*sigh*

[ourdramaqueen]

Mr. Morrison (who I don't know squat about, besides this article) makes a few good points and he does include a surprising amount of info about fan fiction and its variations, but they're pretty much outweighed by the boatload of errors and misconceptions his article is peppered with:

In the beginning, there was fan fiction: from the four gospels

Comments

[grondfic]

*sigh* this is The Guardian's attempt to convince us they're down and dirty with a 'new' phenomenon, I'm afraid. You might have noticed that the readers' comments are pretty stern about the errors.

My feeling was that Morrison thinks it's enough that he KNOWS about the existence of fanfic (and *gasp* slash, crossovers, MarySues etc.) to make us think he's an expert. Good luck with that, Mr Morrison.

(Hope all is well with you).

[ourdramaqueen]

Yeah, it seems many fan fic readers/writers found the article. I just hope that many readers will also take a peek at the comments - otherwise they'll get a very twisted image of fan fic!

Doing well, thank you - I do need to put together a personal update again!

[claudia603]

Ugh. I didn't read the article yet, as I'm crunched for time this morning, but what glaring errors! And the whole Fifty Shades thing irks me to no end. What a horrific example they have! :-p

[ourdramaqueen]

Indeed...

[frodosweetstuff]

Arrrrgh, arrrrggh, arrrgggh. The underlying attitude is horrible and eeep, the errors! Since when did slash include het? And nnngghhh, to write a great crossover is an art!

*sighs* I really wish someone somewhere would write a geat article about slash. :(((

[grondfic]

Well personally, I'm just as happy if the mainstream media leaves it alone.

OTOH, if someone does it around LJ, I'll read it with pleasure and join in the inevitable debate afterwards.

[frodosweetstuff]

I don't mind if they write about slash or not but if they do, I want it to be represented correctly.

Yay for slash debates... :)))

[ourdramaqueen]

Yeah. I doubt the 'mainstream' will ever truly get into it anyway, but if you write about something, please be accurate, and don't engage in armchair psychology!

[serenitysangel]

It's an interesting article to read even for someone like myself who doesn't like to fan fic. Hmmm...Will disagree about crossover fic and not just because back in the day we did it, but some crossover fic (not all mind) can be very well done and cleverly at that

[ourdramaqueen]

Yes, it's sad that the good points he has are overshadowed with these inaccuracies and misconceptions! It does, at the very least, seem he's one of the people who think that writing fan fic is less admirable than writing 'original' fiction.

I wonder how he sees writers for TV series (or novel based on them), who do play in established universes, after all - only they do it while getting paid by the creators. Are they not 'authors' too, even though they write about established characters? And what about works that have fallen back into the public domain - have their writers suddenly lost the status of 'author' along with the lapse of copyright, in his eyes?

It would be interesting to find out more about Mr. Morrison's motivation for writing this article. But I have lots of sorting and packing to do, so this mystery will have to remain unsolved!