People are weird
I have often wondered, LJ, if there is a special kind of crazy reserved only for writers.
Reading this wank about how Diana Gabaldon thinks fanfiction is TEH EV0L, and then reading some of the responses to her and others who wrote on the topic, I feel like it's confirmed.
The first amazing thing is this attitude apparently held by Ms. Gabaldon and at least one of her supports that can best be described as OMG GET YOUR NASTY FILTHY HANDS OFF MY CHARACTERS. I mean, okay, I've seen this with Anne Rice and her precious Lestat (whom I love, so sue me), but I thought that was just, you know, Anne Rice. Alas, it seems she's not the only one.
Now I write original fiction too; my writing buddy and I have entered into a submission pact this year and made concrete plans for getting off our asses and building our writing careers. I've got four universes, each with its own stories and characters, and I love my characters to the extent that I try not to talk about them much because it makes me sound like a loon. I get being attached to them, I totally do, but really now, if you are so fragile that the very idea of someone else writing something about a character you created is OMG A VIOLATION, well... I'm glad I'm not you, because damn.
The second amazing thing is how freakin rabid these fanwriters were in their responses. I mean, yeah, I expected the standard fangirl cry of OMG DUN LIEK DUN REED, but we get people saying to one author that if she doesn't allow fanfic then clearly her work is substandard, and said fan will never read it, or that it's fanfic which mainly drives a fandom. LOLWUT.
Fans are obsessive by nature, I guess, but it seems to me that fanwriters need to get out of the echo chamber once in a while and realize that it's not SRS BZNS. Maybe I'm just weird, but to me fandom is supposed to be, you know, fun.
My one and only problem with fanfiction stems from what happened to Marion Zimmer Bradley. Encourage fanfic, get screwed. It's the only thing that makes me question whether I should "allow" fanfic when I'm published. I hate that it happened, and I hate that it's something I have to consider. And I hate that I still can't reach a conclusion that I feel good about. Boo hiss.
In any case, I think both this writer and the fans who responded to her need to calm the hell down and stop taking themselves so seriously. In the words of my ex-boyfriend, "Get over your cheap self."
P.S. I've never read the Outlander series, but I've heard plenty about it, since many of the ladies on one of my MT lists a few years ago were huge fans. I always thought someday I might read it, until I read an excerpt in a review. Yeah, no. Crazy aside, this is not even the same water used to make my cup of tea.
ETA: Jim Butcher has a fantastically sane approach to fanfic. Finally a solution I can live with! He is now my hero.
ETA2 (Electric Boogaloo): I'm told that the unfortunate wording in the "blunt instrument" passage is anomalous, and that the Outlander books are indeed awesome, so I will once again plan on checking them out.
Reading this wank about how Diana Gabaldon thinks fanfiction is TEH EV0L, and then reading some of the responses to her and others who wrote on the topic, I feel like it's confirmed.
The first amazing thing is this attitude apparently held by Ms. Gabaldon and at least one of her supports that can best be described as OMG GET YOUR NASTY FILTHY HANDS OFF MY CHARACTERS. I mean, okay, I've seen this with Anne Rice and her precious Lestat (whom I love, so sue me), but I thought that was just, you know, Anne Rice. Alas, it seems she's not the only one.
Now I write original fiction too; my writing buddy and I have entered into a submission pact this year and made concrete plans for getting off our asses and building our writing careers. I've got four universes, each with its own stories and characters, and I love my characters to the extent that I try not to talk about them much because it makes me sound like a loon. I get being attached to them, I totally do, but really now, if you are so fragile that the very idea of someone else writing something about a character you created is OMG A VIOLATION, well... I'm glad I'm not you, because damn.
The second amazing thing is how freakin rabid these fanwriters were in their responses. I mean, yeah, I expected the standard fangirl cry of OMG DUN LIEK DUN REED, but we get people saying to one author that if she doesn't allow fanfic then clearly her work is substandard, and said fan will never read it, or that it's fanfic which mainly drives a fandom. LOLWUT.
Fans are obsessive by nature, I guess, but it seems to me that fanwriters need to get out of the echo chamber once in a while and realize that it's not SRS BZNS. Maybe I'm just weird, but to me fandom is supposed to be, you know, fun.
My one and only problem with fanfiction stems from what happened to Marion Zimmer Bradley. Encourage fanfic, get screwed. It's the only thing that makes me question whether I should "allow" fanfic when I'm published. I hate that it happened, and I hate that it's something I have to consider. And I hate that I still can't reach a conclusion that I feel good about. Boo hiss.
In any case, I think both this writer and the fans who responded to her need to calm the hell down and stop taking themselves so seriously. In the words of my ex-boyfriend, "Get over your cheap self."
P.S. I've never read the Outlander series, but I've heard plenty about it, since many of the ladies on one of my MT lists a few years ago were huge fans. I always thought someday I might read it, until I read an excerpt in a review. Yeah, no. Crazy aside, this is not even the same water used to make my cup of tea.
ETA: Jim Butcher has a fantastically sane approach to fanfic. Finally a solution I can live with! He is now my hero.
ETA2 (Electric Boogaloo): I'm told that the unfortunate wording in the "blunt instrument" passage is anomalous, and that the Outlander books are indeed awesome, so I will once again plan on checking them out.