Does our writing have an impact?
Edited to add: this entry was neither about the quote nor about the entry I linked to. When I wrote this entry here, all I knew was the quote, I didn't know where it came from. I only linked back later because once the origin was known, I thought it would be the proper thing to do. What the entry really was about: the fact that because of a well-written, well-researched fanfic somebody lived who'd otherwise very likely would have died. The other matter currently discussed around LJ has been discussed a gazillion times already.
Fandom-discussions are like the flu: they return every year, there's no cure and they often end with a big mess. I avoid them like the plague; there's only that many times you can have the old "I don't like RPF. I think it's wrong. Deal with it." "OMG FREEDOM OF SPEECH YOU OPPRESS ME OLD PRUDE WAAAAHHAAAA WTFBBQDRAMA!" discussion without getting an ulcer. Yes, I'm biased. No, I don't want to repeat that discussion, thank you very much.
"Does our writing have an impact?" is the flavour of the moment, and "if it has an impact, what are our responsibilities?" I think it all started out with some discussion about incest-fic, following the "Warriors For Incontinence" debacle on LJ recently. I didn't follow it that closely. Of course I won't go out and kill your granny with an axe just because I read a story with such content. And Anthony Hopkins is very likely not a cannibal. Fiction =/= reality.
I wouldn't write this if I hadn't stumbled over the statement that (...) Anybody who believes their writing will cause somebody to do *anything* is suffering from major ego. (...) (Thanks for the link,,
pulsarkat .
Heh. I wish Marx and Engels were still around; I'd be interested to hear what they had to say about this. Personally, I only say "crapiola de luxe". Nellas' pictures make me write. Marnie's stories make me research in books. Me recommending books makes people sometimes buy them.
Anyway, I'm neither Marx nor Engels, I didn't write the Bible or the Qran (both books which, I think we can agree on that, have made people do things...), but I can share with you a little story about fanfic which DID have an effect.
Ages ago, when we only just got started with the predecessor of 25%, I stumbled over a fanfic called There Is A Pain So Utter by Pough (link leads you to our archive, the layout is gone and it's just plain text, but hey, better than nothing). It was a SG-1 slash fic, Jack/Daniel and dealt with cancer.
Daniel fell ill, and the fic told his story from the early days to the treatment, the fear, the pain, the consequences, the way his friends dealt with. I still think it's an amazing piece of writing, an echo from the days when SG-1 was a good show and the fandom didn't consist mainly of gits (another thing I will not discuss anymore). I lost my mother to cancer and had to go through this whole ordeal described in the story myself, so I could relate, and it's terribly realistic. I can really only recommend it, the rating is PG-13, h/c and major angst; it's very touching.
So, how had that fanfic an effect?
Some lady read it. She thought the symptoms in the fic were scarily similar to the ones her husband showed. As a consequence, the woman took her husband to the hospital. He was diagnosed with cancer at an early stage and as I know from her mails, he later made a full recovery.
To sum it up: because of a slashy PG-13 h/c angst fanfic, someone who'd very likely never noticed something was wrong with him went to the doc early enough to survive cancer. If that's not "having an impact", then I don't know what is.
"Overblown ego", my ass.
Fandom-discussions are like the flu: they return every year, there's no cure and they often end with a big mess. I avoid them like the plague; there's only that many times you can have the old "I don't like RPF. I think it's wrong. Deal with it." "OMG FREEDOM OF SPEECH YOU OPPRESS ME OLD PRUDE WAAAAHHAAAA WTFBBQDRAMA!" discussion without getting an ulcer. Yes, I'm biased. No, I don't want to repeat that discussion, thank you very much.
"Does our writing have an impact?" is the flavour of the moment, and "if it has an impact, what are our responsibilities?" I think it all started out with some discussion about incest-fic, following the "Warriors For Incontinence" debacle on LJ recently. I didn't follow it that closely. Of course I won't go out and kill your granny with an axe just because I read a story with such content. And Anthony Hopkins is very likely not a cannibal. Fiction =/= reality.
I wouldn't write this if I hadn't stumbled over the statement that (...) Anybody who believes their writing will cause somebody to do *anything* is suffering from major ego. (...) (Thanks for the link,,
pulsarkat .
Heh. I wish Marx and Engels were still around; I'd be interested to hear what they had to say about this. Personally, I only say "crapiola de luxe". Nellas' pictures make me write. Marnie's stories make me research in books. Me recommending books makes people sometimes buy them.
Anyway, I'm neither Marx nor Engels, I didn't write the Bible or the Qran (both books which, I think we can agree on that, have made people do things...), but I can share with you a little story about fanfic which DID have an effect.
Ages ago, when we only just got started with the predecessor of 25%, I stumbled over a fanfic called There Is A Pain So Utter by Pough (link leads you to our archive, the layout is gone and it's just plain text, but hey, better than nothing). It was a SG-1 slash fic, Jack/Daniel and dealt with cancer.
Daniel fell ill, and the fic told his story from the early days to the treatment, the fear, the pain, the consequences, the way his friends dealt with. I still think it's an amazing piece of writing, an echo from the days when SG-1 was a good show and the fandom didn't consist mainly of gits (another thing I will not discuss anymore). I lost my mother to cancer and had to go through this whole ordeal described in the story myself, so I could relate, and it's terribly realistic. I can really only recommend it, the rating is PG-13, h/c and major angst; it's very touching.
So, how had that fanfic an effect?
Some lady read it. She thought the symptoms in the fic were scarily similar to the ones her husband showed. As a consequence, the woman took her husband to the hospital. He was diagnosed with cancer at an early stage and as I know from her mails, he later made a full recovery.
To sum it up: because of a slashy PG-13 h/c angst fanfic, someone who'd very likely never noticed something was wrong with him went to the doc early enough to survive cancer. If that's not "having an impact", then I don't know what is.
"Overblown ego", my ass.