Fanon Element: The Orgasmic Vampire Bite (NC-17)

[feliciacraft]

The orgasmic vampire bite so often found in Buffyverse fanfiction--if you don't know what I'm referring to, Buffy and Spike are only too happy (in the hands of certain writers) to, ahem, illustrate (in NC-17 fashion, should there be any doubt):

Comments

[feliciacraft]

Oh, that's right, five hours! Who'd want Spike to shanshu with that in mind? Crazy talk. Heh. :P

I mostly feel sorry for CousinJean, outrageous though the whole thing was. Her audacity to ask fans for support is shocking, but after that, my second attitude is that that she sets out a tip jar, nobody has to give anything if they don't have any to spare, or refuse to based on the principle of things. She never made it a mandatory thing for reading her stories, just a suggestion. I don't think she deserved to be flamed by thousands of people. (I probably wouldn't have thought so a few years ago; I've mellowed a bit as I got older, and now hold the opinion that it's far better to be kind than to be right. *shrugs* I think our society has gotten way too critical and self-righteous and just not accepting or supportive enough.)

One thing I do have a problem with, based on what I read, was that she indirectly linked profit to fanfic writing, at a time when the legality of fanfiction was very hotly debated. The fan defense had always leveraged the fact that absolutely no profit whatsoever was made from it, and she crossed that line like it was nothing. Also, LJ (and possibly other sites?) had enforced several rounds of sweeping deletes based on complaints of indecent material (by some religious group?) or copyright violations from content owners. So a legitimate concern by some fans was that if more people followed suit, it would destroy fanfiction as a legal activity and rip fandom apart. I don't know if the fear was real, but it'd make a pretty damning accusation again CousinJean.

Anyway, the last time I checked her blog, she appeared to be doing well, making a living via freelance editing (her ideal job) and (self?)publishing stories. She's married, so presumably she did find the means to buy her dream wedding. I guess she's no worse for wear.

I'm kind of drawn to her writing style because it's so different from my own. Without the editing part of my brain turned on I write like Kafka--with overwrought, paragraph-long, complicated sentences full of sensory overload (just how I experience the world) and punctuated with dashes and semicolons which most Americans shy away from. (For example, I would not have ended that sentence there; it feels incomplete, like half a thought.) CousinJean, on the other hand, is so sparse sometimes I advance to the next page in her story and think I must've skipped a page, because no way could she end the last part there! :) So...yeah, I wish she were still writing Buffyverse stories, but she's probably burned that bridge on LJ. Good for her then that she's moved on.

[rahirah]

One thing I do have a problem with, based on what I read, was that she indirectly linked profit to fanfic writing, at a time when the legality of fanfiction was very hotly debated.

Oh, yeah, that was the main reason that the total strangers were angry with her. Her co-writers, on the other hand, were furious with her for A) dragging them into it, and B) behaving as if DL were her personal project rather than a collaborative effort (albeit one in which she had taken a major role.) Almost a dozen excellent writers had worked on DL over the years, but CousinJean, as the coordinator, was always the most visible, and the only one who'd really gone on to become a major fandom BNF for her stand-alone fic. And it's not like she wasn't a very good writer, but I think her BNF status went to her head, rather. I suspect that was both the impetus for her making the money ask -- she really felt she was entitled to be supported -- and the reason that the majority of her former friends dropped her like a hot rock rather than leap to her defense.

Today, of course, she'd just set up a Patreon account or do a Kickstarter, and no one would think twice about it.

[feliciacraft]

Hmm, I think there is that risk of becoming so involved in fandom as to be completely removed from reality. Maybe that's what happened to CousinJean?

[rahirah]

Maybe... I'm not sure that it was being involved in fandom per se, because by the time all of this happened, she was kind of drifting out of fandom, being more absorbed in her wedding and the idea of going pro. More like her experiences in fandom had strengthened a pre-existing tendency to... hell, I don't know, this is all armchair theorizing. It's just that in my experience, if someone's prone to behave in a certain way, they'll behave that way regardless, whether they're in fandom or the church choir or the House of Representatives.

[feliciacraft]

> It's just that in my experience, if someone's prone to behave in a certain way, they'll behave that way regardless, whether they're in fandom or the church choir or the House of Representatives.

*Nods* True, true. I only catch bits and pieces of fandom history (echoes of the "booms* long past), and sometimes I feel bummed that I missed out on all the "fun", and other times I'm relieved to not have been swept into all that drama. "Exciting" is one thing, but by what the Chinese curse their enemies ("May you live in interesting times..."), it's clearly not all good. :)

[feliciacraft]

> Today, of course, she'd just set up a Patreon account or do a Kickstarter, and no one would think twice about it.

Whaddya know, there *is* a Kickstarter campaign under her name: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1052559271/help-jean-turn-restless-spirits-into-a-series

More power to her. This may be the only way for authors to survive on writing in this day and age.