This is our story (just turn the page).

[renay]

So, fanfiction.

Back in 2007 when I started blogging about books and interacting with the wider community and book fandom, I became really, painfully aware of how divided my new fandom (talking about books) and my old fandom (writing fic and making art about books and other media) were from each other. I never really figured out how to deal with the space between them. I tried to separate my identities — I had several book blogs — but it would never stick because the fanfiction side of me couldn't be divided out from the part of me that loved books. I love stories and fanfiction is just another type of story. It's not less than, it's not even a competition — it's a shared experience of a source. If reviews are a type of feedback then fanfiction is simply another, but instead of answering the question "Should I read this?" it answers the question "What happens next?" I don't really use reviews that way anymore. I know what I like by now: I want to go deeper than that.

I am often much more interested in the latter question.

It's March, so it's time for The Organization for Transformative Works to have the first of their two drives, encouraging members to support the OTW for the work it does; I already wrote about this and how it's important to me personally. Every drive always makes me reflect back on my past as a fan and as a consumer of stories and to search out what other people who have walked the same roads of similar stories are doing, where our shared experience of a book took them, and did they write about it so I can go with them? More and more as the years go by, that answer is yes, and I dream of a world where fanfiction is not a confusing practice, an illegitimate hobby, a shameful act. Because really, lots of things are essentially fanfiction, and what fandom and fanfic is right now is simply another evolution of it, fueled by the internet and a culture that wants to see certain stories, can't find them elsewhere, and so they make them themselves. Every piece of fanfiction I have written was because I asked "What happens next?" and knew that if I didn't answer it, I would never know.

I do like to know things.

Most of all, throughout my childhood I was told by male guidance counselors and teachers and guardians: don't write those things. Don't waste your time. That's never going to net you a career. You can't be successful writing stories. When I found fandom, I found a culture of women that said: write! Everything you write is worth something, even if it's bad. It doesn't matter if you make a career out of it if you love to do it, and if you love to do it you probably can be successful at it. The message was so different that I stepped into fandom and never left. I didn't do much creative writing outside of classes, because I had fandom. And maybe one day I'll go on to try and write a short story or a novel and maybe I won't. Either way is okay, because I love the writing I do and I love that I have the chance to share stories with people, even if I'm not the creator of those stories.

This influences my book blogging. I am more likely to financially support an author if they allow fanfic and more likely to not financially support an author if they write screeds and threaten their fans and call us names and accuse of theft and suggest all fanfiction amounts to is training wheels. At an author event owlmoose once attended, the author she was there to see, Naomi Novik (and one of the founders of the OTW) said the following (paraphrased, of course):

Thompson (who has clearly never been involved in fandom) brought up the old "training wheels" analogy (paraphrased, the idea that writing fanfic is a way of getting started in writing, because you have the world and the characters as training wheels, but eventually you get tired of it and want to ride the bike on your own), but Novik disagreed with him. First she pointed out that there are plenty of people who are happy to only ever write fanfic and have no need to turn pro, or write origfic. Then she made another analogy: she said it's like playing music. You start out playing music written by other people, then you start making jazz riffs, and then maybe you move on to your own original compositions, but that doesn't mean it's not fun to play covers sometimes.

I can only hope we're moving toward a world where we're as legitimate as book reviewers are. I dream of that world where fanfiction writers are treated with the same respect by the authors and publishers, who so love all the free advertising that reviewers provide them and extend that respect to the world of mouth advertising and the financial support we offer by buying copies of books, sometimes multiple copies, for friends so they'll come be excited with us and write lots of stories (porn optional). I don't think that world is as far away as it was in 2007 and I will never stop hoping for it.

To close, a short introduction to some fanfiction, featuring some of my favorite books:

• The Book Thief - Markus Zusak


• Chaos Walking - Patrick Ness


• Gentleman Bastard Sequence - Scott Lynch


• Good Omens - Neil Gaiman & Terry Pratchett


• His Dark Materials - Philip Pullman


• Howl Series - Diana Wynne Jones


• Larklight Trilogy - Philip Reeve


• Last Unicorn - Peter S. Beagle


• Princess Bride - William Goldman


• Sunshine - Robin McKinley


• Temeraire - Naomi Novil


• Tigana - Guy Gavriel Kay


• The Giver - Lois Lowry


• World War Z - Max Brooks

Comments

[myfriendamysblog.com]

Great post, Renay.

I really like that quote from Novik. I've definitely heard authors say it's a great way to start but you should move on and I've always wondered why. I also like that fanfiction can answer not only the "what's next" question, but the "what if it happened this way instead?"

An author tells one story, but they create a world and I think there are unlimited stories within that world to be told.

[renay]

I think authors that say that are simply projecting. They wanted to write original work and they think everyone else must want the same thing? I used to get it a lot from friends, too, although since I've been doing it ten years they've backed off. *g*

[bookgazing]

I like the music analogy. Also I'm kind of being won over by the way fanfic sort of reminds that creativity doesn't have to be given authority through publishing, or lead to selling to have value. It can just be about making things because you like to make things and then maybe sharing them about.

How do I fit fanfic in though? I want to read it in the same way that I want to read all those extra little bits authors create for their stories, but feel like I need an extra hour in the day so I can read books, the extras and fanfic.

[renay]

Jodie, Jodie, I have been trying to find a good balance between the original art and fanfic for years. *g* Honestly? I generally use delicious these days because things come pre-screened for you (OH MY GOD DELICIOUS PLEASE DON'T VANISH), recommendation lists in the larger fandoms, and word of mouth. It's extra hard for me because I like to write it, as well! ;ALSKD;ALKSD TIME, WHY ISN'T THERE MORE OF YOU?

[(Anonymous)]

I've never written fanfiction nor been involved in the community, but I like the concept--it makes me think of the way we used to conceive stories when they were rooted in an oral tradition. You hear a story and you retell it, except you might give it a different slant, or change the ending if you don't like it, or continue the story if you don't want it to end. And then someone will hear it from you, change it further and make it their own.

The more I think about it, the more I feel our current intellectual property laws are draconian. Fanfiction writers deserve more than just respect: they deserve to be treated as professionals. The cognitive dissonance blows my mind: "real" writers can make use of myth and folklore and be respected, but fanfic writers are derivative when they do the same. And worse: they are not allowed to publish their works.

We should prosecute people who make a profit from pirating music or books, but that's as far as I'd go. I honestly think it would be awesome if we had several published versions of the same story. Establish a limit: if more than 20% of the sentences in a book are the same, it's illegal to profit from it. And then if a Harry Potter fan was disappointed with the last book, they could just buy a different one.

The point I'm trying to make isn't even about respect or acclaim; it's more about questioning the construct of the author. The concept of canonicity seems so groundless to me. It's almost like people believe authors have this crazy crystal they look into so that they can come back and report whatever happens next. People always go on about the death of the author, but they don't seem to push the idea far enough. And it's kind of sad, because it limits communal art creation to marginalized communities, and they simply aren't allowed to affect the way the world at large conceives storytelling. Basically, if you want to be a writer so that you can be self-important about your own creations (or if you are a writer who fears someone else might write your stories better than you), then the way people currently think of writing and writers is just right for you. But if you are just interested in stories, I really can't see why you'd want to grant authors so much power over the ideas they put out there for everyone to see.

Anyway, sorry for rambling. :P

- Matheus

[renay]

I don't know the right answer, although I kind of agree on your last paragraph. I actually have no desire to make money for my fanwork, at all -- once money gets involved some of the joy goes away from me, although I know that there are certainly those out there who wish they could profit from their fanwork. But I like the gift economy of fandom more than the idea of profiting off the creative work an author did. I would rather create fanwork for free and encourage people to experience the original work and come play in the sandbox with me than share profit with the author. I rationalize this by thinking that if an author can make me so excited about their work once, they're likely to do it again and again and I want them to be able to do that.

But this discussion leaves out artists who do art in whatever medium -- digital or paper -- many of them actually do commissions with characters that belong to other people. It's part of the culture. whereas if a writer did that, the collective force of fandom would stomp them for trying to profit. It's a very complicated issue when you try to ask who should be making money.

Your comment reminded me of this essay, actually, which convinced me if I ever do publish original work, I am going to be really, really nice to fanartists. *g*

[(Anonymous)]

[Ugh, feel free to tl;dr]

I kind of relate to what you said about money. I haven't written for a long time now, but even if I still wrote, I couldn't be a professional writer. As soon as I feel like I have to do something, it loses some of its appeal. So if one day I ever get back to writing, I'll try to get published, but not for money. I wouldn't want to earn a living from writing even if I could.

But actually... I do relate to what you said in other ways as well. The best time I ever had writing was back in 2003, posting on an art forum full of wide-eyed teenagers. I used to write poetry, and most of it was crap, but I still have a couple of poems I'm proud of. And I still believe some of those kids wrote some great things. At any rate, they moved me. They meant something to me. It was really great to be able to share that enthusiasm for writing--that enthusiasm for life, really.

Then I started writing fiction, and I never posted anything again. I think poetry was more manageable. I find it quite hard to write prose; I'm never quite happy with it. It takes me ages to come up with anything I'd be willing to share. So I lost that part of my life, and I miss it, but I'm not quite sure how to claim it back, because I don't want to write poetry anymore. The other day I picked up a short story I abandoned two years ago, and I worked on it a little, and I think it's almost a good story now. But you can't really be part of a community writing one short story every couple of years.

But anyway, sorry, I didn't mean to misrepresent fandom. I agree that trying to get published and sharing your stuff with a community are very different processes. I guess I was really just rambling about the end product, about the way many writers (and most readers) react to fanfiction, not about how it feels to write as part of that community. It's just that I'm sure there are fanfiction works that are just as accomplished as any "real" novel, and I can't help but feel that denying the writers the right to sell their work is just another way of refusing to recognize its value as literature.

[renay]

Are you kidding, I keep a pen in the back for teal deers. THEY ARE MY FAVORITE. I could start a zoo.

Ah, you had a nice feedback loop! I love those. I've only had a feedback loop for original writing in the sense that I had to do so for class, and it was nice, those times. It's a great experience getting to interact on that level, but it seems kind of hard when it's original and you don't have a niche. That's actually comparable to small fandoms. It's hard to be a part of a community if there is no community, I guess. But don't be too hard on yourself, I think writing prose is hard but find poetry impossible, I'm all "THIS IS THE WORST BURN IT WITH FIRE". I envy people who have the confidence for poetry!

I subscribe pretty hard to this advice, too, where something created just means experience, and every swing is one less strike in the future.

I don't think you misrepresented fandom at all! It's really hard to talk about fandom, anyway. Like any other community it's so not a monolith, at all, and has so many undiscovered countries inside of it that the average person really doesn't see. I mean, I definitely don't see them all, justira is always lecturing me when we're talking about the fanwork exchange we run, "Renay, don't use the word STORIES, use the word WORKS!" Because I am a writer and tend to not think of/know of the other types of artists out there.

The best I usually hope for from mainstream culture is for them not to act like we're all mouth breathers living in basement caves and eating like, dehydrated cheese from a can. What I and people I know want recognition for, really, is the fact that fanfiction is transformative and a valid form of art in and of itself, regardless of monetary value that can be ascribed to that effort of creation.

a;lskd;aksd why do I talk so much fffffff