Why We Fic: A completely unscientific poll.

[the_tenzo]

So, I can't help it. I'm a social scientist. I see people doing stuff (and we are inveterate stuff-doers, we humans, aren't we?) and I want to know why. Why that stuff and not this other stuff, why do the stuff now instead of later, and how do people feel about this stuff? I'm endlessly fascinated.

Diana Gabaldon's recent experience with Being

Comments

Ugh, gentle reader....

[the_tenzo]

Please ignore the typos in the above post. Lj-Polls is such a difficult and elusive creature, I'm afraid that if I tried to edit now, it'd all go kerblooey.

[_thirty2flavors]

I voted for to change the characters to be more like the way I want them to be but what I really mean is more that I like to use fanfic as a way to try and understand a character that I feel I don't understand very well, and oftentimes that winds up making me more fond of their canon counterpart.

[the_tenzo]

Excellent point!

I didn't give that box a tick, but in a way one of the reasons I write fanfic is to fiddle in little ways with established characterisation. Especially when you've got a character like the Doctor, who has been written by so many different people in "official" capacities, who is over 900 years old himself and changes his canon personality on a regular basis, I find it hard to arrive at one particular characterisation of him and say, "Yes, this is definitely what he is like, at all times." So, I've written him more alien at times, or more scary, or more silly-when I write I'm exploring that facet of his character and bringing it to the foreground. So I'm not changing his characterisation in a way to be more "like I want it to be" but I do change it around just to explore different facets of it.

[fid_gin]

I don't own Doctor Who, I don' t own those characters, I didn't make them up, and I'd never ever try and claim that I did (and, like, who'd even believe me?). I do, however, tend to plunk them into worlds and situations of my own design, and have them meet my own original creations. It's just a hobby. It's fun and keeps me off the streets. The Doctor Who franchise arguably owes is current existence to dedicated fans creating derivative works at a blistering pace, and some of those fans now run the show.Very well put. I had to check multiple boxes in both the "Why do you write" and "Why do you read" category, but ultimately it's because...well, dammit, I love these characters and I like to take them out and play with them! I like sticking them in the "What-if's" and I like imagining canon further as well - at the end of the day it's just good fun and it, I believe any way, doesn't hurt anybody. I'd never write RPF, I'd never share my fic with the real writers/PTB/actors, and I'd certainly never attempt to make any money off of it. I'm

[the_tenzo]

The hilarious part of the original blog posts (it was a somewhat well-known author of time-travel romances who also earnestly insists that her novels aren't romances) is that it, apparently, had never occurred to her that people write fanfic because they truly, honestly, and without malice, just love the characters and the books. It really seemed like she was thinking that people do it in order to be mean and nasty and steal her stuff for their own glory. It was an example of Just Not Getting It on a *massive* scale.

People pointed out where she was wrong, but her following posts, while she tried to tone down the hyperbole, just came off as really inelegant "I'm sorry if you thought I was being offensive, you over-sensitive loons." faux-pologies.

[10_point_5]

I didn't fill in the reading one but I think I mainly read to see where other people bring the characters to (emotionally speaking). And the free porn. It's also nice to see other people filling in the blanks in their own way. Point Two: I would never be put off reading or writing fic because an author disapproves - but they would go so far down in my estimation I might shy away from the canon and stick to ficland. It's hard to know because it hasn't happened to me, but if an author had written something that had gotten under my skin so far that I was writing fic about it and then they turned around and display that - despite the fact that they are a writer - they don't get what writing means or why it happens to anyone but them, it would tarnish my view of that wonderful work that had gotten under my skin in the first place.

Oy, I shouldn't be trying to express myself so early in the morning.

[apurplepatch]

if an author had written something that had gotten under my skin so far that I was writing fic about it and then they turned around and display that - despite the fact that they are a writer - they don't get what writing means or why it happens to anyone but them, it would tarnish my view of that wonderful work that had gotten under my skin in the first place.

THIS! And further, I've discovered fandom through crossovers before and then spent scads of money on buying books, complete series DVDs and other merch, but for the creator to misunderstand what fanfiction is so badly would discourage me from doing anything to encourage them to continue creating (eg buying their books or the show/movie DVDs).

[the_tenzo]

Diana Gabaldon behaved in such an atrocious way that I'm pretty much guaranteed to never pick up one of her books now. It might be different for an author who's just put a "No fanfic, please, thanks." policy in their FAQs and chose to not be obnoxious and ignorant about it.

I am happy to say, though, that my favourite author (Michael Chabon) has written fanfic himself, and published it (a Sherlock Holmes novella called The Final Solution), and, most importantly *calls it fanfic.* And I love him and his work all the more for that, because he does get it. He has also written several essays about the fannish impulse and fanfic. Also, he's a New Who fan :D

[wildwinterwitch]

I'd just like to add something regarding stopping to read and write fanfic if the author/creator disapproved of fanfic. I'd stop not because I'm such a law-abiding citizen. I'd stop if the reasons are feasible, and I'd stop because I don't think I'd enjoy playing in a world that is so exclusive -- because where does fanfic start? When you ask what-if questions and just answer them for yourself? When you discuss the book? At that point, the readers/viewers are engaged in the story beyond what's in the story -- and isn't that what books and films are about?

[the_tenzo]

Good points, all.

There is an element of "only approved people can engage with this work" for which "approved" means "went to school for it, got a degree and now get paid to do it in the agreed-upon, academic manner."

But, you know, I get to engage in a discourse with a work of art, too. So what if the best way that I know how to do that is to write fiction rather than an academic paper? And that I don't get paid for it?

Authors who don't recognise that I think need to move a bit beyond their ivory tower.