Fanfic, fandom, and writing essays..

[shadowkat]

It is midnight and I should be in bed. But oddly wired. I think PMS? Maybe not. Maybe so. Just finished betaing the first 20 pages of a fanfic that I wrote and posted to teaattheford tonight. It's the one I wrote last year but didn't finish. No not the evil fanfic, that's already there still unfinished. The other one. Which I hope to finish this weekend and post complete to that board. Little fearful. But nice to have it someplace intact. Was almost impossible to locate in my journal.

At any rate, while betaing the thing I got to thinking about fanfic and fandom. Two things that are relatively new to me. I've never been in a fandom before BTVS and to be honest, there are times that I look at fandom and think, yes, the word and it's dictionary meaning fits. Fanatic. Crazy. Obsessed person. Okay. Needing approval and validation through outside means. Yep. Yet, the people I've met have also been incredibly generous and fun. So like everything else? Double-edged experience.

Fanfic provides one with a comfort zone. You are working with established characters and an established back-story. You are also writing for an audience who knows possibly as much if not more about these characters than you do. This provides you, the fanfic writer, with the ability to skim over certain things that writers of original fiction cannot skim over, which is not a good habit to get into. You do not have to describe backstory or deal with exposition. You do not have to provide as much detailed description. Your audience already knows these characters, they know their back-story, where they came from, who they are. So unlike a writer of original fiction, you can sort of push past the tough stuff and get right to the meat or heart of things. Unless of course you are doing an alternate universe fic - then you have to tell more. There is of course a down-side to your audience being overly familar with your characters - they have their own ideas about them, own wants and desires, and if these wants and desires conflict with yours - well, you lose them.

Why is it written? To fill in gaps in the narrative. The writer and audience are left unsatisfied in some way, they want something and are uncertain what it is. Television serials are excellent for fanfic - because they have gaps in their narrative structure. The more loose the show is written and by loose, I mean the writer deliberately does not tell you everything about the characters or what has happened to them, the more likely you will see fanfic on it. Action-adventure/mystery/sci-fi and western serials are perfect - since their focus is more on action than relationships, they leave a lot of things open-ended. And being a serial - they can't quite let any of their characters stay together - another perfect opening for a fanfic to be written, because we all yearn for happy endings or endings period and tv serials rarely have endings.

Coming online tonight, I read one of the posts on my flist then read a response, and smiled. The post was asking if anyone knew of any NON-fanfic writers who explored myth in their essays and could speak about them and explored fandom. The person who responded recommended three FAN-FIC writers, big name ones, who to my knowledge have never written any essays on the verse and haven't really read any. I laughed. When I was writing essays on the Buffy Cross & Stake board in 2002-2003 - then later, briefly, Angel's Soul, the board was split. You could at one time only post fanfic with permission and only on the non-spoiler board, without spoilers. On ATPO - All Things Philosophical About Buffy and Angel - you rarely posted fanfic, not sure if they permitted it or not - short ones, maybe. Just links were allowed. But essays could be as long as you wanted and no permission was necessary. Slayage.tv - the academic site - only did essays.

I wrote over 400 pages during the series run in 2002-2005, but I'm willing to bet that the majority of the B/S fanfic writers on my own correspondence list never read one of them.  It's not because I wasn't well known - I wrote and posted on the most trafficed board online at the time - BC&S Spoiler Board which had over 400 visitors a day. Or accessible. But we ran in different circles. I read them, but then I read both essays and fic. A lot of people I know in fandom either read one or the other. There is an equal number of people I'm certain that have never read a fanfic, but have read quite a few essays. A friend of mine, soon to be published writer, refuses to read fanfic, sees it as silly and only read essays, even bought a book of essays. There is a split in fandom and people are very weird about it - but then people are weird about anything they get passionate about.

At any rate this persuades me to create a meme for the essay writers - everyone names their favorite fanfic writers, but I haven't seen anyone list their favorite essay writers, ever. Not once.  So, Who are your favorite Buffy/Angel essay writers? They had to have written an essay on the series. They cannot be someone known for writing lots of fanfic on it and have oh, written a brief post or two. No, You can only name people who have written at least one to two essays and have posted those essays someplace on line. Also if you are an essay writer, you are not allowed to name yourself. Name at least five. You can name ten. And if you can't think of any and you've written fanfic? Shame on you.. Go to these websites and start reading: www.teaatheford.com, www.atpobtvs.com. Who knows you might get some new ideas.

Who were my favorite essayists?

This is not as easy as it looks. Particularly since a lot of people on my flist wrote essays on this series.

1. Slain - who wrote essays on noir themes.

2. Alcibades

3. plin - otherwise known as superplin

4. Rahael - who wrote about myth

5. Caroline (or habiti ) who wrote about myth and did an amazing analysis of Buffy S7.

6. manwitch - who also did an interesting analysis of Buffy seasons as the hero's journey and the 7 chakras.

7. Destiny - a psychologist on Bloody Awful Poet, who did psychological analysis of Spike on each episode of BTVS and reviews

8. Lesley - who also analyzed myth on the series

9. atpoch who did analysis of each Angel episode, literary and musical analysis.

10. hankat - who examined the narrative structure.

Also: londonkds, Exeter, Haccity, Pip, ramsesII, frenchani, redcat, and cjlasky

I started by reading fanfic, but the essays were what got me hooked, particularly the discussions that followed.

Comments

[londonkds.livejournal.com]

Thank you for the praise! I'll have to think about this.

[frenchani.livejournal.com]

I started by reading the C&S discussions, and came to read fanfic later. I still enjoy both. I don't think one "habit" is better than the other. It's different.

Writing about BTVS or discussing the show is an intellectual exercise and a way to connect to other fans and to share thoughts. Reading fanfic is an addiction, it's sensual, it's about emotions and the taste of words, and in my case, he has everything to do with my love for the English tongue and Spuffy.

You're right, there are obviously two circles in the fandom. I noticed that many fanfic writers/readers on LJ aren't interested in essays and I think I bore them to death when I keep analyzing the show. I rarely get any comments then. It's different on boards because forums are made for discussions...and arguments even.

As for the meme, well...

I miss your long posts on the C&S, and ramses' interesting intuitions (she always had great ideas or questions to start a thread), and Klytaimnestra's essays on Tea At the Ford and Sanguine's analyses...and morgain's insights.

Good times...


Chani

PS: thanks for mentioning my contribution despite my busting up the English language!

[shadowkat67.livejournal.com]

It was Sanguine, not Destiny - thank you. Yes, you can tell I've been out of the loop for some time.

I agree with both your points. One is not better than the other, they are different. Heck several of the people I friended when I first joined lj were fanfic writers because I wanted to read their fic and it was easier to read on lj than on websites that had all sorts of weird frames and graphics. Fanfic writers create very busy websites for reasons I do not understand. That said - All About Spike and Bugger This are actually fairly good and easy to navigate. Nautibitz's wasn't bad either. The rest? ACCCK! And fanfic.com? ACCCK - you'd get killed with advertisements.

There are two circles - one is more analytical than the other and they rarely associate with each other. The big name fanfic writers I've met? Hadn't read my essays or anyones. And when critical analysis was offered on their own work? You could almost see them biting their tongue. Hey, I'm just having fun here - they'd say - I'm not thinking about anything deep, it's just my fantasy. It depends on how your brain works, what interests you.

Then there's those of us who like both. Who enjoy analyzing and discussing it. I stopped commenting on fanfic a year or so ago...when I realized they weren't interested in analysis.

WriterCon is a weird beast because in a way it is solely for fanfic writers , but there's a melding of essay writers and analysts there as well.

[superplin.livejournal.com]

Heh, yeah, I went back and edited my post after that because I assumed I hadn't been clear about what I was asking. My first response was "...okay...". ;>

As for my favorite essayists (and oh, you are so right that people rarely talk about this--well, outside the Ford, anyway), it's hard to say, but here goes:

1. You. ;>
2. Manwitch. Oh, how I loved his series on Buffy's Spiritual Journey, and was sorry when he stopped doing it.
3. The epic episode analyses of atpotch.
4. Caroline/habiti--I used to scour the board avidly for her posts.
5. aycheb, now happily at the Ford as well, has written some amazing analyses of various aspects of the series.
6. alcibiades (aka abrakadabrah) did that fantastic essay on Escher.
7. Sylvia Volk has written some terrific stuff about narrative structure, which is also in the Vault at the Ford.
8. I always enjoy molly_may's episode analyses, even when I don't agree with her. Which isn't all that often, actually.
9. revdorothy writes about family and religion in the Jossverse, and is doing her dissertation on Buffy.
10. macha3, or just plain macha, is probably the most erudite person writing essays in fandom. Her work is just amazing. If she weren't so darned cuted she'd intimidate the hell out of me. ;>

Huh. You know, I could keep going, but I'll stop there. It's reassuring to see I can name so many off the top of my head.

[wisewoman.livejournal.com]

Just wanted to point out it's habibti in case you're having trouble finding her with that link.

Also, one of my fav essayists at atpo was Dedalus (Paul McDonald). (Who can forget "Oil is the Life Blood of Your Car?") I think there's a lot of his stuff at Existential Scoobies.

;o)

[shadowkat67.livejournal.com]

Yes, I forgot poor Dedalus - who tracked the series through Campbell's the Hero's Journey.

And I thought I had that right on habibti - since the lj picked it up. Thanks for the correction.

[shadowkat67.livejournal.com]

Oh Happy Birthday! Didn't forget, just haven't had time to write a post today. Hope it's a great one.

[wisewoman.livejournal.com]

Thanks, s'kat!! It's been great so far!

;o)

[shadowkat67.livejournal.com]

You remember more than I have. But haven't been reading essays in a while, so mine are less recent and mostly from ATPO. Sort of backed away from the whole fandom thing.

Agree on your choices though. And may have to go off and friend a few folks to get more of those insights.

Fanfic has always been more acknowledged than essays in fandom - since fandom's started. I'm not sure if there were any essays written about Star Trek, but I do know there's lots of fanfic. Also the writer's of the series,themselves? They rarely mention the essays - although it is more likely that they've read them than the fanfic, they can't read the fanfic or even really admit to it - they'd risk getting sued if they accidentally used an idea. It's why Jane Espenson edited a book of essays on Serenity not a book of fanfic - copyright law permits essays to be published on the subject, fanfic is a little more dicey. There's a loop-hole but it is a narrow one.
So that's another reason for the split - one group can sit in the sunlight and have conferences and be considered "official" while the other has to be sneakier about it. I know people who had no problems with reading essays - heck they had friends getting essays on the topic published, but really had issues with fanfic.

So I think, knowing that, there has to be a little defensiveness going on here. When you are being told that something you love to do is not kosher or not realistic or not legal - you get defensive about it. Like eating a cookie instead of eating your dinner. And I honestly think that may be part of it.

I know it's my struggle. I could justify writing the essays to myself, but whenever I work on or write fanfic, I always feel a bit like that kid sneaking a cookie out of the cookie jar before dinner.

[masqthephlsphr.livejournal.com]

There was no ATPo policy for or against fan fic because it never occurred to me to have one. I knew people wrote it, but I was not part of the fan fic part of the fandom community. Hell, I didn't even know it existed, really, other than, "Oh - some people write fan fic. Whatever." It wasn't until I got over to LJ that I slowly began to realize that fan fic was the primary currency of fandom.

The ATPo board has has fan fic projects since it's inception--Rescue and Rescue Revisited, Dark Alchemy, Fanged Four, Season 6--but they were "off season" projects to us, literally. Something to do to pass the time while we waited for the show to return in the Fall so we could *discuss* the show. Discussion and essay are the primary currency at ATPo, and it would never have occurred to me to have it otherwise.

[shadowkat67.livejournal.com]

Was never clear on the policy, but what you state above does explain a lot. It may also explain why I found the board easier to navigate - fanfic when it's posted takes up lots of board space - the Rescue - being evidence of that.

My first introduction to fandom was well the fanfic, found the essays later. Fanfic websites were easier to locate. Essays or commentary were often weeded amongst the fic. It wasn't until a friend suggested Spoilerslayer and I hit those links that I found Buffy Cross and Stake, and it wasn't until Yoda at BC&S asked to take an essay I wrote to ATPO, which was considered on BC&S at that time as the essay non-spoiler board that all essayists aspired to, that I found ATPO. (I'm not joking on that last bit - ATPO had a mysterious rep on BC&S back in 2002 - partly because it had a link to slayage.tv as well. Whenever anyone wrote an essay that BC&S considered amazing, someone would take it to ATPO - it was like getting an award or something.) Very different communities fanfic and essay.

[masqthephlsphr.livejournal.com]

I entered fandom through the Bronze posting board during season 3 of Buffy. I suppose people posted links to fan fic there; but to be honest, I don't remember them doing so at all. I just remember the discussions I had with cool posters like Aardwolfe, Mircalla, Vox, etc and getting to rub elbows with writers like Ty King. I also had some fun discussions with some fellow Buffy/Faith 'shippers, but I don't remember any of them writing fan fic. The sites I visited were screen cap, transcript, and recap/info sites (like Dingo on the Priarie).

I started posting about philosophical allusions I saw in the episodes and my friends at the Bronze encouraged me to make a website to keep them on and ATPo was born. I kept posting at the Bronze and that was my primary source of "fan quotes" for ATPo up through Season 4 B/Season 1 A. The summer after that I started the Board. Once it was going strong I quit the Bronze and never had the slightest temptation to visit any other discussion boards. Mostly because I was content with ATPo and I'd heard stories about how rude people were elsewhere with flame wars, etc.

I can't say I had favorite essayists at ATPo because my main focus was always keeping discussion going, making people feel welcome, and finding pithy paragraph-long statements to quote on my site (and everyone had one of those from time to time). But I was constantly amazed by the profound ideas and insights of people who came to the board and always saddened by folks who left because they got too busy, weren't watching anymore, or worse of all, had had a bad experience or five on the board.

Of course, people wandered off significantly after BtVS ended and then after Angel ended as well. Moving over to LJ is really what kept the Voy board alive, ironically, because it allowed us to cement friendships. That, and the Board Gatherings.

If I had a million dollars, I just *might* quit my job and edit a collection of the "Best Of..." essays. But I think I'd better concentrate on just getting the 2005 archives up! ; )

[midnightsjane.livejournal.com]

I enjoy both fanfic and essays; they fulfill two different areas of interest for me. When I first started watching Buffy, and found the ATPO board, I actually read the essays on the site first. I remember reading with fascination the essay (and I don't remember the author, sorry) on the hero's journey, and how it related to Buffy. That essay hooked me on the Board. When I started lurking there, I was blown away by the intelligence and depth of the analysis there, by posters like Manwitch, OnM, Caroline, Masquerade, TCH, and you. I spent a lot of time reading the essays over on Tea at the Ford, and Macha's exegesis, and the brilliance of the other contributers was just so incredible.
Essays offer a way to draw people like me into the discussion and enhance the pleasure I find in the watching of the shows.

[rahael.livejournal.com]

Awww, thanks SK! I guess I never even really thought of myself as an essayist (it definitely tuned into a different part of me than the essays I was writing on French aristocratic culture or Milton for my MA at the time). I think looking back I was trying to find a way of incorporating writing as something I loved into my life without calling it Writing with a cap W. I didn't see it as that at the time. Perhaps I'm still shy about saying writing with a cap.

I'd have to think hard about my top ten favourite essayists in fandom. I certainly seem to have crossed the fandom divide you'd just identified. I never used to read fanfic in the Buffy world. Never. THen I started reading bits and pieces, especially after I got into slash. But Buffy fandom fanfic never really took over my brain or my fannish life - it was mainly AtPO. Discussion and analysis of the eps. The themes of the show were so evocative. I was also obsesssed with finding the Jamesian Figure in the Carpet where BtVS was concerned. Essays and commentary that took me closer used to be the mainstay of my life as a fan.

Now? I read so much fanfic for Stargate Atlantis its ridiculous. I haven't even seen more than a handful of the eps, I don't bother getting spoiled or not spoiled for the plot, I am eagerly looking forward to getting the dvds for the first season when they are released in February, but mostly so I can get background for the fanfic. I am in total admiration of the quality of writing that this fandom has - I'm even reading fic that's for pairings I don't think about, gen, het, everything! I read the occasional bits of commentary on the show that I run across on the way to fanfic, but I am blissfully living in the land of non-controversy. If I could compare SGA to food, it's dessert. I always tend to prefer savoury to sweet, but who knew? it turns out that I have a sweet tooth when it comes to John Sheppard.

[buffyangellvr23.livejournal.com]

The link for that revdorothy ID shows up as not registered.

also it's http://www.teaathteford.net, not .com.

I've come to enjoy both the fanfic and the discussions on various boards. At first I mostly stuck to Yahoogroups but I found out about the ASSB, BC&S and ATPO later on and now I'm a regular. I'd been writing fic in other fandoms before Buffy and Angel...now there's a plethora...Btvs/Angel, Tracker, Forever Knight, Highlander, Bones, Due South and even books...have been pounding out The Stand fic the past few days although it's not posted anywhere yet.

*wonders when the Virtual S6 will start again on MES.*

-Angel's Watcher

[superplin.livejournal.com]

Oops, it's revdorothyl. Sorry!
And the correct URL for the ford is http://www.teaattheford.net. I think among the three of us, we've finally got it right. ;>

[shadowkat67.livejournal.com]

Yes, I suck at links, really sorry. Thanks for correcting it.

[ponygirl2000.livejournal.com]

This does take me back! I can remember during s6 I had such a craving for serious analysis of the show. It felt like there was this whole other layer that I could make out but couldn't quite articulate. I would check out reviews, lurk at TWOP (now that was frustrating) and BC&S but it wasn't what I was looking for. Then I think Rowan had an essay on the house metaphor of Flooded, and I was like yes! It was cross-posted to ATPO so I headed over and there was everything I was looking for. It's strange, I don't feel that same craving anymore, I'd like to think it's because I'm getting enough intellectual stimulation but it's probably because I don't feel as engaged with pop culture as I once did.

Let's see, I always looked for your essays, Caroline, Leslie (I have her book on Tolkien and myth), alcibades' posts on framing and mis en scene got me interested in AtS again, Haeccity was great; Etrangere and fresne wrote so beautifully; Rahael and redcat had some of the most fabulous conversations. Sophist, cjl, KdS could always be counted on for insightful comments. Pretty much everyone on my friends list in LJ are my favourite writers from the board - it was such an education, often the commentary on the essays added as much as the original text.

Now there's a dream project for when one of us wins the lottery - Masq can edit a collection of ATPO's greatest hits. I know there's a lot on the ES site but essays and reviews complete with commentary and tangents would definitely be a volume for the ages.

[shadowkat67.livejournal.com]

Totally get what you state above. I was the same way in S6. Had this craving. Reviews didn't cut it. Then, I found the BC&S forum and started seeing more analysis - people articulating my own feelings. Still wasn't enough and I was so bored at the time, with a lot more time on my hands than I have now and in emotional pain - so writing the essays, was, in a way, my way of handling all of that. But I know I would not have enjoyed writing the essays without the reactions or reading the reactions. I also craved others essays and read quite a few of them. I'd forgotten Rowen and Etrangere and Fresne, but yes, I looked for theirs - particularly enjoyed our discussions. Etrangere and Mal had some of the best debates, as did Sophist and Mal.

Also agree - that it wasn't the essays themselves that were so interesting as the reactions, tangents, and conversations that sprouted from them. Which is how essays differ from fanfic - you really don't get the tangents you did with essays on discussion boards, at least not quite the same types of tangents. Who could forget redcat and rahael's long debate on Clarissa and feminist literature? Or redcat's posts on Hawaiian myths?

[midnightsjane.livejournal.com]

Reading this thread has made me nostalgic for the good old days when the shows were both going strong, and the discussion on ATPO and Tea at the Ford was so intense. I'm going to take some time and go through the archives again. Every time I go there I find more fascinating things to read and think about.

[ann1962]

Sophist's link to his list in the archives let me wander those pages either side of his link for at least an hour the other day. I can get lost there regularly.

[fresne.livejournal.com]

Ah, with the golden nostalgia.

When you'd have guests over and you'd think to yourself, but there's this discussion on ATPO about cognition. When will my guests go to bed so I can see if someone said something else.

Really, depending on my schedule, I'd either look for certain writers, or I'd just comb the board. Often in some off the side of the screen thread there'd be some discussion of Gothic literature or the philosophy of fungus that were just wonderful.

I don't know, everyone you said, and everyone else has said and so on. Well, in a I wandered onto ATPO and decided I need look no further for my mind's desire.

It's also very interesting to think that there was a period in my life when I was reading probably thirty - forty pages of critical analysis a day. That a diverse community was producing this vast critical mass to the point we were talking about putting out our own quarterly.

Good times. Plus, there's June...

[masqthephlsphr.livejournal.com]

C, are you coming to Tahoe?!

[fresne.livejournal.com]

I'm coming to Tahoe and I'm bringing a case of wine culled from tastings through the year.

[masqthephlsphr.livejournal.com]

Wee!

*slurps*