Meta: Why We Fic
May. 2nd, 2010 05:18 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
peroxidepirateThis question has been kicking around in my brain for a while: what makes certain things more fandom- and fanfic-ready than others? Why do we decide to fic the things we fic?
I can only answer for myself, of course. I'm interested in hearing whether the conclusions I reach apply to others, as well.
For me, a fic-friendly canon has to be or include three things: the characters have to be compelling, the universe has to be compelling, and the story has to be – or at least feel – incomplete.
Let's start with characters, because they are the heart and soul of a story. They are the reason I write – and they're the reason I write fanfic, more often than original fiction: I fall in love with, become fascinated by, or want to understand a character. Fanfic lets me explore them in a way that goes beyond what's already been presented by the author (and/or director, producer, etc).
Next is the universe. I admit this is me being a genre nerd, but I'm ok with that. I have to be interested in the setting or universe of the story, or I won't want to write for it. This is why I rarely write for “realistic” canons, and why I'm mostly not interested in modern-AU or all human-AU stories. I live here, in the modern, all-human world. I want to read, and write, something else.
Finally, the story told by the author (/director/producer/writer/creator) has to be or feel incomplete. This is the aspect that took a while for me tease out of my mind. For a long time, I thought that the original story had to be flawed before I would be interested in fic based on it, but that's not it. I read and write Firefly fic, and I devour every piece of Eight Days of Luke fanfic I can find. Why? Because Firefly is damn near flawless, but incomplete. Because Eight Days of Luke is very close to perfect, but I would dearly love there to be a sequel.
Let me expand this to the fandoms where I've spent the most time and energy. I love Buffy the Vampire Slayer, and I sincerely believe that seven seasons was the right length for the show. But within those seven seasons, there are a plethora of little details I would love to see expanded upon – moments missing, relationships I'd like to understand better, and so on. The show is complete, but there are places where it feels like certain aspects of it could have been (in a perfect world) fleshed out more fully.
This is also, I think, a reason I'm more apt to fic the later seasons than the earlier ones: the longer the series went on, the more messy loose ends came to be, and the more desire I have to write fic that ties them up in some way. And it's part of the reason I've always been more interested in reading Buffy/Spike fics than in Buffy/Angel: I feel like the show itself tells us everything we ever needed to know about Buffy's relationship with Angel, whereas there are missing pieces and unexplained moments in the relationship between Buffy and Spike.
I'll make a very brief aside, here, about Angel: the Series: same universe, same myriad of details, but I'm rarely interested in AtS fic, because I mostly don't care much about the characters. I'm sorry, but I don't. *shrugs * YMMV, of course.
This dynamic – the ambiguous completion of the story – comes into play in Tamora Pierce fandom, too. The Tortall-verse is full of extraneous details and false starts, which gives it an incredible richness. And all of the false starts that aren't finished, all of the minor characters not given full stories, all of the details not expanded upon are fodder for fanfic.
The Emelan-verse is just as rich, but to me, each of the books set there has an internal sense of completeness that makes fanfic less important. I would love to know more about the Emelan-verse, and more about what our heroes did between the things we know about. But I don't walk away from those books with a mind full of questions. I walk away content.
Better writing? Better editing? Just a difference in how I look at things? I don't know. I certainly enjoy reading Emelan fic, and I've even written a bit of it, so it's not – quite – something that belongs on the short list. But, generally speaking, neither do I feel a compelling urge to write Circle of Magic fanfic.
It's also harder to write fic for something like the Emelan universe. When each book or story is complete, a fanfic also needs to be complete -- have a beginning, middle, and end of its own -- rather than latching onto a loose end from a canon story. So it's more work, but more of a potential learning experience and closer to "real" writing, too.
Finally, I have to mention the things that are still going on: Provost's Dogand the Buffy Season 8 comics. (i'm now ignoring the S8 comics entirely, to the extent that #34 remains in its cardboard mailer -- I don't care about the rest of the issues. at all.) Of course they don't feel complete: they're not. This doesn't entirely keep me from writing fic for them – but it does mean the things I'm inspired to write are generally those that the canon has already skipped over, or that I'm sure it will skip. As for the rest, I'm waiting for the end result, the rest of the series, so I know which questions the author(/creator) will actually answer, before I try to answer the others.
I can only answer for myself, of course. I'm interested in hearing whether the conclusions I reach apply to others, as well.
For me, a fic-friendly canon has to be or include three things: the characters have to be compelling, the universe has to be compelling, and the story has to be – or at least feel – incomplete.
Let's start with characters, because they are the heart and soul of a story. They are the reason I write – and they're the reason I write fanfic, more often than original fiction: I fall in love with, become fascinated by, or want to understand a character. Fanfic lets me explore them in a way that goes beyond what's already been presented by the author (and/or director, producer, etc).
Next is the universe. I admit this is me being a genre nerd, but I'm ok with that. I have to be interested in the setting or universe of the story, or I won't want to write for it. This is why I rarely write for “realistic” canons, and why I'm mostly not interested in modern-AU or all human-AU stories. I live here, in the modern, all-human world. I want to read, and write, something else.
Finally, the story told by the author (/director/producer/writer/creator) has to be or feel incomplete. This is the aspect that took a while for me tease out of my mind. For a long time, I thought that the original story had to be flawed before I would be interested in fic based on it, but that's not it. I read and write Firefly fic, and I devour every piece of Eight Days of Luke fanfic I can find. Why? Because Firefly is damn near flawless, but incomplete. Because Eight Days of Luke is very close to perfect, but I would dearly love there to be a sequel.
Let me expand this to the fandoms where I've spent the most time and energy. I love Buffy the Vampire Slayer, and I sincerely believe that seven seasons was the right length for the show. But within those seven seasons, there are a plethora of little details I would love to see expanded upon – moments missing, relationships I'd like to understand better, and so on. The show is complete, but there are places where it feels like certain aspects of it could have been (in a perfect world) fleshed out more fully.
This is also, I think, a reason I'm more apt to fic the later seasons than the earlier ones: the longer the series went on, the more messy loose ends came to be, and the more desire I have to write fic that ties them up in some way. And it's part of the reason I've always been more interested in reading Buffy/Spike fics than in Buffy/Angel: I feel like the show itself tells us everything we ever needed to know about Buffy's relationship with Angel, whereas there are missing pieces and unexplained moments in the relationship between Buffy and Spike.
I'll make a very brief aside, here, about Angel: the Series: same universe, same myriad of details, but I'm rarely interested in AtS fic, because I mostly don't care much about the characters. I'm sorry, but I don't. *shrugs * YMMV, of course.
This dynamic – the ambiguous completion of the story – comes into play in Tamora Pierce fandom, too. The Tortall-verse is full of extraneous details and false starts, which gives it an incredible richness. And all of the false starts that aren't finished, all of the minor characters not given full stories, all of the details not expanded upon are fodder for fanfic.
The Emelan-verse is just as rich, but to me, each of the books set there has an internal sense of completeness that makes fanfic less important. I would love to know more about the Emelan-verse, and more about what our heroes did between the things we know about. But I don't walk away from those books with a mind full of questions. I walk away content.
Better writing? Better editing? Just a difference in how I look at things? I don't know. I certainly enjoy reading Emelan fic, and I've even written a bit of it, so it's not – quite – something that belongs on the short list. But, generally speaking, neither do I feel a compelling urge to write Circle of Magic fanfic.
It's also harder to write fic for something like the Emelan universe. When each book or story is complete, a fanfic also needs to be complete -- have a beginning, middle, and end of its own -- rather than latching onto a loose end from a canon story. So it's more work, but more of a potential learning experience and closer to "real" writing, too.
Finally, I have to mention the things that are still going on: Provost's Dog
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(no subject)
Date: 2010-05-03 11:02 am (UTC)I have a tendency to fall for doomed or awkward/non-mainstream pairings, in regards to the romance side of fandomy/fanficy things, so I guess I'm creating the pit for myself.
P.S. You are a Buffy/Spike fan. *dislikes* :P Kidding! ♥
(no subject)
Date: 2010-05-03 12:34 pm (UTC)Yes, exactly! That's a really good way to put it.
I have a tendency to fall for doomed or awkward/non-mainstream pairings
Interesting. I like fiction that includes doomed or unsuccessful relationships, too, because it seems realistic. But it's rare for me to actually ship those pairings -- I'm usually quite content when the canon relationship ends.
(P.S. Since you ship Jon/Alanna, I agree to disagree with you on character-romance. :p
Especially because your fics almost make me like Jonathan, and Jon/Alanna, which I still don't understand.:) )