I've come to a conclusion :)
I'M POSTING THIS HERE TOO, AS WELL AS musicessay, BECAUSE I WANTED YOU GUYS TO KNOW MY DECISION AS WELL.
If you don't have me on Twitter, you probably don't know how much I've been /agonizing/ about whether or not I should continue writing fanfiction. I don't want this to be some big suspense post, so yes, I've decided I will continue :) And I'd also like to apologize profusely for once again dropping of the map. If that's all you wanted to hear from me, then just skip the rest of this post, it's basically my reasons for stopping and how I plan to continue!
So, a few months ago, I stumbled upon a post about "Real Person FF or RPF" and I curiously took a peak at it. To be honest, I'd never even heard the term before. I've just thought of my stories as fanfiction, never really the specifics. But in this detailed article, there was a lot of dissing going on. Even the comments were generally unfriendly. They were calling the writers "overly-obsessed" fans who had nothing better to do with their time. Weirdos, freaks, creepy. "It's like they're so obsessed with their fandom, they want to live out their fantasies through creepy stories." "They don't even have the singers/actors/athletes permission, and I bet if any of them read it, they'd be so freaked out. It's without their consent, how disrespectful can you be." "But they're /real/ people. Ew."
It really got to me actually. Was I creepy for writing these stories? RPF is generally considered lower than actual fanfiction, and apparently even people who write fanfiction look down on us. I'd never thought I was harming anyone. Besides, my celebrities can't even speak my language, so how would they even stumble upon it? But it really stuck, was I freak? They are /real/ people with real feelings and real beliefs. And I'm pairing them with their friends. I don't even know them. Even now, I feel a little bad. But, I've decided to continue with a different mindset.
POINT FORM BECAUSE I'M TOO LAZY TO GO INTO DETAIL.
If you don't have me on Twitter, you probably don't know how much I've been /agonizing/ about whether or not I should continue writing fanfiction. I don't want this to be some big suspense post, so yes, I've decided I will continue :) And I'd also like to apologize profusely for once again dropping of the map. If that's all you wanted to hear from me, then just skip the rest of this post, it's basically my reasons for stopping and how I plan to continue!
So, a few months ago, I stumbled upon a post about "Real Person FF or RPF" and I curiously took a peak at it. To be honest, I'd never even heard the term before. I've just thought of my stories as fanfiction, never really the specifics. But in this detailed article, there was a lot of dissing going on. Even the comments were generally unfriendly. They were calling the writers "overly-obsessed" fans who had nothing better to do with their time. Weirdos, freaks, creepy. "It's like they're so obsessed with their fandom, they want to live out their fantasies through creepy stories." "They don't even have the singers/actors/athletes permission, and I bet if any of them read it, they'd be so freaked out. It's without their consent, how disrespectful can you be." "But they're /real/ people. Ew."
It really got to me actually. Was I creepy for writing these stories? RPF is generally considered lower than actual fanfiction, and apparently even people who write fanfiction look down on us. I'd never thought I was harming anyone. Besides, my celebrities can't even speak my language, so how would they even stumble upon it? But it really stuck, was I freak? They are /real/ people with real feelings and real beliefs. And I'm pairing them with their friends. I don't even know them. Even now, I feel a little bad. But, I've decided to continue with a different mindset.
POINT FORM BECAUSE I'M TOO LAZY TO GO INTO DETAIL.
- Writing stories is fun. I /love/ to write. I have no plans to become an author or journalist or anything, but I immensely enjoy the relief that writing brings me. It's my own personal outlet.
- I don't believe my oppas are really dating. I guess it could classify as my own fantasies. But to be honest, they're really just stories.
- I'm too lazy to create my own "world". I don't plan on becoming an author, as I said before, so I don't plan on having to learn character creation and other such things. This is only just fun.
- It brings me closer to fandom. It's really hard for me, believe it or not, to befriend people in fanfiction without a legitimate reason. Writing my stories allows me to connect to other fans, who are just as sane as I am, that enjoy fangirling with me.
- They will never read this. They won't. It's never going to happen honestly, and I don't want them to read this. This is my own personal way of fangirling.
- I don't even honestly think about them when I write. It's almost like they are characters to me. The real people I see in interviews and varity shows, they don't even connect to my stories. I don't even relate them to one another. I respect them as people, and even though most of them have no problem with fanfiction as far as I know, I have never meant to offend anyone. The characters share the same name, and I suppose personalities (though I don't believe the oppas are exactly the way they act on television), but my charcters are just that, characters.
- I will continue to write. But I plan on writing plot stories. PWP is fun sometimes, but I feel as if sometimes I'm dumbing myself down as a writer. I've had so many plot ideas for a long time, but PWP is what people like, so I'm guilty of heeding to the reader. If nobody reads once I switch to plots, at least my conscience will be clear.