We're still authors!

[a1y_puff]

"IF fanfic authors were real authors they'd write their own books. But writing your own stuff is pretty difficult and incredibly daunting. So, I understand the attraction of wanting to borrow someone else's characters - the hard work is already done."


Okay, I know this is not a fresh-from-the-oven issue, but duuuuuuuuuudeee, I just get to read at least enough discussions about the so-called storm that Diana Gabaldon had started some time ago.

So Gabaldon has already deleted her THREE entries regarding her view of all-fanfics-are-immoral-and-illegal, but I kinda got a screencap of her blog before the entries were deleted. And you know what? I read up to the third entry but couldn't finish or else I would have actually acquainted my head with my plate on the desk since I was eating.

So okay, I wouldn't even touch the copyright laws or those heavy stuff because bookshop had already brilliantly rebutted all of Gabaldon's arguments regarding those stuff. Check it out, btw, it's really awesome and DETAILED.

I'm not going to say much about Gabaldon and those anti-fanfic posts because I think a lot of you have already known about this, yeah? But if you do want to know more, just go HERE.

Anyway, back to the quote I posted up there. It was originally a comment posted by someone named Chip Michael in response to A Challenge for Fanfics Authors posted by a yet-to-be-published author, Eddie Louise.

So Chip Michael said that fanfic authors aren't real authors because they don't write their own book? I beg to differ. I had already published two books before I even set foot in the world of fanfic-writing back in mid-2007, and now that I LOVE writing fanfics, does it make me less of an author than I was before?

I don't think so. I know there are a lot of published authors who love writing fanfics. It's not that we are stupid or not creative enough to create our own characters. It's just that we happen to LOVE
a series and its characters so friggin' much. Fanfics aren't a form of plagiarism; it's a creativity of its own. It's a form of love that the fans have for certain fandoms and characters, right? And the fandoms that we're in, don't they kind of feel like home?

At least, it is to me. As this particular post said, I grew up here.. This is where I found myself, where I learn to understand myself, my quirks, my defense-mechanism. This is where I learn to love myself as I am, to be a better person, to want to understand others. Fandoms gave me knowledge and wisdoms that I don't get from RL. Fandoms gave me great friends and family.

And as isumi_ilde so eloquently put in this entry about what fandom is to her, and maybe to a lot of us too, "It shapes me in a way, along with my own real life. It's part of my identity, where I belong."

True, that I have already published my own works before I started writing fanfictions, but the fanfic world is where I really grew, matured, and got better in writing. There's a significant difference in my writings before and after I started writing fanfics. Ask isumi_ilde, she's read my very first novel and compared it to my third, which I wrote after months of writing fanfictions, and the third, she said, was much, MUCH better. Hell, I even love my recent fanfics better than my first two published novels >.>;;

I became a better author thanks to reading and writing a lot of fanfics.

So you CAN'T say that fanfics authors aren't real authors. I admit that some fanfic authors are still immature and not much of a writer, but you can't just generalize us like that! Many of us are as much as an author as those published authors. Some of us are even both, right? :)

And if some people out there think I'm ridiculous and obsessive for saying all these things? Well they just have to suck it up that we have different kinds of lives.

That aside! Today’s works were a bit hectic. We just got a big client who will work with us for the next six month, and it’s an international company too! So I’ve been translating documents after documents and damn my lack of vocabs for official/formal stuff.

Thus, I want to thank metacifer and vierblith_tefu who are such lifesavers for helping me. I’m sorry I’ve been bugging you guys, but thanks sooo much! <333

ETA: Just when I thought I was finally free, my boss gave me another batch of articles to translate. Holy shit I haven’t even eaten lunch! *wails*

ETA 2: My flirty co-worker bought me a chocolate bread and a box of tea because I wouldn't be able to get my lunch anytime soon. Hmm... flirting has its benefits? XD;; *shot*

Comments

[animegoil.livejournal.com]

You know, you brought up some interesting points (I wasn't aware, actually, that there were published authors writing fanfics as well).

But to add to what you're saying too, yeah, I find that comment a bit insulting. Yes, creating and fleshing out your own, made-up characters and world is difficult. I know that I sometimes balk at the idea of having to do that, and in that regard, yeah, it's easier to play with established settings and characters. But on the other hand, many, many fanfic authors expand on the established universe, or create their own, and that's sometimes just as difficult (how do you go beyond what's already there, in a way that works with what's already there, and works for your own goals in the writing, you know?). And additionally... even though we're playing with established characters, that doesn't mean we're not analyzing them and creating new aspects to them or elaborating on certain aspects of them. And that's certainly not something that's easy either. Sitting there and trying to figure out how to make a character your own without defiling their already set personality, or trying to envision how they would realistically act in a non-canon situation is a mental exercise that's very different, but at once very comparable, to creating your own character. One could argue that creating your own character is the easy way out -- anything they do is canon! Since they're yours, you could make them do anything and just say that's who they are! Unlike in fanfics, you don't have to create or find a logical reason, or try to make it seem realistic and natural for the character.

:/

so yeah. I find that comment very ignorant.

[a1y-puff.livejournal.com]

I know a few published authors who write fanfics XD;;

And regarding what you said about fanfic-writing, I couldn't agree more. It's true that some fanfic authors especially those preteens ones oftentimes just recklessly use existing characters without thinking much about canon settings and characterization. BUT NOT ALL OF US ARE LIKE THAT!! There ar also A LOT of fanfic authors who, as you said there, BOTHER with details like canon characterisations and setting, and also struggling with the established characterizations when we put them into a non-canon ituations. It took a lot of efforts, sometimes, it's so difficult that when your reader said you did well and the fic was IC, you'd explode with joy. Right? And in that regard, writing fanfics are, in a way, more difficult thatn creating your own story. Becuse as you said, anything tha you do with your own story will be canon anyway.

Seriously, when I read that comment yesterday, I thought I'd explode in anger. Blah. :(