Book Club Lives! I'm a little excited.Okay, so I'm a huge defender of the idea that any reading is reading and counts as reading. Any time I'm not getting through as many books as I used to I remind myself that I'm still reading. Some days I'm sitting down and reading a 100 page thesis paper. Some times I'm reading nothing but articles. In the past I consumed a whole lot of fanfic. All of it counts. Just because you're not reading classic literature does not mean you're not reading. This is very important and a message I often share with people because everyone is reading more than they realize on a daily basis
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I totally agree. Any reading is still reading, whether it's novels or fanfic or academic texts or whatever. Personally I'm not a big fan of "the classics" myself. Most of them are (in my opinion) outdated, boring and in a style that I can't appreciate. At some point I realized that other people's opinion of what was worth reading didn't have to be my opinion, so now I just read all the fanfic I want and I keep picking up new Victorian-era mystery novels because that's what I like. As long as you're reading, you're doing it right. *g*
HP was one of my first fandoms, and I totally agree with your Slytherin comments. Everything in the books shows us that Slytherin is the "evil" house, and JKR saying "no, they're not all bad" didn't really help. Fanfic was the obvious choice.
For me, that's what fanfic is about. Exploring the possibilities. Exactly! I often wonder how people consume a thing (book, movie, show, anything) and don't end up wondering about all the other possibilities. I once asked someone "don't you wonder what happened
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Minor characters are my absolute favorites. It's that concept of everyone you pass has a complex story you're not seeing. That story could be fascinating. Maybe it's one we'd rather be watching.
What is the difference between reading books and fanfic?For me, it's the ability to pick and choose exactly what I'm in the mood for. Fanfic generally comes with tags and notes, so if I want a Sterek fake dating fic with werewolf reveal and mutual pining, I will be able to find one with minimal fuss. With books, it's always hit and miss. Sometimes the summary tell you what you'll get and that's good. And sometimes they try to be clever and the book turns out to be about something completely different. But by then you're stuck with it, aren't you? There's no back button on an actual, physical book
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It's funny that the main thing I got out of your great post (we share so many similar views) about fanfic is that I need to find this Rivers of London book at the library. (Already done
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Oh yeah. Rivers of London is kind of like Harry Potter for grown ups, with policemen instead of students. I haven't been disappointed by a Rivers of London book so far, and I hope it keeps up. *g*
I know what you mean. AO3 does give the option of not warning for things, but you can easily get spoiled from the notes and most people use the warnings anyway. The best warnings are the ones where you can decide for yourself if you want to take a look or if you'd rather be surprised. But I still find tags infinitely useful in finding just the right thing to read.
But you can eliminate things from AO3 searches. Take a look at this. It explains how to filter out a pairing (but it also works with other tags, I think). (And I'm pretty sure I've used the minus sign on the regular search page to exclude things.)
As someone who reads a lot of fanfic, this excites me! LOL.
- What is the difference between reading books and fanfic? Okay, so... When you read a standalone book, that's it. It's done. Sometimes this is good in that there isn't any more story to tell, all the ends have been taken care of, and there's closure. When reading a book series, while each book has its plot that ties up at the end, you still get the satisfaction of seeing what else happens with your favorite characters. This is fanfic for me. Each fic is either an episode or another book to a series where you've already fallen in love with the characters. Yes, there is the question of canon and deviation from what the author originally intended, but it gives us more exposure and directions the official author might not have thought of or didn't want to take the character in.
- Do you think that fanfic can be as good or better than published books?Definitely. I have read some truly horrible published books and some fanfic that was so truly amazing that I wondered
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It always makes me so happy to see people mention Tamora Pierce. I often say that Harry Potter was my first fandom but her books are where my roots really are.
I've only been introduced to her in the past few years (in which I have marathon read all of the Tortall books) and now going to start on her other series. I wish I'd had these books when I was younger. Though, I had Anne Shirley, so I cannot complain much!
Each fic is either an episode or another book to a series where you've already fallen in love with the characters. This is a great way of putting it. In a way, all the fics written for a specific fandom or pairing are all aspects of the same thing. It's like a neverending stream of more content for a thing you love. (Unless you're trapped in small fandom hell, in which case forget the 'neverending stream of more content' and substitute with 'the same ten fics you'll read over and over'... :p)
I didn't answer the published book that used to be fanfics question because I didn't want to go off on a rant about... well, one or two currently popular things. Let's just say that I understand the wish to be published. And there are instances where it goes right, where the story is changed enough that you'll only see it if you know where to look or don't even see it at all anymore. And then there's cases where.... well, where it seems like someone went on a search & replace rampage to change the names and called it good.
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eta: for i am stupid and finally realized the submit thread is to submit the questions we've asked.
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Yes, you post your response as a comment to the main post... but please also drop your links to claim points in the submit thread.
Hope that makes sense!
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HP was one of my first fandoms, and I totally agree with your Slytherin comments. Everything in the books shows us that Slytherin is the "evil" house, and JKR saying "no, they're not all bad" didn't really help. Fanfic was the obvious choice.
For me, that's what fanfic is about. Exploring the possibilities.
Exactly! I often wonder how people consume a thing (book, movie, show, anything) and don't end up wondering about all the other possibilities. I once asked someone "don't you wonder what happened ( ... )
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I know what you mean. AO3 does give the option of not warning for things, but you can easily get spoiled from the notes and most people use the warnings anyway. The best warnings are the ones where you can decide for yourself if you want to take a look or if you'd rather be surprised. But I still find tags infinitely useful in finding just the right thing to read.
But you can eliminate things from AO3 searches. Take a look at this. It explains how to filter out a pairing (but it also works with other tags, I think). (And I'm pretty sure I've used the minus sign on the regular search page to exclude things.)
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- What is the difference between reading books and fanfic?
Okay, so... When you read a standalone book, that's it. It's done. Sometimes this is good in that there isn't any more story to tell, all the ends have been taken care of, and there's closure. When reading a book series, while each book has its plot that ties up at the end, you still get the satisfaction of seeing what else happens with your favorite characters. This is fanfic for me. Each fic is either an episode or another book to a series where you've already fallen in love with the characters. Yes, there is the question of canon and deviation from what the author originally intended, but it gives us more exposure and directions the official author might not have thought of or didn't want to take the character in.
- Do you think that fanfic can be as good or better than published books?Definitely. I have read some truly horrible published books and some fanfic that was so truly amazing that I wondered ( ... )
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This is a great way of putting it. In a way, all the fics written for a specific fandom or pairing are all aspects of the same thing. It's like a neverending stream of more content for a thing you love. (Unless you're trapped in small fandom hell, in which case forget the 'neverending stream of more content' and substitute with 'the same ten fics you'll read over and over'... :p)
I didn't answer the published book that used to be fanfics question because I didn't want to go off on a rant about... well, one or two currently popular things. Let's just say that I understand the wish to be published. And there are instances where it goes right, where the story is changed enough that you'll only see it if you know where to look or don't even see it at all anymore. And then there's cases where.... well, where it seems like someone went on a search & replace rampage to change the names and called it good.
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