I just read about Hugh Howey encouraging his fans not only to write fanfiction, but to SELL it -- despite not having put any licensing structure in place to make this explicitly legal, and despite his book now having a print publisher (Random House) and being optioned for a film.
I think this is a terrible idea (not his intent, but his execution of it), and potentially bad for fandom. I already wrote a long long piece about it, so I won't be writing about it for Meta May, but I'd really quite like to hear other people's opinions on this, especially people who are more active in fandom or more prolific fanfic readers/writers than I am. So, throwing the subject out there. :)
A closely related topic is the whole issue of serial-numbers-filed-off fanfic. I often feel a bit squicky about this, even though I know a lot of people do it and I've run into quite a few published stories that are very obviously derived from one fandom or another. I would love to read someone else's thoughts on it. *tosses meta plotbunny out into the wild*
Ooo, I would love to read people's thoughts on that, too! It's something that feels a bit off to me as well, but there's no real good reason I can pin down as to why people shouldn't do it....
Yeah, I know! It's particularly odd since I have no problem with fanfic at all, and the squickiness doesn't seem to be related to any legal issues pertaining to selling it as original fic -- it's just a deep-down feeling of weird. The closest I can come to explaining it is that it feels somehow like the serial-number-filed-off derivations are not owning their influences properly. Reading something that is obviously a John/Rodney fic, but with the character names changed to Bob and Rob, yet still acting/speaking/looking just like John and Rodney ... it's really uncomfortable for me. I can't manage to relate to them as original characters or as the fannish characters they're derived from, so I end up in this awkward in-between state
( ... )
Does meeting actors in person affect your ability to write about their characters? (This happened to me so badly with one actor that I can't even watch him in anything anymore; I can no longer separate the actor from the character. I'm not sure if I'm alone in this ...)
You're not alone! In fact, this makes me want to write about how working on a TV show or movie affects my ability to fan on it -- though that seems somewhat specific and maybe not so interesting to other people. ;) (It's really, really odd -- it's SO much harder for me to watch movies/TV I've worked on, I think because I can't suspend disbelief anymore.)
Edited to add: And I totally agree about Tumblr. Cannot for the life of me figure that platform out!
- Participating in fandom when you don't do any of the ordinary "creative" activities (writing fic, making art, making vids).
- Fandoms in which the definition of what constitutes "canon" is kind of slippery - for example, when there are books and movies, or comics and a TV show, or webisodes to supplement the regular episodes.
- Staying in touch with long-distance fandom friends. Or: keeping in touch with people who have dropped out of LJ/DW or no longer participate in fandom.
- Fix-it fiction: an exploration into "this is what should have happened!" versus "this is what I wanted to happen!" and (if possible) how to tell the difference. It's something I'd been thinking about a lot with my current fandom, because while the show was far from perfect I often felt that what people condemned as a horrible mistake on the show-writer's part was, in fact, fans frustrated over not getting what they wanted. I'd tackle this one myself, but I'm afraid I'd end up getting overly opinionated about it :/
This one is especially tempting, since I've seen so much of this in so many fandoms over the years, and it can vary from the "What if X happened instead of Y?" approach to the more worrisome (and, to me, rather entitled) "X shouldn't have happened so here's Y happening" formula. I'm all for AUs and "Turn Left" sort of stories where the author explores other paths not taken, but some authors just seem to have this really inflated sense of what's right for the story and what isn't, and end up writing the kind of fic where the reader can feel the nerd fury radiating, for lack of a better way to describe it. It's always been a bit of a headache for me and especially now, since it's a major thing in my current main fandom. Though I think I, too, would have a hard time refraining from being overly opinionated.
I would love to see someone discuss it. Because, yeah, as enjoyable as stories are that explore other possibilities, labeling it as a "fix-it" fic has often made me squirm a little. It's more the concept of something needing fixed than the fic itself, because where does "actual plot issue" end and "personal opinion presented as fact" begin? And it really tends not to sit well with me when fans begin to act like they know better than the author or show creators, all the more so when a fix-it story ends up being worse than the actual situation or episode the story was trying to fix.
(I also think it's something that happens to fanfic writers as well, because you'll sometimes get comments where the reader praises your story but then goes on to say that it would have been even better if you had done ABC as well, or XYZ instead, and then seem to expect you to actually make the changes even with the story said and done).
Same poster as above, on an RP account...blackjewelmaleApril 30 2013, 23:18:24 UTC
Indeed: I generally have an "if it ain't broke, don't fix it" approach toward canon, and while I'll admit, there were things in canon that had me scratching my head with one hand while reaching for my notebook to jot some fic ideas, by and large, I think it's not really healthy for a fan to think they "know better" than the canon creators. That, in my experience tends to lead to wankery and in one case that I can think of, massive amounts of Fan Dumb.
I've had similar things happen to me and the cases were egregious and head-tilt-inducing (if not facepalm-inducing): in one instance, I had a medieval broadsword as Plot Coupon in one story, and one reviewer told me I should have made it a katana because "katanas r kewler". Or when I wrote fics for X/Y pairing and I've been told it should have been an X/Z fic!
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I think this is a terrible idea (not his intent, but his execution of it), and potentially bad for fandom. I already wrote a long long piece about it, so I won't be writing about it for Meta May, but I'd really quite like to hear other people's opinions on this, especially people who are more active in fandom or more prolific fanfic readers/writers than I am. So, throwing the subject out there. :)
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A closely related topic is the whole issue of serial-numbers-filed-off fanfic. I often feel a bit squicky about this, even though I know a lot of people do it and I've run into quite a few published stories that are very obviously derived from one fandom or another. I would love to read someone else's thoughts on it. *tosses meta plotbunny out into the wild*
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You're not alone! In fact, this makes me want to write about how working on a TV show or movie affects my ability to fan on it -- though that seems somewhat specific and maybe not so interesting to other people. ;) (It's really, really odd -- it's SO much harder for me to watch movies/TV I've worked on, I think because I can't suspend disbelief anymore.)
Edited to add: And I totally agree about Tumblr. Cannot for the life of me figure that platform out!
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- Participating in fandom when you don't do any of the ordinary "creative" activities (writing fic, making art, making vids).
- Fandoms in which the definition of what constitutes "canon" is kind of slippery - for example, when there are books and movies, or comics and a TV show, or webisodes to supplement the regular episodes.
- Staying in touch with long-distance fandom friends. Or: keeping in touch with people who have dropped out of LJ/DW or no longer participate in fandom.
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(I also think it's something that happens to fanfic writers as well, because you'll sometimes get comments where the reader praises your story but then goes on to say that it would have been even better if you had done ABC as well, or XYZ instead, and then seem to expect you to actually make the changes even with the story said and done).
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I've had similar things happen to me and the cases were egregious and head-tilt-inducing (if not facepalm-inducing): in one instance, I had a medieval broadsword as Plot Coupon in one story, and one reviewer told me I should have made it a katana because "katanas r kewler". Or when I wrote fics for X/Y pairing and I've been told it should have been an X/Z fic!
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