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

[jaybee65.livejournal.com]

For this, I'd point to the slashers and their passionate defense of m/m in particular and fanfic more broadly as a wonderful explosion of heretofore self censored and squashed female writer to female reader erotica.

But from the POV I'm trying to articulate here, m/m and het (and f/f) are exactly the same thing! It's *all* shipping, and hence all actually stereotypically female in focus. Accordingly, I tend to think that those people who are trumpeting slashfic as a step forward for women are both right but *also* in many ways wrong.

Of course, I don't know what I'd call what I write now. I'm more interested in exploring the dynamics of male/female relationships than in a lot of other things, just in this moment anyway - but does that mean what I write is all romance? Not that I'd mind particularly if it were......, but - is it?

I don't know. I've only read a handful of completed stories by you, so it's actually rather hard to judge. I'd classify at least some of what I've seen as gen.

But my examination is just as much aimed at myself as it is other fen: I've written my fair share of shipfic. But in some ways I feel like I slid into it because that was the preexisting template of fandom before I arrived. When you join a fandom, people *expect* you to pick an OTP and write about that, or to experiment by putting together unconventional pairings. But I wonder if my inclinations would have been the same without the fannish culture being what it is.

[swatkat24.livejournal.com]

But in some ways I feel like I slid into it because that was the preexisting template of fandom before I arrived.

You know, this is the reason you need to write Wickedfic. Because there aren't many people around who could deal with the religious/political issues presented in Wicked the way you could. *g*

[jaybee65.livejournal.com]

I'd love to try it. Same goes for the religious issues in BSG. Let me ponder some story ideas...

[swatkat24.livejournal.com]

'And would we know the Unnamed God if it came knocking on our door?

One of my favourite lines in the book. Maybe this will inspire? *g*

[nell65.livejournal.com]

Drifting back in again - I think that another reason for the differences we're seeing between pro-derivative work, and the current spate of lj/internet fanfic is the 'pre-existing template' so people write what the see and back it goes again. The published work is more pastiche/comment/gen.... and so does it follow that those looking to get published write that kind of stuff?

Also - having had some ideas for wrestling with both RL terrorism and/or RL politics and/or RL issues of faith and philosophy in the context of LFN fic kicking around in my head since *before* I actually started to write any fanfic, my pessonal experience with these kinds of plot/fic ideas is that they require alot of care - and are present, to a smaller or larger degree in various bits of my unfinished work - and are, to an extent - part of the reason the work is unfinished as it adds a layer of complexity to working out the story. Or in some cases, requires more research than I've had the time or inclination to perform.....