Real Love
In reading meta discussion about fanfic and professionals railing against it, I stumbled across this quote from The Velveteen Rabbit:
"Real isn't how you are made," said the Skin Horse. "It's a thing that happens to you. When a child loves you for a long, long time, not just to play with, but REALLY loves you, then you become Real. It doesn't happen all at once. You become. It takes a long time. That's why it doesn't often happen to people who break easily, or have sharp edges, or who have to be carefully kept. Generally, by the time you are Real, most of your hair has been loved off, and your eyes drop out and you get loose in the joints and very shabby. But these things don't matter at all, because once you are Real you can't be ugly, except to people who don't understand.
The Boy's Uncle made me Real," he said. "That was a great many years ago; but once you are Real you can't become unreal again. It lasts for always."
I can't help but feel that book is beautiful in a way that makes my heart hurt. I think how this applies to Dawn when she laments, "Am I real? Am I anything?" and the answer to her plea from Joyce and Buffy is: 'yes, Dawn, we love you.' Then I think about my fanfic that I write because I love the characters so much that they've become real in my heart and I wonder how could anyone be so selfish, closeminded and judgmental as to bemoan my making a character real through love?
Fanfiction is love. ♥
"Real isn't how you are made," said the Skin Horse. "It's a thing that happens to you. When a child loves you for a long, long time, not just to play with, but REALLY loves you, then you become Real. It doesn't happen all at once. You become. It takes a long time. That's why it doesn't often happen to people who break easily, or have sharp edges, or who have to be carefully kept. Generally, by the time you are Real, most of your hair has been loved off, and your eyes drop out and you get loose in the joints and very shabby. But these things don't matter at all, because once you are Real you can't be ugly, except to people who don't understand.
The Boy's Uncle made me Real," he said. "That was a great many years ago; but once you are Real you can't become unreal again. It lasts for always."
I can't help but feel that book is beautiful in a way that makes my heart hurt. I think how this applies to Dawn when she laments, "Am I real? Am I anything?" and the answer to her plea from Joyce and Buffy is: 'yes, Dawn, we love you.' Then I think about my fanfic that I write because I love the characters so much that they've become real in my heart and I wonder how could anyone be so selfish, closeminded and judgmental as to bemoan my making a character real through love?
Fanfiction is love. ♥