Fanfic vs. Original fic - REDUX
I may have to blog about this on my real life blog too, SUCH WAS THE DEPTH OF MY THOUGHTS.
I was thinking more about this whole fanfic vs original fic thing today and I just... I have DEEP THOUGHTS! because I feel like fanfic can be in some ways like experimental art - you try something, it works and WHOO! or it doesn't work and so you go back and tweak it just a little and then put it out there again!
Or you see something you like and you think, huh. I'm going to try that! Maybe you want to try something so similar to what you read that you email the original author [as in the fandom author] and you ask for permission. I've YET to meet one person that hasn't been granted permission to play in someone else's playground. Other fandom authors are usually "HEY! you liked it? You wanna play around?? HAVE AT IT, I'M SO HAPPY YOU LIKED IT!"
If you get really lucky, someone in fandom podfics your stuff, or makes art for it or just leaves you a comment with a heart sign and some hugs.
or maybe you write a song fic or a second person POV fic or a haiku, or gif!fic [which honestly, is an ART - some people can put ENTIRE STORIES In a few select gifs]. Or maybe you put the SAME THING in every story [like me and my 'bed sharing before they get together' kink - srsly, EVERY FIC I CAN GET IT INTO.] and instead of it being like "GET THE TORCHES! SHE PUT THE SAME THING IN EVERY BOOK! STORM THE CASTLE!!" fandom is like "SQUEEE NEW FIC FROM MY AUTHOR WHO ALWAYS PUTS BEDSHARING IN ZOMG I LOVE IT SO MUUUUUUUCHHHHHHH" or fandom "Oh, that Zoe! Always putting bedsharing in, god bless."
Or! on tumblr I see someone puts an idea out there and someone else likes it and then they blog two friends and they blog two friends and before you know it... BAM! fandom creates an entire subset based on this person's ideas and it's grown and people are EXCITED and happy and creative and it's like whoa.
but you don't get those chances in 'original' fic. I put the 'original' in quotes now because on the car ride home I was like... omg. Is it original? or are we all only following the same acceptable rules - A happens, then B then C and then D. The End. and only in fandom are we truly allowed to express ourselves how we see fit.
Plus, yanno. Porn! Although honestly, I hesitate to even bring the porn up because it's the least of the reasons I read fanfic. I was explaining to someone who wasn't in fanfic why I like it and I was like, "There's just so much passion out there. and I don't mean the porn, I mean about how people FEEL about their writing, about other people's writing. Even when the writing is bad, I can see that heart and that spirit and that makes me keep reading. But the writing can be SUPERB and when it's combined with that level of heart and intensity.... I just don't see that in original, commercial fic. Or at least, very rarely."
I'd love anyone's feedback or thoughts on this.
I was thinking more about this whole fanfic vs original fic thing today and I just... I have DEEP THOUGHTS! because I feel like fanfic can be in some ways like experimental art - you try something, it works and WHOO! or it doesn't work and so you go back and tweak it just a little and then put it out there again!
Or you see something you like and you think, huh. I'm going to try that! Maybe you want to try something so similar to what you read that you email the original author [as in the fandom author] and you ask for permission. I've YET to meet one person that hasn't been granted permission to play in someone else's playground. Other fandom authors are usually "HEY! you liked it? You wanna play around?? HAVE AT IT, I'M SO HAPPY YOU LIKED IT!"
If you get really lucky, someone in fandom podfics your stuff, or makes art for it or just leaves you a comment with a heart sign and some hugs.
or maybe you write a song fic or a second person POV fic or a haiku, or gif!fic [which honestly, is an ART - some people can put ENTIRE STORIES In a few select gifs]. Or maybe you put the SAME THING in every story [like me and my 'bed sharing before they get together' kink - srsly, EVERY FIC I CAN GET IT INTO.] and instead of it being like "GET THE TORCHES! SHE PUT THE SAME THING IN EVERY BOOK! STORM THE CASTLE!!" fandom is like "SQUEEE NEW FIC FROM MY AUTHOR WHO ALWAYS PUTS BEDSHARING IN ZOMG I LOVE IT SO MUUUUUUUCHHHHHHH" or fandom "Oh, that Zoe! Always putting bedsharing in, god bless."
Or! on tumblr I see someone puts an idea out there and someone else likes it and then they blog two friends and they blog two friends and before you know it... BAM! fandom creates an entire subset based on this person's ideas and it's grown and people are EXCITED and happy and creative and it's like whoa.
but you don't get those chances in 'original' fic. I put the 'original' in quotes now because on the car ride home I was like... omg. Is it original? or are we all only following the same acceptable rules - A happens, then B then C and then D. The End. and only in fandom are we truly allowed to express ourselves how we see fit.
Plus, yanno. Porn! Although honestly, I hesitate to even bring the porn up because it's the least of the reasons I read fanfic. I was explaining to someone who wasn't in fanfic why I like it and I was like, "There's just so much passion out there. and I don't mean the porn, I mean about how people FEEL about their writing, about other people's writing. Even when the writing is bad, I can see that heart and that spirit and that makes me keep reading. But the writing can be SUPERB and when it's combined with that level of heart and intensity.... I just don't see that in original, commercial fic. Or at least, very rarely."
I'd love anyone's feedback or thoughts on this.