I forget sometimes...
...that in the "straight world" fan fiction is generally held to be something despicable or questionable or a negative reflection on you or a slur on your character for daring to engage in it.
You know, unlike using pr0nography or playing videogames or trolling on internet messageboards or the other questionable or childish things that preachy teenage dudes like to engage in.
It's been so long since I actually talked to anyone about fanfic who wasn't a fellow fanfic writer that I did actually forget there are people who make like Mary Whitehouse and reach for the hankies when confronted with its existence. I dunno, I think with the whole internet explosion, it's become so mainstream as to not raise eyebrows any more. It's actually kinda weird (and a good way) to be seen as somehow transgressive for it.
I mean, in general, it's been a pretty positive thing in my life. In that it is incredibly creative, and therefore much more satisfying than, say, pr0nography or videogames or other passively consumed entertainments. Not to mention wanting to talk about the things that fanfic has *got* me over the years - my site was reviewed in Rolling Stone, Sound On Sound <- both things I'm pretty proud of. And without my grounding in fanfic, in a rather roundabout and convoluted kind of way, I never would have ended up doing any music journalism, though we won't go into the details of that, to spare the innocent.
I suppose it's just funny, the way that the terms and concepts people use to insult you invariably say more about the user's prejudices and foibles than it ever does about you.
You know, unlike using pr0nography or playing videogames or trolling on internet messageboards or the other questionable or childish things that preachy teenage dudes like to engage in.
It's been so long since I actually talked to anyone about fanfic who wasn't a fellow fanfic writer that I did actually forget there are people who make like Mary Whitehouse and reach for the hankies when confronted with its existence. I dunno, I think with the whole internet explosion, it's become so mainstream as to not raise eyebrows any more. It's actually kinda weird (and a good way) to be seen as somehow transgressive for it.
I mean, in general, it's been a pretty positive thing in my life. In that it is incredibly creative, and therefore much more satisfying than, say, pr0nography or videogames or other passively consumed entertainments. Not to mention wanting to talk about the things that fanfic has *got* me over the years - my site was reviewed in Rolling Stone, Sound On Sound <- both things I'm pretty proud of. And without my grounding in fanfic, in a rather roundabout and convoluted kind of way, I never would have ended up doing any music journalism, though we won't go into the details of that, to spare the innocent.
I suppose it's just funny, the way that the terms and concepts people use to insult you invariably say more about the user's prejudices and foibles than it ever does about you.