Fandom wins at life
Fandom is all kinds of awesome. Incredible and just... love.
Unfortunately, before I can describe the specific awesome that led to this post, I have to explain the context, which involves some pretty unhappy wank, and just general human nastiness. Don't click on any links unless you would like to get a headache and be horribly offended.
The lovely sentra04 made a post here (if you want to skip the general human nastiness, her response is near the bottom of the post in tiny script about author Diana Gabaldon's stance on fanfic.
Gabaldon's stance on fanfic is: she doesn't like it.
Which is fine. It's not fun, but she is entitled to say that she would rather people not play with her babies.
The reason Gabaldon's post is make of wank is because she is unbelievably rude about it.
Rather than politely say "Please do not write fanfic with my characters, I do not like it." Or "Please stop, it makes me uncomfortable"; "it makes me very uncomfortable"; "it makes me very, very uncomfortable"; or even "it squicks the hell out of me" - Gabaldon chooses to go off into a badly-written, incredibly condescending rant likening all fanficcers to thieves, husband-seducers (O_o bwuh?), and creepy stalkers who perv on her daughter (no, really).
So that's all just in poor taste.
The awesome comes in when fandom replied to the very personal attack. The comments on Gabaldon's blog are littered with "You tell 'em Diana!" and "Ew, fanfic" but the further along you read in the comments, the more you see brilliant defences of fanfic, fanficcers, and fandom in general. Including a link to this fanstastic essay on fanfic.
On the whole (I won't say "all" because people's feelings were hurt and they responded as such) - on the whole, comments defending fanficcers are intelligent, thought-out, respectful, and well-fucking-written. (Honestly? I can't tell if I'm more offended by the author's ridiculous allegations or the downright childish language she uses to express her self-righteous indignation. She can't be bothered to express herself intelligently, she thinks so little of fanficcers.)
Responses such as this one:
Fans like an author. They LIKE the author, as in, they respect the author's opinion and wishes. And they generally want the author to like them. Ms. Gabaldon, if you had made it public that you didn't like the fanfic, and just told the authors, they would probably have been flattered that you paid them any attention at all, and respected your wishes. Instead, ma'am, you told the people who want desperately to have the chance to give you money for years in the future that you didn't like them, and they reminded you of creepy potential rapists.
Madam, you chose to insult and offend actual real people in the defense of pretend people. Did you assume that no-one reading your blog was a fic writer?
There's no "threatening" to stop reading the books, as my reaction and the reaction of other readers was characterized. Rather, I perceive the situation as though the tenuous but pleasant relationship of reader to a favored author was broken: I feel a little betrayed. I had liked reading Outlander, and I had presumed that fans of the series were treated with respect because they were the people who made the further growth and development of the series financial possible. I assumed that I had given my money to someone who appreciated it as the token of goodwill that I meant it as. I find now that that is not the case, that the author is willing and ready to publicly be disrespectful while speaking to an incredibly devoted (if, in the opinion of some, misguided) section of her readership. With that revelation, I am choosing to vote with my wallet.
The issue is less about fanfiction for me than the sudden realization that the author does not even pretend to value the patronage of a group of people who pay to read her novels.
Ms. Gabaldon, why would I want to pay to read your novels if it just means that I am giving money to someone who may later be rude to my fellow readers?
Your stance on fanfiction is a fair one: the characters are yours and you are perfectly and totally within your rights to keep them out of fanfiction.
But kindly consider your own interests before you target a group of your readers for a public scolding.
And we have allies &hearts
Diana, I have to say I think you're being really precious about this.
I have never read fan fiction but it seems to me to be a completely natural thing for FANS to do. It is simply an adult version of children dressing up as their favourite characters from books and tv shows and role playing with those characters using their imagination and love for them.
And it is something that only the truly fanatical would do. These people are your biggest fans and you are crapping all over them. Fan fiction is produced from love.
I would also like to remind you that you have stolen other author's characters and put them in your books. Admittedly they are usually in cameos and I can't remember them all but one example is Dorothy Dunnett's 'Comte de Sevigny' who appears in Dragonfly in Amber. I assume you did this out of respect and admiration. I would suggest to you that writers of Outlandish fan fic are motivated by the same reasons. Although maybe not anymore after this blog of yours.
There are so many others in the same vein and they gave me such a fuzzy warm feeling I wanted to share. I would include others, but I feel these two comments do a good job of representing the sentiments and arguments fandom has come up with in the comments. There's another lj post here.
Random lulz (because I am a Bad Person and find hypocrisy hilarious), Diana mentions the proliferation of porny fanfic, and notes her distaste. Which is hysterical because the wiki summary of her Outlander series reads like 90% of fanfic: rape (on men and women), torture, lots of sex, more rape, more explicit sex, slash... wait, what? But fanfic porn makes her want to "barf". (Yes, I looked her up - mostly because I couldn't believe that someone who would express themselves so poorly could possibly be a published author. "Barf" - who even uses that word after middle school?! And yet, she is apparently a very good author. O_o)
Second piece of lulz/fail is that, as the comment above notes, Gabaldon has used other people's characters in her books. And her books are part historical fiction, which means that real people (long dead) show up in her books as well. But she's a published author so it's, like, totally okay. Not like those perverted kids who play with beloved characters for profitless fun.
"As I went on doing research through the course of the novels, I came across the legend of Dunbonnet -- the survivor of Culloden who returned to his estate, and lived seven years in hiding in a cave, protected by loyal tenants. This struck me as a most romantic and suitable story, so -- in the larcenous fashion of novelists -- I snatched it and adapted it to my own purposes."
Page 136 of The Outlandish Companion by Diana Gabaldon
Dear Pot,
Enjoying your stone throwing?
Love, Kettle
BWAHAHAHAHA
In sum, Fandom is awesome &hearts ^__^
Update: Still following people's reactions, and not for the wank. What has most struck me in this entire thing is that fandom is made up of incredibly intelligent, gracious, eloquent people - which I knew, and have always known. But it's been nothing short of amazing to see fandom come together out of mutual love and respect to defend itself against someone who didn't have the basic courtesy to express herself intelligently.
In lj posts - and even over at Fandom Wank there's this outpouring of love and respect from fandom for fandom and it's just... inspiring, really. It makes me happy and warm and fuzzy and I wish I could go out and hug each and every one of you. &hearts
Unfortunately, before I can describe the specific awesome that led to this post, I have to explain the context, which involves some pretty unhappy wank, and just general human nastiness. Don't click on any links unless you would like to get a headache and be horribly offended.
The lovely sentra04 made a post here (if you want to skip the general human nastiness, her response is near the bottom of the post in tiny script about author Diana Gabaldon's stance on fanfic.
Gabaldon's stance on fanfic is: she doesn't like it.
Which is fine. It's not fun, but she is entitled to say that she would rather people not play with her babies.
The reason Gabaldon's post is make of wank is because she is unbelievably rude about it.
Rather than politely say "Please do not write fanfic with my characters, I do not like it." Or "Please stop, it makes me uncomfortable"; "it makes me very uncomfortable"; "it makes me very, very uncomfortable"; or even "it squicks the hell out of me" - Gabaldon chooses to go off into a badly-written, incredibly condescending rant likening all fanficcers to thieves, husband-seducers (O_o bwuh?), and creepy stalkers who perv on her daughter (no, really).
So that's all just in poor taste.
The awesome comes in when fandom replied to the very personal attack. The comments on Gabaldon's blog are littered with "You tell 'em Diana!" and "Ew, fanfic" but the further along you read in the comments, the more you see brilliant defences of fanfic, fanficcers, and fandom in general. Including a link to this fanstastic essay on fanfic.
On the whole (I won't say "all" because people's feelings were hurt and they responded as such) - on the whole, comments defending fanficcers are intelligent, thought-out, respectful, and well-fucking-written. (Honestly? I can't tell if I'm more offended by the author's ridiculous allegations or the downright childish language she uses to express her self-righteous indignation. She can't be bothered to express herself intelligently, she thinks so little of fanficcers.)
Responses such as this one:
Fans like an author. They LIKE the author, as in, they respect the author's opinion and wishes. And they generally want the author to like them. Ms. Gabaldon, if you had made it public that you didn't like the fanfic, and just told the authors, they would probably have been flattered that you paid them any attention at all, and respected your wishes. Instead, ma'am, you told the people who want desperately to have the chance to give you money for years in the future that you didn't like them, and they reminded you of creepy potential rapists.
Madam, you chose to insult and offend actual real people in the defense of pretend people. Did you assume that no-one reading your blog was a fic writer?
There's no "threatening" to stop reading the books, as my reaction and the reaction of other readers was characterized. Rather, I perceive the situation as though the tenuous but pleasant relationship of reader to a favored author was broken: I feel a little betrayed. I had liked reading Outlander, and I had presumed that fans of the series were treated with respect because they were the people who made the further growth and development of the series financial possible. I assumed that I had given my money to someone who appreciated it as the token of goodwill that I meant it as. I find now that that is not the case, that the author is willing and ready to publicly be disrespectful while speaking to an incredibly devoted (if, in the opinion of some, misguided) section of her readership. With that revelation, I am choosing to vote with my wallet.
The issue is less about fanfiction for me than the sudden realization that the author does not even pretend to value the patronage of a group of people who pay to read her novels.
Ms. Gabaldon, why would I want to pay to read your novels if it just means that I am giving money to someone who may later be rude to my fellow readers?
Your stance on fanfiction is a fair one: the characters are yours and you are perfectly and totally within your rights to keep them out of fanfiction.
But kindly consider your own interests before you target a group of your readers for a public scolding.
And we have allies &hearts
Diana, I have to say I think you're being really precious about this.
I have never read fan fiction but it seems to me to be a completely natural thing for FANS to do. It is simply an adult version of children dressing up as their favourite characters from books and tv shows and role playing with those characters using their imagination and love for them.
And it is something that only the truly fanatical would do. These people are your biggest fans and you are crapping all over them. Fan fiction is produced from love.
I would also like to remind you that you have stolen other author's characters and put them in your books. Admittedly they are usually in cameos and I can't remember them all but one example is Dorothy Dunnett's 'Comte de Sevigny' who appears in Dragonfly in Amber. I assume you did this out of respect and admiration. I would suggest to you that writers of Outlandish fan fic are motivated by the same reasons. Although maybe not anymore after this blog of yours.
There are so many others in the same vein and they gave me such a fuzzy warm feeling I wanted to share. I would include others, but I feel these two comments do a good job of representing the sentiments and arguments fandom has come up with in the comments. There's another lj post here.
Random lulz (because I am a Bad Person and find hypocrisy hilarious), Diana mentions the proliferation of porny fanfic, and notes her distaste. Which is hysterical because the wiki summary of her Outlander series reads like 90% of fanfic: rape (on men and women), torture, lots of sex, more rape, more explicit sex, slash... wait, what? But fanfic porn makes her want to "barf". (Yes, I looked her up - mostly because I couldn't believe that someone who would express themselves so poorly could possibly be a published author. "Barf" - who even uses that word after middle school?! And yet, she is apparently a very good author. O_o)
Second piece of lulz/fail is that, as the comment above notes, Gabaldon has used other people's characters in her books. And her books are part historical fiction, which means that real people (long dead) show up in her books as well. But she's a published author so it's, like, totally okay. Not like those perverted kids who play with beloved characters for profitless fun.
"As I went on doing research through the course of the novels, I came across the legend of Dunbonnet -- the survivor of Culloden who returned to his estate, and lived seven years in hiding in a cave, protected by loyal tenants. This struck me as a most romantic and suitable story, so -- in the larcenous fashion of novelists -- I snatched it and adapted it to my own purposes."
Page 136 of The Outlandish Companion by Diana Gabaldon
Dear Pot,
Enjoying your stone throwing?
Love, Kettle
BWAHAHAHAHA
In sum, Fandom is awesome &hearts ^__^
Update: Still following people's reactions, and not for the wank. What has most struck me in this entire thing is that fandom is made up of incredibly intelligent, gracious, eloquent people - which I knew, and have always known. But it's been nothing short of amazing to see fandom come together out of mutual love and respect to defend itself against someone who didn't have the basic courtesy to express herself intelligently.
In lj posts - and even over at Fandom Wank there's this outpouring of love and respect from fandom for fandom and it's just... inspiring, really. It makes me happy and warm and fuzzy and I wish I could go out and hug each and every one of you. &hearts