Fanfic vs Fic and Sexuality in Fanworks
Feb. 5th, 2014 11:10 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
meridian_roseMost of this entry is shamelessly copied from the OTW-fannews Feb 4th update - also linkable from Tumblr. I've included some thoughts at the end though.
• Writer Jim Hines discussed what his experience writing fan fiction taught him about writing. This included "Writing good fanfic is just as challenging as writing good anything else", "Instant feedback is dangerously addictive", "Fanfic can be freeing", "I can do 'realtime' writing", and "A writer is someone who writes. I’ve never understood why some people jealously protect the coveted title of 'Author' or 'Writer.'...Having done both profic and fanfic, I don’t get it. Calling someone who does fanfic a writer or an author doesn’t in any way diminish or dilute me and my work. Why is this even an argument?"
• Teen Librarian Toolbox hosted a post by author Frankie Brown discussing fanfiction and writer's block. "I couldn’t invest in writing original fiction. I was too tired, too anxious, too stuck." She turned to "Fanfiction. Lots and lots of Sherlock fanfiction. Reading it, writing it (Yes! Writing it!), reviewing it, chatting with bloggers and digging through archives. Sitting down to write about Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson didn’t make my chest feel tight or my throat close up. There were no expectations. If it sucked, who cared? No one would know it was me. But of course it was me. Me at the keyboard, remembering why I loved writing, and -- eventually, tentatively -- typing out the first sentences to my next novel. When I submitted my final edits to Meredith, editor-in-awesome at Bloomsbury Spark, I was as happy and excited as I should’ve been."
• Writer A.L.S. Vossler told a similar tale. "I was sailing through some rather severe writing doldrums with my novel when I experienced this fan fiction epiphany. So, swallowing even more of my pride, I allowed myself to indulge in a little fan fiction writing and returned to my former habit of telling stories to myself. I was blown away by how much fun it was. My creativity levels soared. I wrote pages and pages of fan fiction in a few days. That was when the bonds of writer’s block fell away and I returned to my own novel, my own 'real' writing."
• Blogger Sara K. cited a fanfiction drawback that led her to stop reading. "I think being aromantic/asexual is a big part why I could not get into fanfiction. When I first learned about online fanfiction, I imagined being able to explore many different aspects of stories I loved. When I discovered how the vast majority of fanfiction revolves around romance and sex, so much so that identifying the ‘ship is a standard part of categorization ... I felt really disappointed...Yet finding fic...is so hard that it’s not worth it ... especially when you are part of a community where you’re expected to at least read each other’s fics. I simply felt more comfortable just staying out of the fanfic arena."
FANFIC IS NOT INFERIOR TO PUBLISHED WORKS. Even "real" authors say so. I commented the other day that I've done a lot of reading of various original works on my Nook lately (classics, self-pub, indie publishers and mainstream promo offerings) and the ratio of awesome to good to utter crap is about the same as in fanfic.
That last one is the only one I take issue with. The blogger picks out the incest trope as "The fic writers could not even acknowledge the possibilities for profound and fascinating relationships between children, siblings, and parents without adding romance/sex." Leaving aside canonical incest pairings, yes, there can be a problem, that there's "absolutely no space whatsoever for deep, non-sexual, non-romantic relationships". But that's a problem everywhere, all the time.
You've all heard me rant about the relationship hierarchy of "person you're fucking" followed by "child you've birthed" followed way, way down the line by anyone else you might care about. It's a societal/cultural problem that fanfic is mirroring, not creating. In fact by by writing slash as no big deal, fanfic is pushing at outdated boundaries, and by exploring taboo issues like incest, forcing us to re-examine our own prejudices.
The blogger brushes off mainstream concerns, acknowledging that "I've noted repeatedly that I actually like well-written romance fiction. However, it’s not hard to find original fiction focused on something other than romance, so when I choose to read romance-focused fiction it is a choice (not to mention that many ‘romance’ stories have a very broad focus). Thus, I feel less excluded by original fiction than fanfiction. That said, it’s very difficult to find original fiction which passes my test"
There are so few asexual characters onscreen or in published fiction that it's laughable, and most of those representations are problematic in some way. So complaining that fanfic is all ship, all the time, seems a bit much. It's a rare novel where relationships aren't part, sometimes a major part, of the plot. Crime stories. Adventure stories. Thrillers and dramas. The damsel in distress, the femme fatale. At least in fic there are more happy endings for queer characters, and a broader acceptance of polyamory. Whereas the mainstream media is highly invested in promoting and idolising heterosexual-monogamy –plus-babies.
Is fanfic all sex? There are some assholes who sniff that they don't see the point in non-smutty fanfic; they're the ones contributing to the poor image of fanfic by linking it specifically with erotica and porn. However non-smut exists. There is gen fic. There are character studies. There are stories where romance is not the focus of the story even where it is present – to echo the blogger's assertion, I would say "many fanfic stories have a very broad focus". It's why I love the multiple tagging at AO3 – I can tag for romance, and adventure, and historical AU, and angst, and hurt/comfort, because maybe my fic is all those things and the romance is just a small part of that.
I identify as asexual. I enjoy well-written erotica (Some of the classic Black Lace – written by women for women – remain my favourites), but sometimes a book or a fanfic's sexual scenes are not hitting my kinks or not written in a style I enjoy, or whatever. But if the rest of the story is good, I'll just skim over the most explicit scenes – and I've seen confessions that other people do this too. Sex is not the be all and end all, in fic, any more than it is in life!
I think it's a mistake to paint all fanfic as sexual, though I do think we need more conversations about sex vs relationships and to have more variety of relationships onscreen and in printed works. But these are themes I come back to time and again, so I'm probably not saying anything new here.
• Writer Jim Hines discussed what his experience writing fan fiction taught him about writing. This included "Writing good fanfic is just as challenging as writing good anything else", "Instant feedback is dangerously addictive", "Fanfic can be freeing", "I can do 'realtime' writing", and "A writer is someone who writes. I’ve never understood why some people jealously protect the coveted title of 'Author' or 'Writer.'...Having done both profic and fanfic, I don’t get it. Calling someone who does fanfic a writer or an author doesn’t in any way diminish or dilute me and my work. Why is this even an argument?"
• Teen Librarian Toolbox hosted a post by author Frankie Brown discussing fanfiction and writer's block. "I couldn’t invest in writing original fiction. I was too tired, too anxious, too stuck." She turned to "Fanfiction. Lots and lots of Sherlock fanfiction. Reading it, writing it (Yes! Writing it!), reviewing it, chatting with bloggers and digging through archives. Sitting down to write about Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson didn’t make my chest feel tight or my throat close up. There were no expectations. If it sucked, who cared? No one would know it was me. But of course it was me. Me at the keyboard, remembering why I loved writing, and -- eventually, tentatively -- typing out the first sentences to my next novel. When I submitted my final edits to Meredith, editor-in-awesome at Bloomsbury Spark, I was as happy and excited as I should’ve been."
• Writer A.L.S. Vossler told a similar tale. "I was sailing through some rather severe writing doldrums with my novel when I experienced this fan fiction epiphany. So, swallowing even more of my pride, I allowed myself to indulge in a little fan fiction writing and returned to my former habit of telling stories to myself. I was blown away by how much fun it was. My creativity levels soared. I wrote pages and pages of fan fiction in a few days. That was when the bonds of writer’s block fell away and I returned to my own novel, my own 'real' writing."
• Blogger Sara K. cited a fanfiction drawback that led her to stop reading. "I think being aromantic/asexual is a big part why I could not get into fanfiction. When I first learned about online fanfiction, I imagined being able to explore many different aspects of stories I loved. When I discovered how the vast majority of fanfiction revolves around romance and sex, so much so that identifying the ‘ship is a standard part of categorization ... I felt really disappointed...Yet finding fic...is so hard that it’s not worth it ... especially when you are part of a community where you’re expected to at least read each other’s fics. I simply felt more comfortable just staying out of the fanfic arena."
FANFIC IS NOT INFERIOR TO PUBLISHED WORKS. Even "real" authors say so. I commented the other day that I've done a lot of reading of various original works on my Nook lately (classics, self-pub, indie publishers and mainstream promo offerings) and the ratio of awesome to good to utter crap is about the same as in fanfic.
That last one is the only one I take issue with. The blogger picks out the incest trope as "The fic writers could not even acknowledge the possibilities for profound and fascinating relationships between children, siblings, and parents without adding romance/sex." Leaving aside canonical incest pairings, yes, there can be a problem, that there's "absolutely no space whatsoever for deep, non-sexual, non-romantic relationships". But that's a problem everywhere, all the time.
You've all heard me rant about the relationship hierarchy of "person you're fucking" followed by "child you've birthed" followed way, way down the line by anyone else you might care about. It's a societal/cultural problem that fanfic is mirroring, not creating. In fact by by writing slash as no big deal, fanfic is pushing at outdated boundaries, and by exploring taboo issues like incest, forcing us to re-examine our own prejudices.
The blogger brushes off mainstream concerns, acknowledging that "I've noted repeatedly that I actually like well-written romance fiction. However, it’s not hard to find original fiction focused on something other than romance, so when I choose to read romance-focused fiction it is a choice (not to mention that many ‘romance’ stories have a very broad focus). Thus, I feel less excluded by original fiction than fanfiction. That said, it’s very difficult to find original fiction which passes my test"
There are so few asexual characters onscreen or in published fiction that it's laughable, and most of those representations are problematic in some way. So complaining that fanfic is all ship, all the time, seems a bit much. It's a rare novel where relationships aren't part, sometimes a major part, of the plot. Crime stories. Adventure stories. Thrillers and dramas. The damsel in distress, the femme fatale. At least in fic there are more happy endings for queer characters, and a broader acceptance of polyamory. Whereas the mainstream media is highly invested in promoting and idolising heterosexual-monogamy –plus-babies.
Is fanfic all sex? There are some assholes who sniff that they don't see the point in non-smutty fanfic; they're the ones contributing to the poor image of fanfic by linking it specifically with erotica and porn. However non-smut exists. There is gen fic. There are character studies. There are stories where romance is not the focus of the story even where it is present – to echo the blogger's assertion, I would say "many fanfic stories have a very broad focus". It's why I love the multiple tagging at AO3 – I can tag for romance, and adventure, and historical AU, and angst, and hurt/comfort, because maybe my fic is all those things and the romance is just a small part of that.
I identify as asexual. I enjoy well-written erotica (Some of the classic Black Lace – written by women for women – remain my favourites), but sometimes a book or a fanfic's sexual scenes are not hitting my kinks or not written in a style I enjoy, or whatever. But if the rest of the story is good, I'll just skim over the most explicit scenes – and I've seen confessions that other people do this too. Sex is not the be all and end all, in fic, any more than it is in life!
I think it's a mistake to paint all fanfic as sexual, though I do think we need more conversations about sex vs relationships and to have more variety of relationships onscreen and in printed works. But these are themes I come back to time and again, so I'm probably not saying anything new here.
no subject
Date: 2014-02-05 03:37 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2014-02-06 07:18 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2014-02-05 04:20 pm (UTC)I tend to prefer gen-fic fics that explore family and relationship dynamics without getting bogged down in mandatory romantic or sexual 'ships'. That's not to say that I don't have some characters I ship, but my preferences tend to be fluid, and often I prefer to read about them outside of a romantic or sexual realtionship, or maybe it's more accurate to say that I prefer that aspect to be only part of the dynamic in a story, and it needs to fit into the organic flow of the plot.
I see too many fics, both fanfic and published fic, where the plot and characters start out great, but then get bogged down, and sometimes derailed, by the contrived falling in love/falling into bed between the two main protagonists. Unless it's written well, and it often is not, inserting sex or romance into a thriller, a mystery or any other genre that is plot driven often throws me out of a story because it seems as if the author is just pandering to a certain segment of his/her audience and it feels very artificial to me. Romance is different in the sense that you know from the beginning what you're getting into, but the relationship still should make sense in terms of the characters.
I enjoy reading porn/erotica when the mood hits, but it's hard to find any that is well-written. Most male written porn is very mechanical and is all about which body parts go where, with random scripted shouts of ecstasy from the participants - seriously, when you've read one you've read them all. Also - male-written porn has a very troubling tendency to demean and objectify women, not to mention the fact that male porn often portrays violence toward women as sexually arousing. Female written porn seems to be more romance-driven, and honestly that doesn't interest me much either, because - contrived. There are some notable exceptions which I have just discovered over the past month, but they are few and far between.
My main issue with a lot of female written erotic at fanfiction.net is that I always get a squiggy impression that most of it has been written by 13-14 year old girls, and thus most of it is pretty bad because the writers just don't have the maturity yet to put the subject into context. I'm sure there are exceptions, and I have found some very good erotica there.
One of the things that annoys me no end in any fic - and it's pervasive - is every author's determination to make their protagonists physically perfect. The women have to have perfect figures (usually big breasts), beautiful complexions, luxuriant long hair, and stunning features. The men can be less perfect facially (as long as their features are "rugged" and they have amazing piercing eyes), but the men have to have perfectly toned, muscular physiques and 6-pack abs. It just gets so boring. Someday I would love to read a fic, of any kind, that is about ordinary looking people who are brave, adventurous and who do great things. Because, you know, in real life, most of us are pretty ordinary looking.
Anyway, I'm probably going far afield of your original post, and I apologize. I will say that, like you, if a fic is otherwise well-written, with three dimensional characters, I will keep reading even though the sex/romance parts are badly written or contrived. I can skip over those parts and still not lose the thread of the plot. I just say to myself - "OK. They fall in love/sex, now on with the story" and I'll skip ahead to the interesting part.
Wow - that was long!
no subject
Date: 2014-02-06 07:22 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2014-02-16 01:20 pm (UTC)