And It Better Have Typos

[bloodyrosemccoy]

So yesterday while explaining fanfiction to Dad,* I had a curious little epiphany:

If I ever do get this book published, and nobody slashes these two particular characters in new and terrifying ways that would never occur to either of the characters, or to me, I will be very disappointed in the internet.

Never did understand the writers who were against it. Me, I just know I’ve got the master copy in my head,** and whatever crazy fans do with it is gravy. Sometimes thought-provoking, sometimes hilarious gravy.


*He read an article about Fifty Shades of Grey. You know, one of those articles that is shocked—SHOCKED I TELL YOU—to find out that older women are interested in reading SEXY SEX WRITING ABOUT SEX.

ME: Clearly the author of this article does not spend a lot of time on fanfiction sites, or they’d find out that Grey is a typical bit of it.

DAD: What is this “fanfiction” you speak of?

**This is also true of all works that are not mine, of course. Nobody has the correct version of Star Wars but me.

Comments

[agenttrojie.livejournal.com]

I have to admit, if I ever got published, and people wrote fanfic of my work, I would be over the moon. Because it means that they saw something in it they wanted to continue, think more about, or just, y'know, moon over. HOW IS THAT NOT FLATTERING? Even the completely batshit insane fic is flattering! (and, on occasion, EXCESSIVELY AMUSING).

I would probably run around fansites under a sockpuppet, egging people on and suggesting insane crossovers JUST TO SEE THEM DO IT

[padparadscha.livejournal.com]

I know, right? I'd be all, "OH DEAR GOD I CAN'T UNREAD IT! HOORAY!"

... probably it would be a bad idea to go around trolling one's own fans, but I SURE WOULD WANT TO.

[stormteller.livejournal.com]

I for one will never consider myself famous until someone has made fanworks of my stuff.

I'm just hoping it will be good.

[padparadscha.livejournal.com]

I'm just hoping it will be good.

I'm not! I'd settle for really awful but heartfelt.

[stormteller.livejournal.com]

Well, what I'd like to do is publish a compilation book of my favourite fanfiction, so that the ficcers can get both exposure and royalties. But that would only work if the fics in question are somewhat decent.

[shadesofmauve]

I have frequently thought that one of the coolest parts of being published would be reading the TVTropes page for my work. :P Watching people have insane ship wars, too? Why not?!

[padparadscha.livejournal.com]

Oh, I just realized I never said ... muchas gracias for this article! I've been saying for years that fanfiction is nothing new, and is in fact one of the basic ways people enjoy and engage with stories. If they're enjoying it enough to play with it, well, that's a hell of a good sign.

I also think it's weird that we gripe about passivity in audiences who supposedly just absorb a story (book, movie, anything) without adding anything, and yet when they do try to be active in the process the creators bitch about THAT. But the second one is so very preferable! Things stick with you much longer if you play with them.

There's a professor at the U of Oregon, Marjorie Taylor, who has done a lot of work on imaginary friends and writers' characters and their autonomy. She calls it the illusion of independent agency, and realized that it really is a highly complex simulation: one establishes parameters for a character, and then turns 'em loose to see what they do--which is why you get authors arguing with their characters as a normal thing. (She also found that on average kids with imaginary friends really do have more empathy.)

[fadethecat.livejournal.com]

On a thread over at Absolute Write about how we define success as writers, I put "Have people I don't know write fanfic about my work" on the list of criteria. Because it's lovely when friends write fanfic about my stuff, but if a stranger does? By god, I have ARRIVED.

[cougarfang.livejournal.com]

Please tell me the Star Wars Extended Universe was part of your explanation of fanfic to your dad...

Also, I have written slash of my boyfriend and our former male roommate, and have had slash written of me and a female friend. It's like the new cliquey in-joke, except it goes on and on for several chapters XD;;

[dinogrrl.livejournal.com]

I think I totally lost my mom when trying to explain fanfic to her (for the same purpose--trying to explain the whole deal behind Fifty Shades). But I think she did figure out that I'm a fanficcer. She just doesn't know what fandoms I write for. Yet.

Oh, fanworks.
On the one hand, I do understand being protective over your creations. If someone tried to publish a Fifty Shades that was based on one of my works, I'd probably be pissed.
On the other hand, I think the potential good for the creator is nothing to sneeze at.
On the third hand (I guess we're insects here), while most fandoms can be awesome, there's always a sector of the fandom that can be extremely nasty to those in its own sector, other fandom sectors, other fandoms, and even to the creator(s) themselves. So in that light I can certainly understand just not wanting to deal with that at all and banning fanworks outright.

Still. If I ever publish my works and they don't get some small fandom behind them, I will be Major Disappoint. Even if the Aalinore/Taikon slash will break my heart and brain :p.

[songfire3.livejournal.com]

Kudos to you, even the thought of trying to explain "fanfiction" to my parents is enough to give me nightmares! XD

But you can't just leave it at that - I'm dying to hear the conversation after:

"DAD: What is this "fanfiction" you speak of?" *g*

(I can just about picture my father's face if I ever tried to explain slash...! >XD)

[padparadscha.livejournal.com]

"So you see, the guy in the Grey novel represents the Twilight vampire ..."

"But he's not a vampire."

"... Right, since this is a published work, she had to file the serial numbers off, so she changed his name and de-vampired him, but originally it was him."

"So she was writing about somebody else's stories?"

"Yeah, people do it if they think it should've ended differently, or if there was an idea in a story that didn't get enough attention and they want to expand on it, or basic 'what-if' scenarios, or if they want to insert themselves in to interact with the characters ..."

"But it all leads back around to sex in this one!"

"Now you're getting it!"

[songfire3.livejournal.com]

*lol* Thank you! Your dad is awesome! XD

[gwalla.livejournal.com]

LOL!