On meanness, fanfic and fanfic previews
May. 4th, 2006 05:57 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
misscamAwesome wank. Awesome!
So, of all things, I was just asked to answer some questions for a Master Thesis by two Swedes on fanfic. And I found it a bit interesting, so Q&A below.
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misscam I'll answer them. I'm nice
lotus79 teehee.
lotus79 even though they be Swedes?
misscam yes
1. Many of your stories, particularly "All Over Again", feature the first-person point of view of a LOTR character. Often, there is a great deal of self-reflection in what they say. What draws you to writing about the internal emotions and feelings of characters?
Well, I've always been interested in how and why people do what they do - reflected in the fact that I've taken some psychology at University. With Lord of the Rings, I think it was in large part because the book itself doesn't dvelve too much into it. It is much more a history book, presenting what happened, without going too much into character studies. Which leaves a large room to speculate and interpret, and that's what I was drawn to write.
2. You seem to stick to LOTR canon characters to a greater extent than other prominent fan fiction writers on the site. Is there any particular reason for this?
There are so many characters already in the book to draw from, I didn't feel a particular need to create more to explore the aspects I was interested in. In many cases, the Canon characters *are* the aspects I'm interested in. Tolkien's characters are interesting and compelling. I write fanfic because they interest me. If all I wanted to do was have characters I invented play around, I'd write original fiction for that.
3. How concerned are you that your stories, and in particular how you use canon characters, stay true to Tolkien's (or Peter Jackson's) vision?
Hum. There's two aspects to this, really. On one hand, I think it essential that Tolkien's world remains Tolkien's world, even in what I write, or I might as well go for original fiction writing. On the other hand, I'm not him, and I will have different ways of looking at things. I think the best way to explain it is that I find it very important that the frames of the stories remain Tolkien's, but the highlight, the angles and the interpretation is mine. It's Tolkien as seen by me, just as the movie was Tolkien seen by Peter Jackson. You shouldn't twist the source material into what can't be recognised, but you can filter it. That's what makes fanfiction intersting to read, at least to me.
Obviously, it's a hard balancing act and all, so I do take it seriously.
4. We see from your personal website that you write about lots of series outside of LOTR. Do you write in each of these different genres for the same reason, or is there a different motivation behind each particular body of writing?
To a certain degree, the motivation is the same. I always enjoy the source material. That's always the motivation in going into writing fanfic for it. However, I also enjoy a lot of source materials I just don't feel a desire to write fanfic for. So, I think for me there's two additional elements at work - do the source material have a lot of room for untold stories, and how is the fandom itself. Some fanfics I have written because I enjoy the fandom and participate in it, and some fanfics I've written without really being involved in the fandom at all, just feeling like telling particular stories the source material didn't.
5. Do you do any creative writing outside of fan fiction? What emotional difference is there between writing fan fiction and creative writing more generally?
Yes. I'm a journalist, so I also write professionally. Fanfiction writing does feel much more... well, community based than the other things I write. Because there's source material existing already, and we're all fans of that, fanfic writers gather together more easily. Fanfic is actually how I've formed a lot of online friendships. Because writers and readers interact more in the fanfic world, it being online these days, it feels more social than the other stuff I write.
6. Do you read other people's fan fiction? What do you think of it?
Yes. Quite a lot of it isn't good, I'll have to say, but I was crap when I started out as well. Some of it is mediocre - if everyone was brilliant, we'd all be published, after all. And a little bit of it is really quite good. There's brilliant stuff out there, which is why I keep reading. Generally, most fanfic writers can be decent, but not all are willing to put effort into it. Some because they're young, and some because they have different ideas about what fanfic is than me.
7. Do you write mainly for your own pleasure, or do you direct your writing more towards the fan fiction community at large?
Mainly my own pleasure. It's writing exercise for me, in a way I find enjoyable, writing about things I am interested in. I do now and then write quite clearly for others, in that I ask what people would like me to write, and then write that. However, that is also a bit for myself, because I am a journalist, and I write on demand, and it's a skill I like to keep polished. And I was writing fanfic long before I even got online. It's just always been something I enjoyed. Of course, the community at large is probably a large reason why I enjoy it as much as I do.
8. Could you please elaborate on your attitude towards realism in fan fiction? What is your attitude toward Mary Sues? We ask because you admit in your Q&A that you take an ironic stance is your stories, so we cannot tell how serious your criticism is.
Well, it's a bit hard to say, because I am really in two minds about it. On one hand, being a journalist myself, writing is a craft and I like to see it respected as much as possible, and done as well as possible. And when you're writing fanfiction, the ground rules have already been set for you. There's a reality created for you, characters already set. I don't like facts wrong in my articles, and I don't like characters not behaving like themselves at all in my fanfic.
On the other hand, fanfic is wishfulfillment. And treating it too seriously can suck the fun out of it, I've come to realise. I've seen it happen in several fandoms. And people should have fun. I'm all for fun. Life's too serious not to have fun.
So the writer in me is a bit in conflict with other sides of me, which is probably why I've taken a more ironic perspective on it all. Mary Sues are the ultimate wish fulfillment vehicles, so I do understand where they come from. But they are less fun for the readers. As a reader, I can't stand them. They, to me, make fanfic less about the source material, and more about the fanfic writer herself. And that feels like not respecting the source material, drifting away from the purpose of fanfic as I see it.
But a lot of fanfic writers move on from Mary Sue writing, and we do all write some sort of wish fulfillment, so I'd rather just point out the funny in it all rather than lecture sternly about the "dangers against fandom". At the end of the day it's a hobby. Some take it more seriously than others - I might be among them, I might not, depending on who you ask - and that's how it'll always be.
9. How (and why) did your interest in writing Voyager fan fiction die down?
Oh, two reasons, really. I was never as fond of the source material as I've been in other fandoms - it was my first fandom, and I mainly lingered there for the community - and when the community had several disagreements, I decided it was time to move on.
With other fandoms, there's been other reasons. I still love Lord of the Rings, but I did feel like I had written the fanfics I wanted to and maybe it was time to write something else. I was also a bit frustrated with the various aspects of the fandom. With CSI, it was more the show itself frustrating me, while I still participate in fandom. I just felt Doctor Who was now more something I wanted to write about, so that's what I now write fanfic for.
lotus79 done their survey thing now?
misscam yes
lotus79 yay you. who said you was a mean girl
misscam I did
lotus79 well you just proved yourself wrong
misscam I guess I did
misscam how mean of me
So, speaking of fanfic, a wee preview of How To Live, which I am writing on. Ten, Rose and Doctor Who, obviously.
He's waiting again. Waiting, dreading, imagining this time - this time she's not coming. Even if it would be a dark sort of relief to know it's over, he can't wish that, won't wish that, refuses to.
It's dark, and he can't see the walls, but he can feel them, lean against them, run calculations of the force needed to tear them down in his head. They're comforting, not because he's relieved he knows, but because he knows he could do it and may not have to.
Destruction is easy. Time does it at every moment. Stars blaze till cold, rocks grind to dust, flesh decays to death. Destruction is easy and he likes it hard.
Easy to accept death. Easy to bring death. Easy to accept Rose might not endure this.
He's decided she will live. Everything else becomes a matter of how.
How many dead, how much force, how much pain, how much of Rose left scarred.
How much mercy lost this time.
He sticks a hand in his pocket and grimaces slightly at the burning feel. Dislocated shoulder, maybe. At least it goes with the rest of his bruises, a nice little map of the colours between black and red.
"No sense of subtle," he says aloud, because his own voice is comforting. "Honestly, clubs went out of fashion thousands of years ago. Did humans wake up this morning with a deep sense of nostalgia and longing for more flea-driven times?"
There is no reply, but then, it would be a sad sign if there was one when he's talking to himself. A very sad sign, one he hasn't had in weeks at least. Surely. Except this morning, and that doesn't count, since it was only Rose having a laugh.
Rose.
He forces back the anger and dread again. He doesn't need it yet. Calm now. Yes, calm. Very calm. So very calm his nails are digging painfully into his palm and he's screaming at the door to return Rose to him now, now, now.
misscam now, how shall I do the smut in this story...
lotus79 smutty?
misscam gee, you're so helpful
lotus79 that's my mummy always says
lotus79 she doesn't sound very happy when she says it though... I wonder why?
misscam probably because she's being sarcastic
lotus79 you think so? hmm...
misscam I know I am
lotus79 you are? but that's mean!
misscam told ya
So, of all things, I was just asked to answer some questions for a Master Thesis by two Swedes on fanfic. And I found it a bit interesting, so Q&A below.
misscam I'll answer them. I'm nicelotus79 teehee. lotus79 even though they be Swedes?misscam yes 1. Many of your stories, particularly "All Over Again", feature the first-person point of view of a LOTR character. Often, there is a great deal of self-reflection in what they say. What draws you to writing about the internal emotions and feelings of characters?
Well, I've always been interested in how and why people do what they do - reflected in the fact that I've taken some psychology at University. With Lord of the Rings, I think it was in large part because the book itself doesn't dvelve too much into it. It is much more a history book, presenting what happened, without going too much into character studies. Which leaves a large room to speculate and interpret, and that's what I was drawn to write.
2. You seem to stick to LOTR canon characters to a greater extent than other prominent fan fiction writers on the site. Is there any particular reason for this?
There are so many characters already in the book to draw from, I didn't feel a particular need to create more to explore the aspects I was interested in. In many cases, the Canon characters *are* the aspects I'm interested in. Tolkien's characters are interesting and compelling. I write fanfic because they interest me. If all I wanted to do was have characters I invented play around, I'd write original fiction for that.
3. How concerned are you that your stories, and in particular how you use canon characters, stay true to Tolkien's (or Peter Jackson's) vision?
Hum. There's two aspects to this, really. On one hand, I think it essential that Tolkien's world remains Tolkien's world, even in what I write, or I might as well go for original fiction writing. On the other hand, I'm not him, and I will have different ways of looking at things. I think the best way to explain it is that I find it very important that the frames of the stories remain Tolkien's, but the highlight, the angles and the interpretation is mine. It's Tolkien as seen by me, just as the movie was Tolkien seen by Peter Jackson. You shouldn't twist the source material into what can't be recognised, but you can filter it. That's what makes fanfiction intersting to read, at least to me.
Obviously, it's a hard balancing act and all, so I do take it seriously.
4. We see from your personal website that you write about lots of series outside of LOTR. Do you write in each of these different genres for the same reason, or is there a different motivation behind each particular body of writing?
To a certain degree, the motivation is the same. I always enjoy the source material. That's always the motivation in going into writing fanfic for it. However, I also enjoy a lot of source materials I just don't feel a desire to write fanfic for. So, I think for me there's two additional elements at work - do the source material have a lot of room for untold stories, and how is the fandom itself. Some fanfics I have written because I enjoy the fandom and participate in it, and some fanfics I've written without really being involved in the fandom at all, just feeling like telling particular stories the source material didn't.
5. Do you do any creative writing outside of fan fiction? What emotional difference is there between writing fan fiction and creative writing more generally?
Yes. I'm a journalist, so I also write professionally. Fanfiction writing does feel much more... well, community based than the other things I write. Because there's source material existing already, and we're all fans of that, fanfic writers gather together more easily. Fanfic is actually how I've formed a lot of online friendships. Because writers and readers interact more in the fanfic world, it being online these days, it feels more social than the other stuff I write.
6. Do you read other people's fan fiction? What do you think of it?
Yes. Quite a lot of it isn't good, I'll have to say, but I was crap when I started out as well. Some of it is mediocre - if everyone was brilliant, we'd all be published, after all. And a little bit of it is really quite good. There's brilliant stuff out there, which is why I keep reading. Generally, most fanfic writers can be decent, but not all are willing to put effort into it. Some because they're young, and some because they have different ideas about what fanfic is than me.
7. Do you write mainly for your own pleasure, or do you direct your writing more towards the fan fiction community at large?
Mainly my own pleasure. It's writing exercise for me, in a way I find enjoyable, writing about things I am interested in. I do now and then write quite clearly for others, in that I ask what people would like me to write, and then write that. However, that is also a bit for myself, because I am a journalist, and I write on demand, and it's a skill I like to keep polished. And I was writing fanfic long before I even got online. It's just always been something I enjoyed. Of course, the community at large is probably a large reason why I enjoy it as much as I do.
8. Could you please elaborate on your attitude towards realism in fan fiction? What is your attitude toward Mary Sues? We ask because you admit in your Q&A that you take an ironic stance is your stories, so we cannot tell how serious your criticism is.
Well, it's a bit hard to say, because I am really in two minds about it. On one hand, being a journalist myself, writing is a craft and I like to see it respected as much as possible, and done as well as possible. And when you're writing fanfiction, the ground rules have already been set for you. There's a reality created for you, characters already set. I don't like facts wrong in my articles, and I don't like characters not behaving like themselves at all in my fanfic.
On the other hand, fanfic is wishfulfillment. And treating it too seriously can suck the fun out of it, I've come to realise. I've seen it happen in several fandoms. And people should have fun. I'm all for fun. Life's too serious not to have fun.
So the writer in me is a bit in conflict with other sides of me, which is probably why I've taken a more ironic perspective on it all. Mary Sues are the ultimate wish fulfillment vehicles, so I do understand where they come from. But they are less fun for the readers. As a reader, I can't stand them. They, to me, make fanfic less about the source material, and more about the fanfic writer herself. And that feels like not respecting the source material, drifting away from the purpose of fanfic as I see it.
But a lot of fanfic writers move on from Mary Sue writing, and we do all write some sort of wish fulfillment, so I'd rather just point out the funny in it all rather than lecture sternly about the "dangers against fandom". At the end of the day it's a hobby. Some take it more seriously than others - I might be among them, I might not, depending on who you ask - and that's how it'll always be.
9. How (and why) did your interest in writing Voyager fan fiction die down?
Oh, two reasons, really. I was never as fond of the source material as I've been in other fandoms - it was my first fandom, and I mainly lingered there for the community - and when the community had several disagreements, I decided it was time to move on.
With other fandoms, there's been other reasons. I still love Lord of the Rings, but I did feel like I had written the fanfics I wanted to and maybe it was time to write something else. I was also a bit frustrated with the various aspects of the fandom. With CSI, it was more the show itself frustrating me, while I still participate in fandom. I just felt Doctor Who was now more something I wanted to write about, so that's what I now write fanfic for.
lotus79 done their survey thing now?misscam yeslotus79 yay you. who said you was a mean girlmisscam I didlotus79 well you just proved yourself wrongmisscam I guess I didmisscam how mean of meSo, speaking of fanfic, a wee preview of How To Live, which I am writing on. Ten, Rose and Doctor Who, obviously.
He's waiting again. Waiting, dreading, imagining this time - this time she's not coming. Even if it would be a dark sort of relief to know it's over, he can't wish that, won't wish that, refuses to.
It's dark, and he can't see the walls, but he can feel them, lean against them, run calculations of the force needed to tear them down in his head. They're comforting, not because he's relieved he knows, but because he knows he could do it and may not have to.
Destruction is easy. Time does it at every moment. Stars blaze till cold, rocks grind to dust, flesh decays to death. Destruction is easy and he likes it hard.
Easy to accept death. Easy to bring death. Easy to accept Rose might not endure this.
He's decided she will live. Everything else becomes a matter of how.
How many dead, how much force, how much pain, how much of Rose left scarred.
How much mercy lost this time.
He sticks a hand in his pocket and grimaces slightly at the burning feel. Dislocated shoulder, maybe. At least it goes with the rest of his bruises, a nice little map of the colours between black and red.
"No sense of subtle," he says aloud, because his own voice is comforting. "Honestly, clubs went out of fashion thousands of years ago. Did humans wake up this morning with a deep sense of nostalgia and longing for more flea-driven times?"
There is no reply, but then, it would be a sad sign if there was one when he's talking to himself. A very sad sign, one he hasn't had in weeks at least. Surely. Except this morning, and that doesn't count, since it was only Rose having a laugh.
Rose.
He forces back the anger and dread again. He doesn't need it yet. Calm now. Yes, calm. Very calm. So very calm his nails are digging painfully into his palm and he's screaming at the door to return Rose to him now, now, now.
misscam now, how shall I do the smut in this story...lotus79 smutty?misscam gee, you're so helpfullotus79 that's my mummy always sayslotus79 she doesn't sound very happy when she says it though... I wonder why?misscam probably because she's being sarcasticlotus79 you think so? hmm...misscam I know I amlotus79 you are? but that's mean!misscam told ya
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
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Date: 2006-05-04 04:11 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-05-04 04:21 pm (UTC)They appear to have been posting some forums with calls to participate as well, so they seem to have gotten around at least.
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Date: 2006-05-04 04:20 pm (UTC)no subject
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Date: 2006-05-04 04:42 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-05-05 10:01 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-05-04 04:57 pm (UTC)lotus79 smutty?
misscam gee, you're so helpful
Hahahaa. *cough*
I think I'm moving towards your ironic stance. I've done the angry-at-abuse-of-the-craft and it's getting old for me.
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Date: 2006-05-05 10:01 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-05-04 05:36 pm (UTC)Oh you taunt us with the good fic! *waits*
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Date: 2006-05-05 10:02 am (UTC)And she's still wanking on in that comm. Ubelievable!
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Date: 2006-05-04 06:36 pm (UTC)Yer such a tease. *wants more fic.* Tease!
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Date: 2006-05-05 10:03 am (UTC)Yeeeeees... And I like it.
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Date: 2006-05-05 11:06 am (UTC)Horrid tease!
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Date: 2006-05-04 07:34 pm (UTC)no subject
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