the best defense is a good offense
I haven't done any of the "why I write fanfic" memes going around, because during the latest round of the usual kerfuffle, it's really struck me that, you know, we don't have to defend ourselves for this. Fanfic is part of the natural human storytelling impulse; it's been around since ancient times and will be around until we are no longer recognizably human. (And our need for narrative and connection is one of the elements that makes us recognizably human.) So, really, I had to pick apart why on earth anybody would object to anything so common and natural. This is what I pulled apart, least obnoxious to most:
1) "I am ill-informed about my legal rights as an author, plus remarkably unobservant of the non-impact of fanfic on copyright to date, and I therefore object to protect my work."
Unfortunate but inoffensive.
2) "Seeing other people playing with my characters just generally freaks me out."
As someone who has never been gutsy enough to sign up for Remix, honestly, I get this. If it gives you the heebie-jeebies, it does, and you can't always control your emotional reaction to something. Of course, the natural answer is: Simply don't read it. (Which is what most sensible writers in this category do.)
3) "Fanfic offends me aesthetically, because so much of it is bad."
I will bet anything that more than 90% of the people who espouse this sentiment have junk food in their pantries, unflattering jeans in their closets, non-ironic Successories posters hanging in their offices, and/or Michael Bey DVDs in their collection, but the subject turns to fanfic and suddenly they're Oscar fucking Wilde. Easily rebutted with the the "90% of EVERYTHING is crap" rule, plus too pathetic to get too irritated about.
4) "Fanfic won't teach you to be a REAL writer."
a. That is not why most people write fanfic. Writing can be something done purely for pleasure, and it need not aspire to publication to have merit.
(And isn't it weird that writing is the ONLY artistic pursuit that is somehow supposed to be off-limits to hobbyists? Nobody says that non-professional artists should stop sketching, or non-professional pianists should never again touch a keyboard. Nobody goes around saying that, because Lady Gaga exists, I cannot spray my hair into architectural peaks, put on an outfit made entirely of styrofoam cups and lip-synch to her music while dancing around my apartment.
Well, my downstairs neighbor says that, but for different reasons.)
b. Fanfic was my only fiction writing experience before I got published, and while it did not teach me everything I needed to know about writing original fiction, it taught me a lot. Whenever nonpubbed writers pull this one out, I want to add, "Writing fanfic seems to have taught me something that whatever you're doing hasn't taught you, sparky." But I don't, because I don't call people "sparky" lightly.
5) "But they will write PORN/SLASH about my characters and that is just FOUL."
If you think homosexuality is a slur, guess what? I'm NOT going to respect that opinion. It doesn't deserve respect. And if you think people fantasizing about your characters is a bad thing, you either have a really stunted idea of sexuality or very bad marketing instincts. Possibly both. Again, if you don't want to read it, don't. But believing that you can magically create some kind of vortex where nobody shall ever again have a naughty thought is the kind of folly usually reserved for Catholic schools.
6) "Fanfic will warp my readers' perceptions of my characters."
May I suggest writing stronger characters? Plus side for these folks: If you are writing characters so milquetoast that your development of them is so easily overcome, nobody is writing fanfic about them anyway.
And why do I find that one the most offensive? Because it gets to the core of the matter: People who object to fanfic essentially object to readers having their own feelings about the work. These are people who don't want readers; they want buyers. They think that being an author is about offering down word from On High, not about sharing an experience. But stories are always communal experiences, once we tell them, and it's foolishness to pretend otherwise. Decrying fanfic is about denying opinions. Any author who does that is operating from a place of profound narcissism and/or profound insecurity. (See cesperanza's rule for major truth about this.)
There's not much fanfic written about my books, but there is a little out there. (I honestly don't read it, less out of legal concerns and more because, you know, after writing the books, I've really spent a lot of time with those characters already. I read fanfic to relax, and fanfic of my own stuff would basically be like reviewing my workday. I would rather look for Will/Sue Gleefic, thanks.) I am so deeply thankful for what there is, and if the day ever comes when I see some of that -- some evidence that a handful of readers out there cared enough about the characters to take them into their minds and create their own stories -- and my only reaction is to sneer at someone's spelling? That's the day my love for storytelling has died.
1) "I am ill-informed about my legal rights as an author, plus remarkably unobservant of the non-impact of fanfic on copyright to date, and I therefore object to protect my work."
Unfortunate but inoffensive.
2) "Seeing other people playing with my characters just generally freaks me out."
As someone who has never been gutsy enough to sign up for Remix, honestly, I get this. If it gives you the heebie-jeebies, it does, and you can't always control your emotional reaction to something. Of course, the natural answer is: Simply don't read it. (Which is what most sensible writers in this category do.)
3) "Fanfic offends me aesthetically, because so much of it is bad."
I will bet anything that more than 90% of the people who espouse this sentiment have junk food in their pantries, unflattering jeans in their closets, non-ironic Successories posters hanging in their offices, and/or Michael Bey DVDs in their collection, but the subject turns to fanfic and suddenly they're Oscar fucking Wilde. Easily rebutted with the the "90% of EVERYTHING is crap" rule, plus too pathetic to get too irritated about.
4) "Fanfic won't teach you to be a REAL writer."
a. That is not why most people write fanfic. Writing can be something done purely for pleasure, and it need not aspire to publication to have merit.
(And isn't it weird that writing is the ONLY artistic pursuit that is somehow supposed to be off-limits to hobbyists? Nobody says that non-professional artists should stop sketching, or non-professional pianists should never again touch a keyboard. Nobody goes around saying that, because Lady Gaga exists, I cannot spray my hair into architectural peaks, put on an outfit made entirely of styrofoam cups and lip-synch to her music while dancing around my apartment.
Well, my downstairs neighbor says that, but for different reasons.)
b. Fanfic was my only fiction writing experience before I got published, and while it did not teach me everything I needed to know about writing original fiction, it taught me a lot. Whenever nonpubbed writers pull this one out, I want to add, "Writing fanfic seems to have taught me something that whatever you're doing hasn't taught you, sparky." But I don't, because I don't call people "sparky" lightly.
5) "But they will write PORN/SLASH about my characters and that is just FOUL."
If you think homosexuality is a slur, guess what? I'm NOT going to respect that opinion. It doesn't deserve respect. And if you think people fantasizing about your characters is a bad thing, you either have a really stunted idea of sexuality or very bad marketing instincts. Possibly both. Again, if you don't want to read it, don't. But believing that you can magically create some kind of vortex where nobody shall ever again have a naughty thought is the kind of folly usually reserved for Catholic schools.
6) "Fanfic will warp my readers' perceptions of my characters."
May I suggest writing stronger characters? Plus side for these folks: If you are writing characters so milquetoast that your development of them is so easily overcome, nobody is writing fanfic about them anyway.
And why do I find that one the most offensive? Because it gets to the core of the matter: People who object to fanfic essentially object to readers having their own feelings about the work. These are people who don't want readers; they want buyers. They think that being an author is about offering down word from On High, not about sharing an experience. But stories are always communal experiences, once we tell them, and it's foolishness to pretend otherwise. Decrying fanfic is about denying opinions. Any author who does that is operating from a place of profound narcissism and/or profound insecurity. (See cesperanza's rule for major truth about this.)
There's not much fanfic written about my books, but there is a little out there. (I honestly don't read it, less out of legal concerns and more because, you know, after writing the books, I've really spent a lot of time with those characters already. I read fanfic to relax, and fanfic of my own stuff would basically be like reviewing my workday. I would rather look for Will/Sue Gleefic, thanks.) I am so deeply thankful for what there is, and if the day ever comes when I see some of that -- some evidence that a handful of readers out there cared enough about the characters to take them into their minds and create their own stories -- and my only reaction is to sneer at someone's spelling? That's the day my love for storytelling has died.