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A number of people responded to my previous post about rec sites created by people who aren't familiar with the show whose fanfic they're recommending. I started to respond to the comments, but each time I got myself tied in knots, and I began to realize that my thinking about this issue is very muddled and tied inextricably with some of my
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I can certainly see how people can enjoy reading in a fandom before knowing the canon (and it's how I started in some of my fandoms myself), but I don't really understand how, if you are truly interested in those characters, that could be satisfying enough. For me, the visual (and to a lesser extent aural) side is very important. How do they look at each other? How do they speak? What are their mannerisms? How do they relate to other characters? My first actions after finding stories I like in a fandom - if I can't immediately lay hands on the episodes - are to read the trascripts, download wav files of the dialogue, look at online photos and read episode reviews. Episode reviews from devoted fans rank right up there with fanfic as my preferred reading material. Some of the best things I've read lately have been ship_manifesto essays - the ones written by people whose love for the characters and the show shines from every word!
I would argue that in many fandoms you CANNOT get a realistic idea of the characters only from reading fanfic. (Of course, a fanfic fan probably doesn't care whether their ideas are realistic or not.) I read quite a bit of Sentinel fic before seeing the series, and I remember saying to friends that I was surprised at how wrong my impressions of the characters, gained from songvids and fic, had been. I was reading top-of-the-range, highly recommended fic, too. Pros is another fandom where I just don't think you could get much of an idea from fic only.
I get *so much more* enjoyment from reading when I really know the canon that it's hard for me to comprehend why anyone would want to deprive themselves of that extra pleasure. (I do understand that some people cannot access or afford the canon, or may just hate to watch TV.) A fic-only fan couldn't recognise all the little canon references that dot many stories, let alone get a full appreciation of stories which are episode-based. And what do they visualise in their minds, without an intimate familiarity with how the characters act on-screen? (The downside is that I'm harder to please in the fandoms I know well, but I don't really consider that a downside - there's still plenty of great stuff out there.)
The other reason I love knowing the canon is the one I posted about a few weeks ago - I actively enjoy "assessing" fic for adherence to / plausible extrapolations from canon. It's fun, and it gives me a sense of belonging and participation that I don't have when I'm reading original fic or fic in a fandom I know nothing about.
I do follow one entertaining rec site where I know the reccer is unfamiliar with the canon for most of the fandoms she recs. I find that strange, but hey, each to their own.
To sum up: it doesn't offend me to see canon-free rec sites, but based on my own experiences I can't understand why anyone would want to do it.
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;)
My first actions after finding stories I like in a fandom - if I can't immediately lay hands on the episodes - are to read the transcripts, download wav files of the dialogue, look at online photos and read episode reviews.
Oh My YES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I would argue that in many fandoms you CANNOT get a realistic idea of the characters only from reading fanfic.
Ho yes... Screaming crying Doyle... so not right. Fragile, bruised waiflike Illya... mmmm no... Big Butch Jim and damsel Blair... Blaahahahaha.... Although the Man Song vid does show their relationship so well...
I actively enjoy "assessing" fic for adherence to / plausible extrapolations from canon.
are we not the same person... *looks over shoulder*
I was so chuffed to see you post that because it is a real bit of enjoyment for me and almost no one else I know does it.
If you don't have canon, how do you know who you are reading about? what their motivations are? what they look like? Without that it can be any two guys...
I mean, if I ask for a pros rec, why is it absurd I should expect to find a story that has something to do with Pros, as opposed to elves, vampires, regency or SF sagas...
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What? IK's not a girly man???? Well, heck...
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I can certainly see how people can enjoy reading in a fandom before knowing the canon (and it's how I started in some of my fandoms myself), but I don't really understand how, if you are truly interested in those characters, that could be satisfying enough.
I agree with this entirely. It is a matter of degree - I'll read a highly recommended story in just about any fandom, even if I know nothing about canon. And there are fandoms in which I'm not all that interested but will occasionally read (Sports Night is one, Highlander another) - for these I've seen some episodes but by no means all. But for the fandoms I'm really interested in, I simply can't imagine not wanting to watch all the eps, to see and know the characters.
And I agree that you really can't get an accurate impression of characters just from fanfic, no matter how good. Good fanfic takes elements of the canon characters, but it assumes you know the whole "canon picture"; it's purpose isn't to introduce you to the characters or give you a balanced picture of them. I think due South is an excellent example - Fraser is, I think, just about impossible to "get" even if you do watch all the eps, much less if you don't. There are so very many Frasers. And Pros is definitely another one - particularly if, like me, you're not British. I read some Pros - maybe one or two stories - before I ever saw any eps, and it was utterly meaningless to me compared with its impact now that I know canon (not quite as well as you, but I do know it!!)
(As for Sentinel... I read it for months before ever seeing an episode, and I had such an inaccurate impression of Blair - though at least I'd seen pictures of him, so I knew he wasn't in fact frail, delicate, and 8 inches shorter than Jim!!)
Plus, it is such a pleasure to watch canon - I love watching Pros eps more than anything, more the more I see them. Due South, too. Canon lives side-by-side with fanfic in my head; they're both part of the incredible appeal for me, and I love being able to see and hear them in my head when I read - with good fanfic you can really just about envision them saying the dialogue ...
But I suppose everyone is different, and as cathexys said, some people are happy being fans of fanfic (and molly said in a comment to my earlier post that she likes it better that way - more possibilities. Hmmm).
Still - after all this discussion here, I can see even more clearly than I did before that my "offended" reaction to rec sites by non-canon fans (there's no shorter way to say that!) doesn't have a lot of basis in logic or reason - the reasonable part of me figures hey, whatever floats your boat, no skin off my back, something for everyone - but like you, I don't really understand why anyone would want to do it. Plus I simply can't imagine doing it myself.
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