Article on fan fiction

[veronicaluv]

Fifty Shades of Grey seems to be the current touchstone for mainstream media to try and quantify fan fiction and as usual, they haven't done a very good job. I don't think I've ever read an article regarding fan fiction that didn't come across as, at the very least, condescending, and at the worst, condemning. This article falls into the "vaguely

Comments

[delibby]

Working backwards of course because that's the way the world of blogs works:
There's a series of posts at Dear Author about fanfiction that was interesting. From the top working down:
http://dearauthor.com/tag/fan-fiction/

Then lower, earlier, there are some posts on 50 Shades of Grey and and it's history. If you're curious.

[veronicaluv]

ooh, grazie!

[angelsphonebox]

I think there's still the stigma of fanfiction not being "real" art or writing, which is of course propigated by people who consider themselves "real" writers. I have read more interesting writing by very talented people in the world of fanfiction than I have by people who actually get paid to write. I'm always blown away by the sheer diversity, imagination, and pluck of fanfiction writers, that people who may not have thought of writing are trying it and loving it. Many of these people have created wonderful work which deserves any limelight it can get. I find the fact that the press still feels needs to condemn an art form simply because the authors take their inspiration from a tv, movie or book rather sad and short sighted and based on outdated ideas of what art is and should be. Would they say the same about Warhol? the man painted existing images and called it art. All he did was copy and change the form slightly. Where's the difference? Is art only art when intended as art? If so than most fanfiction writers definately qualify

[veronicaluv]

I agree on all counts. More than ten years after discovering online fanfiction (The Sentinel) I can easily recall many fabulous stories and authors, whereas novels I've read haven't had the same impact. After reading that article, it still seems as though fanfiction is considered an outlet for the immature, the untalented, and the faintly unbalanced. And maybe K/S *is* ground zero for the modern era of fanfiction, but the way it's reported, it makes it sound as if you don't *get* K/S, you'll never understand fanfiction. And fanfiction is so very much more than that. It makes me sad, honestly.

[coldwater1010]

"I find the fact that the press still feels needs to condemn an art form simply because the authors take their inspiration from a tv, movie or book rather sad and short sighted and based on outdated ideas of what art is and should be. Would they say the same about Warhol? the man painted existing images and called it art. All he did was copy and change the form slightly. Where's the difference? Is art only art when intended as art? If so than most fanfiction writers definately qualify as artists. IMHO."

I guess they've never heard of Shakespeare. lol.

[angelsphonebox]

or Russell T Davies or Steven Moffat.Both admit they wrote stories about Dr.Who when they were little. Isn't that fanfiction? & don't get me started on all the people who've written stories about Jane Austen characters, and had them published! :D I read once that Jane Austen is one of the earlies inspirations for fanfiction ever. & then there is doujinshi in Japan. I can go on! lol

[verasteine]

50 Shades is, in fact a heterosexual novel, yes, so I don't know what that is, either.

But, er, Coppa's quote is precisely my frequent problem with aca-fandom -- a lot, though not all of it, suggests that slash is somehow special and subversive and fails to take into account both its mainstream position today and the tendency by a lot of authors to write it against a heterosexist template.

...there's another thought that occurs to me, about Coppa's quote. I'm pretty sure that in the 60s, queer fiction wasn't visibly out there because it was illegal in large swatches of the world?

[veronicaluv]

Oy vey, aca-fandom. Where do you go with that? When I first heard the term and then the definition, I was like *huh?* How can you separate people into that kind of category, when fandom by definition eliminates all categories? It's elitist and faintly apologetic, as if by labeling yourself an ACA-fan, you're separating yourself from all the other fans out there, making sure that you yourself are not defined simply as a fan.

And I'm sure queer fiction was deeply underground, it would have to be, since I think up until the 70s many places still considered homosexuality to be a psychosis, at least on paper. But to state that queer writers actually co-opted K/S because they'd seen the diversity shown by Star Trek and felt this was a safe place to represent - that was a new one on me!

[verasteine]

There's aca-fandom and aca-fandom, I mean, the academy study of fandom by fans is a field of its own, but it does sometimes have an elitist tone and it tries to apply theory that doesn't always fit practice, yes.

Considering how many times I've heard queer writers complain their voices are marginalised in both fandom and aca-fandom, I'd be highly surprised if it were true, and I've never seen any evidence for it. (Plus, chicken or the egg, were queer writers the first K/S voices, or were straight writers? And can we ever even know?)

[in_the_bottle]

I wrote a few university assignments on fanfic back in the days. I know a flister whose PhD thesis was on fanfic/fandom. I know a couple of lecturer/tutor friends who teach fanfic as part of their course in well known universities...

But again, these are academia, not media.

[veronicaluv]

See, I think studying fandom and fanfiction is awesome - I personally could chat about it all day *g*. I just wish it wasn't still considered to be, as I said in another comment, the purview of the immature, the untalented, and the faintly unbalanced. Why is the media still poking sticks at it when we all know it's mainstream? Fifty Shades shouldn't be held up as unusual because it's a derivative work - at least in my sunny world ;).

[moorspede]

This article may help to see what the "slash fiction as queer" people are coming from, I need to apologise for not sounding more coherent, I have a really bad migraine atm.

I would counter her article with hth's.

[veronicaluv]

I hope you're feeling better! So sorry about the migraine, those suck.

Interesting articles, both of them, and both written from very strong viewpoints. It seems as though the things that should unite us still keep us apart, fanfiction included. Thank you so much for the info!

You take care of yourself ;)