Comments | snsd_ffa: The Good Ship SNSD: Fanfiction, part 1

arbitrary_greay in snsd_ffa

The Good Ship SNSD: Fanfiction, part 1

Nov 10, 2010 01:40

Yes, you read that right. Part 1. Because I recently discovered some articles(courtesy of R and Jko) that might do all of our discussing for us. D:
But I did this damn idol fic writers survey a month ago, so you're going to get selected answers whether you want them or not, dammit.

( Full disclosure of answers(but not identities) available by PM )

*meta, *open thread, *weekly feature, *interview

Comments 12

just_keep_on November 10 2010, 13:41:26 UTC

I'll comment on the answers a bit later, but I wanted to drop these two links off before I lost them forever:

An open letter to professional writers who are uncomfortable with fanfic
This is in regards to fanfics about books, but a quick skim of the answers in the first section show that most consider idols as characters - at least, their idol persona. Things get a little squicky and also more tricky when trying to extrapolate their "true" persona. I just thought this post would be interesting if applied to idols.

Writing against the tide of fannish assumptions
Writing is a community, but fanfiction is almost like a cult XD This post talks about the creation of fanon and going against it. SNSD has its own fanon, particularly each of the pairings. It seems fanon can be good and bad (judging from some of the pet peeves listed).

Moar later~ And thanks AG for compiling these!

just_keep_on November 10 2010, 22:04:20 UTC

What would also have been interesting was to see how long each participant had been reading/writing fanfic and been in idol fandom, mostly because it seems like the participants have been in fanfiction and/or idol fandom for a couple months (which is pretty much all you need to understand idol fandom, I'd say). It would be interesting to see the mindset of brand new fans and if they even think about these things at all (and why).

How do you view original fiction/fanfiction/RPF vs idol fic? ...- Fanfiction as libel: I've always wondered about this. I mean, there are authors that have prohibited people from writing fanfiction for their work (btw, can someone enlighten me as to how do they do this?) but has there ever been a celebrity who's said: "Thou shalt not write fanfic about me"? Or is it just something they shelve under the "gossip/tabloid fodder" category ( ... )

arbitrary_greay November 11 2010, 00:43:21 UTC

The links you and R gave me mostly answer all of these questions. XD I'll probably put up part 2 on Saturday. And likely steal these questions for picking excerpts~

Is a fan's knowledge...
Writer I's response to question 1: "The closer I get to a band, the harder it gets for me to do it.[write fanfic for them] It feels violating, like I'm making them do things against their will?"

just_keep_on November 11 2010, 19:00:30 UTC

I personally think it's an inverse relationship - you don't see a lot of 'older' fans (not in age, but in length of time in idol fandom) writing fanfic, or at least as profusely as they used to. A lot of fanfics are written by newbie fans, which is also why the quality isn't so great.

Can we also put this to idol fandom as a whole? Is it it harder to be fans of an idol the more we know about them and the lives they lead?

Also, is this something that occurs only in idol fandom? Or can we not make that conclusion since fandoms like anime have only have limited information on their characters?

Thread 6

greywing November 11 2010, 02:57:27 UTC

What was the total number of authors surveyed, AG?

Like JKO, I also raised an eyebrow at this:

J: [. . .] I’ve read original fiction[fanfiction?] and the only thing that I can comment on is the limitations. The characters and the settings are already present (i.e. they live in thisplacenearsomewhere with theirfriendswhohappentohavesuperpowers) and there’s not much to work with unless one strips them of such identities. I don’t see the point in doing that, though. With idol fiction, I guess it’s more interesting because one can write about them being their idol selves or put in them in an alternate universe (AU).

AU fanfiction for fictional works is very, very prevalent and--if written well--doesn't require "stripping" the characters of their identities, especially if the source material provided fleshed out characters to begin with. AUs, in whatever fanfic form, often try to get at the core of what makes a character. Nature vs. nurture arguments tend to get bundled up in there too, as circumstances engender different reactions and ( ... )

... I think I rambled a lot about nothing DX just_keep_on November 11 2010, 19:20:18 UTC

Nature vs. nurture arguments tend to get bundled up in there too, as circumstances engender different reactions and experiences.
I totally love you for this statement XD!!! For me, that's what makes AUs so great and what sets apart good writers from the great ones. Also, OMG, I've never read Trials and Errors before!!!!!! Holy cow that's going to take a long time to read... 8DDD!

That's interesting. I find it more difficult to write as I get more involved in the fandom, i.e. with other fans--like something is expected of me.
That's the pressure I was referring to in my comment. All writers get that pressure, but I think it's even worse on the internet.

Really? JKO, have I stolen your writing style? I apologize.
I don't apologize for 'stealing' yours xP (like I could -_-;)

...it becomes more about the style and popularity than about these idols we love and obsess over.I think the visual aspect of fanfiction is something writers defintely can take into account, but it should be something that complements a piece, not as a ( ... )

Re: ... I think I rambled a lot about nothing DX greywing November 11 2010, 21:33:07 UTC

Remember when all fanfic seemed like whomping epics . . . and were published as .txt files? Hosmer was definitely from that era. XD (Man, I feel old. These are all the fanfics I grew up with and when I see them tagged as "Completed in 1998" or thereabouts, I pause.)

That's the pressure I was referring to in my comment. All writers get that pressure, but I think it's even worse on the internet.

In my case, it's mostly self-inflicted pressure, since I don't even interact with the fandom! LOL

I don't apologize for 'stealing' yours xP (like I could -_-;)

Don't do it! Stay away from the purple prose!

As for the writers starting to sound like each other, that's another example of the community of fanfiction, how close it is - in the published literary world, there are definitely authors who take cues from other authors, are inspired by other authors' styles and incorporate them into their own. Compared to that world, fanfiction, especially for a certain fandom, is much smaller, hence writers can very quickly start to sound like each ( ... )

My head is like ... weird. just_keep_on November 13 2010, 20:43:37 UTC

Dude, .txt files were the shit! XDDD And having to count out the number of characters in each line... Kids got it easy these days XD But man, those fic were awesome *___*

I don't think there's that similarity in style anymore - it used to be around, but none of those authors are writing anymore, it seems (or I can't remember what their LJs were or something). I agree that fanon goes around a lot faster. I think the problem with the style copying was that writers started to copy those styles but it wasn't written very well.

I think the content - the story itself - should always be the strongest part. I mean, without a story, who the hell cares about style? It's like a mannequin with pretty clothes.

About changing characterizations: would you say that these new characterizations are being represented by new writers vs. older writers adjusting their understandingI'd say both, though I would assume that older writers draw on the 'history' since they 'lived through it' ... That doesn't much make sense when I type it out like that ( ... )

Thread 6