Why I write fanfic meme
May. 16th, 2010 07:36 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
lobelia321Why I Write Fanfic meme
via![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
viva_gloria
Bold any reasons that apply to you, strike out any that don't (if you feel like it), and add three (or more, or less) reasons of your own to the bottom.
1. To explore themes that I don't get to see in mass media using characters I love.
2. Because it's fun.
3.Because mass media does a crappy job of representing my race, gender, and sexual orientation.
4. Because I can get more people aboard my ship writing a story than a manifesto.
5.Because TV science-fiction doesn't explore its science-fiction premises in enough depth.
6. Because it's a gift I can give a stranger and know they will enjoy it.
7. Because I resonate emotionally with the characters that I read and watch, and want to find out why by writing about them.
8.Because every tale is a universe, often with fascinating nooks and crannies that the original author never explored.
9. Because I've made some of my best and dearest friends through this very wacky hobby.
10.Because the world the creator made is vast, and I want to see more of it.
11. Because writing as a communal experience is amazing.
12. Because I can.
13. Because I get so much enjoyment from reading fan fiction that I want to contribute to the community by providing enjoyment for other fans
14. When I become interested in particular actors and/or characters, sometimes I want to explore them in different contexts than their canons would ever allow.
15. I enjoy writing but I feel ambivalent about trying to get published; writing fan fiction frees me by removing the pressure to sell from consideration.
16. Because every time I write something, I learn more about writing. And myself. And my readers.
17.Because someone can find it and know that there are other people out there who respond to media that way.
18. Because writing porn and having someone say, "this is hot!" is an empowering experience.
19. Because telling stories is what I do, and I base my stories on the world around me, including things that I read, watch, and listen to.
20. Because sometimes I just want to focus on the story itself rather than getting bogged down in the backstory.
21. Because as a person of color, I am invisible in nearly all science fiction and fantasy, on screen or in print, and I want to see myself reflected in the stories I love.
22. Because I love rare pairings and if I didn't write them, then I would have nothing/very little to read.
23.Because writing fanfic that expresses my understanding of the source material is deeply satisfying.
24. Because sometimes [EDIT: OFTEN] the source material doesn't give me the character interactions I crave.
25. Because fanfic gives me a sandbox in which to play with format, form, voice, style ...
26. Because sometimes I need a challenge or a deadline to focus my writing.
27. Because I get better and more constructive criticism for fic -- from betas and from LJ/DW/AO3 comments -- than for anything else I've ever published. (Reviews, short pro fiction, non-fiction etc.)
My additions:
28. Because the interactive relationship of writers and readers is so much more intimate than in any other sphere of writing.
29. Because genre competence is its own delicious brand of squee! (hey, look, I know what this insiderish cracky joke refers to, and the meaning of the acronyms OTP and AU, and the fact that Draco *smirks* but Snape *scowls*, whee!!)
30. Because it makes me weep with laughter, and then weep because it's broken my heart, and hits a spot of essential deliciousness in my life like nothing else in the world.
31. Because there are no rules.
32. Because there are rules (genre rules) and that frees up the writing.
33. Because I can't help myself; even when I try to write just origfic, my heart returns to the slash.
34. Because it's just so damn hot; it is a libidinously cathected activity of interstitial proportions!
35. And because it allows me to use hyperbolic phrases like the above.
36. Because there's no feeling like writing THE END and then hitting that 'Post' button, and then, heart-thumpingly, wait for the first feedback comment.
37. Because it's just so irreverent and insane!!!
38. Because I love fandom and want to be part of it. Because fans are funny, intelligent, creative, eloquent, articulate, self-mocking, world-mocking, kind and generous.
via
viva_gloriaBold any reasons that apply to you, strike out any that don't (if you feel like it), and add three (or more, or less) reasons of your own to the bottom.
1. To explore themes that I don't get to see in mass media using characters I love.
2. Because it's fun.
3.
4.
5.
6. Because it's a gift I can give a stranger and know they will enjoy it.
7. Because I resonate emotionally with the characters that I read and watch, and want to find out why by writing about them.
8.
9. Because I've made some of my best and dearest friends through this very wacky hobby.
10.
11. Because writing as a communal experience is amazing.
12. Because I can.
13. Because I get so much enjoyment from reading fan fiction that I want to contribute to the community by providing enjoyment for other fans
14. When I become interested in particular actors and/or characters, sometimes I want to explore them in different contexts than their canons would ever allow.
15. I enjoy writing but I feel ambivalent about trying to get published; writing fan fiction frees me by removing the pressure to sell from consideration.
16. Because every time I write something, I learn more about writing. And myself. And my readers.
17.
18. Because writing porn and having someone say, "this is hot!" is an empowering experience.
19.
20. Because sometimes I just want to focus on the story itself rather than getting bogged down in the backstory.
21.
22. Because I love rare pairings and if I didn't write them, then I would have nothing/very little to read.
23.
24. Because sometimes [EDIT: OFTEN] the source material doesn't give me the character interactions I crave.
25. Because fanfic gives me a sandbox in which to play with format, form, voice, style ...
26. Because sometimes I need a challenge or a deadline to focus my writing.
27. Because I get better and more constructive criticism for fic -- from betas and from LJ/DW/AO3 comments -- than for anything else I've ever published. (Reviews, short pro fiction, non-fiction etc.)
My additions:
28. Because the interactive relationship of writers and readers is so much more intimate than in any other sphere of writing.
29. Because genre competence is its own delicious brand of squee! (hey, look, I know what this insiderish cracky joke refers to, and the meaning of the acronyms OTP and AU, and the fact that Draco *smirks* but Snape *scowls*, whee!!)
30. Because it makes me weep with laughter, and then weep because it's broken my heart, and hits a spot of essential deliciousness in my life like nothing else in the world.
31. Because there are no rules.
32. Because there are rules (genre rules) and that frees up the writing.
33. Because I can't help myself; even when I try to write just origfic, my heart returns to the slash.
34. Because it's just so damn hot; it is a libidinously cathected activity of interstitial proportions!
35. And because it allows me to use hyperbolic phrases like the above.
36. Because there's no feeling like writing THE END and then hitting that 'Post' button, and then, heart-thumpingly, wait for the first feedback comment.
37. Because it's just so irreverent and insane!!!
38. Because I love fandom and want to be part of it. Because fans are funny, intelligent, creative, eloquent, articulate, self-mocking, world-mocking, kind and generous.
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(no subject)
Date: 2010-05-16 06:45 pm (UTC)NB your #29 had a #37-ish effect on me.
PS coffee sometime?
(no subject)
Date: 2010-05-16 07:53 pm (UTC)Making these why-I-do-this-lifechanging-thing statements is headhurtmaking. I thought I can't think of anything. Then I thought how can I distill all that I feel about this into a few pithy sentences -- give me an epic! Then I kept coming up with new reasons and am still thinking of some. Then I veered from the ridiculous to the sublime and back again, and in slash the ridiculous is the sublime... and gads, head hurts again.
Yes, coffee! :-) When not consumed by adhoddery... Am actually thinking of taking LEAVE (radical!).
(no subject)
Date: 2010-05-16 08:08 pm (UTC)I started fretting about whether my new points said anything new, and whether there was anything I'd missed. Then I realised it didn't matter <g>
I am going to retitle my LJ (and possibly my whole life): "The perfect is the enemy of the good." (Which axiom, vexingly, comes in multiple languages with multiple variations. Never mind.)
LEAVE? Do they let you do that?
(no subject)
Date: 2010-05-16 10:03 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2010-05-16 08:55 pm (UTC)I recently took a wrong turning on my way out of fandom, and found myself right back in the seething heart of it, obsessive late night fic-reading and everything.
*hugs fandom* I promise I will never try to leave you again.
(no subject)
Date: 2010-05-16 09:01 pm (UTC)What fandom? What obsessed you late into the night? What seethed?
Fandom is evol. It will never let you go. Like those fairytale keys or things that return to the owner, magically. Or labyrinths. Or universes that are round. Or Moebius strips. Or toruses.
I must stop myself. Have you slashed the new doctor? I was dead against him but felt a residue of sympathy because he is not David Tennant. Then I saw a pic posted in someone's LJ of New Doctor wearing Awesome Knitwear! Ooh, just found knitwear link:
http://prairiedaun.livejournal.com/1171913.html?#cutid1
This made me feel warmly disposed. Plus attractive shock of hair.
(no subject)
Date: 2010-05-16 10:23 pm (UTC)Fandom is evol. It will never let you go. Like those fairytale keys or things that return to the owner, magically. Or labyrinths. Or universes that are round. Or Moebius strips. Or toruses.
Yes! All of these things. And long may it be so.
I'm very fond of new Doctor! Haven't slashed him yet though, or indeed written any Who fic lately, much as I'm enjoying watching it. Seduced back into the disreputable opium den of RPS, y'see.
Sadly, he didn't wear that jumper for very long - it was foisted on him by an old lady who was Not What She Seemed. I think he ought to have kept it on for the whole series.
(no subject)
Date: 2010-05-16 10:25 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2010-05-16 10:52 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2010-05-16 11:06 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2010-05-16 10:45 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2010-05-16 11:07 pm (UTC)