the divide

[rustydragonfly]

Someday I really want to post about what fannish origfic really is. Because I still remember that debate full of people calling it a 'trend' and stating they don't see how it's any different to other original works. (Followed in swift succession by: wah I don't want to scroll past it, wah what do you mean it's no different to having to scroll past

Comments

[fiwen1010]

I write a lot of it, and I'm starting to read it as well, sometimes by accident. In both cases it's because it's archetypes I know I like, in relationship configurations I know I like. No need to worry about not getting on with the characters because I already know them, but because the contexts are different I don't read everything because some of them will bore me.

As to scrolling, I just treat it like being in a book store. I have to walk through half a dozen sections I'm not interested only to discover that I've read everything they've got, that there's nothing that really catches my interest, or that they have exactly what I was looking for. You win some, you lose some, and there might be something that looks fascinating in one of the sections you were forced to walk through and suddenly you're becoming an origami master, or reading Teen Wolf and not sure why. That metaphor ran away with me a bit.

[rustydragonfly]

I think archetypes has a lot to do with it. "Jen Dhalsiv" might mean nothing to a reader, but "snarky asexual monster hunter with cursed blood who gets compared to giraffes a lot" might. I mean I don't know if that's an archetype, but someone might well go "oh yeah I love that sort of character" anyway. And your metaphor makes perfect sense to me.

[elisi]

Well I would be very happy about a post explaining exactly what fannish origfic really is. It's not a term I'm familiar with, so I don't want to have opinions on something different to what you're talking about... :)

[rustydragonfly]

It's kind of a newish term and doesn't show up a lot anyway, but it's basically the idea of writing origfic to fannish conventions, like prompts and challenges and stuff, sharing and exploring the story more, instead of writing to publish. It's a bit fuzzy but in my head there is a definite difference between fannish and professional original work.

It's also gloriously self indulgent, but I think it's important to know how to be self indulgent sometimes.

[pointytilly]

I can always spot the waaaah original fiction people who are used to running in medium to mega sized fandoms :p.