So, Fanfic then...

[f4f3]

Fanfic, what is it good for? No, no, it's a serious question (well, about as serious as any question about a neologism written at 6.40 because I can't be bothered filling in my expenses could be.

It occasionally bothers me that I don't get Fanfic. I mean, don't get me wrong, I'm a fan. And of roughly the right things, too. Not Harry Potter, obviously, but Jennings. Doctor Who. Firefly. Various incarnations of Star Trek.

And also I can get very into my fandom - I've gone to Cons, even a meejacon (Hitchercon, back when the continents were in a very different shape). I know more about mid-'70s Marvel Comics than anyone has a right to, but I've never been tempted to do a Deathlok the Demolisher meets Killraven story. Or even, to be slightly less obscure, Jack Aubrey meets Harry Flashman. I once considered putting Flashman into War of the Worlds, but it never got beyond a standing joke with one of my mates. Suffice to say that the Martians would have died of an easily transmitable earthly disease, but not the common cold.

It may be because writing is what I do for a living. However I've dressed up and disguised the fact in my job titles (Consultant, Relationship Manager, Proposal Manager, er, Writer) I write stuff and people pay me. When I write fiction, it's always with a view to having it published professionally. Although, when I think of what some of the semi-prozines of my cyberpunky youth paid (i.e. £Nothing) that's stretching the point a bit. Using someone else's copyrighted characters guarantees that no one will pay you to publish your stories.

So why do people do it? Most of the fan-fic I've read has been of at least a competent level (this is high praise from someone who believes as firmly in Sturgeon's Law as I do). Obviously the writers get something out of it, the readers got something out of it.

I'm not someone who thinks fan-fic is beneath him - hello, I'm the guy who cackled in glee when he found out that The Essential Moon Knight contained back up stories from The Rampaging Hulk which I hadn't read before, and who stayed up till 2 a.m. to read them.

SO WHAT AM I MISSING HERE, GUYS?

Comments

[geoviki.livejournal.com]

What a great question!

My first foray into fanfic writing happened over 20 years ago with Star Trek. And there (and in Star Wars as well), fanfic can be published - not only through novilizations of episodes and movies, but with bona fide new plots. These are copyright-sanctioned, printed books. So I didn't start out with feeling as though I was writing for no one. But I lost interest when I made the mistake of trying to write for money - it wasn't for me and the writing itself became a burden and a source of guilt.

Fast forward to 2003. I'd just finished Order of the Phoenix and discovered online HP fandom. I was immediately inspired to write, because of my earlier experience in a fandom. It's the way I respond, it seems. It's fun to compare an internet-less fandom with one that is sustained and driven through the internet. I like this state of affairs much better.

My appreciation deepened not so much through my own writing, but from reading other writers. I had this horribly naive view that I was going to be noticed right away amid the dross I'd noticed in the first month of surfing ff.net (aka the Pit of Voles). And the more I read, the more I discovered writers who are stunningly good. (And I see you know some of them, too). And yeah, 90% of fanfiction is crap, but then 90% of everything is crap, right? :-)

When I attended my first HP con last fall, I was further impressed by the caliber of smart, witty, clever people I met -- who were just like me! Well, a little younger, but not nearly as young as I'd imagined. I met MDs, professors, scientists, businesswomen, poets, musicians.... It was eye-opening.

[f4f3.livejournal.com]

You just widened my definition of fan-fic again: I hadn't classed any of the ST/Buffy/SW tie ins as fanfic, when they clearly are.

[f4f3.livejournal.com]

Oh, and yes, Frankie does have a habit of asking very interesting questions. Even when drunk. Espescially when drunk.

[widgetfox.livejournal.com]

Fortunately I do not remember what I asked you when I was drunk.

[f4f3.livejournal.com]

And neither do I, of course.

[widgetfox.livejournal.com]

Thank you. Makes perfect sense.

Separately, I was asked by someone else earlier in the week what was the attraction of fanfic for me. My answer was as follows:

Much fanfic is writing in genres I like. Once you've adjusted for Sturgeon's law, it means there's more good writing out there in the genres I like. What's not to be attracted to?

Sometimes I think a lot of fanfic would not lose anything if the serial numbers were to be filed off, and I do find myself thinking 'why is this person writing about someone else's characters rather than their own, when they have so much talent?'. But it's not for me to argue about what ought to stimulate someone's creative imagination, and I ain't looking no gift horses in the mouth.

In general, the characteristics that I admire about the fanfic that I read and the authors that I go back to are subversiveness, creativity, lyrical prose (often much more beautiful than the original author) and complicated twisty plots.

So there's quite a lot of overlap, I think.

[geoviki.livejournal.com]

I think we're definitely on the same page in our thinking!

I fear certain authors leaving off writing fanfic, because they're so good and I love their stuff.

[f4f3.livejournal.com]

There seems to be a similarity to the early days of SF, when the boundary between fan and author was more blurred, and the feeling of community greater. To some degree I think SF has lost this due to its commercial success. While I wouldn't swap the one for 'tother, it's good to know that fanfic seems to have retained that link.

I'm looking forward to a weekend of following up on recommendations!

[widgetfox.livejournal.com]

And I should also say that I really enjoyed ATBT very much indeed.

[geoviki.livejournal.com]

Thank you!