The Very Nature of Fandom Itself
The other day I was talking with my boy about fandom, and I came upon some reasons he doesn't understand it in the least. I will try to reproduce them here, to the best of my ability.
It's disrespectful to the canon. It makes a Fandomer (one who actively reads, writes, participates in, runs, draws, looks at, compiles, or creats any sort of fan fiction, art, or work--for the purposes of this discussion) less of a dedicated fan, because we like the Canon (the original set of works, from the beginning of the first book to the end of the last book) AND we like the Fandom (the various works created by Fandomsers, as well as the community of Fandomers itself), therefore making us 50% dedicated to the Fandom and 50% to the Canon.
He seemed surprised to hear that we write fiction that takes place outside the span of the general seven years the books take place in, because that's when the books take place--the story is over, why do we care about the rest of it? I said Yes, the canon story is over; we make new stories. He also tried to find a scenario for a fanfic that I would consider to be "shitting all over the canon" or "disprespectful." Such as:
Harry becomes an alcoholic, abuses his wife and children, gets a divorce, has drunken, anonymous gay sex until he is either too old to get it up any longer OR he kills himself through alcohol poisoning OR he contracts some sort of STD which kills him.
And I said I don't believe that it's disrespectful. It does deviate wildly from the canon as it's assumed to be, and I wouldn't enjoy reading it, but there is a Back button and a "don't like, don't read" policy, and therefore as long as no one's forcing me to read it--well, somebody wrote it, didn't they, so someone will probably want to read it. In fact, it's probably out there already. He says well what if an outsider reads it and gets a bad opinion of fandom through that--like I did? I say well that's the outsider's problem, isn't it? He's not bothering ME about it any since I'm not in any way associated with that fic--I neither wrote it nor read it, and in fact I probably don't even know it exists outside the hypothetical possibility.
He (at another point in the conversation, I'm just jumping back and forth to write down as much as I can remember) mentions that some things are just wildly implausible (the way he says it indicates his belief that because we write, say, Harry/Draco, we are convinced H/D actually get it on during the canon) and don't we get offended by that? I say well it's not like the fic is just "oh em gee Harry fucked Draco in the butt yayz"--there is always going to be some justification. And that's what we love about it, those of us who love H/D, is making it work. It's hard, but it's worth it. On the other hand, we who love H/D are, I think, rarely attracted to pairings such as Ron/Hermione. We know that that pairing works, we know how it works, we read about it in the canon. That's good enough.
At yet another point, he asks me Well what if someone left a comment on a fic you had written in all seriousness saying "oh, haha, that was a completely AWESOME piece of crap, I can't believe you put the effort to actually write that down, as if that could ever happen, thanks for making me laugh"? I told him the truth: that that wouldn't happen. Here's why:
-I do not write outside a certain comfort zone. That comfort zone is well within the cofort zone of, I think it's safe to say, most of fandom.
-Even if there is a large portion of fandom--more than 50%--who does not share that comfort zone, 98% of the fandomers I interact with--the ones that have any chance of finding my fic--DO share that comfort zone.
-Because of the established parameters of that comfort zone, no one who reads my fic is going to believe that it's crack.
Well, what if someone did.
...I wouldn't care, I think; I'd have other commenters who loved it the way I meant it.
What if EVERYONE said it was crack?
Hello, see the above bulleted list.
Well, what if only one person commented?
There is a structure to my writing, loosely sumarized as Plot Bunny, Discussion With Wife, Writing, Roleplay With Wife, Editing, Sending To Beta (AKA Wife), and Publishing. I would already know, LONG before posting, that the idea was a sound one.
What if even she thought it was cracked out?
I know my wife, I know her taste pretty well, it's a lot like mine, She Wouldn't.
I will probably end up replying to your comments from his point of veiw as best I can--both to understand it better and to see how you respond. Not "as him"--I'll simply pretend I hold his veiw and argue it the best I can. In light of that, don't stop talking because you're disgusted with the ideas put forth in discussion; don't devolve into angry retorts and personal argument. I'm not doing this to prove him stupid or crazy; he's not. He's just far more mainstream than I am--than we are.
And if any of you can answer any of the following questions, please do:
1. Can you think of any fanwork that you would consider "wrong"--not a specific one, but a hypothetical one that you feel would constitute "shitting all over the original"? DO NOT include badfic or fic that is simply not to your tastes--I'm trying to find something that would be Truly Disrespectful. (The only thing I can think of is if one claimed one was JKR, or that she wrote it.)
2. Why do you participate in fandom? Why do you write? What's fun, what's so great about fandom?
ETA:
MoonriseShadows (11:24:43 PM): but yeah. He kept saying "bad fic"
MoonriseShadows (11:24:49 PM): and I kept thinking Badfic
MoonriseShadows (11:25:00 PM): but no, he meant well-written fic that was still jsut bad.
MoonriseShadows (11:25:13 PM): and I couldn't make him see that there is No Such Thing
MoonriseShadows (11:25:45 PM): There is well-written fic that I would not enjoy, but there is no such thing as well-written bad fic.
MoonriseShadows (11:26:03 PM): OH AND THE THING I FORGOT TO WRITE ABOUT
MoonriseShadows (11:26:14 PM): He thought it would be better if there were boundaries set!
MoonriseShadows (11:26:17 PM): Boundaries!
MoonriseShadows (11:26:33 PM): Like, don't make anything MORE wild than the canon, nothing MORE explicit
MoonriseShadows (11:26:43 PM): but also don't make anything LESS wild
MoonriseShadows (11:27:10 PM): no See Harry. See Harry Run. and no Harry's cock pumped in and out of Draco's arse, setting a desperate rhythm
It's disrespectful to the canon. It makes a Fandomer (one who actively reads, writes, participates in, runs, draws, looks at, compiles, or creats any sort of fan fiction, art, or work--for the purposes of this discussion) less of a dedicated fan, because we like the Canon (the original set of works, from the beginning of the first book to the end of the last book) AND we like the Fandom (the various works created by Fandomsers, as well as the community of Fandomers itself), therefore making us 50% dedicated to the Fandom and 50% to the Canon.
He seemed surprised to hear that we write fiction that takes place outside the span of the general seven years the books take place in, because that's when the books take place--the story is over, why do we care about the rest of it? I said Yes, the canon story is over; we make new stories. He also tried to find a scenario for a fanfic that I would consider to be "shitting all over the canon" or "disprespectful." Such as:
Harry becomes an alcoholic, abuses his wife and children, gets a divorce, has drunken, anonymous gay sex until he is either too old to get it up any longer OR he kills himself through alcohol poisoning OR he contracts some sort of STD which kills him.
And I said I don't believe that it's disrespectful. It does deviate wildly from the canon as it's assumed to be, and I wouldn't enjoy reading it, but there is a Back button and a "don't like, don't read" policy, and therefore as long as no one's forcing me to read it--well, somebody wrote it, didn't they, so someone will probably want to read it. In fact, it's probably out there already. He says well what if an outsider reads it and gets a bad opinion of fandom through that--like I did? I say well that's the outsider's problem, isn't it? He's not bothering ME about it any since I'm not in any way associated with that fic--I neither wrote it nor read it, and in fact I probably don't even know it exists outside the hypothetical possibility.
He (at another point in the conversation, I'm just jumping back and forth to write down as much as I can remember) mentions that some things are just wildly implausible (the way he says it indicates his belief that because we write, say, Harry/Draco, we are convinced H/D actually get it on during the canon) and don't we get offended by that? I say well it's not like the fic is just "oh em gee Harry fucked Draco in the butt yayz"--there is always going to be some justification. And that's what we love about it, those of us who love H/D, is making it work. It's hard, but it's worth it. On the other hand, we who love H/D are, I think, rarely attracted to pairings such as Ron/Hermione. We know that that pairing works, we know how it works, we read about it in the canon. That's good enough.
At yet another point, he asks me Well what if someone left a comment on a fic you had written in all seriousness saying "oh, haha, that was a completely AWESOME piece of crap, I can't believe you put the effort to actually write that down, as if that could ever happen, thanks for making me laugh"? I told him the truth: that that wouldn't happen. Here's why:
-I do not write outside a certain comfort zone. That comfort zone is well within the cofort zone of, I think it's safe to say, most of fandom.
-Even if there is a large portion of fandom--more than 50%--who does not share that comfort zone, 98% of the fandomers I interact with--the ones that have any chance of finding my fic--DO share that comfort zone.
-Because of the established parameters of that comfort zone, no one who reads my fic is going to believe that it's crack.
Well, what if someone did.
...I wouldn't care, I think; I'd have other commenters who loved it the way I meant it.
What if EVERYONE said it was crack?
Hello, see the above bulleted list.
Well, what if only one person commented?
There is a structure to my writing, loosely sumarized as Plot Bunny, Discussion With Wife, Writing, Roleplay With Wife, Editing, Sending To Beta (AKA Wife), and Publishing. I would already know, LONG before posting, that the idea was a sound one.
What if even she thought it was cracked out?
I know my wife, I know her taste pretty well, it's a lot like mine, She Wouldn't.
I will probably end up replying to your comments from his point of veiw as best I can--both to understand it better and to see how you respond. Not "as him"--I'll simply pretend I hold his veiw and argue it the best I can. In light of that, don't stop talking because you're disgusted with the ideas put forth in discussion; don't devolve into angry retorts and personal argument. I'm not doing this to prove him stupid or crazy; he's not. He's just far more mainstream than I am--than we are.
And if any of you can answer any of the following questions, please do:
1. Can you think of any fanwork that you would consider "wrong"--not a specific one, but a hypothetical one that you feel would constitute "shitting all over the original"? DO NOT include badfic or fic that is simply not to your tastes--I'm trying to find something that would be Truly Disrespectful. (The only thing I can think of is if one claimed one was JKR, or that she wrote it.)
2. Why do you participate in fandom? Why do you write? What's fun, what's so great about fandom?
ETA:
MoonriseShadows (11:24:43 PM): but yeah. He kept saying "bad fic"
MoonriseShadows (11:24:49 PM): and I kept thinking Badfic
MoonriseShadows (11:25:00 PM): but no, he meant well-written fic that was still jsut bad.
MoonriseShadows (11:25:13 PM): and I couldn't make him see that there is No Such Thing
MoonriseShadows (11:25:45 PM): There is well-written fic that I would not enjoy, but there is no such thing as well-written bad fic.
MoonriseShadows (11:26:03 PM): OH AND THE THING I FORGOT TO WRITE ABOUT
MoonriseShadows (11:26:14 PM): He thought it would be better if there were boundaries set!
MoonriseShadows (11:26:17 PM): Boundaries!
MoonriseShadows (11:26:33 PM): Like, don't make anything MORE wild than the canon, nothing MORE explicit
MoonriseShadows (11:26:43 PM): but also don't make anything LESS wild
MoonriseShadows (11:27:10 PM): no See Harry. See Harry Run. and no Harry's cock pumped in and out of Draco's arse, setting a desperate rhythm