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I'm still following the fic debate on Goldberg's blog (rerun #2047). No, I won't get into the usual conflating of legalities/ethics/morals and the invocation of Godwin's law - I've come to expect nothing less from that blog. No... I'm stumped on what a fundamental level the anti-fic crowd don't get us.
They do not get the basic motivation for writing fanfic. They don't even seem to realize that there's a whole group of people who love to read it, that there's an actual eager audience for it, that fic is - among other things - an act of communication. That it fills a need. In fact, the group of fic readers has been continually glossed over as long as I'm following this debate, as if they don't factor in.
It becomes crystal-clear each time someone suggests that it's okay to write it for practice as long as you don't post it (*head/desk*)... or to write it and then change characters and settings to turn it into an original work before posting it. Every time I read the arguments, I sit there staring at the screen, bewildered by the gulf between the two mindsets.
It's like two races of aliens trying to communicate.
Kind of exasperating but fascinating nonetheless.
Here's my crazy hypothesis - feel free to disagree: I've come to suspect there are two sorts of people... those who daydream and those who don't. There're those who watch a show, only to have the characters take on a life of their own in their heads, who can't help making up little tales: when I was a kid, I spent hours on end walking through the forest with the dog, making up little stories in a weird crossover 'verse made up of Star Trek and Star Wars and my favourite young adult novel series (complete with Mary Sue and boy, am I glad the internet wasn't around back then). I couldn't get enough of that, and I always kind of assumed that everyone does that. (I still write fic in my head nowadays, except sans Mary Sue.)
But I'm no longer so sure everyone does it, otherwise how do folks like the commenters on Lee's blog don't realize, no matter how often rational people like![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
lost_erizo and lexin tell them, that for the vast majority of fic writers, fic is not the means to an end (which would be becoming a rich, famous writer, I suppose). There're pleasant side benefits, like improving your writing skills and making friends, getting feedback... but fanfic is what it's about - the sharing of stories about characters you love with likeminded people. Doesn't get much simpler than that, one should think.
Well, maybe those folks do daydream strictly original szenarios, who knows. In any case, this debate will go round and round and round and never ever be resolved. But from a cultural viewpoint, I find it interesting.
They do not get the basic motivation for writing fanfic. They don't even seem to realize that there's a whole group of people who love to read it, that there's an actual eager audience for it, that fic is - among other things - an act of communication. That it fills a need. In fact, the group of fic readers has been continually glossed over as long as I'm following this debate, as if they don't factor in.
It becomes crystal-clear each time someone suggests that it's okay to write it for practice as long as you don't post it (*head/desk*)... or to write it and then change characters and settings to turn it into an original work before posting it. Every time I read the arguments, I sit there staring at the screen, bewildered by the gulf between the two mindsets.
It's like two races of aliens trying to communicate.
Kind of exasperating but fascinating nonetheless.
Here's my crazy hypothesis - feel free to disagree: I've come to suspect there are two sorts of people... those who daydream and those who don't. There're those who watch a show, only to have the characters take on a life of their own in their heads, who can't help making up little tales: when I was a kid, I spent hours on end walking through the forest with the dog, making up little stories in a weird crossover 'verse made up of Star Trek and Star Wars and my favourite young adult novel series (complete with Mary Sue and boy, am I glad the internet wasn't around back then). I couldn't get enough of that, and I always kind of assumed that everyone does that. (I still write fic in my head nowadays, except sans Mary Sue.)
But I'm no longer so sure everyone does it, otherwise how do folks like the commenters on Lee's blog don't realize, no matter how often rational people like
lost_erizo and lexin tell them, that for the vast majority of fic writers, fic is not the means to an end (which would be becoming a rich, famous writer, I suppose). There're pleasant side benefits, like improving your writing skills and making friends, getting feedback... but fanfic is what it's about - the sharing of stories about characters you love with likeminded people. Doesn't get much simpler than that, one should think.Well, maybe those folks do daydream strictly original szenarios, who knows. In any case, this debate will go round and round and round and never ever be resolved. But from a cultural viewpoint, I find it interesting.
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Did you read Henry Jenkins' recent post, Fan Fiction as Critical Commentary (http://www.henryjenkins.org/2006/09/fan_fiction_as_critical_commen.html)?
I've been feeling really dispirited lately over what seems like a constant influx of derision directed at fanfic. (Random anti-fic nonsense keeps appearing on my flist from unexpected places, the latest being "Colbert Report" and "Song of Ice and Fire" communities, not to mention the ickiness you find over at Fandom Wank.) It seems like the "mainstream" is becoming increasingly aware of fanfiction, but not really understanding what it is or what it's for. (Is it all porn, is it all slash, is it all written by 12 year olds? etc.)
Part of that is plain ignorance (I looked down on fanfic when I first heard about it, too, but my opinion certainly changed when I was exposed to good fic!) but I think you're right that it may be a basic difference in ways of looking at the world. Ever since I can remember, I was making up imaginary worlds, and the building blocks for those worlds were whatever fiction I'd been exposed to. Originally these took the forms of "imaginary games" my brother and I would act out (the jungle gym was the Millennium Falcon, or anything green was Kryptonite and would kill us), or we'd come up with all kinds of stories for our action figures to work out (a Ninja Turtle/Barbie/GI Joe crossover!). When we got older, we stopped playing them out, but the impulse to make up stories is still always running in the background of my brain.
My dad is the opposite, one of those people who just doesn't get it. I've tried quizzing him, trying to figure out how his brain works, if he gets *anything* out of fiction (nearly everything he takes in is non-fiction; I don't think there's *anything* fictional that he really likes, let alone would make up his own stories about). I'd really like to understand how his brain works, just because it is so different from my own experience.
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I've been feeling really dispirited lately over what seems like a constant influx of derision directed at fanfic.
Really? If anything, the naysayser bring out the stubborn side in me. ;) It doesn't help that their arguments are all over the place, completely uninformed.
Though, did you read the recent article in the Wall Street Journal about fic writers gone pro? That one was actually rather favourable, properly researched, got its facts mostly straight. Nice change from all the sensationalist look-at-the-freaks!!1! articles. (Okay, it still said that slash is often graphic while failing to mention that so's het... but at least it didn't say slash=graphic sex like they usually do.)
Part of that is plain ignorance (I looked down on fanfic when I first heard about it, too, but my opinion certainly changed when I was exposed to good fic!)
Same here. Therefore I fully understand that initial reaction to fic. When I got online and stumbled over alt.tv.x-files.creative, the thought of amateurs writing stories about the show made me cringe. Then, two weeks later I was bored, got curious, started to read one (fortunately it was a good one) and I was hopelessly lost right away.
My dad is the opposite, one of those people who just doesn't get it. I've tried quizzing him, trying to figure out how his brain works, if he gets *anything* out of fiction (nearly everything he takes in is non-fiction; I don't think there's *anything* fictional that he really likes, let alone would make up his own stories about). I'd really like to understand how his brain works, just because it is so different from my own experience.
My whole family doesn't get it, either. Next family gathering I plan to quizz them on the matter, find out how they interact with text. Because they all like to read/watch fiction, they just react to it in a completely different way from mine. (Don't react at all, from where I'm standing, but that's probably the wrong impression.)
It would be really interesting to hear from the anti-ficcers on Lee's blog on this matter as well, but I find that crowd shows a distict lack of respect toward fic writers; it effectively stifles my desire to go over and just ask them.