General Fanfiction Fandom Poll

[shadowkat]

Here's the thing about posting polls - if you screw up, you can't go back and edit them.
So, keep that in mind when you read this. The other problem with polls, hence the reason I don't do them that often - is they are sort of pointless if no-one does it or only 10 people do it. And well, I always leave something out.

The reason I'm posting this - is I've been reading fanfic off and on again. Hunting for something to scratch an itch, haven't quite found it. So got curious about how others write and read it. What inspires them. What kinks turn them on. I left out the negative crap. Also chose not to ask about ships, because I don't have enough ticky boxes to list all the possible ships in every show that my flist writes about. You'd need 50-60 ticky boxes. So did this as a more general poll - with the hopes it will include everyone. And yes, I know, I left Supernatural off the ticky boxes at the end, but I ran out of ticky boxes - so if you're show or book or whatever isn't listed, feel free to mark other and mention in comments.

Also if you take the poll and know of any fanfics in your area of fandom you want to or would like to recommend - either do it in the comments or just link to an entry in your journal. They can be one's you have written.

[*RPF fic has a bad rep, which is odd considering how much of it has actually been published. Joyce Carol Oats published RPF on Norma Jean. The person does, normally have to be dead for it to be published. But the film Shakespeare in Love is technically RPF fic.]

ETA on Sunday, 9:40 am: Whoops! Apparently I don't know the definition of "bullet-proof" kinks and should have just put "kinks". My bad, guys and gals! Ignore the bullet-proof and just put whatever kinks you have. Crappy writing turns me off of stuff as well. What I meant was kinks that turn you on in fanfic.

[Poll #1453790]

Comments

[yourlibrarian]

Also adding SPN to the list.

RPF fic has a bad rep, which is odd considering how much of it has actually been published.

It's the basis of most fiction, period. Even if well known people aren't named, the characters are often based on someone well known or someone the writer knows. Also, it's the basis of writing in all music fandoms for example, and those have been around just as long as the TV fandoms. So it is kind of curious.

[shadowkat67.livejournal.com]

Agreed.

Just today, I realized how many books are on the shelves that are RPF. I went to Barnes and Noble - and found fictional books about Jane Austen, Charlotte Bronte, William Shakespeare,
and others.

I think people were upset by the erotic fanfic that was being written about the cast members of the Buffy and Angel series. But when I thought about it - people on the discussion board I was on at the time, were writing fanfic about the people on the discussion board. I appeared in two fanfics without anyone asking my permission. Granted it was as shadowkat. And I know I have done it myself in my head. We all do it. And when we write we do it.

I have a friend who is getting a book published that is "real person fanfic" - it is a historical novel entitled Mr. Churchill's Secretary and features Churchill as a main character. That is fanfic. She may not think of it as fanfic - she may think of it as historical. But it is a fanfiction about Churchill. And it really is no different than me writing a story about a character going to a rock concert and say meeting someone based on Rodger Daltrey or someone writing a story about James Marsters for that matter. Except Marsters and Daltrey are still alive and can sue for lible, while Churchill can't.

[yourlibrarian]

True, all historical fiction like that is RPF (sometiems Mary Sue RPF at that!) If it's meant to be a scholarly work of research and historical accuracy, that's a different sort of book, although even what passes for biography these days is starting to cross over into fiction.

Well, even suing for libel -- if the character is fictionalized and the name is changed there's nothing there to sue for. If there were, Jackie Collins would have been sued many times over. It's no different than filing the serial numbers off of FPF.

[shadowkat67.livejournal.com]

Agreed.

It's one of my difficulties with historicals - a lot of them have a Mary Sueish vibe, or you feel as if they characters are mere sketches (John Jakes struck me in that way, but mileage may differ of course).
Dorothy Dunnett was a rarity - but she also went for historical accuracy, well for the most part.

Biographies, specifically auto-biographies and memoires - often fall into the RPF category, because we have a tendency to embellish things and exaggerate, without realizing it - especially things that happen to us.

So true about libel. All you need to do is change the character's name and the circumstances, and you are fine. Easy fix.