Controversial Friday Post

[mousme]

'Cause I'm at work and bored.

Fanfiction. Discuss. Every angle welcome.

As usual, no flaming, no ad hominem arguments, etc. Basic courtesy applies, and don't be a jackass. Arguing in bad faith is discouraged, but not forbidden.


Aaaaaand... GO!

:::ETA:::

I was asked for clarification. So:

Why write fanfiction at all?

What makes fanfiction a valid form of expression (or not)?

What role do you think fanfiction plays in fandom?

Should an author have a say in what happens to their work once it's released to the public?

Comments

Not a writer of fanfic, at all......

[le-maistre-e.livejournal.com]

.... so I'll only weigh in with my opinion on fanfic in general, as an avid reader of a few fandoms:

I find that it allows fans an alternate version of the original writers' views. For instance, one of my fandoms is Bones, the TV show, where the romantic/sexual tension between the two main characters has been dragging on for the entire run of the show (to date, and no, I don't count the season 4 finale, no matter what you say). In general, I find that fanfic is a way for that tension (or other issues) to be resolved without disturbing the creativity/progression of the original work itself. Now, I'm using a poor example here, because Bones, the TV show, is based, of course, on the brilliant Bones novels by Kathy Reichs, where the tension was resolved in the first 2 or 3 books. /digression.

There is another view that it is a way of carrying on a fandom where no more original work is being created. Here I'm thinking of Gilmore Girls and The West Wing, two series that have been off the air for one and two years respectively, but the fans enjoy them so much, we just can't seem to let go. No, we're not crazy, obsessed, stalker-y people, why do you ask? :-)

Just realized. I may have answered question 3 inadvertently.

Background info: My particular tastes in fic do run to AU stuff, with humour and romance as a near-must, particularly as I do have a few OTPs. I have also found a few favorite authors in my fandoms and I tend to gravitate automatically to their work and those authors that they like. They are, for the most part, of course, women, but there are a few male authors, particularly in the Bones fandom, who are very good character authors, which is another must-have for me. I like longer stories, as I am a novel reader in my spare (uh? spare?) time, but the one-shots can also be very revealing and well-written in and of themselves (I find they tend to give some interesting insights with facial expressions and "what-should-have-beens"). Above all, and for any fandom, it must be well-written, on the technical side, as I can almost always spot someone else's typos a mile away.

Again, JMO, but I hope it was entertaining.