the great fanfiction debate

[holdur]

Thoughts on my history in fandom and what bothers me most about the current debate on fanfiction. Just a note, this was written before I knew that GRRM had posted again and I haven't read what he has to say yet.

Comments

[afteriwake]

My co-workers (who are the people who see me the most in real life) know I'm a big fandom whore. I've talked about fanfiction with them, and yesterday and today I geeked out about the new Doctor Who with a couple of them. Fandom is a big part of my life and I've never been ashamed to hide it, and it puzzles me when people who are actively involved in fandom feel the need to have to hide it. I'm proud to be a fanfic writer. It's my main contribution to fandom,a nd that's part of the reason I put my real name on it. I just...it boggles my mind when people feel that admitting their active in fnadom is like revealing a deep dark secret.

[holdur]

In putting this post together I spent some time trying to pinpoint where that belief came from and I'm honestly not really sure. It's possibly tied up in my obsession with science fiction and my parents trying to expand my reading horizons, which I took as disapproval at the time. I just always thought it wasn't something to tell people about and once I realized that was a boatload of crap it was pretty deeply ingrained. Pre-teen logic, I guess.

[dreamflower02]

I came late to the sort of fandom you are speaking of, though I have been a fan of LotR for 43 years, I didn't know about "fandom" until I discovered the internet and fanfic about seven years ago