The enemy's gate is down.

[fox1013]

So if you read the article about fanfic from the Wall Street Journal yesterday, you perhaps noticed many things! Most of which I will not talk about, because I'm... tired of fandom being seen as this monolithic entity full of the worst stereotypes of what we are, and/or an extraordinary freak happenstance, like a solar eclipse where two white dudes

Comments

[nrrrdy_grrrl]

Fanfic has no more cause to be individuated in some situstions than any other genre of literature. There are situations in which simplicity is prudent in this regard. Newness is exactly such a situation. Recognition for such a phenomenon is a process rather than a single event; the history of literature bears this out. We are no more beyond this truism than ay other literary or artistic movement.

[fox1013]

But with each of those other genres, too, fans and people who have engaged with it for ages are angry at the coverage. It may make sense for the newspaper to give that kind of overview, but it also makes sense for those of us within the community to talk about what we think is unfair in that portrayal. And that's normally what ultimately pushes the conversation in more nuanced directions.

[nrrrdy_grrrl]

Certainly. But we've been having nuanced conversations within a literary ghetto for decades and there is a great danger of being both elitist and self-congratulatory, neither of which is an end in and of itself.

And fairness is not really an issue at hand in this situation. I don't expect subtle literary discernment from an article about commercial success in a widely-read finance periodical.

And in the matter of an underground or non-traditional creative movement (think dadaism or Bebop) at the very start of breaching a wider commercial arena, it's realistic to assume outsiders will be unprepared to grasp nuanced distinctions that are so obvious to us. They are seeing what we know intimately. It is not a single even but a process that takes places gradually. The boldest are not always going to be the best- as this novel is not.

It doesn't have to be.

IMHO all it has to do to earn my grudging respect is kick open a door. It has. Now the rest of the story is up to us.

Let's invade- as all good barbarians would.

xo

[electricmayhem]

Wow, Orson Scott Card, WOW. He is such a giant slimeball! Also, I got about 2 sentences into that article and had to stop, because there is nothing that enrages/squicks me out more than non-fandomers trying to explain fandom and fanfiction to the general masses and making us all look like weirdos and freaks.

[nrrrdy_grrrl]

Frankly I find it vindicating to see douchebags publicly eat their own words. I am still feeling smug about Anne Rice who was once such an enemy of slash that she sicced the full weight of her publisher's legal staff on unsuspecting fans. Now she admits to slashing the Bible.

Delicious.

[fox1013]

The thing about being part of the community is that you- at least, I- forget that it's in any way odd or out of the mainstream. It's what I've always done. When they hold it up as an outlier I get straight-up confused. I don't fully understand casual non-fannish media engagement. WHY AREN'T THEY THE SUBJECT OF ANALYTICAL ARTICLES?

[shihadchick]

I just caught and hung on the bit suggesting that Sony PAID for One Direction fanfic. I just. Wait. What? I'm torn between trying to find out if that's actually true and desperately not wanting to know.

[fox1013]

CROLING

[haplessweasel]

This is a minor point, but the article's definition of futurefic is a totally different thing from what people actually mean by futurefic. There's is like, "And then suddenly there were flying cars!" which I wish was a thing in fic now.

[fox1013]

DO YOU THINK WE COULD CONSPIRE TO MAKE THAT TRUE?

[haplessweasel]

I AM CERTAIN THAT WE COULD.

Step one: find every fic labeled futurefic and leave a comment that says "But where are the flying cars?"

[misura]

Regardless of anything else the man may have said, I think that quote is kind of awesome. And while there may be some money to be made by putting out that anthology, offering other people a chance to get published officially by writing stories set in his universe still sounds pretty cool.

[fox1013]

I just feel like I can't separate out everything he's said from this. And, given that he's so opposed to- and outspoken about being opposed to- LGBTQ relationships, it just feels to me like he's inviting people to play in his sandbox, but only as long as they follow HIS rules and play the games HE wants to play and if not he's taking his ball and going home.