Rumblings...

[shadowkat]

Been thinking a lot about fanfic lately. The reason people read it, the legalities of it, and the legitmate desire to write it. If you talk to someone who has never heard the term *fanfic* before, they will give you a funny look as if you are insane. Scholars, who have no difficulty writing long thesises on television shows and analyzing in small detail the psychological make-up of characters, seem to struggle with the idea of fanfic. Assuming out of hand that it is silly or pedesterian or the bastard child of an actual work. One friend described it as "piggy-backing" on the work of the author. "Can't you come up with your own original characters?"

I can't help but wonder what these folks would say if I were to point out a couple of novels - famous ones, highly creative, that are in fact *fanfic*? Particularly if we define fanfic as: taking previously created fictional characters in a fictional universe and playing with it yourself in a different way. This may also include taking celebrities or famous people that have a fan following and creating fictionalized stories about them.

Here's a short list of *published* works which fit under the above definition of *fanfic* :
1. The Wide Sagasso Sea - a novel that made the 100 best
works of the 20th Century. It is about Mr. Rochester's insane wife and takes place before Jane Eyre.
2. The BeeKeeper's Assistant - one in a series of novels about a woman who helps Sherlock Holmes solve mysteries.
3. Rosencrantz and Guildernstern are Dead by Tom Stoppard - Stoppard's version of Shakespear's Hamlet from the points of view of R&G.
4. Scarlette – the sequel of Gone with The Wind
5. Sandition – a unfinished novel by Jane Austen which someone else completed over 20 years after her death.
6.Ahab’s Wife – by Sena Jeter Naslund
7.The League of Extraordinary Gentleman, graphic novel by Alan Moore
8. Jane Austen mysteries - where Jane Austen the writer solves mysteries.
9. Young Sherlock Holmes - by Steven Spielberg
10. The 7 Percent Solution - another Sherlock Holmes film

Then of course we have remakes of movies, sometimes taking just one or two characters or just the plot or the universe and shifting it in a new way.

Fanfic is merely taking a story or characters or a universe presented on screen or in a book and playing with it. Challenging what we see, pushing the boundaries, not accepting it necessarily as given. How we examine what we are presented is different for each of us - some of us prefer to analyze it through essays, some through poetry, some through creative fiction - no one form is better than another. Just different, I think. In some ways - of the three - fanfic is the most interesting response, because it is the most guttural, it comes from the subconscious, the heart, and tells us more about the author and the hidden subtext of a work of fiction than any scholarly essay will. Also as pointed out in Revdorthyl's livejournal recently - the need to write fanfiction usually arises from a tension between what is presented on screen/in a novel and the viewer's expectations. The viewer wants to see more. The screen only shows a little or provides gaps, or just doesn't examine in full certain side characters. The viewer as a result writes fanfic to fill in those gaps, to examine those characters and resolve the tension. And obtains readers who equally feel this gap and need solace yet have not for whatever reason felt the need to write fic on it.

I've been reading a fascinating fanfic that takes place in BTVS S6 by lordshiva that is a perfect example of how fanfic arises from this tension and how it can fill in gaps left by the original story-teller.

Lordshiva's fic does something not many S6 fics I've read have attempted - it explores the unresolved or unexplored by Whedon and Company issues of the characters.

Willow's issues with control and dark magic. Stepping away from the easy short-cut of magic as crack.
Buffy's issues with sex and Spike, allowing her to have had great sex with former boyfriends, so the sex with Spike isn't so much about having *great* sex, but the type of sex they are having and how she is using Spike. ME touched on this a bit. Lordshiva goes a little further exploring Buffy's thought-process more than her actions.
Xander's issues with Anya and marriage. Why he is nervous about this. His rising panic. His uncertain relationships with the others.
Dawn's desire to be part of things, her lonliness, and her frustration with her sister.

She keeps the character's very close to how they appear on screen, in attempt to examine the issues the writers never really addressed in full or to her satisfaction (or mine). A well-written WIP, definitely worth a look - if you were a fan of S6 BTVS or still have issues with the season. Also a good example of that tension. Another excellent example is herselfnyc Bittersweets series, which also deals with the tension in S6. She started it after Smashed and it goes alternate universe shortly after. A very different take. Herself plays with her characters more. Doesn't rely on the screen to tell her what to do with them and develops the universe in her own way. Exploring issues the series presented to her and she struggled with and refused to accept at face value: such as the sexuality of the vampires, the idea of a soul and what it means and does it necessarily make one good and do you need one to be good, and abusive relationships. She explores things that may have been hinted at onscreen but the writers would never have been able to explore on TV.
Then there is irkios who did "Chain" - I think that's the name of it. Which focuses on what would have happened if the Trio kidnapped Spike and redid his chip - something that was hinted at in Smashed but never quite followed up on by the writers of the series. All three explore different issues. Finally - chase820 and mustangsally Eldorado series - which I've heard of, but haven't found all of - outside of a few clippings in chase's journal.
This series is fascinating because it grabs characters from different tv fanstasy/sci-fi series and puts them together in a universe the creators made up. The characters are the same yet different, edgier.
What they've done is take an aspect of a character that they found fascinating and played with it - changed it, keeping the physical appearance of the character the body, so to speak, but making the personality edgier or different from it. This technique isn't all that different than taking real people and molding them together to create fiction. Heck Dorothy Dunnett does it in King Hereafter based on Macbeth tale. And Marion Zimmer Bradley does it in Mists of Avalon.
Chase820's Eldorado in some respects reminds me of Alan Moore's League of Extraordinary Gentleman - the idea of taking the character not the universe per se and playing.

And all four are as valid as The Wide Sagasso Sea or Rosencrantz and Guildenstern or League in their desire to explore characters and ideas in new and original ways. The characters may not necessarily be new, but the ideas and stories are. The authors have given us a new way of looking at them.




In other news had a lovely weekend. Spent Friday night at a cocktail party hosted by my new pals S&N. One of the puppeteers from Crank Yankers was there. He told me how they created the puppets and informed me that the same woman who operated Puppet Angel's hands operates the hands of the victim puppet on the show. He operates Bobby Fletcher and Special Ed. Also told me that the phone calls are out of Vegas, by way of Arizona. Fascinating. Other two guys were gamblers. One a professional gambler with black-jack. The other
a poker player with Rounders. Made for a great evening.
Saturday spent listening to Neil Young Tribute Concert in Prospect Park with cjl and his bud. Nice concert if a little long.

Comments

[dodyskin.livejournal.com]

I've long let go of the idea of valid and invalid art. If art is an expression of the self then changing it to fit other people's idea of what is right or wrong is to necessarily corrupt it, or at least express only a desire to please other people--which is fine.

By the by.

If fanfic is playing in a world created by other people then that is just an extension of what we all do every day. Everything we do is built on the works, ideas, of others. More specifically, as you said, many creative endeavours are derivative in some way. Films are made of books and pictures are drawn of stories and fairy tales are modernised or put to music or dance. Real person fiction? Henry the Fifth anyone? Every comic that goes into its second artist is fanart. Is a singer less of a singer if she doesn't write her own songs? It's just rubbish spouted by people who haven't thought it through. I'd put money on the sticking point being, well, money. If you can/want to make money at it then it's valid, if not it's a waste of time. Well, I think watching Neighbours is a waste of time, for me. I'd rather being doing something than passively receiving something. I like to participate in my own life and fanfic is a way for me to do that.

And, crushingly, burstingly, embarassingly proud of my complicated cousin Jean being up there in your list. ::hides face from badness of my name dropping but hell, I am proud::

[shadowkat67.livejournal.com]

And, crushingly, burstingly, embarassingly proud of my complicated cousin Jean being up there in your list. ::hides face from badness of my name dropping but hell, I am proud::

Which of the above is your cousin Jean?

Agree completely on what you state above.

I've long let go of the idea of valid and invalid art. If art is an expression of the self then changing it to fit other people's idea of what is right or wrong is to necessarily corrupt it, or at least express only a desire to please other people--which is fine.

Yes. For some reason people insist on validating or invalidating art - with best of/worst of lists,
or stating it's not valid because it does not fit within these rules or guidelines. I remember years ago, while an English major, having a late night discussion with a fellow English major about what was literature or what wasn't. He was doing his thesis on Frank Miller and Alan Moore's exploration of dark heroes in comics, while I was doing mine on the female representation in novels by Joyce and Faulkner. Which of us was doing legitimate analysis?
In my opinion - both. Just because one group of people may not like a certain type of art, does not in any way invalidate it. I wonder if the desire to do so may not come from a need in our character to control? (shrugs).

At any rate thanks for the response, agree.

lj is erratically censoring my comment notifications

[dodyskin.livejournal.com]

In my opinion - both. Just because one group of people may not like a certain type of art, does not in any way invalidate it. I wonder if the desire to do so may not come from a need in our character to control?

Yeah, that's an idea. I dunno, I reckon people feel a sort of ownership of art that speaks to them and they have this desire to share it with other people. Combine that with the feeling of um, limited time that we all have, people can get frutrated. Sort of like, 'why are you wasting your time with that when you could be doing this--I'm doing it and it's great'. It's a sharing thing that gets out of control maybe. Hmm, not sure, feel like there's an idea there that I haven't the words for yet.

And Jean Rhys was my cousin, with several removes and ins and outs along the way. The house in the book was my grandmothers childhood home.

Re: lj is erratically censoring my comment notifications

[shadowkat67.livejournal.com]

Yes, livejournal has been wacky lately.

I reckon people feel a sort of ownership of art that speaks to them and they have this desire to share it with other people. Combine that with the feeling of um, limited time that we all have, people can get frutrated. Sort of like, 'why are you wasting your time with that when you could be doing this--I'm doing it and it's great'.

I think that may lie at the root of it. Of course it doesn't help that we live in a society that is obsessed with profit and popularity. So if a tv show, book, piece of artwork is too marginalized or appeals to a small audience - it's unlikely to get shown or published. The more *popular* it is - the more likely we'll see more of it. If it isn't popular or doesn't appeal to the masses - you have to hunt harder for it. So, it's not so much the desire to share in some cases, as the desire to simply be able to access what you like and the fear that someone else's personal interests are preventing you from doing it.

PS: kudos to your cousin on the Wide Sargasso Sea.