokeurou. While there is still an air of
familiarity to its, it scrapes so close to just being an entirely new
game that it comes across as the creator’s own work rather than a
Fan Fiction.
Conclusion
For
many people Fan Fiction is a genre which offers a flexible creative
outlet and it is no different when dealing with visual novels. They can
be way for a fandom to express their collective love for a title as
well as being a means by which people can signal their membership of
it. Sometimes they can take the original work in new directions where
only the core identity of the series remains and new elements are
brought in to provide their own angle. These can also just be
expansions on areas skimmed over by the original work due to time
constrains and this can help flesh out the greater world of the
franchise. Overall, this is a strange genre of inconsistent quality
but if there is one thing they all share it is passion and there is
no denying how important that is for the creative pursuits.
