Fanfic writers - SHORT POLL QUESTION
Aug. 8th, 2006 01:04 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
timepiececlockI've been reading some interesting stuff about fanfiction today. I read a great deal of stuff about the "Cassie Claire Is A Plaigarist" wank, and had to quit at part VIII of the timeline archive because it was just that long and messy. Right now I'm reading this article and its predecessor, and for the most part I'm finding them fair and enjoyable, if a bit on the shallow side information-wise.
In reading some of the CC wank stuff, which featured quotes about fanfic from various authors (particularly fantasy), I was left wondering if there was a giant list somewhere that maybe showed how a lot of the more famous authors feel about fanfic. I know the obvious ones like Anne Rice and JKR, but if the article I linked above is true and some professional authors are/have been fanfic writers themselves, I'd love to read various opinions present by them with regards to the issue.
The article I linked also says this about fanfic, which I admit applies to me as well:
"I was fifteen years old when I invented the genre of fan fiction, a form of writing where the author takes characters or universes created by someone else and writes stories about them. ... ... ... Fifteen was also the year I attended my first convention, where I learned that fan fiction had thrived for years before me."
Although for me it was more like 14 and I discovered fanfic through a Sailor Moon fan website and not a convention, the experience was basically identical: when I wrote my first fanfic I didn't even realize I was entering myself into a long-standing fandom tradition. I just had this mental image that I *had* to write down. That urge to write the next step after the credits closed. It wasn't until a while later that I stumbled upon internet fanfic and it clicked in my brain. In many ways I've never felt guilt about the "allure" of the internet and fandom because for me, fandom and fanfic was something, first and foremost, my own individual invention. Learning that there were thousands of others out there who made that same leap was, if anything, a massive rush.
So, I have a poll for you guys on my flist who write fanfic. And I'd like to ask you to link this poll to others if you want to, because I'd really love to see what a large sample will respond with. Most of my flist I've known originally from Jossverse fandom or anime fandom, so I'm sure it will be a far from legitimate sample of LJ fic writers. But I'd love to see, anyway.
[Poll #788168]
In reading some of the CC wank stuff, which featured quotes about fanfic from various authors (particularly fantasy), I was left wondering if there was a giant list somewhere that maybe showed how a lot of the more famous authors feel about fanfic. I know the obvious ones like Anne Rice and JKR, but if the article I linked above is true and some professional authors are/have been fanfic writers themselves, I'd love to read various opinions present by them with regards to the issue.
The article I linked also says this about fanfic, which I admit applies to me as well:
"I was fifteen years old when I invented the genre of fan fiction, a form of writing where the author takes characters or universes created by someone else and writes stories about them. ... ... ... Fifteen was also the year I attended my first convention, where I learned that fan fiction had thrived for years before me."
Although for me it was more like 14 and I discovered fanfic through a Sailor Moon fan website and not a convention, the experience was basically identical: when I wrote my first fanfic I didn't even realize I was entering myself into a long-standing fandom tradition. I just had this mental image that I *had* to write down. That urge to write the next step after the credits closed. It wasn't until a while later that I stumbled upon internet fanfic and it clicked in my brain. In many ways I've never felt guilt about the "allure" of the internet and fandom because for me, fandom and fanfic was something, first and foremost, my own individual invention. Learning that there were thousands of others out there who made that same leap was, if anything, a massive rush.
So, I have a poll for you guys on my flist who write fanfic. And I'd like to ask you to link this poll to others if you want to, because I'd really love to see what a large sample will respond with. Most of my flist I've known originally from Jossverse fandom or anime fandom, so I'm sure it will be a far from legitimate sample of LJ fic writers. But I'd love to see, anyway.
[Poll #788168]
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
no subject
Date: 2006-08-08 08:57 am (UTC)I was the exact opposite. First, I was happy to find people who wanted to talk about a show I loved in the depth and manner I wanted to. Sure, my older sister liked it, but she didn't want to wax philosophical about the characters/storylines/relationships with me. On the Internet, I could do that.
or understand what a "shipper debate" or "kerfluffle" was until around 2001, when I discovered BTVS and started posting at messageboards (and eventually LJ.)
I found people who didn't like the same characters I did or vice versa. Except, in the DSV fandom, we didn't fight about faves. Not until the show changed drastically and Roy Scheider left then Michael Ironside took over the lead role. That was the first experience with inter-fan fighting I'd ever had. (I missed the whole Joel Vs. Mike War in the MST3K fandom, because by the the time I found those boards, the dust had settled from it.) Even then, the in-fighting was pretty tame (compared to the stuff I've seen since) and no one was hurt. We were all too busy complaining about the series as a whole sucking. NBC was our collective enemy.
I didn't know what a "shipper" was or get reeled into any of those battles until I moved on to the X-Files fandom in '96/'97. It was a much larger fandom, the people there were a bit meaner but it didn't diminish my need to
talk shitspeak my mind. At that point, I was on AOL and the battleground was chat rooms. We had specific times and days set up for "NoRomo Chat" or "Shipper Chat". I was NoRomo, a good deal of my friends were, too, so we'd "crash" the "shipper chat" from time to time. In fact, it became so bad, several of us were banned and the Chat Host's feelings were "really hurt" by some of the things we'd said and did.Eventually, that garbage passed and I became pretty close to the Host in question. She ended up doing a sample script for Homicide: Life on the Street. She knew I was into the series so we bonded and became friends over me dispelling my knowledge of that show.
Seriously, I could go on and on about the shit I've said and done in my fandoms of choice over the years. I was alternating between XF, Xena and H LOTS during my heyday. And, yeah, I was fairly well known through out all of them. Especially ANY series in the Chris Carter universe. Moreso Millennium (and even the short-lived Harsh Realm) than The X-Files.