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In Praise of Fanfic, my take
May. 22nd, 2007 09:14 pmYou have probably all read (or should read) the neat-o piece in LOCUS by Cory Doctorow about fanfic, which can be found here: In Praise of Fanfic, which I feel is pretty much right on the money. Cory has been the voice of reason on a lot of topics in sf/f, so it doesn't surprise me that he's warming the cockles of my heart here.
His essay spurs me to write this thought that I've been kicking around in my head for a while. I have been writing since I was a kid, and saying I would be "a writer" pretty much all my life. I'm a professional now, but half the reason for that is because I didn't see any way to have an outlet for my writing in any otehr way. But of all the arts one can choose to do--painting, poetry, music, acting, dance, singing, etc.--most of the others have outlets where amateurs (many of whom are of professional caliber but who don't make their living doing it) can ply their art. Musicians can do everything from play on the street corners, to having house party concerts, or, like my boyfriend's band Platypus Rex, play paying gigs only once or twice a year ('paying' is a relative term, I think they usually get fifty bucks). They'll never make anything close to a living at it, but they rehearse once a week, and they get to share their talent with people fairly regularly. People who like to sing can join choirs of various kinds. There are dance companies for dancers. There are theater troupes for actors. I've been a part of almost all these types of endeavors.
But writers? What could 'amateur' writers do? Write a short story and hand out copies on the street?
To me, LiveJournal and fanfic archive sites finally provide a venue for those writers to 'perform.' we finally have a way to reach readers, and to connect with a community. No one tells a saxophonist playing cover tunes in the park that he's stealing from the composer, nor that band playing in a honky tonk that they are wasting their talents even if they are playing standards. Fan fic is the equivalent in fiction writing, and we finally have our street corner and our honky tonk and our community theater: here on LJ and on fic archive sites.
In short: HOORAY.
--
P.S. Cory Doctorow is becoming a cultural icon in and of himself, as shown in uber-geek webcomic XKCD. And the reference that my reference is making, can be found here.
His essay spurs me to write this thought that I've been kicking around in my head for a while. I have been writing since I was a kid, and saying I would be "a writer" pretty much all my life. I'm a professional now, but half the reason for that is because I didn't see any way to have an outlet for my writing in any otehr way. But of all the arts one can choose to do--painting, poetry, music, acting, dance, singing, etc.--most of the others have outlets where amateurs (many of whom are of professional caliber but who don't make their living doing it) can ply their art. Musicians can do everything from play on the street corners, to having house party concerts, or, like my boyfriend's band Platypus Rex, play paying gigs only once or twice a year ('paying' is a relative term, I think they usually get fifty bucks). They'll never make anything close to a living at it, but they rehearse once a week, and they get to share their talent with people fairly regularly. People who like to sing can join choirs of various kinds. There are dance companies for dancers. There are theater troupes for actors. I've been a part of almost all these types of endeavors.
But writers? What could 'amateur' writers do? Write a short story and hand out copies on the street?
To me, LiveJournal and fanfic archive sites finally provide a venue for those writers to 'perform.' we finally have a way to reach readers, and to connect with a community. No one tells a saxophonist playing cover tunes in the park that he's stealing from the composer, nor that band playing in a honky tonk that they are wasting their talents even if they are playing standards. Fan fic is the equivalent in fiction writing, and we finally have our street corner and our honky tonk and our community theater: here on LJ and on fic archive sites.
In short: HOORAY.
--
P.S. Cory Doctorow is becoming a cultural icon in and of himself, as shown in uber-geek webcomic XKCD. And the reference that my reference is making, can be found here.
