Dear So-Called Professional Writers: We're all storytellers
I've been reading the recent spate of anti fan fiction rants from so-called professional authors (I say so-called, because petty name-calling really isn't very professional behavior), and I just shake my head at these people. I mean, I totally think it's cool if an author would prefer that fans not play in their universe. Let that be known, and most fan writers will honor it. The problem comes when authors get their rant on and feel the need to enumerate their "justifications" for why fan fiction is a bad, bad, terrible thing.
Let's put aside what a stupid business decision I think that is. And also what a totally moot point it is for most of these authors who might have a stray Yuletide story somewhere written in their 'verse, if anyone even cares that much. What really appalls me is that they're so trapped in their own egos that they don't seem to have any larger frame of reference for how stories function, the role they play and have always played in human culture.
Stories existed a long, long time before anyone thought about selling them. They've existed since people could draw on cave walls. Since language was invented. Why? Because they're essential to human experience. Stories create connections and shared understanding, help form communities, teach lessons, help societies define their values, help individuals form their identities and forge intimacy with others.
The very concept of Story is this HUGE, majestic thing, and no one owns it. No one controls it. Governments can extend copyright protections until infinity, but in the end, stories belong to everyone.
I don't get how anyone who cares enough about stories to create their own doesn't get that.
But some so-called professional writers can't seem to grasp that there is any reason to tell a story other than to become a published author and make money. They see fan fiction as this feeble, failed effort to do what they do, rather than as what it is, which is a joyous romp of telling a story simply for the sake of telling it. It's like the blinders of capitalism obscure their ability to consider that writing can just be a fun hobby. Stories are so commoditized to them that they've lost touch with the larger grandeur of Story.
(To be fair, I'm sure this is in part because of how difficult it is to make a living writing, but it's still depressing and disappointing to me.)
In the two anti fan fiction rants I read recently (and I'm not linking or quoting, because I think they've already had enough attention, and also some of it has been deleted), some so-called professionals are laboring under some pretty serious delusions about creativity, reading as a process, and their own work:
--The notion that there are any truly original stories.
Show me the work that is not somehow influenced by legend, myth, the Bible, Shakespeare, comic books, etc., and I will prepare to be amazed. Stories are about finding and expressing commonalities, creating connections, so it only makes sense that they borrow from a cultural grab bag of ideas and influences, putting what is hopefully an interesting spin on a shared experience. If a story were truly original-that is, wholly and exclusively of the author-then it would have no meaning to anyone else. It would be a private language, not a story at all.
--The notion that transforming a work is "unimaginative."
Storytelling starts with a simple question: What if? What if a supernatural beast was attacking the warriors of a mead hall and a great hero defeated it (and its mother)? What if a wealthy gentleman fell in love with a governess despite the fact that the mad woman in the attic was his wife? What if the mad woman in the attic had a story of her own? What if John Sheppard suddenly got turned into a woman by alien technology?
What if is the very essence of imagination, and that doesn't change whether the inspiration comes from life, legend, literature, or Stargate Atlantis.
--The notion that there can ever be one version of a story.
Some writers really seem to believe that they write down their story and it is transmitted completely into the consciousness of the reader, unaltered, just as the author intended. (And that is why fan fiction is so bad, because it creates another version of the story that the author never sanctioned.) Which just makes me wonder: Oh my God, have these people ever read anything in their lives? Have they ever had a conversation with another person about a book in which they had completely different interpretations of the story? Have they ever had a flight of fancy about something they've read and started embellishing the story in their own mind? Do they really not understand that reading is an active process, that the reader brings all their own experiences and values to the text, and creates their own meaning? Do they honestly not realize that there are as many different versions of a story as there are people who have read it?
I've loved stories all my life. Mommy, read me a story. Those were practically my first words. And one of the things I love the most about fandom is that it's built on a deep and genuine reverence for Story. In fandom, we understand that everyone is a storyteller. We tell each other stories all day every day, not just with fan fiction, but with our meta, art, icons, squee, wank, feedback, even our silence. It's as close to the old oral storytelling tradition as you can get these days, with the Internet standing in for physical proximity, and TV shows and pop stars taking the place of gods and heroes. It's personal, and it's ours, and it's deeply satisfying-just how stories should be.
And that really pisses off some so-called professional writers, apparently.
In baseball, the worst thing you can say about a player is that he thinks he's above the game. These writers who rant against fan fiction-I think they believe they are Story. And that's where their outrage comes from. They're trying to jealously guard what was never, could never be exclusively theirs. As published authors, they see themselves as the only rightful storytellers, and they want us to remember our place, to be the audience, passive and receptive, with no ideas of our own.
To which I say: Get over yourself. You are not Story. In fact, you're just one of six billion storytellers who are alive on the planet right now. The fact that you write your stories down, and get paid for them, and maybe you're even exceptionally good at storytelling-none of that gives you some special ownership over something that's as old as humanity and as necessary as breathing.
*exhales* Okay. I feel better now.
Let's put aside what a stupid business decision I think that is. And also what a totally moot point it is for most of these authors who might have a stray Yuletide story somewhere written in their 'verse, if anyone even cares that much. What really appalls me is that they're so trapped in their own egos that they don't seem to have any larger frame of reference for how stories function, the role they play and have always played in human culture.
Stories existed a long, long time before anyone thought about selling them. They've existed since people could draw on cave walls. Since language was invented. Why? Because they're essential to human experience. Stories create connections and shared understanding, help form communities, teach lessons, help societies define their values, help individuals form their identities and forge intimacy with others.
The very concept of Story is this HUGE, majestic thing, and no one owns it. No one controls it. Governments can extend copyright protections until infinity, but in the end, stories belong to everyone.
I don't get how anyone who cares enough about stories to create their own doesn't get that.
But some so-called professional writers can't seem to grasp that there is any reason to tell a story other than to become a published author and make money. They see fan fiction as this feeble, failed effort to do what they do, rather than as what it is, which is a joyous romp of telling a story simply for the sake of telling it. It's like the blinders of capitalism obscure their ability to consider that writing can just be a fun hobby. Stories are so commoditized to them that they've lost touch with the larger grandeur of Story.
(To be fair, I'm sure this is in part because of how difficult it is to make a living writing, but it's still depressing and disappointing to me.)
In the two anti fan fiction rants I read recently (and I'm not linking or quoting, because I think they've already had enough attention, and also some of it has been deleted), some so-called professionals are laboring under some pretty serious delusions about creativity, reading as a process, and their own work:
--The notion that there are any truly original stories.
Show me the work that is not somehow influenced by legend, myth, the Bible, Shakespeare, comic books, etc., and I will prepare to be amazed. Stories are about finding and expressing commonalities, creating connections, so it only makes sense that they borrow from a cultural grab bag of ideas and influences, putting what is hopefully an interesting spin on a shared experience. If a story were truly original-that is, wholly and exclusively of the author-then it would have no meaning to anyone else. It would be a private language, not a story at all.
--The notion that transforming a work is "unimaginative."
Storytelling starts with a simple question: What if? What if a supernatural beast was attacking the warriors of a mead hall and a great hero defeated it (and its mother)? What if a wealthy gentleman fell in love with a governess despite the fact that the mad woman in the attic was his wife? What if the mad woman in the attic had a story of her own? What if John Sheppard suddenly got turned into a woman by alien technology?
What if is the very essence of imagination, and that doesn't change whether the inspiration comes from life, legend, literature, or Stargate Atlantis.
--The notion that there can ever be one version of a story.
Some writers really seem to believe that they write down their story and it is transmitted completely into the consciousness of the reader, unaltered, just as the author intended. (And that is why fan fiction is so bad, because it creates another version of the story that the author never sanctioned.) Which just makes me wonder: Oh my God, have these people ever read anything in their lives? Have they ever had a conversation with another person about a book in which they had completely different interpretations of the story? Have they ever had a flight of fancy about something they've read and started embellishing the story in their own mind? Do they really not understand that reading is an active process, that the reader brings all their own experiences and values to the text, and creates their own meaning? Do they honestly not realize that there are as many different versions of a story as there are people who have read it?
I've loved stories all my life. Mommy, read me a story. Those were practically my first words. And one of the things I love the most about fandom is that it's built on a deep and genuine reverence for Story. In fandom, we understand that everyone is a storyteller. We tell each other stories all day every day, not just with fan fiction, but with our meta, art, icons, squee, wank, feedback, even our silence. It's as close to the old oral storytelling tradition as you can get these days, with the Internet standing in for physical proximity, and TV shows and pop stars taking the place of gods and heroes. It's personal, and it's ours, and it's deeply satisfying-just how stories should be.
And that really pisses off some so-called professional writers, apparently.
In baseball, the worst thing you can say about a player is that he thinks he's above the game. These writers who rant against fan fiction-I think they believe they are Story. And that's where their outrage comes from. They're trying to jealously guard what was never, could never be exclusively theirs. As published authors, they see themselves as the only rightful storytellers, and they want us to remember our place, to be the audience, passive and receptive, with no ideas of our own.
To which I say: Get over yourself. You are not Story. In fact, you're just one of six billion storytellers who are alive on the planet right now. The fact that you write your stories down, and get paid for them, and maybe you're even exceptionally good at storytelling-none of that gives you some special ownership over something that's as old as humanity and as necessary as breathing.
*exhales* Okay. I feel better now.