This is Why I Fanfic
So morbane was taking questions and tossed this one back my way: What makes the difference between something you love and something you'd write fic for?
It's something I noticed a long time ago, that not everything that made my favorite list made the ficcable list. There are a few reasons and I'll start with the obvious exception. I generally don't fic sacred writings, by that I mean MY sacred writings. I adore mythology and always have and I adore reading Biblical fiction, but for some reason, it is very difficult for me to write, probably because it's not all that fictional to me. I have a certain irreverance toward the canon I fic. The more perfect it is, the less likely I am to write fanfic for it.
That goes beyond just sacred writings. One of my favorite books is Mister God, This is Anna. Never gonna happen. If I know a writer and their work is gobsmackingly amazing and perfect and I know they're going to write more that will be perfect (I'm looking at you, in_the_blue and haikujaguar), then I probably won't fic it. It's too good, too intimidating, and the author's going to write more that will be better than what I could come up with even if I dared to come up with something.
Thus far, when I don't fic something. But what about when I do?
Someone asked me once how to make their fiction amenable to ficcing, and the first thing I told them was you must leave icebergs. What makes me want to fic something is when there are little peeks in the canon begging for exploration, when there are questions and backstory and interesting, rich material between the lines, when a character says something like "love is for children" that I have to go and reconcile, when there are questions mixed in with the satisfaction, when I want and need more and don't see any signs of getting it. That's what makes me reach out and write it myself. That's what makes me fic.
I need to have something to say.
Some people write reviews. I write fic. Fanfic is how I interact with the text, explain it to myself, explain my theories to others, play with it because I want more and just ran out of canon. It's how I process canon.
Stories that I love that don't need extra processing, that don't make me ask questions or want to rant or rave or just plain talk back, don't get ficced. It's just about as simple as that.
It's something I noticed a long time ago, that not everything that made my favorite list made the ficcable list. There are a few reasons and I'll start with the obvious exception. I generally don't fic sacred writings, by that I mean MY sacred writings. I adore mythology and always have and I adore reading Biblical fiction, but for some reason, it is very difficult for me to write, probably because it's not all that fictional to me. I have a certain irreverance toward the canon I fic. The more perfect it is, the less likely I am to write fanfic for it.
That goes beyond just sacred writings. One of my favorite books is Mister God, This is Anna. Never gonna happen. If I know a writer and their work is gobsmackingly amazing and perfect and I know they're going to write more that will be perfect (I'm looking at you, in_the_blue and haikujaguar), then I probably won't fic it. It's too good, too intimidating, and the author's going to write more that will be better than what I could come up with even if I dared to come up with something.
Thus far, when I don't fic something. But what about when I do?
Someone asked me once how to make their fiction amenable to ficcing, and the first thing I told them was you must leave icebergs. What makes me want to fic something is when there are little peeks in the canon begging for exploration, when there are questions and backstory and interesting, rich material between the lines, when a character says something like "love is for children" that I have to go and reconcile, when there are questions mixed in with the satisfaction, when I want and need more and don't see any signs of getting it. That's what makes me reach out and write it myself. That's what makes me fic.
I need to have something to say.
Some people write reviews. I write fic. Fanfic is how I interact with the text, explain it to myself, explain my theories to others, play with it because I want more and just ran out of canon. It's how I process canon.
Stories that I love that don't need extra processing, that don't make me ask questions or want to rant or rave or just plain talk back, don't get ficced. It's just about as simple as that.