Halloween in Four Days!

[brigdh]

My roommate has gone home for the weekend. Double-you Tee Eff. Seriously people, what could possibly entice you to leave New York City on Halloween weekend? It is the best holiday of the year, as I have recently spent some time arguing with a girl from Iceland, where apparently it is not celebrated. (Which, by the way, is clearly blasphemy. Life without Halloween is just wrong.)

Anyway. I read a very interesting post on metafandom earlier today: Fandom and RP, from an Outsider by altoidsaddict.

Her basic argument is that the difference between fanfiction and original writing is that fanfiction necessarily entails communication within a community, and original writing, while the purpose is still communication, is far more unidirectional, from an author to the reader (but do go read the original post; maybe I'm misrepresenting her).

Which I thought was very interesting, because a lot of my stories were conceived as my contributions to the fanon conversation. When I get so sick of people writing Hisoka as the girly uke (or whatever my current hated trend is), I go and write a story with him on top. Looking over my stories, quite a few were written because it's politer than screaming, "Oh my GOD, fandom, stop writing that or I'ma cut a bitch!" Also, writing porn is generally more fun than getting into a wank.

It reminds me of a post I was thinking about writing a few weeks ago, about the differences between fanfictions that can be read without knowing the canon, and ones that can't. It was Swordspoint fandom that made me think of it, of course (what else do I think about?), because most of the existent stories are of the first type: they're relatively long, most over a thousand words, and tend towards either first-times or other similarly self-evident plots. Which is not to say they're bad, not at all! But they are stories that you probably can get a lot of enjoyment out of even if you have no idea who Richard and Alec are.

I do not write stories like that. My first Swordspoint story was only 300 words, and relied on and alluded to the canon so heavily that I imagine it would be incomprehensible to people who haven't read the book (and possibly people who have). Of course, then I threw off my theory, at least in regards to myself, by writing one of those long, canon-free stories, which is why I never got around to writing the post, but I still think it's an interesting division. I like stories, both to write and to read, that do require you to be obsessively immersed in the canon to untangle all of their metaphors, ones that depend on you understanding some tiny reference to make sense of the plot or characterization. I like the feeling of interplay with canon and fanon, with the community of people equally involved in the story, and with the story itself that those types of fanfic give me. I like stories that aren't just well-characterized or recognizable as being from a certain source, but that are heavily steeped in all possible details of the canon: tone of voice and mood and colors and sounds and everything else. (Occasionally there are fanfictions that manage to do so better than the canon itself. Not in Swordspoint, but when some mangakas seem to forget what happened to their characters earlier in the series, yeah). But that's me, and clearly many people prefer the other type.

Another reason why I was thinking about this topic recently is because nanowrimo is coming up. There is no possible way I'll have time to participate, but I was thinking about setting up a challenge for myself for the month of November, just to see if I could: write an original short story. And I have no problems thinking of characters, or world-building- any of the things, really, that fanfiction writing supposedly hampers- but I have no ideas for a plot. Because so many of my plots are just parts of a conversation; they're me saying "check out this interpretation!" or "you've all got it wrong, this is how he acts" or "don't you think they look good together?". And when I don't have my community to say things to, I have no idea what I do want to say.

So! What do you all think? Does that seem like a valid distinction between fanfiction and original writing to you? Which type of fanfiction do you like better? Am I still feverish and making things up that are totally illogical?

Comments

[wordsofastory.livejournal.com]

There does seem to be a bit of a correlation with length; drabbles tend more toward the canon-dependent side, while I think most, if not all, epic-length stories can be read without previous knowledge of the canon. And I should have emphasized that I think it's more of a continuum than a binary.

I like your examples of Joyce novels and other works because you're completely right. And yet I still can't help but feel that fanfiction feels different, to me at least, than reading original novels. Maybe that's just me, or maybe it's a differing attitude toward fanfiction than toward "real" literature that makes me notice the community of fanfiction more. Or perhaps it's simply the ease of speaking with the fanfiction community- I can expect, if I post a story, some of the people I disagree or am responding to to read my story, and possibly even to comment. You are certainly capable of responding to Hemmingway, but you won't get to see his reaction. That ease and quickness of participating in the conversation might be what increases the feel of being in a community.

Now I'm wondering, do you have examples of stories at both ends of the accessibility spectrum?

I'd feel self-indulgent to talk about my own stories (and besides, the yuletide site is down so I can't link you to the story I'd have used as the counter-example), so I've adopted Rana as my Guinea pig, as hopefully she won't mind.

In His Element (http://ranalore.slashcity.net/ynmelement.html) is what I think of as a canon-dependent story. It would be very pretty to read outside of that context, as I think the poetry of the language stands for itself, but I don't know what sense it would have. It seems to me that you'd almost have to appreciate it on an abstract level. Perhaps I'm wrong, though.

Axiomatic (http://ranalore.slashcity.net/axiomatic.html), on the other hand, is perfectly comprehensible whether you know YnM or not.

You know, talking about this, I wonder if the distinction is not that one story can be read without knowing the canon and one can't, but rather that, with the second story, a YnM fan and someone who knows nothing about YnM will get much the same experience (or, you know, as similar an experience as two different readers can ever have). But in the first story, these two readers will come away with very different impressions. So it's not that you can't read some stories without knowing the fandom, it's that you won't getting out of it what a canon reader would. What you do get out of it might be equally worthwhile, but it's sure to be different.

Also, finally, behold me not wondering aloud over Swordspoint first-time stories. I'm surprised there are any

Any? There are tons! They dominate the fandom; it's why I've felt no need to write one myself. I don't want to add to the imbalance that already exists when there are so many other possible stories.

[ranalore.livejournal.com]

I've adopted Rana as my Guinea pig, as hopefully she won't mind.

Not only do I not mind, but I shall now preen over by my waterdish. La. *G*

[wordsofastory.livejournal.com]

Hee, I didn't think you would. And you have so many stories to choose from!

[p-zeitgeist.livejournal.com]

Now this really is fascinating, because I'd almost flip these two. Axiomatic is accessible on a superficial level, in that you don't need to know who any of these people are to understand that you've got a workplace, that you have couples where each partner is taking care of the other in his or her distinct way, and that this is just as romantic as hearts and flowers. But it wouldn't have any resonance, I don't think, if you didn't know these specific people; the beauty of the piece is in the way each couple's ways of caring reflect what we know of the individuals and of the dynamics of their particular relationships, and of the circumstances of this particular workplace. And on the other side, I'd have said that In His Element is, while not as independent of canon as some things, probably capable of being read meaningfully without knowledge of canon. Yes, you'd miss a lot without any idea of who the hell these people are, or why Muraki goes with night and the moon and Tsuzuki with day and joy and sadness. But those are still very striking emotional portraits: I think even in total isolation you'd get the haunted chill and deadly laughter that goes with Muraki, and the love and sorrow that goes with Tsuzuki, and the sense of cleanness and judgment in the observer. I think that's a piece I'd have been struck by even if I'd encountered it before I knew the characters' names.

Having said all that, I'd like to be able to draw some conclusion from it. I'm not sure I can, though, except to repeat what we already knew, which is that I may not be the most normal of all possible readers. Which I can prove! Because:

Any? There are tons! They dominate the fandom

This still astonishes me. In fact, I had been going to speculate that perhaps one reason that it's such a small fandom was precisely that there's not a lot of scope for first-time stories in it, and in most fandoms first-time stories appear to be the dominant form. Clearly I was wrong, but I'm more surprised to be wrong here than in many situations. The thing is, I'd have thought the book itself, while it obviously doesn't foreclose first-time stories, makes it difficult for one to add anything. It isn't just that the characters are already together when the book opens; it's that the early relationship arc is also already there. What's left to do?

-- She said, once more demonstrating the amazing depth of her eccentricity. Obviously, there is something left to do. I just don't know what it is.

[wordsofastory.livejournal.com]

because I'd almost flip these two

Wow, really? That's fascinating. And I can see the argument you make for reversing their places, even though I took care to choose two stories that I thought were extremely representative of their respective ends of the spectrum.

I don't know if I agree with you- for me at least, because I think I'd still read the stories the way I did rather than the way you did- but I see how you could come at them from your angle instead. This is so interesting! I have no idea what it means, or what we can say about the different types of fanfiction from it, but it's an amazing way of looking at ways of reading stories.

What's left to do?

Well, I can't really speak for a whole set of authors, none of whom I know, (but watch me proceed to do just that) but their stories seem to be very focused on the actual first meeting (and how it leads to sex, this being fanfiction and all), rather than any sort of relationship arc. Which I suppose is an interesting question- how would you end up having (inviting? allowing?) a stranger move in with you without knowing really anything about him at all?

On the other hand, I've seen people complain that there isn't a first-time scene in the books, either because they thought that that was necessary information, or because they simply weren't interested in a couple that was already together. So perhaps people are writing to fulfill that need.