okay i think by now most people know i ADORE fanfic i mean *points at title* y’know
so i was really looking forward to reading this blog, because i knew i was gonna have A LOT of things to say (when do i not tho)
so
brace yourselves
i’m gonna be honest here: Shannii and i have very different perspectives on fanfiction
i’m not saying she’s wrong, of course, the perspectives are simply different, which happens and usually leads to building something bigger, so if anyone here disagrees with what i’m about to say, please do so openly, i’d love to have a conversation about it
Shannii starts this entry talking about how an important thing about fanfiction is staying true to the source material, maybe thinking about how it ties with canon and all that
while i do think it’s important that your fanfic has to do with the source, i don’t believe staying strictly in what the source materials give us is that necessary, which i think is best illustrated by the popularity of canon divergence and alternate universe works there are out there: a fanfic doesn’t have to stick strictly to the canon to be a great fic
in fact, a fan favourite fic in my main fandom is an AU and it’s BRILLIANT, while still being a love letter to the source material in its core, in the characters and values the story has behind, even if the setting and lore and history are completely different
so, if there’s anyone here who wants to write fanfic but is scared their idea doesn’t quite fit with canon: don’t worry about it, canon divergence’s got you, or an entire alternate universe, if you want
i did a quick search for the canon divergence and au tags in AO3, if anyone's curious about how much those can thrive
which leads me to my next point: fanfiction is, by definition of the OTW, a transformative work
if you don’t know what a transformative work is, here’s a definition:
Transformative works are creative works about characters or settings created by fans of the original work, rather than by the original creators. Transformative works include but are not limited to fanfiction, real person fiction, fan vids, and graphics. A transformative use is one that, in the words of the U.S. Supreme Court, adds something new, with a further purpose or different character, altering the [source] with new expression, meaning, or message.
- definition taken from the fanlore wiki, by the OTW
fanfiction not only can deviate from the canon, it AIMS to create something different from the canon
note that different doesn’t mean dissonant
if it weren’t like that, there would be no point to fanfic, y’know?
we, fanfic writers, have the whole Organisation for Transformative Works (owners of AO3) backing us up, and they’ve fought a lot for us to have the right to create our works based on other media (i won’t go in a history of fanfic rant here but just know, there was a lot of controversy on whether fanfic should be allowed to exist or not back in the late 90’s early 2000’s)
so i believe… well it would be a shame if we didn’t take the chance we have been given now
we CAN write fanfic now, which is HUGE
so why should we refrain from things we want to write? even if it strays from canon, even if it’s unlikely
the beauty of fanfic is that it exists out of love and interest in certain media
and i believe we shouldn’t refrain from showing said love
we can always improve and learn as we go, after all
now, on the matter of OOC
not gonna lie, i would have liked it better if Shannii gave a more concise definition as to what she considers OOC, because if fandom has taught me anything, it that there are multiple ways to interpret and understand a character, and many of those are valid all the same
because in fandom, what is not canon is always up to interpretation, and it doesn’t make sense to assume everyone has the same interpretation for anything
like, say, some people hc this character as ace, and write him as such, while some hc him as pan
both interpretations are v good and interesting, and neither is exactly ooc
or, another example: there’s this fic that compared two characters struggles as similar / mirroring each other, i had never considered that interpretation, but after reading it, it hasn’t left my mind because it’s BRILLIANT
that said, there DEFINITELY are some interpretations that… really don’t fit what’s given in canon, and those are really annoying (tho i don’t dwell too much on that, i just click exit and find another fic to read)
but the thing about this is that we can only work with what we’re given
and there are some seriously underdeveloped characters out there
for example, there’s this Pride and Prejudice fic on AO3 (don’t remember the name so i can’t link it, sorry) that explores Anne de Bourgh’s character
is it OOC? to give a character depth that the original writer didn’t give them? to give them your own interpretation and make them more three dimensional with that?
now, this isn’t as much about the blog entry (though Shannii did say one or two lines that could be interpreted to be about this), but about some replies i’ve seen
and i’m pretty sure most of you could see this coming since i tend to rant about this a lot
and well *points at title again*
but i have got to clear up that fanfic is NOT (and never has been) a stepping stone to writing original fiction
despite the term fanfiction being recent, it has existed since forever ago, i have briefly talked about the historical importance and impact that “fanfiction” has had in literature here, quite frankly i find that diminishing it to something lesser than original fiction (or “real literature” as i’ve seen some people call it) is… quite misogynistic, given that nowadays it’s mostly women (and queer people) who predominate in fandom spaces and who write fanfiction
i may write about the impact misogyny has had in how we perceive fandom and fanworks one day, who knows
other than that, not all fanfic writers write fanfic because they wanna be writers, some just write because they love some piece of media and want to explore things about it
on the other hand, as Shannii mentioned, published writers like Mr. Neil Gaiman have written fanfic, and their fanfic has earned them prizes
another example is Molly Ostertag, a cartoonist and writer who began writing LOTR fanfiction last year, after being a well known person in the industry already
fanfic doesn’t have to be followed by original fiction, and it doesn’t have to be considered less or something less professional or well-produced than original fiction
lastly, i need to say: as i’ve mentioned a couple times before, fanfic can be simply a love letter to a piece of media, no other intentions behind it, nothing other than exploring something we love, building upon it, showing how much it means to us