Sleepy and incoherent

[swatkat]

Today's metafandom is full of discussions on March- whether or not it is fanfic, and why; whether it is somehow 'better' than what we understand as fanfic; what makes it 'better', if we assume it to be so, etc etc. My first instinct, of course, is to call March fanfic. And while I shouldn't comment on something I haven't actually read, I don't think it's even particularly interesting fanfic. Because in re-telling Mr. March's story, Brooke is telling us the story of an ordinary, sensitive man in times of war (who also happens to be Mr. March, the father of Jo March) – and how many times have we heard that story again? Little Women OTOH is about those left behind, about the *women* left behind, and that, to me, is a more interesting story than the same old Man vs. War story.

This is not to say I'm *against* re-telling stories. No, of course not. Would I be in fandom if I were? It's just that unless Brooke has managed to give us some new and interesting perspective on the old Man vs. War story, or on the Little Women universe (which I love dearly. someday I shall write a post on how this book changed my life. no, really – it did.) in her fic, I don't really care much about it.

*

And because I'm slightly (*cough*) obsessed with Wicked these days, I naturally started thinking whether you could call Wicked fanfiction. And I was quite astonished by my own answer to the question – I actually hesitated to call it fanfic, though it very clearly is a derivative work (a brilliant AU, if you like). Or 'just' fanfic. Which has a horribly derogatory ring to it, and that is so not what I meant to say. I think what I wanted to say is that fanfic – or to be more specific, shipfic, with its hyperfocus on romance and sex - often does not consider any other issue than romance (not that there's anything wrong with it), which maybe alright for the *fans* of that particular universe, but probably not so for everyone else. Does that at all make sense? *is hopelessly muddled*

P.S - GIP. Okay, so this is not a scene from the book. But Glinda sobbing over Elphaba's hat? There is no bad there. *sigh*

Comments

[nell65.livejournal.com]

Because I find all chocolate deserts entirely too sweet, but think a little rich, slightly bitter, slightly sweet chocolate sauce on top peach cobbler soundes wonderful? *g*

Seriously - I think its *because* canon has great plots than many feel would be improved for them personally, with just a little sauce, but most 'romance' genre fic has crappy, crappy plots and is 'all romance all the time.' Like - too much, too rich, two sweet 'death by chocolate' sorts of deserts - with no other flavor for contrast. Mostly I don't like these at all, though every now and then one tastes good.

Sloppy plot continuity/issues made me finallly put pen to paper as well, actually, but solving the LFN plot problems is a life's work, and mostly (to continue the food metphor), in the tedious pastry making part. A "lot" of labor goes into light, flaky pastry - you have to have it for a really steller desert, but honestly - most of the time I'm happy to use store bought pie-shells, or skip the shell altogether and just plop the fruit filling over ice cream. Way less labor to get to the tasty parts, and perfectly filling and usually quite satisfying too. I think a lot of fic writing is like that - the canon provides the basic pastry, everyone knows what it is and looks like and rushes on to the parts they want right now.

Romance genre fic can't do this at all, partially because its only filling in the first place and has no ready-made pastry to fill up. You'd be doing the opposite - making homemade pastry (or plot and action!) to hold store-branded canned cherry pie filling. Why bother?

[jaybee65.livejournal.com]

Seriously - I think its *because* canon has great plots than many feel would be improved for them personally, with just a little sauce

But what I see, in the vast majority of cases, isn't people adding "just a little sauce." They're pouring the entire bottle on it, drowning everything in the same flavor over and over again. Or worse, they're actually scooping out the original filling and replacing it with chocolate mousse!

I can understand wanting to spice up a dessert with something extra. But why must it *always* be chocolate? Certain desserts might taste much better if you added whipped cream, or cinnamon, or a scoop of fruit sorbet, or even just sliced fresh strawberries. What I don't understand about fandom is that no one even seems interested in trying these variations. It's chocolate, chocolate, chocolate, nothing but chocolate.

(Boy, am I getting hungry with this analogy. I could really go for some apple pie a la mode right now!)

[nell65.livejournal.com]

But what I see, in the vast majority of cases, isn't people adding "just a little sauce." They're pouring the entire bottle on it, drowning everything in the same flavor over and over again. Or worse, they're actually scooping out the original filling and replacing it with chocolate mousse!

Yes - I do know what you mean, but I sometimes think that's a bit of the 'echo chamber' effect of fanfiction, especially on the internet, where some themes get repeated endlessly, louder and louder - and it's not clear to me that without the echo chamber that would be such a strong trend.

There is also a lot of 'gen' (as in - no romance) stuff floating around, a smaller percentage perhaps - but rather like the once (presumably) invisible f/f, which now that it has communities and journals and an established support network isn't looking nearly so invisible anymore, I think gen may also be on its way back into the larger picture as well.

Labeling it all is hard though. I thought the recent Mary!Sunday Sue fic was gen, in the sense that the romance/sex wasn't really driving the plot - you could have stripped it all out and just left in the two OFC, one watching as the other brings down Section - and the story would have stood up just fine (perhaps better even!). You thought I should have labeled it ship/romance fic. Which brings us back full circle to reader POV. And there, I'm stuck...

[jaybee65.livejournal.com]

There is also a lot of 'gen' (as in - no romance) stuff floating around, a smaller percentage perhaps - but rather like the once (presumably) invisible f/f, which now that it has communities and journals and an established support network isn't looking nearly so invisible anymore, I think gen may also be on its way back into the larger picture as well.

I hope so!

Not that I object to romance, really, but I'd like more variety. Romantic relationships aren't the be-all-and-end-all of my life, and I wouldn't expect it to be the that of fandom characters, either.

You thought I should have labeled it ship/romance fic. Which brings us back full circle to reader POV. And there, I'm stuck...

Er, yeah. For me, the whole goal of that fic was to pair up Birkoff with the OFC happily ever after, and the plot was merely the device to make that happen. So...maybe I'm stuck on the reader POV issue, too!

[swatkat24.livejournal.com]

OT - but...

invisible f/f, which now that it has communities and journals and an established support network isn't looking nearly so invisible anymore

It does look like f/f slashers have finally carved out their own space, hasn't it? *g*

[jaybee65.livejournal.com]

Yes, and that's a wonderful thing!

I think it would be harder to do with genfic, though. People are willing to cross fandoms to find their particular flavor of slash or kink, but genfic seems very much grounded in each specific fandom. That makes it hard to build a larger genficcer "community."