The Wonderful World Of FanFiction
Recently, I have once again taken the plunge and begun to dip my toes into the world of original fiction...
At the request of my Aunt, I sent her the short story that I had submitted for the Sex, Wales and Anarchy competition, and in returne received some feedback which I have taken into my mind and will use to improve my fiction in the future. I'm grateful for her for giving her honest opinion of my work, and have decided to begin work (planning) on a novel that has been sitrring in my mind for some time: a traditional love story between two women and two men, but against a specific political backdrop. Set between five and ten years in the future, we see a Britain in which the Tory cuts have taken hold, discontent has stirred, and an extreme right wing party has gained power in the General Election. Against the increased levels of homophobia and intolerance, the four of them try to live the lives of any young, loving couple, as best they can when the world is turning against them.
This is an idea that has been in my head for some time. It will not be my first attempt at original fiction, however. I have been writing fiction my entire life; just a few months ago I unearthed an old school textbook in which my five year old self had jotted down a short, page-long story. It was spiky and difficult to read without laughing, but it shows just how young I was when I first became immersed in the world of otherness that story-writing can bring.
Original fiction is a great thing, allowing the writer to create worlds or modify the world in which we live. It allows us to create characters, to orchestrate situations and see the routes they take. But it also creates difficulties - creating your own characters which are realistic and yet your own construction is a task unlike any other, and the dangers of Mary Sue-isms are always there. There again, the danger of basing something on your own experiences can lead to a dip in the quality of the writing; as it was during my first few years of secondary school that I began to see the flaws in my own fiction. When one writes one's "baby" project, a story you have been nursing and developing for years, it often turns out not as one expects; often it can be self-indulgent and painful to look back on, bringing only disappointment rather than the flare of creativity one would expect.
And I began to doubt.
My disillusionment with my own original fiction is what initially drove me to seek out fanfiction. 5 years ago, at the tender(ish) age of 13, I was drawn into the strange world of fandom through my love of the musical The Phantom of the Opera; it was a world I had never experienced before, and in the midst of all this newness I discovered that people were taking these beloved characters and writing stories about them. At first I was confused - wasn't this against copyright, against something that should be innately ingrained within the fandom, against perhaps the purity of these characters and stories?
But, the more I read, the more I began to realise that this just wasn't the case.
During my first forrays into the world of fanfiction, I encountered a few strong opinions and prejudices towards the writers of such fiction. One writer asserted that should they ever get a piece of original fiction published, they would be appalled and horrified to learn that anyone had dared to write fanfiction about the characters. My aunt, the one who has offered me criticism, has stated that she doesn't like fanfiction because the works should remain in the hands of the original creators. Indeed, it seemed to some people that writing fanfiction is perhaps the split between the "real" writers and those who just pretend; or, maybe, just the training grounds for writers, something that will be grown out of once the original fiction begins to bite.
These are opinions, and all opinions are to be respected. People see the world differently, that's what makes this life so colourful and varied and interesting. But I do feel the need, as a fanfiction writer AND a writer of original fiction, to defend my continued participation in the fanfiction world.
I know, as a writer of original fiction since time immemorial, that should I ever come to get my works published and/or performed (I write prose AND have started to work on scripts) it would be my greatest honour if people wrote fiction based on my work. Simply because it is the greatest expression of love for the characters you have created. Not many works inspire such loyalty as people actually taking out a pad of paper, or sitting at a keyboard, and setting down to write new and wonderful adventures for those characters. If the audience wants to delve deeper by writing fanfiction, then that is truly a compliment to the world you have created, not a besmirching or dirtying of your own, original piece. I write for Torchwood because Torchwood inspired me; I write for Ianto because the character spoke to me. And you're damned lucky to get that kind of loyalty from me, because I don't give it away easily.
When someone writes a TV show, or a film, or a book, or a play, or even a song, they are throwing it out to the world to be interpreted in whatever way the recipient chooses. That's the beauty of creativity - its ambiguity. Different people see the world from different viewpoints, and no one viewer/reader/listener will perceive your piece in the same way; surely the greatest part of any creation is to sit back and watch the world interpret what you have written? This is how it has always been for me. I remember one piece of fanfiction I wrote regarding Ianto's family - one reader asked me: "did he kill his father out of love or out of hate?". I had no answer, for I myself didn't know; but if I had, I would not have revealed what I know. This is the beauty of interpretation.
It was driven home for me today in an English seminar in which we discussed "A Valediction Forbidding Mourning" by Adrienne Rich; my seminar tutor perceives the poem to be about a woman who has suffered a miscarriage and is about to commit suicide, whereas I was convinced that the poem was written by the victim of a terminal illness, cancer maybe, who was fighting to write the poem within the time constraints put upon her life. We each had our reasons, our interpretations, and that is what fanfiction is.
Fanfiction is interpretation, an attempt to understand and explore.
Of course, some of my fanfiction works beyond that, and attempts to fix things that I have seen as "going wrong with the show". I write these because I love the show, not because I want it to go my way. If I wanted it to go my way, I would have Jack and Ianto shacked up, married (the world in which they lived would have full marriage equality, you see), having children, and living out a normal, harmonious life. But I have never, and will never, write this. Because by "fixing it", I am not making it go my way, but merely exploring another route which the writers themselves have chosen not to take. What would have happened if they had taken it? If it wasn't for the writers of fanfiction, we perhaps would never knows just how the show might change or develop should that route be taken. Even my fixing of perceived "wrongness" must be held within the constraints of the show on which I am basing it. And, therein, lies that one hardship that is encountered only when writing fanfiction.
When writing original fiction, there is a total freedom with the characters; of course, once a character is well established you have the constraints of the canon, but beyond that it is your character to do with as you will. Fanfiction does not work with those freedoms. The greatest challenge I have ever encountered, even greater than the hardships of writing original fiction, is the challenge of doing these characters justice. The people who will be your target audience are well versed in the characters and the show, and you must keep within those constraints whilst moving your story forward. It is a juggling act between your original plotline and the established canon; it is like simultaneously trying to juggle knives and fire. If you slip, the people reading your work will notice, and you are the one who will get burned or cut. It is difficult, more difficult than anything writing has thrown my way before.
Many of my Author's Notes before or after pieces of fiction have contained the words "they weren't cooperating", and I have even had to completely rethink carefully planned out plotlines, sacrificing what I had envisioned because it simply does not work within the canoninity of the characters and the show. People underestimate this challenge when they think of fanfiction, instead thinking of it as an "easier" option than writing original fiction. But they misunderstand that a true writer of fanfiction will tear their hair out and walk over hot coals to do justice to the characters they love so much; it is this love which drives us to the very limits of our sanity as we attempt to do right by the shows we admire.
The reason that I continue to write fanfiction is because it is a challenge. And I know that it really has improved my writing in a way that I would never have experienced otherwise. It has taught me constraint, the important of stepping back and seeing if something works, whether it fits, of setting aside my own preconceived ideas to let the story flow as it wants to flow.
I don't think it is an either/or situation. Even though I write original fiction...even if I become an established author (in some wild, futuristic world)...I will always be a writer of fanfiction. This is simply because, as a student of English Literature, interpretation and exploration rule my life and my thinking. I can't just let something be - I have to explore it further, to see "what would happen here...how would this work...what possibilities would this open up...?".
And, instead of writing an essay, I choose to do this exporation through the one medium that has brought me the most joy - writing.
(And yes, the mood was chosen for oggling-type-fangirl purposes; any likeness to my actual mood, living or dead, is purely coincidental)
At the request of my Aunt, I sent her the short story that I had submitted for the Sex, Wales and Anarchy competition, and in returne received some feedback which I have taken into my mind and will use to improve my fiction in the future. I'm grateful for her for giving her honest opinion of my work, and have decided to begin work (planning) on a novel that has been sitrring in my mind for some time: a traditional love story between two women and two men, but against a specific political backdrop. Set between five and ten years in the future, we see a Britain in which the Tory cuts have taken hold, discontent has stirred, and an extreme right wing party has gained power in the General Election. Against the increased levels of homophobia and intolerance, the four of them try to live the lives of any young, loving couple, as best they can when the world is turning against them.
This is an idea that has been in my head for some time. It will not be my first attempt at original fiction, however. I have been writing fiction my entire life; just a few months ago I unearthed an old school textbook in which my five year old self had jotted down a short, page-long story. It was spiky and difficult to read without laughing, but it shows just how young I was when I first became immersed in the world of otherness that story-writing can bring.
Original fiction is a great thing, allowing the writer to create worlds or modify the world in which we live. It allows us to create characters, to orchestrate situations and see the routes they take. But it also creates difficulties - creating your own characters which are realistic and yet your own construction is a task unlike any other, and the dangers of Mary Sue-isms are always there. There again, the danger of basing something on your own experiences can lead to a dip in the quality of the writing; as it was during my first few years of secondary school that I began to see the flaws in my own fiction. When one writes one's "baby" project, a story you have been nursing and developing for years, it often turns out not as one expects; often it can be self-indulgent and painful to look back on, bringing only disappointment rather than the flare of creativity one would expect.
And I began to doubt.
My disillusionment with my own original fiction is what initially drove me to seek out fanfiction. 5 years ago, at the tender(ish) age of 13, I was drawn into the strange world of fandom through my love of the musical The Phantom of the Opera; it was a world I had never experienced before, and in the midst of all this newness I discovered that people were taking these beloved characters and writing stories about them. At first I was confused - wasn't this against copyright, against something that should be innately ingrained within the fandom, against perhaps the purity of these characters and stories?
But, the more I read, the more I began to realise that this just wasn't the case.
During my first forrays into the world of fanfiction, I encountered a few strong opinions and prejudices towards the writers of such fiction. One writer asserted that should they ever get a piece of original fiction published, they would be appalled and horrified to learn that anyone had dared to write fanfiction about the characters. My aunt, the one who has offered me criticism, has stated that she doesn't like fanfiction because the works should remain in the hands of the original creators. Indeed, it seemed to some people that writing fanfiction is perhaps the split between the "real" writers and those who just pretend; or, maybe, just the training grounds for writers, something that will be grown out of once the original fiction begins to bite.
These are opinions, and all opinions are to be respected. People see the world differently, that's what makes this life so colourful and varied and interesting. But I do feel the need, as a fanfiction writer AND a writer of original fiction, to defend my continued participation in the fanfiction world.
I know, as a writer of original fiction since time immemorial, that should I ever come to get my works published and/or performed (I write prose AND have started to work on scripts) it would be my greatest honour if people wrote fiction based on my work. Simply because it is the greatest expression of love for the characters you have created. Not many works inspire such loyalty as people actually taking out a pad of paper, or sitting at a keyboard, and setting down to write new and wonderful adventures for those characters. If the audience wants to delve deeper by writing fanfiction, then that is truly a compliment to the world you have created, not a besmirching or dirtying of your own, original piece. I write for Torchwood because Torchwood inspired me; I write for Ianto because the character spoke to me. And you're damned lucky to get that kind of loyalty from me, because I don't give it away easily.
When someone writes a TV show, or a film, or a book, or a play, or even a song, they are throwing it out to the world to be interpreted in whatever way the recipient chooses. That's the beauty of creativity - its ambiguity. Different people see the world from different viewpoints, and no one viewer/reader/listener will perceive your piece in the same way; surely the greatest part of any creation is to sit back and watch the world interpret what you have written? This is how it has always been for me. I remember one piece of fanfiction I wrote regarding Ianto's family - one reader asked me: "did he kill his father out of love or out of hate?". I had no answer, for I myself didn't know; but if I had, I would not have revealed what I know. This is the beauty of interpretation.
It was driven home for me today in an English seminar in which we discussed "A Valediction Forbidding Mourning" by Adrienne Rich; my seminar tutor perceives the poem to be about a woman who has suffered a miscarriage and is about to commit suicide, whereas I was convinced that the poem was written by the victim of a terminal illness, cancer maybe, who was fighting to write the poem within the time constraints put upon her life. We each had our reasons, our interpretations, and that is what fanfiction is.
Fanfiction is interpretation, an attempt to understand and explore.
Of course, some of my fanfiction works beyond that, and attempts to fix things that I have seen as "going wrong with the show". I write these because I love the show, not because I want it to go my way. If I wanted it to go my way, I would have Jack and Ianto shacked up, married (the world in which they lived would have full marriage equality, you see), having children, and living out a normal, harmonious life. But I have never, and will never, write this. Because by "fixing it", I am not making it go my way, but merely exploring another route which the writers themselves have chosen not to take. What would have happened if they had taken it? If it wasn't for the writers of fanfiction, we perhaps would never knows just how the show might change or develop should that route be taken. Even my fixing of perceived "wrongness" must be held within the constraints of the show on which I am basing it. And, therein, lies that one hardship that is encountered only when writing fanfiction.
When writing original fiction, there is a total freedom with the characters; of course, once a character is well established you have the constraints of the canon, but beyond that it is your character to do with as you will. Fanfiction does not work with those freedoms. The greatest challenge I have ever encountered, even greater than the hardships of writing original fiction, is the challenge of doing these characters justice. The people who will be your target audience are well versed in the characters and the show, and you must keep within those constraints whilst moving your story forward. It is a juggling act between your original plotline and the established canon; it is like simultaneously trying to juggle knives and fire. If you slip, the people reading your work will notice, and you are the one who will get burned or cut. It is difficult, more difficult than anything writing has thrown my way before.
Many of my Author's Notes before or after pieces of fiction have contained the words "they weren't cooperating", and I have even had to completely rethink carefully planned out plotlines, sacrificing what I had envisioned because it simply does not work within the canoninity of the characters and the show. People underestimate this challenge when they think of fanfiction, instead thinking of it as an "easier" option than writing original fiction. But they misunderstand that a true writer of fanfiction will tear their hair out and walk over hot coals to do justice to the characters they love so much; it is this love which drives us to the very limits of our sanity as we attempt to do right by the shows we admire.
The reason that I continue to write fanfiction is because it is a challenge. And I know that it really has improved my writing in a way that I would never have experienced otherwise. It has taught me constraint, the important of stepping back and seeing if something works, whether it fits, of setting aside my own preconceived ideas to let the story flow as it wants to flow.
I don't think it is an either/or situation. Even though I write original fiction...even if I become an established author (in some wild, futuristic world)...I will always be a writer of fanfiction. This is simply because, as a student of English Literature, interpretation and exploration rule my life and my thinking. I can't just let something be - I have to explore it further, to see "what would happen here...how would this work...what possibilities would this open up...?".
And, instead of writing an essay, I choose to do this exporation through the one medium that has brought me the most joy - writing.
(And yes, the mood was chosen for oggling-type-fangirl purposes; any likeness to my actual mood, living or dead, is purely coincidental)