Gather 'Round the Fire: On the Value of Fanfiction

[the_arc5]

Title: Gather 'Round the Fire: On the Value of Fanfiction
Author: the_arc5
Genre: Meta/essay

Comments

[celebros]

I just realized that after this got me started on reading comments and essays for HOURS (and then remembering to search for the two multipart fics I kept reasonably up-to-date with even after school made me stop my read-40-fic-a-day-a-thon, and finding out they had BOTH been not just updated but FINISHED since last I checked, YAY!, more HOURS of reading), I never came back and commented on The Post That Started This All (for me). I don't even have to shake a finger at you for taking time out of my FINALS MADNESS, since I've actually been super-productive on that front too.

THANK YOU! Amazing points, awesome topic, ONE DAY I WILL HAVE A NEW CHAP OF THAT XOVER FIC FOR YOU I SUPERFUCKINGPROMISE. <3

(Oh, and this icon is addressing Gabaldon, not you. ;D)

[celebros]

Oh, and to have some content:

My favorite points you make are (a) everything regarding sexuality, and (b) the point I was glad to see addressed after like a hundred comments on Gabaldon's blog not mentioning it: that fanfiction is a way to have a conversation, to discuss the text, to pick out threads and weave them into something else, as it were.

Yeah, sometimes we're not writing the way the authors intended, not writing the stories they think are important. And sometimes that might be because we're shit writers. But other times it's damn intentional, because we don't have to agree with the writers about what is important!

I am actually rather all about New Criticism. Even as a writer of original fiction myself, I know that authorial intent doesn't really mean shit to me. The work has to be able to stand on its own, and when it does, it takes a life of its own. I'm sad to see an author not embrace that - for me that's always been one of my favorite parts of writing, is watching the text take on a life beyond my ideas.

[the_arc5]

You crack me up so much. GOOD ON YOU FOR READING FIC, KEEPING UP WITH FINALS MADNESS, AND ALSO PLAYING IN MY SANDBOX.

I love the New Criticism. I think that it depends on what you're using the criticism for, of course...it's not always a useful angle. But it's silly to use one mode of criticism to the exclusion of all others. The beauty of literature is its multiplicity. There is always more than one lens through which to view things.

Thanks for reading my madness. AND WHEN YOU HAVE A NEW CROSSOVER CHAPTER, I WILL GLOMP YOU WITH GLEE!! Which reminds me, dreamflower02 has been waiting for me to finish a crossover for her for like, months now. Fail.

[celebros]

Oh, I totally agree. Different tools for different situations; I'm a fan of lots of critical styles, yes and yes - just NC is my "default setting."

[mewsrissicat]

(Linked in to here through a friend

[majenglish]

This was awesome. It was so eloquent! You really emphasized your point with out bashing Gabaldon directly, which I admit I wouldn't have been able to do!

If the whole novel thing doesn't take off, you could totally have a career in journalism.