(no subject)
Feb. 18th, 2006 02:29 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
elucrehSomeone on my flist was questioning fanfiction and how often it is different...really different...from canon. I will not mention her name, as I'm sure she didn't intend to start wank, but I wanted to preserve my own thoughts, as my reply to her came out too long for one comment-box.
I agree with you on some points, and can perhaps provide explanations on others. I mean, I'm not a writer...at least not often...but I do read a wide variety of fics and a lot of meta based on the techniques and interpretations of their authors, because I find it interesting.
--"That it (fanfiction) would strive to respect the canon characterizations and yet provide interesting, expanded, fill-in-the-blanks, realistic details."
Okay. I'll buy that. I mean, it isn't everyone's definition, certainly, but it was what I was looking for when I first came to the fandom and it's still one of the things that makes me really like a piece.
Part of it, I think, is that you have a very specific way that you interpret the characters, especially the ones you like most. And while I, personally, think that your extrapolations from what little we know of them in canon have a high likelihood of accuracy, many people don't see them that way at all. My own ideas of what is canonically accurate tend to be stuck to facts, not interpretations, these days because I love slipping into other people's worlds and viewpoints, and I like to leave my canonic impressions fluid so that I don't have to consciously fight them when I read.
Remus especially fascinates me--how people see him--especially in his Marauder days. Some people assume he was against all pranking and only too scared to speak out loud enough. Some people think he couldn't have won James and Sirius's loyalty--even if he felt insecure in it--without a sense of mischief himself. And so on. Some people see him as having issues with trust now, because of all the messes trusting has got him into, some people see him as being able to handle it and move on, be an optimist about people.
But whatever your interpretation of whomever you choose to think about, you can present your ideas in two ways--in an essay, or through portraying them your way in a fic. Essays and meta are all well and good--and I do read and even write some, myself--but fic is a more appealing way to get it out there, and to read it, if you ask me.
My ideas of Draco were permanently altered by the fic I've read, starting with Maya's Underwater Light and going on from there. I can't remember who first got me thinking about Snape's side of things. But those sides are there...there are aspects to all the characters that we can expand and interpret as we choose, based on what we know and what we feel that means...and remembering, too, that Harry as the only PoV we see most things through brings his own biases to the observation.
The same thing applies to ships...you asked about Harry and Snape, for instance, who actually I do believe would work together. (The reason I am writing you this essay--sorry, btw--is that I am bored. I believe I will go and write one of the essays I'm always saying I will write when I'm done, and you'll get more on my ideas of shipping, if you'd care to read it when I put it up in my LJ later). But I was brought to a belief that they would work together...not that JKR would ever bring them together, but that the characters could mesh in a way that was right and good...by fics in which that relationship was made feasible...by characters acting in character, for a certain interpretation of it, in a given situation, in which they wound up together.
Fill-in-the-blank, realistic details? Your definition of realistic is different from other people's. And theirs from mine. And mine from yours...well, sometimes. *g* I actually agree with most of your ideas, especially when presented in the creative and very detailed way that you present them in your fics.
And then there's crack!fic, which is a whole nother story, of course, and even fic which are written as an exercise, in which--for example--Remus is made to act in ways which even the writer doesn't agree with, to explore how another character or the universe would react to that character being different.
There are lots of reasons for fic. Acting as a fan is one of them, and one that I don't believe you can do without, but it can be tied into different reasons...and paying homage doesn't always mean leaving things exactly the same, either. Maybe you don't think Ginny is right for Harry, who is one of your favorites, so you kill her off and let him see how well he'd work with Charlie. You don't always have to be a fan of the whole universe, either.
Gah. This is not an essay, really, as I keep losing my point. But I think I've said what I meant to say, most of it, even if not in a very coherent fashion. I hope it helps your thought processes!
I agree with you on some points, and can perhaps provide explanations on others. I mean, I'm not a writer...at least not often...but I do read a wide variety of fics and a lot of meta based on the techniques and interpretations of their authors, because I find it interesting.
--"That it (fanfiction) would strive to respect the canon characterizations and yet provide interesting, expanded, fill-in-the-blanks, realistic details."
Okay. I'll buy that. I mean, it isn't everyone's definition, certainly, but it was what I was looking for when I first came to the fandom and it's still one of the things that makes me really like a piece.
Part of it, I think, is that you have a very specific way that you interpret the characters, especially the ones you like most. And while I, personally, think that your extrapolations from what little we know of them in canon have a high likelihood of accuracy, many people don't see them that way at all. My own ideas of what is canonically accurate tend to be stuck to facts, not interpretations, these days because I love slipping into other people's worlds and viewpoints, and I like to leave my canonic impressions fluid so that I don't have to consciously fight them when I read.
Remus especially fascinates me--how people see him--especially in his Marauder days. Some people assume he was against all pranking and only too scared to speak out loud enough. Some people think he couldn't have won James and Sirius's loyalty--even if he felt insecure in it--without a sense of mischief himself. And so on. Some people see him as having issues with trust now, because of all the messes trusting has got him into, some people see him as being able to handle it and move on, be an optimist about people.
But whatever your interpretation of whomever you choose to think about, you can present your ideas in two ways--in an essay, or through portraying them your way in a fic. Essays and meta are all well and good--and I do read and even write some, myself--but fic is a more appealing way to get it out there, and to read it, if you ask me.
My ideas of Draco were permanently altered by the fic I've read, starting with Maya's Underwater Light and going on from there. I can't remember who first got me thinking about Snape's side of things. But those sides are there...there are aspects to all the characters that we can expand and interpret as we choose, based on what we know and what we feel that means...and remembering, too, that Harry as the only PoV we see most things through brings his own biases to the observation.
The same thing applies to ships...you asked about Harry and Snape, for instance, who actually I do believe would work together. (The reason I am writing you this essay--sorry, btw--is that I am bored. I believe I will go and write one of the essays I'm always saying I will write when I'm done, and you'll get more on my ideas of shipping, if you'd care to read it when I put it up in my LJ later). But I was brought to a belief that they would work together...not that JKR would ever bring them together, but that the characters could mesh in a way that was right and good...by fics in which that relationship was made feasible...by characters acting in character, for a certain interpretation of it, in a given situation, in which they wound up together.
Fill-in-the-blank, realistic details? Your definition of realistic is different from other people's. And theirs from mine. And mine from yours...well, sometimes. *g* I actually agree with most of your ideas, especially when presented in the creative and very detailed way that you present them in your fics.
And then there's crack!fic, which is a whole nother story, of course, and even fic which are written as an exercise, in which--for example--Remus is made to act in ways which even the writer doesn't agree with, to explore how another character or the universe would react to that character being different.
There are lots of reasons for fic. Acting as a fan is one of them, and one that I don't believe you can do without, but it can be tied into different reasons...and paying homage doesn't always mean leaving things exactly the same, either. Maybe you don't think Ginny is right for Harry, who is one of your favorites, so you kill her off and let him see how well he'd work with Charlie. You don't always have to be a fan of the whole universe, either.
Gah. This is not an essay, really, as I keep losing my point. But I think I've said what I meant to say, most of it, even if not in a very coherent fashion. I hope it helps your thought processes!
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(no subject)
Date: 2006-02-19 04:42 am (UTC)Now, I myself, like my stuff to be as canon-based as possible, when it comes to the stuff we know. But that's me.
I do branch out (some) in what I choose to read, but I am picky. However, that doesn't mean that there's no room for the other stuff. Just because it isn't my cup of tea doean't mean there aren't plenty of people who DO enjoy it.
As long as stuff is easy to find, well-labeled, and well-written, it has it's place in the fandom.
So explore. Create. Go nuts. Read a fic.