Explaining FanFic to Mundanes

[lydamorehouse]

So, I'm being interviewed by Kelly Kirch about various things and she asked me about my favorite fan response to my writing.  I answered: fanfic (and fanart, but, as you can imagine, to another writer -- especially one outside of our genre, fanfic was the more startling response.)  Fanfic has been on my mind a lot lately because

xochiquetzl told me about Yuletide, and to say I'm tempted would be an understatement.  Luckily, I have a deadline breathing down my neck or I could get lost in that sort of stuff for all eternity.  (Xochi, you are PURE EVIL, woman.  Pure Evil!)

Anyway back to my point, if I had one... Kelly's follow-up question made me think and I thought I'd continue to ruminate about it over here.  She asked:  "I’ve heard a lot of buzz about fanfic lately. Some authors find it frustrating to have their characters commandeered and rendered differently. It sounds like you find in complimentary. Would you feel the same way if Tate’s characters generated a fanfic type base even though you are currently writing the DEAD SEXY heroine?"

I told her I wouldn't feel any differently, but I could understand her concern.  My sense is she's worried that what other people write about my characters would change the way I write them (and she thinks that's a bad thing.)  Thing is, I'm not writing in a vacuum.  Everything I publish is open to public scrutiny and comment.  This is true whether or not someone fics my characters or my world or NOT.  I gave the example of Amazon.com.  I read my reviews.  Someone wrote a rather angry post about Tall, Dark & Dead in which she accused the book of being anti-Catholic.  I thought she had a point, actually, and in my next novel I tried to address it.  People are always expressing their opinions about Garnet and Sebastian, and I can't help but take note, even if I think they're off their rocker.  

And it changes the way I write them.

I've been especially baffled by the numerous comments about Garnet's supposed lack of moral fiber.  I have *no* idea what makes these readers (and its been more than one) say that about her character.  I think of Garnet as highly moral, though she's been put in compromising situations that have caused her to act unlawfully.  Everytime Garnet faces a moral situation in subsequent books a voice in the back of my head reminds me of those reader comments, and I write accordingly.  

Also, unlike a lot of writers, my writing process ALWAYS involves other people.  Not only does my partner get in on the ground floor of all my plots (and she has to suffer through endless discussions of blow-by-blow moments as I'm writing them,) but also my writers' group, Wyrdsmiths, tells me their opinions of my characters, plot, world, writing style, etc., every two weeks.  So I don't really understand how a person could write without being affected by other people's "messing" with their 'verse.  My "artistic vision" is constantly being *sullied* by my readers, both during and after the product.  Not to mention the fact that my editor gets to put in her two cents.

Plus, as I explained to Kelly, I should BE so lucky to have the volume of fans writing in my universe as, say, someone like J. K. Rowling or even Lois McMaster Bujold.  My sense is that literary fiction doesn't get the volume of fanfic that media does, anyway.  Or maybe its just me.  But, I've gone to conventions to BEG people to fic me.  I've always said it's the most flattering thing that can happen to a writer.  If someone loves my universe enogugh to want to keep playing, I say let them.  Are they going to "twist" my concept of my characters?  I can only HOPE.

 

P.S. The universe all thinks the same because The Mary Sue Litmus Test just showed up online (via Nina Kirki Hoffman).

Comments

[ashkta.livejournal.com]

Personally, I agree with you. If I were in the position of being a published author and people were writing fic in my world I'd be so flattered that I wouldn't know what to do with myself. I mean, yeah, some jealous little part of me would be thinking: Omg, no! Those are MY kids you're playing with! But on the whole, I'd kind of laugh and say: Hey, go for it. Half the time I think that I just want to read my story instead of write it, anyway, so there you are...that's what fic writers are for!

I know a lot of writers I've heard discussing fanfic say that they have to be concerned about legal reprecussions (I expect that this only applies to works that are still in progress). Because, if some fan writes a fic that, somehow, has similarities to a plot point or situation in a novel that comes out later, they might try some kind of crazy accusation or lawsuit that the author took their idea without recompense. Which is stupid, since who was mucking around in whose universe, anyway? But still...it causes a lot of headache. And the only real defense is to say that they didn't read that fanfic, or had no way of getting ahold of it, which can only be done if they never visit their fans sights and claim not to want fanfic written from their work at all.

[lydamorehouse]

Legal stuff.... no one has ever told me to disavow reading fanfic. HOWEVER, that being said, I'm also no J. K. Rowling. My books are now all safely out of print and the likelihood that I'm going to be writing in them again (outside of ficcing my own universe) is pretty dang slim. So it's really safe for me to beg for people to write in my 'verse and to post links to it on my website.

I know that when I was on a panel about this subject many Minicon's ago with Lois McMaster Bujold she brought up that very issue: what if a storyline appears later that seems to have been fan generated? She said this is why she never reads the stuff herself. My impression was that she felt that even though she thought it was unlikely that she'd INTENTIONALLY take someone else's plot, she'd much rather be spared the temptation entirely.

Makes sense.

[tiernsshadow.livejournal.com]

Rock on. I love the idea of other people playing with my characters. I'm writing 'em so people can read 'em, and I can't think of any higher compliment than "Here, I wrote you some fanfic." Several of my friends have promised to write me slashfic when I eventually get published.

I don't know whether you've covered this before - feel free to ignore it if you have - but do you have any worries about legal repercussions for reading fics while you're writing (like mentioned by ashkta)? Has an agent or lawyer ever said to you "Don't read that"?

[lydamorehouse]

Like I said above, no one has explicitly ever told me not to read fanfic. But then it's not like I'm likely to go out into the universe and discover a humongous site solely devoted to slashing the characters in the AngeLINK universe. (I'm lucky I have even one story!) I suspect that those authors for whom that's a potential problem get a heckuva a lot more legal advice on the matter than I do, you know?

And to be honest, I have no idea what the legal eagles really have to say on the matter. My feeling is that before the internet this stuff was going on anyway. The only "problem" now is that authors can actually stumble across it (I mean, Katherine Kurtz wasn't going to be wandering into my high school class and notice that I was writing copious amounts of fanfic in my math notebook.) But, had I come of age now, there'd probably be a million e-files of my fanfic out there, and she could read it, if so inclined.

I don't know where I was going with that, except that it seems to me a natural expression of, well, love and flattery.

[xochiquetzl]

I am indeed evil. I'm proud of my evil. See my scary axe? And I've been told I have an evil laugh. Mwahaha!

I'm so excited about Yuletide! I love writing presents for people. And if I get what I want for Yuletide, maybe it'll qualify as a Christmas present for you, too. I'm willing to share. :D

I suspect that when people say Garnet lacks moral fiber, they're talking about how much sex she has. Have you ever noticed that when people talk about men's morals, they're talking about their honesty, ethics, and fairness, and when people talk about women's morals they're talking about whom and how often they fuck? I'll stop now before I start ranting.

J. K. Rowling is fanfic-friendly, but doesn't approve of dirty fanfic. You can even read one of her publisher's Cease and Desist orders online. I have to admit that while I think the concern that kiddies might google "Harry Potter" and get porn is reasonable, I object to the idea that fans who write dirty fanfic are not "genuine." Clearly, if I loved your books I'd respect you in the morning keep my fanfic clean and tidy.

Book fandoms generally get a big boost when the movie comes out. I suspect that what would really get people to fic you would be a series of movies with pretty, pretty actors. There were Pirates of the Caribbean fansites before the movie came out, based on the actors, so get Johnny Depp and Orlando Bloom if you can. ;)

And, randomly, here's a cartoon about Mary Sues.

[rowan-redbeard.livejournal.com]

*whispers "Yuletide, Yuletide" repeatedly at you*

It is, indeed, a lot of fun, even if the match-up script seems to be run by hand by Loki.

Stories have never been told in a vacuum. Storytellers are always riffing off each other, reworking the same characters and plots to say something a little (or a lot) different. And you know what's fun about something like Yuletide? It's this big community of people telling stories to each other purely for the fun of it.

[lydamorehouse]

Did I mention in my post that I went down the list of unfufilled wishes and EASILY saw a half dozen I'd really enjoy writing?

[rowan-redbeard.livejournal.com]

And that's not the half of it! It's so much fun to get your recipient's requests, and not only is there the one that matched you, but there are like three other fandoms that you've been dying to get into for ages, and here's your perfect opportunity to gobble them up so that you can write more stories! And then there's the waiting and fidgeting to see if the server overloads this year and the cheering as the Yuletide admins manage to pull of another amazing story exchange, and if you're brave, you can sign up to pinch hit and grab requests at the last minute as they come whizzing by, and at the end there are so many nifty stories.

Um, yeah. I like Yuletide, why do you ask? :)

[holy-toledo.livejournal.com]

Crammit. All of my characters are Mary-Sues!

-Mel