For the Love of the Game, or Why I'm Not a Fan of Fic-Pulling
I don't get it.
And before you start in on it, YES, I understand that occasionally people have personal problems. And YES, I do agree that authors have the right to do with their fics what they want. For the life of me, I never understand why that's the counterargument. Maybe some people are saying the author doesn't have the right to take fics ( Read more... )
And before you start in on it, YES, I understand that occasionally people have personal problems. And YES, I do agree that authors have the right to do with their fics what they want. For the life of me, I never understand why that's the counterargument. Maybe some people are saying the author doesn't have the right to take fics ( Read more... )
I would say that in some ways their actions do hurt others. In fact, many of them have hurt the fandom.
Many readers have become discouraged after their favorite stories have been pulled. I've even heard comments from people that believe that this is a sign of the fandom gearing down or dying. As an active writer and reader in the fandom that bothers me. I myself have debated about whether or not to abandon reading All Human fics in an attempt to circumvent being a victim of this kind of thing, but that would be unfair to the AH writers that have no intention of pulling to publish.
The actions of these few have made many of us question our trust of authors and soiled our enjoyment of our favorite stories. Worse yet it's made some readers abandon reading fic all together, because they believe there will never be any good fic to read now that the author's that they know and love are gone. Which is ludicrous, in my opinion. I've recent read some of the best fic I have ever read in this fandom and it was written by new authors (it was also AU).
The sad fact is that some of this behavior is a result of the fandom lacking knowledge of what fan fiction and fandom are really about. This ignorance has be nurtured by people that believe that success/validation comes with seeing your name on the spine of a book. While it is only human to strive for that validation, this fandom has taught too many authors that their fan fiction is a commodity rather than a gift. I wish that these enterprising authors would really look at the results of their actions and think hard about why they are pulling. Does it serve them? Is it smart or are they just doing it because they think that is what you're supposed to do when you want to go legit. /rant
Sorry to rant in your comments. Great post.
Reply
"I was just saying that it feels like many authors treat Twilight fandom like it's a writing group, only they don't bother to tell their readers that."
This is such the perfect way to put it. I was once crabbing to Limona and said, "You know, I really am coming around to hate all AH writers" and she very kindly pointed out the problem wasn't AH, it was people who treated fic as a commodity. She was very right (wise woman, that Limona).
The impact on our fandom is huge. It makes readers distrust writers, and it results in them doing things like saving and reposting fic that makes the writers distrust the readers.
If there's one thing I would want to be my legacy in this fandom, it is strongly making the argument that fanfiction is a worthwhile endeavor on its own. I think at this point there are many who have been seduced into thinking leaving up their fic is some scary thing. And that's so far from the truth.
When I started writing fan fiction, I discovered the joy of hearing back from my readers. So I hunted down an HP Marauder fic I'd read in 2002 that had stuck with me ever since, and sent the author a PM on lj. That's why you leave your fic up--you never know when it's going to touch someone.
Reply
Leave a comment