Does anyone else around here write fanfiction?

[Chovexani]

The vast majority of the fanfic I write is in the Final Fantasy fandom (7 in particular), but I have also written Highlander stories and read X-Files, Smallville and others. Most of what I read is slash, but only because it seems like all the good writers in the fandoms I read are slash writers. I don't read as much as I used to, because of time constraints, but I find it interesting to read other people's spins on various characters and plot points. I also enjoy the "denial" fanfics where the fans act like some terrible event on the show never happened (usually the death of a beloved character), and write stories where everyone goes about their business like it never happened. Some of the best stories I've ever read have been "alternate universe" Smallville stories, where Clark and Lex never become enemies. Hell, Smallville fanfic is better than the damn show most of the time.

At any rate, I started writing fanfiction when I was a kid, before I even knew that was the term for it. I've always been the kind of person that thinks a lot about characters and why they do the things they do. Fanfic is fun as a "what if" exercise. Whenever I watch a TV show or play a video game, there's almost always one character that I get really drawn to, but never seems to get much attention in the story. So I write fanfic. Pretty much everything I write is slash, because to me it's the ultimate "what if". With video games in particular there are few if any outright LGBT characters so I'm left hunting for homoerotic subtext. There's an awful lot of it in certain games, especially role-playing games, and it's a hell of a lot of fun to take the characters certain places in fanfic that the writers wouldn't dare in the original text. :evilgrin:

[hyphenate]

1. I used to write it

way back "when." In the 70s, I even edited my own fanzine. That was when it was mostly Star Trek fandom.

I apologize in advance, but I despise slash. I think it's the result of poor writing in general, and the choice of fans who want to write, but don't have the time, education, talent or inclination to write better. Good writers don't need a "gimmick" in their writing, but it's obviously that if you don't understand writing in general, you're going to use a gimmick to propel your work.

The best fan fiction I've seen is character driven, but in an honest manner. It's the kind of writing where you can explore an established character without overstepping the boundaries that the original creator has created in canon. Those who flaunt these rules originated by the original creator are the poorest authors, because they don't have the decency to follow the original character's profile, and want to divert the reader fans's loyalties from seeing the characters as originally conceived.

If fans are so gung ho about doing slash, they need to respect the creator's overall vision of the character--in other words, ADD to the character, don't SUBTRACT. If they can't do that, then they shouldn't be writing about them at all. If a character is deliberately written as a gay or lesbian character, that's a lot different than taking what is essentially a heterosexual character and turning them into a gay character simply for the effect you would get in a slash story. It's the shock effect that the slash writer is looking for, and it's not an honest interpretation by any means.

I think that fan writers who have to rely on the creations of others, such as in fan fiction, need to begin writing their own stories, based on their own characters. It's different if you are not ever planning on doing anything professional in the writing profession and are only doing it to satisfy yourself, but it's also never going to get you a chance to see how good a writer you really are. And again, failing to keep a character's true nature in a story is a nasty way to pay homage to the originator of a character.

When I wrote fan fiction, it was nearly 30 years ago. At the same time I was writing it, I was also creating my own worlds, my own characters, and my own dreams. I paid the proper homage to the characters in TV shows that I liked by keeping as close to their original selves as possible. I expanded on the characters, but never derogated them or perverted them to being something I knew they weren't. Too many fan writers do that without thinking, and are poorer because of it.

[Chovexani]

3. Well, there's one thing I can say

At least yours is a reasoned argument against slash, even if I think it's somewhat off-base. I see what you're saying about good writers not needing "gimmicks", but IMO slash isn't a gimmick--at least not in decent stories. You could make the same arguments against any kind of genre fiction, really.

Not all slash writers are out to just shock people with the concept of a particular pairing. In fact, at least in the fandoms I've read/written in, it's the total opposite. To me writing slash is just a way to explore the homoerotic subtext I already think exists in the source material--IOW, I have no interest in slashing characters because I think they're pretty and they look good together. Some people do. These same people also have a tendency to write what I call "search/replace" stories--they'll write the same damn stories over and over again with different names plugged in with their search/replace functions. To me, it's much more satisfying if there's already "something" there to work with. For instance, in the video game Final Fantasy 7 there is some pretty deep homoerotic subtext between the hero and the villain, to the point where I think there is a mountain of circumstantial evidence to suggest that they were lovers in the past (Cloud and Sephiroth were lovers until Seph. lost his mind). All of my fanfic in this universe, even the non-slash stories, assumes this as fact. Technically this is "fanon" instead of canon, but with any kind of fanfic there is going to be a certain amount of interpretation at work. That's the whole point of fanfic. In this same game is a character that I found very intriguing, but we were given very little back story on him (even his age is somewhat of a mystery), so I came up with an elaborate history for him to bridge the gap and also to explain some of his current personality quirks. Anyone with experience playing the game "knows" Vincent Valentine is not from Wutai and never played in a goth band; but it's as valid a fanwank as any, given that we know virtually nothing about his past beyond one particular incident that we're told about in the game. I didn't just pull it out of thin air though; physically speaking he bears a strong resemblance to the people that live in Wutai, and he acts very much like a typical goth. The fanwanking I did was based on canonical info. Slash is no different...there has to be some subtext in the canon to base it on in order to make it true slash and not just randomly hooking up characters for the hell of it. Or, if there's no subtext, at least give me characters that would plausibly be interested in each other. I write a lot of Cloud/Vincent stories even though there's virtually nothing in the game to support it. However, their personalities mesh well and there are some strong parallels in their histories, so I think they would make an interesting couple.

I also don't think it's necessarily taking anything away from a character or "perverting them to being something we know they aren't" to slash them. As a bisexual person, I sort of resent the idea that we're supposed to constantly assume characters are straight until it is explicitly stated otherwise. Not only that, but sexuality is probably the least black-and-white aspect of life and the fact is a lot of times we just don't KNOW if the characters "are or aren't" something. And that's not even taking into account the fact that people experiment. Sometimes the writers intentionally cloud the issue, either so they don't piss off one particular group of fans or because they would like to "go there" but can't because it would be too controversial. Sometimes the writers just want to go in a different direction with a character. On Buffy, Willow was the straightest straight that ever straighted (mirror universes nonwithstanding) until she met Tara and then she took a one-way ticket to Gaysville. Some people thought that was unrealistic because she was very happy with Oz, but irl a lot of strictly gay & lesbian people have functional hetero relationships in their pasts. Hell, sometimes the writers just like to have a bit of fun with the fans. In one of the last episodes of Angel, there was a throwaway line by Spike that pretty much confirmed Angel/Spike as canon. While it goes without saying that canon needs to be adhered to as much as possible, just for sake of clarity if for no other reason ("Angel is a vampire with a soul, cursed by gypsies to lose it if he achieves a moment of pure happiness"--this is the basic premise of the show), canon can be and is often open to interpretation. In the case of TV shows, it can change outright from week to week. Alot. Continuity errors, sometimes about important aspects of a character's past can arise especially when there is retconning going on. Ultimately fanfic writers need to remain as true as possible to canon but canon is not written in stone. In the very act of watching a tv show or playing a game, fans are filtering what they see through their own experiences and points of view.

Personally I don't assume anything about a character's sexuality, just as I don't assume anything about the sexuality of people I meet irl. Look at Xena for instance--a strict reading of canon says these characters are straight and always have been. After all, both have been heterosexually married and have had children by men (well, one was a rape-by-deity situation but that's not the point). The thing is, TPTB have always stated that Xena and Gabrielle are whoever the fans want them to be. If you see a very strong platonic friendship then that's what they have, and if you see a powerful romantic/sexual love that transcends the ages then that's what they have.

I think what it boils down to is that I don't think there's anything inherently wrong with slashfic, just as I don't think there's anything inherently wrong with 'shipper fic, babyfic, etc. Honestly I think it's just another form of expression that can be really great when it's done well and completely suck when it's done poorly. Just like anything else. As long as the creator's wishes are respected then it's all good. Anne Rice openly hates fanfic and has even resorted to stalking and harrassing fanfic writers, so I would never write Vampire Chronicles fic. OTOH, R.A. Salvatore has stated that as long as fans don't try to make money off it, he has no problem at all with slashfic based on his characters and even finds it amusing. The only kind of fanfic I believe to be inherently wrong (instead of, say, mpreg which is just in hideously bad taste), is Real People Slash because it's just creepy and stalkerish and makes me wonder about the people who write and get off on it. In case you've been fortunate enough to avoid this trash, RPS is a new-ish subgenre of slash about celebrities and other public figures. IOW, Viggo Mortensen/Orlando Bloom stories as opposed to Aragorn/Legolas stories. It's about objectifying actual people and I think it's just wrong--and the people that write it aren't real fans of the celebs.

One point I will agree with you on is the need for fanfic writers to also try original fiction. But I'm not even sure the point needs to be made, because damn near every one of the fanfic writers I know, self included, also works on "original" material ("original" being in the eye of the beholder anyway). Any fanfic writer who is any good at what they do will eventually get the yen to try something outside of fanfic, it's just human nature. I suppose I'm just tired of defending one of my hobbies and being treated like I'm not a "real" writer because I write fanfic and slash in particular. If you don't like slash fine, don't read it, there are plenty of fanfic genres I avoid myself. It just irks me when people make broad generalizations about slash and slash writers.

[hyphenate]

6. I'm sure in a lot of genre

There is a lot more freedom to exercise some more "artistic license" than in others, and there so many possible "worlds" out there that talking about the boundaries in one does not mean the same boundaries in another.

I'm far more familiar with TV show fanfiction than any other kind, although I can understand, certainly, the amount devoted to film characters as well.

I am tangentially familiar with the real life slash fiction, as one poster on another board tried to regale me with her stories about NSync band members in a really snotty and perverse fashion.

I am not familiar with book fanfiction or game fanfiction, but I can imagine that there is far greater latitude, especially in the game fanfiction, at least.

As for SF books, I think as a writer of a popular book series I would not want fans coming up with various scenarios on the main set of characters I have created, simply for that reason--because they are my creations. In some series, there are ample measures for getting fans to write in the series, providing they stick to the world rules, and create their own characters along the way. Various universes have sprung up on such premises, including many of the D&D worlds. But for legal reasons alone, I don't think it's such a good idea to fall in love with a series and a set of characters, and them blithely go and change everything the creator has created.

There is a difference between taking a sexually ambiguous character and working with that character in a story, and taking a wholly heterosexual character and turning them "gay" for the perverse delight of a substructure of fandom. A couple of instances would be The Sentinel and Stargate SG-1. In slash circles, pairings between Jim Ellison and Blair Sandburg in the first, and Daniel Jackson and Jack O'Neill in the second, are rarely well written, and imply assumptions which are not based on any known history, backstory, series' bible, canon, or even creator whim. In both cases, the most blatant slash fiction is written with a slightly malicious eye toward the show's original content, and renders any truly decent fan output as inconsequential. Most TV show creators tend to look at all fan fiction as superfluous and the work of self-indulgent obsessive fans and over-the-top trash, even though there might be a few gems around. This is simply because the connotation of fan association makes it more amateur than well written. "Fans" who have gone on to professional work always make sure that any association they have had with fan writing is not included on their resumes for the most part, because it can and does hurt their chances of moving higher in the field in which they are writing.

How do I know this? Because I've been there, done that. I worked for 8 1/2 years at a major studio and know the headaches of unsolicited writing in the form of scripts, stories, and every other kind of writing possible. I even wrote a script for a series (which wasn't accepted, but it did get a critique by one of the show's writers) and participated in that process. I also got offered the chance to write a "tie-in" book which I was unable to accept because of other obligations.

Some people are more than happy to remain at a fan level of writing. It's not a pursuit as much as a hobby, and they can be satisfied with the adulations of other fans. That's fine, too. As long as they don't try to pass off their work as anything other than fan written fiction, with nothing more than an eye toward reaching out to other fans. It's those who go into the process with an eye toward grandiosity that pull the art of writing down to a lower level and mock those who they are trying to emulate.

[nostamj]

2. how about some good links?

esp. for good homoerotic slash.


i've had a tom wellig fantasy or two myself... dirty OLD man that I am! ;-)

[Chovexani]

4. Hee!

Don't feel too bad about Tom Welling...he's one of those TV "teenagers" that's almost 30 in real life. :P I think it's great that he and Michael Rosenbaum are aware of the slashiness of the show and embrace it.

This is a good Smallville archive. There's less crap to wade through than on other archives in general and the good stuff is really good. It's sad, I have pretty much stopped watching the show and just read the fanfic...it's better than the damn show. :P

[vixengrl]

5. I've written a mess of "Highlander" fanfic.

I didn't even start out thinking of it so much as "writing" but as a way to entertain myself and the few other fans of the show who read what I was doing (I would post stories on fan forums while I was writing them, kind of like a serial story). But I realized while I was doing it that I was started to actually look at it in a more serious way--some of what I was doing in the beginning is harshly bad (although I think I've taken good old Mary Sue to new levels). After having more or less stopped writing at all after college, it was nice to know I still wanted to tell stories--even if it was with someone else's characters. And it was good to knock the dust and cobwebs off my skills.

(Edit: I think I can spell...I think I can..I *think*...)

[Mojambo]

7. I've written two Fawlty Towers episodes

But I wouldn't consider them fanfic really, just attempts to capture the unique rhythm of the show with new story ideas that I had. Writing farce is a GREAT way to sharpen your skills. I highly recommend it.

Back in the day I wrote some Quantum Leap stuff that would be closer to fanfic in its style and presentation.

[politicat]

8. yes, sometimes, but not slash.

I tend to write it when I'm "running on the fumes" of another project, and I don't have the energy to build another world or continue in the one I'm in. I tend to write Baldur's Gate FF, because that's the game world I play in. I post occasional bits of it at www.pocketplane.net's forums; if you want the pointer, I'll pm it to you. N.B. I am not happy with the ending, but that's the problem with writing on "fumes". The most recent one is pretty straight, for various reasons, but it had a lot more to do with the character's motivations and self-incriminations than her love-life. Within the context of Baldur's Gate II Throne of Bhaal, it makes sense.

But not slash. For one, I have a hard enough time writing sex and romance scenes for publication because that's just not how my mind works. Sex is like pepper, a little of a good thing in a full life, but if it's the only thing the MC has to eat.... Two... with publication stuff, someone else edits them. I can read it to make sure everything's spelled right, the punctuation is in the right place, and the scene is tight, but the aesthetics of sex and romance scenes just don't click in my brain. I have a friend who edits my sex scenes normally. She says the ones I don't try to second guess work far better than the ones I do, but either way, they're uncomfortable for me. (And no, I'm not a prude in my real life, and not at all repressed.) But fanfic is not something that I can send to my agent or editor and say "You deal with it if you want a sex scene." For one, my agent has no interest and some concern over my nasty little fanfic habit. It could hurt me if it ever is associated with my "real" names.

So... yes, but not the normal stuff.

Pcat

[nadinbrzezinski]

9. I used to, mostly BattleTech

then got some of it published in MechForce Quarterly.

These days I don't do that, because I am way too busy developing my own world.. the world of Nexus. This world is a Sci Fi Word and I am also developing a lot of the art for it.

We intend to go to print with it this year, as a game, and with the first novel in a trilogy, and more are being planned. So you could say I write my fan fic, for my world, but it is far more than fanfic. I see fanfic as a good steping stone, for if you do it seriously paying attention to craft, you can use it to learn some elements... such as consistency in the internal rules of a world. I encourage people to move on as soon as they can to "real writing" to be brutally honest.

Though I do hope that someday I will grind my teeth and smile when people take my world and write fanfic.

:-)

[Mad_Dem_X]

10. I've written quite a bit

of fanfic based on one of my favorite movies, "The Usual Suspects." And, erm, some of it is slash. What can I say, I'm a sick, sick girl. :spank: