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

[itchyfidget.livejournal.com]

Uh, as someone who only dabbles (reading fanfic, not writing ... I'm not sure anyone will ever persuade me to write it), I think it's probably just prolonging the fun of characters being characters. The thing is, with books, that the story eventually comes to an end - but you still want to read more about the best characters, spend some time with them. Fanfic fills that hole.

Slash, obviously, is a whole 'nother subsection of this, and I'm not going to discuss the filling of holes in that context.

[morgaine-x.livejournal.com]

I don't know what you're missing, but I'm missing it too. Even spin-offs only rarely can hold my attention. It just never has the joy of discovery that the original has.

t's like cover versions - there are a few great ones, but most of them have to reach to be classed as dross.

[f4f3.livejournal.com]

I was steering clear of slash, as I'm sure it is a whole different thing.

I suppose I'm just trying to identify my own inadequacy, and maybe get ready to dabble a bit, like.

[chickenfeet2003.livejournal.com]

It baffles me. If a work of fiction so engages me that I really really wish that the author had written more about that set of characters then it means it was a damn good piece of writing. The idea that I, or some even less talented clown, is going to produce anything worthwhile with those characters seems to me most remote. This is probably why there is so little Hamlet fanfic.

[f4f3.livejournal.com]

Cover versions - now there's a thing I can understand: like Lyle Lovetts cover of The Dead's "Friend of the Devil", or Steve Earle doing a Townes van Zandt song. Hmm...

[f4f3.livejournal.com]

Now that seems a perfectly reasonable pov to me. But the other hand says that lots of clever folk are into it, and from what I can see the clowns who are writing it are quite nicely made up, and do good routines.

As for Hamlet fanfic, what else has Hollywood been putting on screen for the last hundred years? But then, that's paid work, isn't it?

Hmm...

[chickenfeet2003.livejournal.com]

s for Hamlet fanfic, what else has Hollywood been putting on screen for the last hundred years?

That's the old argument about how many "original" plots there are I guess. None in Shakespeare. That much is certain.

But the other hand says that lots of clever folk are into it

Yes but I know clever folk who are into furries, vote Tory and think Arsenal are a good football team.

[itchyfidget.livejournal.com]

I'm missing the part where the existence of fanfic makes you inadequate, but keep talking ...

[f4f3.livejournal.com]

Look, don't get me started on those perverts. And as for the furries...

[chickenfeet2003.livejournal.com]

I think it's a bit sad when people can't even invent their own porn characters.

[f4f3.livejournal.com]

Well, it's either the "he couldn't see shite but he'd want a bit" attitude that worries that I'm missing out on something, or the fact that I do worry, at least for a while, when I don't get Stuff. Like Opera, or Cricket, or Sushi. Usually it goes away after I try a bit.

[f4f3.livejournal.com]

Invent? When there are so many real people around?
*shutting up, now*

[chickenfeet2003.livejournal.com]

Mmmm Blair/Clarke slash... ack where's my bucket.

[itchyfidget.livejournal.com]

*shrug* It's not everyone's thing any more than Opera or clothes shopping or Earl Grey are.

[itchyfidget.livejournal.com]

I think I once slashed the NHS and Bupa to make a political point. Sadly ,this was before the days of lj-tags - so you're safe ;)

[f4f3.livejournal.com]

The fact that I'm curious probably means I'm a bit into it. *g*

[chickenfeet2003.livejournal.com]

I was thinking more along the lines of the scene in Barbarella with the "passion pill" but with ear-bonding.

[f4f3.livejournal.com]

See, now if you'd shut up when I did...

[f4f3.livejournal.com]

It was that whole "yes, yes, I'll respect you in the morning thing" wasn't it?

[itchyfidget.livejournal.com]

*snorts*

I haven't actually seen Barbarella, but I can fill in the gaps, thank you.

[itchyfidget.livejournal.com]

Yeah. Just toodle along to a fic community and announce you're "fic-curious" ... I'm sure they'll be all over you ;)

[f4f3.livejournal.com]

*sigh*

I know I'll regret this, but "ear-bonding"?

[itchyfidget.livejournal.com]

That was pretty much the vibe, yeah.

[chickenfeet2003.livejournal.com]

"Not since his fagmaster at Fettes had used him as a toastrack..."

[chickenfeet2003.livejournal.com]

Have you seen Barbarella?