I feel Validated
I have just finished reading... I have to call it The Best Reading Experience I've had in years.
People who know me well know that I like to read fantasy and science fiction... and superheroes, which is really a genre unto itself now. I don't normally read books about ordinary people living ordinary lives. Reading has always been my way to escape, from oh-gods-let's-not-even-get-into-all-that-right-now.
...Oh damn, that sounds like I've lived a life of nothing but abuse and violence and deprivation that would make a war refugee feel sorry for me. My life hasn't been all that bad, okay? Just had a lot of not-really-good stuff in it. And I apparently use a lot of vagueness and hyphenating words that don't need to be hyphenated when I'm actually talking about myself, why is that? Aaannnd I'm digressing from telling everyone why I'm talking about The Best Reading Experience I've had in years. That's because I'm about to divulge something that a lot of my family doesn't know about, even if most of my friends do...
In addition to reading a lot, I write a lot, or should I say, have written a lot. These days I'm so busy with working, single parenting and maintaining a house and property that's just too big for me that I haven't written much of anything in several months. But I love wordsmithing and creating stories, and I used to write nearly every day. And what did I write?
Fanfiction.
There, I said it. Typed it, posting it in public for everybody to see. (Yup, even on my Livejournal, in which most entries have now been friends-locked, this is a public post.) And right now I'm imagining most of my friends rolling their eyes and thinking "Oh, is that all? Such a buildup to get to that point; geez, such a drama queen." And most of my family, and the people who know me face-to-face instead of mostly online, raising eyebrows and thinking "Fa-what? What's fanfiction?"
If you don't already know what fanfiction is, check out the Wikipedia link at the end of this post. I'll also list a link from a much better known writer of fanfiction, that explains the many joys and pains of this hobby/obsession/lifestyle. If you do already know what fanfiction or fanfic is, if you're already reading or writing it:
Read Fangirl by Rainbow Rowell. Hells, BUY Fangirl by Rainbow Rowell. I just read a library copy, because I have to live cheaply these days now that I'm paying the mortgage on this monster all by myself, but I'm resolved to buy myself a copy of this book next payday, because I need to sincerely thank this author with my wallet, as well as with the fan letter I intend to write to her.
There are published nonfiction books on the subject of fanfiction. There have been serious studies done on fanfic and other "transformative works", on their place in society; on their dances and duels with charges of plagiarism and copyright violation. But "Fangirl" is a novel, about a freshman college girl and her friends and family, ordinary people living ordinary lives... with fanfiction as an integral part of that.
Christine, thank you so much for posting about this book a few months back. Having read it, I feel so... Validated. So much better about myself. And so determined now to find time, somewhere in my currently chaotic and hectic life, to write my fanfic again. I've got hundreds of readers begging me to finish my stories, dammit, and I want to finish them too!
(I should probably add that while this is currently a public post, if I ever lose my current job or have reasons to become concerned over my continued employment there, this post will be friends-locked fast. Because I know that when future employers decide it's worth their time to investigate a potential or current employee, they start online with the social media. And there are so many people who just Do Not Understand the fanficcer's lifestyle, people whom I'd rather not give any reason to be prejudiced against me when a paycheck may be involved. )
The promised links, for the not-yet-knowledgeable:
The definition of fanfiction: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fan_fiction
Dr. Merlin's Guide to Fanfiction: http://firefox.org/news/articles/650/1/Dr-Merlin039s-Guide-to-Fanfiction/Page1.html
People who know me well know that I like to read fantasy and science fiction... and superheroes, which is really a genre unto itself now. I don't normally read books about ordinary people living ordinary lives. Reading has always been my way to escape, from oh-gods-let's-not-even-get-into-all-that-right-now.
...Oh damn, that sounds like I've lived a life of nothing but abuse and violence and deprivation that would make a war refugee feel sorry for me. My life hasn't been all that bad, okay? Just had a lot of not-really-good stuff in it. And I apparently use a lot of vagueness and hyphenating words that don't need to be hyphenated when I'm actually talking about myself, why is that? Aaannnd I'm digressing from telling everyone why I'm talking about The Best Reading Experience I've had in years. That's because I'm about to divulge something that a lot of my family doesn't know about, even if most of my friends do...
In addition to reading a lot, I write a lot, or should I say, have written a lot. These days I'm so busy with working, single parenting and maintaining a house and property that's just too big for me that I haven't written much of anything in several months. But I love wordsmithing and creating stories, and I used to write nearly every day. And what did I write?
Fanfiction.
There, I said it. Typed it, posting it in public for everybody to see. (Yup, even on my Livejournal, in which most entries have now been friends-locked, this is a public post.) And right now I'm imagining most of my friends rolling their eyes and thinking "Oh, is that all? Such a buildup to get to that point; geez, such a drama queen." And most of my family, and the people who know me face-to-face instead of mostly online, raising eyebrows and thinking "Fa-what? What's fanfiction?"
If you don't already know what fanfiction is, check out the Wikipedia link at the end of this post. I'll also list a link from a much better known writer of fanfiction, that explains the many joys and pains of this hobby/obsession/lifestyle. If you do already know what fanfiction or fanfic is, if you're already reading or writing it:
Read Fangirl by Rainbow Rowell. Hells, BUY Fangirl by Rainbow Rowell. I just read a library copy, because I have to live cheaply these days now that I'm paying the mortgage on this monster all by myself, but I'm resolved to buy myself a copy of this book next payday, because I need to sincerely thank this author with my wallet, as well as with the fan letter I intend to write to her.
There are published nonfiction books on the subject of fanfiction. There have been serious studies done on fanfic and other "transformative works", on their place in society; on their dances and duels with charges of plagiarism and copyright violation. But "Fangirl" is a novel, about a freshman college girl and her friends and family, ordinary people living ordinary lives... with fanfiction as an integral part of that.
Christine, thank you so much for posting about this book a few months back. Having read it, I feel so... Validated. So much better about myself. And so determined now to find time, somewhere in my currently chaotic and hectic life, to write my fanfic again. I've got hundreds of readers begging me to finish my stories, dammit, and I want to finish them too!
(I should probably add that while this is currently a public post, if I ever lose my current job or have reasons to become concerned over my continued employment there, this post will be friends-locked fast. Because I know that when future employers decide it's worth their time to investigate a potential or current employee, they start online with the social media. And there are so many people who just Do Not Understand the fanficcer's lifestyle, people whom I'd rather not give any reason to be prejudiced against me when a paycheck may be involved. )
The promised links, for the not-yet-knowledgeable:
The definition of fanfiction: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fan_fiction
Dr. Merlin's Guide to Fanfiction: http://firefox.org/news/articles/650/1/Dr-Merlin039s-Guide-to-Fanfiction/Page1.html