bloodyrosemccoy (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
bloodyrosemccoy) wrote2012-06-18 02:42 pm
bloodyrosemccoy) wrote2012-06-18 02:42 pm
Entry tags:
And It Better Have Typos
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.
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.
no subject
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.)