The Fangirl's Call to Arms
I have a confession to make: I’m a fangirl. A massive fangirl, in fact, especially where it comes to Sherlock and Doctor Who. As such, I read fanfiction. Rather a lot of fanfiction. And perhaps it’s just me, but I am really, really tired of feeling like I can’t share my hobby with my friends, like if I say I’m reading fic then I’ll be disdained for it, like I’m one of “those girls” because I like to see my favorite characters in different (and yes, often sexy) situations. I’m tired of evading answering when asked what I’m reading, or hearing people say “oh,” when I answer honestly. One of my favorite pieces of philosophy, something that strongly influenced my own ideas on the soul and the nature of the self, was a My Little Pony fic - Friendship is Optimal: Caelum est Conterrens. I want to be able to discuss what I learned from that, but I feel like I can’t because I’ll be laughed out of the room if I mention ponies. Yes, I can talk about all of these things online, in communities of other fans, but I’m talking about the so-called real world, and trying to share my passion with my friends. That’s the thing - I’m not ashamed of being a fangirl or reading fanfic, but sometimes I feel like I should be, and it’s absolutely ridiculous.
It’s ridiculous because in actuality, fanfiction - here defined as original works created using another author’s settings and/or characters - is one of the oldest literary traditions. Legend, mythology, and the entire oral tradition are fan-created - no one knows who invented Zeus, or Thor, or Sleeping Beauty, but we happily re-use them and create new stories about them. The Iliad and the Odyssey are Greek Mythology fanfic, as is Percy Jackson. Arthurian legend is no different - Lancelot and Guinevere were added centuries after the original legends, and we still retell the stories today. Paradise Lost is a lovely piece of Bible fanfiction, and it popularized one of the most enduring pieces of fanon - the Fall of Lucifer, which has been used in a thousand derivative works from Supernatural to Reaper to Good Omens. (No, beyond a single paragraph that can be very loosely interpreted as a reference, that isn't in the Bible at all. It surprised me, too.) Once Upon a Time is a massive crossover, combining numerous fairy tales with Frankenstein and probably others that I've missed. Shakespeare himself would have been arrested for copyright infringement several times over, were he writing today. Sherlock Holmes is the most adapted series of all time - by now, there’s more official Sherlock Holmes material that isn't Arthur Conan Doyle’s than there is in his entire body of work. All the internet really did was give people a forum in which to spread their art and make amazing things.
All the best fiction stays in your head when it’s over. It makes you want to see more - to write the next story. Fanfiction is a celebration, a creative outpouring no less significant or powerful than “original” media, much of which borrows more than it realizes. It’s not all lovely, of course - for every Methods of Rationality or Life Less Extraordinary there’s a My Immortal or a Cupcakes - but that’s just life. Every medium has its fair share of drivel, and the downside to easy publishing is that it’s still easy for idiots. That in no way diminishes what people can and do create.
There is a difference between originality - the creation of something wholly new - and creativity - combining old ideas to make something new. Every idea comes from somewhere, to the extent that creativity is much more common than genuine originality - and that's fine. If anyone actually tried to write a completely original work, with no tropes and nothing owed to what came before, then the result would be so avant-garde that there would be nothing in it that was recognizably a story.
Fanfiction is certainly more creative than original, but overall the distinction between internet fanfiction and "original" media is blurred at best and often nonexistent or purely monetary, enforced by frankly outdated copyright law. I refuse to be ashamed of what I read, because there is nothing to be ashamed of, and there never was.
It’s ridiculous because in actuality, fanfiction - here defined as original works created using another author’s settings and/or characters - is one of the oldest literary traditions. Legend, mythology, and the entire oral tradition are fan-created - no one knows who invented Zeus, or Thor, or Sleeping Beauty, but we happily re-use them and create new stories about them. The Iliad and the Odyssey are Greek Mythology fanfic, as is Percy Jackson. Arthurian legend is no different - Lancelot and Guinevere were added centuries after the original legends, and we still retell the stories today. Paradise Lost is a lovely piece of Bible fanfiction, and it popularized one of the most enduring pieces of fanon - the Fall of Lucifer, which has been used in a thousand derivative works from Supernatural to Reaper to Good Omens. (No, beyond a single paragraph that can be very loosely interpreted as a reference, that isn't in the Bible at all. It surprised me, too.) Once Upon a Time is a massive crossover, combining numerous fairy tales with Frankenstein and probably others that I've missed. Shakespeare himself would have been arrested for copyright infringement several times over, were he writing today. Sherlock Holmes is the most adapted series of all time - by now, there’s more official Sherlock Holmes material that isn't Arthur Conan Doyle’s than there is in his entire body of work. All the internet really did was give people a forum in which to spread their art and make amazing things.
All the best fiction stays in your head when it’s over. It makes you want to see more - to write the next story. Fanfiction is a celebration, a creative outpouring no less significant or powerful than “original” media, much of which borrows more than it realizes. It’s not all lovely, of course - for every Methods of Rationality or Life Less Extraordinary there’s a My Immortal or a Cupcakes - but that’s just life. Every medium has its fair share of drivel, and the downside to easy publishing is that it’s still easy for idiots. That in no way diminishes what people can and do create.
There is a difference between originality - the creation of something wholly new - and creativity - combining old ideas to make something new. Every idea comes from somewhere, to the extent that creativity is much more common than genuine originality - and that's fine. If anyone actually tried to write a completely original work, with no tropes and nothing owed to what came before, then the result would be so avant-garde that there would be nothing in it that was recognizably a story.
Fanfiction is certainly more creative than original, but overall the distinction between internet fanfiction and "original" media is blurred at best and often nonexistent or purely monetary, enforced by frankly outdated copyright law. I refuse to be ashamed of what I read, because there is nothing to be ashamed of, and there never was.