Fandom: Stop Press!

[nebroadwe]

Someone is RIGHT on the Internet. Specifically, kate_nepveu with regard to the latest iteration of a published author dissing fanfiction as a pointless, illegal, vaguely squicky activity. No ponies and ice cream for us! Fortunately, kate_nepveu manages to make our case with great pith and footnotes. Highly recommended.

Comments

[a-big-apple.livejournal.com]

Hooray for calm and intelligent discourse! Also, I learned some things that I didn't previously know/understand, so yay for that too. Thanks for posting this!

[nebroadwe.livejournal.com]

Of all the posts I scanned on the controversy, this one seemed the most worth the signal boost. And calm/intelligent discourse is my OTP. :-)

[a-big-apple.livejournal.com]

LOL.

[aliasheist.livejournal.com]

I am dying of laughter. Dying. So much laughter. SO MUCH.

I've been of the opinion that Diana Gabaldon can suck it for years. Her books are like the Twilight series: full of poorly-written wish fulfillment, and if your purpose in reading them is for titillation and "Oh SNAP" moments, okay.

But Jeebus Crisp, the woman is an awful writer. She slips in and out of different character's heads and even through flashbacks. One particularly egregious example was when the POV slipped from Claire in present-tense into Jaime's flashback. WHUT. I read Outlander and finished it, only to find out that it didn't really have an ending, just a pause before the next book, and I decided I was quite done with all that nonsense.

And her childish "Icky fanfic, get it off get it off you're raping me!" reaction is just laughable. There's no shortage of fanfiction writers who are infinitely superior writers to Gabaldon, and if I had any power in the publishing industry I would beg no few of them to write original work that I could publish.

All told, I think it's awesome that there are so many gorgeously eloquent rebuttals to illustrate how full of the Ridiculous she is. Not that she needed help with this in the first place. (Comparing fanfic to a fictional neighbor writing porn about her fictional daughter? Biatch, PLZ.)

[nebroadwe.livejournal.com]

I think I read one Gabaldon back in high school -- all I remember is thinking, "No more of that!" and consigning the writer to my Not My Cup Of Tea list. I can usually muster up some vague sympathy for authors who haven't really encountered or participated in a fandom reacting with shockHORROR upon discovering their characters being appropriated, particularly in contexts the authors themselves haven't meditated, like porn in juvenile fandoms -- but, frankly, I don't think Gabaldon, of all people, should be tossing rape metaphors around to explain her brand of shockHORROR, for obvious reasons. And I can muster no sympathy for authors who find the fanficcer's impulse to be creatively supine or a form of theft. Don't these people remember playing Robin Hood or Anne of Green Gables as children? Didn't anyone force them to read Chretien de Troyes or Jean Rhys? Don't they appreciate having had an impact on others' imaginations? Sure, enforce copyright -- even tell FF.net not to permit people to play publicly in your sandbox. But don't tell me how to use my imagination, thank you.

Whew. Soapbox off ...

[nebroadwe.livejournal.com]

Oh, and PS -- mind if I friend you? I keep forgetting to ask ...

[aliasheist.livejournal.com]

Dude, by all means go ahead. You've been on my list for aaaaaaaaaages, it had not occurred to me that the reverse was not also true.

I will admit to being boring, whiny and extremely sporadic in my updates of late, though, so be forewarned.

[nebroadwe.livejournal.com]

Thanks. (Uh, not for the forewarning ... :-)

[evil-little-dog.livejournal.com]

And the "Oy!" remains loud and clear as I read more of the commentary from the original author, her fans and commenters and....

[nebroadwe.livejournal.com]

I think every editor should be required to sit down with his/her writers at some point and have The Talk: "You know, you're getting published now, and that means you'll be experiencing certain ... changes in your creative life ..."

[evil-little-dog.livejournal.com]

Except for the editors who might be clueless? :D

Ah, well.

harmonyfb posted a different link (http://bookshop.livejournal.com/1044495.html), which was also amusing. I considering mentioning that The Great Mouse Detective is based on the novel, Basil of Baker Street, which in turn, is of course, based off of Sherlock Holmes, but....

[nebroadwe.livejournal.com]

Except for the editors who might be clueless? :D

"But -- but -- my editor told me that if I read fanfiction, I'll go blind!" :-)

I read harmonyfb's piece, too, and was reminded of Teresa Nielsen Hayden's comment that the Grail legends sound a lot like fanfic about the Eucharist. Heh.

[evil-little-dog.livejournal.com]

"We shall absolve you, my child writer...see the light! You will not go blind!"*




*Not valid in all 48 50 states or possibly certain parts of Europe. User may experience brief euphoria. Not to be taken internally. Do not read fanfic while driving or operating heavy machinery. Could cause nausea and intense 'red pen' reactions. Please evidence courtesy when reading and if you must wank, wank elsewhere.

[nebroadwe.livejournal.com]

"No, impossible! I have seen things that cannot be unseen!"

[evil-little-dog.livejournal.com]

"Ignore the OOCness! Blot out the memories of Bad, Squicky SexyTiems!"

[nebroadwe.livejournal.com]

"I ... I just ... CAN'T. My Ghod -- it's full of malapropisms! That's not grammatically possible!"

[evil-little-dog.livejournal.com]

"Here, here...take this red pen. It'll make it all better."

[nebroadwe.livejournal.com]

[scribbles] "Wow, you're right. Hey, can I keep it?"

[evil-little-dog.livejournal.com]

"...certainly. There are plenty more where that came from."

[nebroadwe.livejournal.com]

"Wow, free pens! This is great!"

[evil-little-dog.livejournal.com]

"Yes, my preci...I mean, exactly! Free pens."

[nebroadwe.livejournal.com]

"Er, why are you smiling like that?"

[evil-little-dog.livejournal.com]

"Have another couple of pens."

[nebroadwe.livejournal.com]

"I'm ... good with this one, thanks."

[evil-little-dog.livejournal.com]

"Don't forget to stop back by when it runs out of ink!"

[nebroadwe.livejournal.com]

"Haha -- hahahahaha -- sure ..." [walks off clutching pen, but feeling obscurely worried]

[evil-little-dog.livejournal.com]

"Bye! See you later!"