Post by lizyy on Apr 6, 2014 7:47:25 GMT
“I don’t think fanfiction is really creative writing.” The words slightly stunned me. For a published author sitting in a convention hall, the 2013 Saskatoon Blitz convention, so say that seemed so silly. At a convention such as this there are always tons of fanfiction authors. Being in that fanfiction is a story about another story and not technically its own thing, I suppose I could understand why an author would say that, however, the statement couldn’t be more wrong.
I gawked at him for a moment. James Davidge seemed so sure in his words to me. “It is creative writing though.” I stated. “I have stories of my own that I spent a long time working on, alternate universe ones that require the same sort of development as original stories.” He nodded his head a little, not completely convinced obviously but possibly exposed to another view of it.
I picked up two of the books he was selling and bought them. He seemed like an interesting enough person. Surely, his work would be worth reading.
All that a fanfiction needs to be called fanfiction is a single, or multiple, reference/s to any canon story told in any form. That could be a movie, manga, TV series, novel, game, or anything else which tells a usually fictitious story but there are fanfictions which include real people from television or from another part of internet culture such as youtube.
Davidge had implied that he valued original literature more on the basis of creativity. For this to make sense he must place original and fanfiction against one another in the realm of creative writing. Though Wikipedia may not be the most credible source, it does give a fairly interesting definition of creative writing: “Creative writing is any writing that goes outside the bounds of normal professional, journalistic, academic, or technical forms of literature, typically identified by an emphasis on narrative craft, character development, and the use of literary tropes”
The above definition is very similar to Fred Stenson’s in “Things Feigned or Imagined”. The definition given is very loose and does not necessarily say that fanfiction is not included. In my own personal view, it is infuriating when a person, especially an author, puts fanfiction on a lower pedestal simply due to the fact that it has strong references to a canon production of some sort.
I smile at Davidge, even if I may be vexed at the man he is more than welcome to his own opinion. Also, I realize that being hostile won’t in any way show him that fanfiction is just as creative as original literature, merely in different ways. We have a pleasant conversation about other things to do with literature, abandoning the fanfiction topic after a while. Nobody wants an argument. The friend I had made had a slight sad look on her face. She mentioned that she too writes fanfiction. The words from Davidge clearly impacted her in a negative way. One thing I will always fail to understand is that while we all know we are free to express our opinions, why people knowingly say something that will hurt another person. Maybe Davidge didn’t think he was being rude, it’s possible. However, there is no way he didn’t understand that telling someone that a piece they have put tons of work into has less literary value, simply because it is a fanfiction, would be hurtful.
A rather interesting article on this topic: “Fanfiction—Bastard Child of Creative Writing?” which can be found at maurlougen.wordpress.com, gives interesting insight. “The basic purpose of a story is to tell a story. Fanfiction does that. Sometimes no more than that, but surely never ever less than that” both original fiction and fanfiction share the same purpose: to tell a story. If the author’s main objective was just to tell stories and hear stories than why would anyone even have this conflict? Both original and fanfiction tell stories and fulfill the quota for creative writing. I attribute this conflict, for the most part, to the petty need a lot of people have in that they need to make everything competition.
Also quoted from the same article: “On one hand, writing fanfiction is easier than creating something new, because you have ready-made characters and a built-in audience of readers who are already devoted to them, and know them so well that one sentence of explanation—of intent, motivation, struggle, of almost anything about the characters—will suffice as well as or better than a chapter of exposition on characters no one has met before” The problem with this quote is that he/she fails to acknowledge a large part of the fanfiction community, crossover-fanfiction. A crossover takes two or more canon productions and combines them, whether for characters or for plot, it combines them in any way the author may see possible. In cases such as this the reader of the fanfiction might not know all the characters as they might simply be reading the story for one production used. While in most cases it is true that the reader has a strong idea of the character/s and or setting (unless the author makes it alternate universe, meaning the setting is an original setting) that is not always the case. Due to that fact, the author of the fanfiction might be required to add more exposition and or develop the characters in new ways so that not only will he/she capture the reader who knows the characters but also maybe one who doesn’t.
However the author of the article also goes on to state another critical point: “On the other hand, it can be harder to write fanfiction because the readers know the characters so well. They often (very often) know as well as or better than the author how and why the characters will act or react, how they speak, whom they love and why they hate and every other thing that can be known about them, and the reader will let the author know when they miss the mark” this fact makes it essential for the author of the fanfiction to know exactly who and what they are writing about for optimal reviews. To me, the research aspect of a complex fanfiction is very similar to that of a nonfiction work. Since it is not all conjured from your own mind you have to get all of your facts and references correct.
Rather than considering fanfiction a lesser class of literature than original fiction, I simply consider it a different type. They are both easier than the other in certain respects and in others more difficult. In original fiction you can make your characters whatever you like, they are your own original creation. That is much easier than having to research a canon character inside and out to satisfy a thirsty critic. However fanfiction is much easier to garner results off of. There is already a huge audience you can present it to, maybe not for profit, but definitely for avid results. Original fiction can often stay next to unknown until it gets around to the right people and spread into fandoms and communities.
Fanfiction is no less creative writing than original fiction. It is but a different area of literature altogether. It is its own category and should not be treated like it is less creative or legitimate than original fiction.
And not to sound spiteful, but I located a typo in chapter two of Davidge’s book. Interesting as the story is, it isn’t in itself perfect therefore he shouldn’t be so harsh on a type of writing he probably hasn’t even tried.
I gawked at him for a moment. James Davidge seemed so sure in his words to me. “It is creative writing though.” I stated. “I have stories of my own that I spent a long time working on, alternate universe ones that require the same sort of development as original stories.” He nodded his head a little, not completely convinced obviously but possibly exposed to another view of it.
I picked up two of the books he was selling and bought them. He seemed like an interesting enough person. Surely, his work would be worth reading.
All that a fanfiction needs to be called fanfiction is a single, or multiple, reference/s to any canon story told in any form. That could be a movie, manga, TV series, novel, game, or anything else which tells a usually fictitious story but there are fanfictions which include real people from television or from another part of internet culture such as youtube.
Davidge had implied that he valued original literature more on the basis of creativity. For this to make sense he must place original and fanfiction against one another in the realm of creative writing. Though Wikipedia may not be the most credible source, it does give a fairly interesting definition of creative writing: “Creative writing is any writing that goes outside the bounds of normal professional, journalistic, academic, or technical forms of literature, typically identified by an emphasis on narrative craft, character development, and the use of literary tropes”
The above definition is very similar to Fred Stenson’s in “Things Feigned or Imagined”. The definition given is very loose and does not necessarily say that fanfiction is not included. In my own personal view, it is infuriating when a person, especially an author, puts fanfiction on a lower pedestal simply due to the fact that it has strong references to a canon production of some sort.
I smile at Davidge, even if I may be vexed at the man he is more than welcome to his own opinion. Also, I realize that being hostile won’t in any way show him that fanfiction is just as creative as original literature, merely in different ways. We have a pleasant conversation about other things to do with literature, abandoning the fanfiction topic after a while. Nobody wants an argument. The friend I had made had a slight sad look on her face. She mentioned that she too writes fanfiction. The words from Davidge clearly impacted her in a negative way. One thing I will always fail to understand is that while we all know we are free to express our opinions, why people knowingly say something that will hurt another person. Maybe Davidge didn’t think he was being rude, it’s possible. However, there is no way he didn’t understand that telling someone that a piece they have put tons of work into has less literary value, simply because it is a fanfiction, would be hurtful.
A rather interesting article on this topic: “Fanfiction—Bastard Child of Creative Writing?” which can be found at maurlougen.wordpress.com, gives interesting insight. “The basic purpose of a story is to tell a story. Fanfiction does that. Sometimes no more than that, but surely never ever less than that” both original fiction and fanfiction share the same purpose: to tell a story. If the author’s main objective was just to tell stories and hear stories than why would anyone even have this conflict? Both original and fanfiction tell stories and fulfill the quota for creative writing. I attribute this conflict, for the most part, to the petty need a lot of people have in that they need to make everything competition.
Also quoted from the same article: “On one hand, writing fanfiction is easier than creating something new, because you have ready-made characters and a built-in audience of readers who are already devoted to them, and know them so well that one sentence of explanation—of intent, motivation, struggle, of almost anything about the characters—will suffice as well as or better than a chapter of exposition on characters no one has met before” The problem with this quote is that he/she fails to acknowledge a large part of the fanfiction community, crossover-fanfiction. A crossover takes two or more canon productions and combines them, whether for characters or for plot, it combines them in any way the author may see possible. In cases such as this the reader of the fanfiction might not know all the characters as they might simply be reading the story for one production used. While in most cases it is true that the reader has a strong idea of the character/s and or setting (unless the author makes it alternate universe, meaning the setting is an original setting) that is not always the case. Due to that fact, the author of the fanfiction might be required to add more exposition and or develop the characters in new ways so that not only will he/she capture the reader who knows the characters but also maybe one who doesn’t.
However the author of the article also goes on to state another critical point: “On the other hand, it can be harder to write fanfiction because the readers know the characters so well. They often (very often) know as well as or better than the author how and why the characters will act or react, how they speak, whom they love and why they hate and every other thing that can be known about them, and the reader will let the author know when they miss the mark” this fact makes it essential for the author of the fanfiction to know exactly who and what they are writing about for optimal reviews. To me, the research aspect of a complex fanfiction is very similar to that of a nonfiction work. Since it is not all conjured from your own mind you have to get all of your facts and references correct.
Rather than considering fanfiction a lesser class of literature than original fiction, I simply consider it a different type. They are both easier than the other in certain respects and in others more difficult. In original fiction you can make your characters whatever you like, they are your own original creation. That is much easier than having to research a canon character inside and out to satisfy a thirsty critic. However fanfiction is much easier to garner results off of. There is already a huge audience you can present it to, maybe not for profit, but definitely for avid results. Original fiction can often stay next to unknown until it gets around to the right people and spread into fandoms and communities.
Fanfiction is no less creative writing than original fiction. It is but a different area of literature altogether. It is its own category and should not be treated like it is less creative or legitimate than original fiction.
And not to sound spiteful, but I located a typo in chapter two of Davidge’s book. Interesting as the story is, it isn’t in itself perfect therefore he shouldn’t be so harsh on a type of writing he probably hasn’t even tried.
*in a toilet*