Discussion Time Article on FanFiction

Time has a rather interesting article by Lev Grossman called The Boy Who Lived Forever.

I found it a neat read and agreed with most of his points. He also does a good job with the whole copy rights debate and showing both sides of the argument.

 

What an excellent article! It's nice to see something as main-stream as Time covering the topic... it makes me feel more socially acceptable haha.

 

I was quite thoroughly impressed by this article. It's hard to find mainstream media sources that take fanfiction seriously, and I thought this covered all the different sides quite well without vilifying anyone. Fan fiction is weird to a lot of people, but hopefully they'll see it's not really anything new, or anything that numerous published authors haven't already done. And hopefully this just one of many articles that will normalize fannish pursuits to the general population.

 

Really great article, it makes excellent arguments for both sides including the one that FanFiction is something quite natural within a fandom.

Thanks for bringing it forward, Briann!

 

Loved the article.

 

That was a wonderfully balanced and rational analysis of the pros and cons of fan fiction. Thank you very much for providing the link.

 

Very cool!

And actually, I just linked this article to my mother, who hasn't understood this "fanfiction" thing I do for a decade now. So I send her to TIME Magazine, and say "This. This is what I do."

 

I can't say it any better than this

Thanks for linking to it here!!

 

What an excellent article that shows both side and doesn't make fanficers look crazy! Thanks for linking it!

They don't do it for money. That's not what it's about. The writers write it and put it up online just for the satisfaction. They're fans, but they're not silent, couchbound consumers of media. The culture talks to them, and they talk back to the culture in its own language.

I loved this! I found it very true, at least to me.


"The problem is that for most people, any kind of writing looks like work to them, so they get confused why anyone would want to write fanfic instead of original professional material, even though they don't have any problem understanding why someone would want to mess around on a guitar playing Simon and Garfunkel."

I'm so going to use this next time someone asks me why I write fanfiction and thinks I'm crazy for it!

 

mavjade, those were some of my fave quotes from the article too.

And actually, that "all writing looks like work" thing has saved me a few times. I love using my phone's notepad feature to write, but I find that if I do it at work my boss assumes I'm texting and gives me the evil eye about it. But if I do exactly the same thing with a pen and paper... I'm golden, and have been for all of my college and career thus far.

"What are you doing?" "Writing." "Oh."

Most people will never take it to the next level and ask what I'm writing.

 

Thanks for the link, Briannakin!

 

Me too! Writing fanfic is fun. Writing original works is difficult for me. Plus, I love the Star Wars characters.

 

"The problem is that for most people, any kind of writing looks like work to them, so they get confused why anyone would want to write fanfic instead of original professional material, even though they don't have any problem understanding why someone would want to mess around on a guitar playing Simon and Garfunkel."

This.
It tends to be easier with other creative types because most hobby artists don't paint for an exhibition and so on.

Also writing a blog on the side and having people know that can help. If they see you writing they just assume it's for the blog (they probably won't ever read).

 

That really is fantastic. I really hope that one day we fanfic writers can stand tall without shame of being 'lesser' writers than people who write original fiction.

 

Excellent article, really. However, the author is wrong about the chronology. Star Trek fanfic significantly pre-dates Man from U.N.C.L.E. fanfiction. The earliest Trek fanzines came out when the original show was still on the air and they were based on science fiction fanzines. Man from U.N.C.L.E zines didn't come until the 1980's when the show finally went into syndication.

I'm a little disappointed that the author didn't mention Star Wars fanfiction. Before 1977, most media zines were all Trek and Starsky
& Hutch. But after ANH came out it seemed like everything went to SW. Then people suddenly realized that they could write fics for any media that they loved. Combined with cheaper copying technology, electric typewriters and old-fashioned snail mail, it was off to the races in the 1980's (though nothing like the explosion that the internet has allowed).

However, the article is about fanfiction today, with an emphasis on people writing for Harry Potter and other books, so not mentioning SW (and other popular movies) is a small omission. It really is a terrific article.

 

"The problem is that for most people, any kind of writing looks like work to them, so they get confused why anyone would want to write fanfic instead of original professional material, even though they don't have any problem understanding why someone would want to mess around on a guitar playing Simon and Garfunkel."

Ahh, the old "X is worthless if you don't get paid for it" line of thinking. LOL.

Good article.