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Just started following the links for the five rec’d fics (What? Nothing of mine?! I am so hurt.) and got to the discussion in Ellen Fremedon’s LJ about fanfic and shamelessness. It was interesting to see all these fanfic writers — who work with derivative characters and settings translated from serial, one hour dramatic screenwriting — comparing their works to “literature.” Ie. a different form of fiction writing. Seems the core discussion is misplaced. Some mention is made of “profic,” but I’m not at all sure that it’s professionally written genre fic (ie. the novels derived from popular movies and television shows) that is being referred to here. Fascinating. There’s another great discussion thread to be had here.
“Profic” seems to refer to original fiction, not tie-ins. I think some fanfiction is as literary as any other media tie-in fiction (which certainly isn’t saying much), but not the stuff she was talking about. She said straight out that most fanfiction is written for pornographic purposes, and that that is the literary advantage of fanfiction over professional fiction.
Personally, I think the obsession with romance, slash, and erotica in general is what keeps fanfiction from being more literary. Real writers do write sex when they think it’s necessary; the thing is that it isn’t necessary most, if not all, of the time.
December 5th, 2004 at 8:50 pm
Just started following the links for the five rec’d fics (What? Nothing of mine?! I am so hurt.) and got to the discussion in Ellen Fremedon’s LJ about fanfic and shamelessness. It was interesting to see all these fanfic writers — who work with derivative characters and settings translated from serial, one hour dramatic screenwriting — comparing their works to “literature.” Ie. a different form of fiction writing. Seems the core discussion is misplaced. Some mention is made of “profic,” but I’m not at all sure that it’s professionally written genre fic (ie. the novels derived from popular movies and television shows) that is being referred to here. Fascinating. There’s another great discussion thread to be had here.
December 5th, 2004 at 10:43 pm
“Profic” seems to refer to original fiction, not tie-ins. I think some fanfiction is as literary as any other media tie-in fiction (which certainly isn’t saying much), but not the stuff she was talking about. She said straight out that most fanfiction is written for pornographic purposes, and that that is the literary advantage of fanfiction over professional fiction.
Personally, I think the obsession with romance, slash, and erotica in general is what keeps fanfiction from being more literary. Real writers do write sex when they think it’s necessary; the thing is that it isn’t necessary most, if not all, of the time.
Here’s the original post by Ellen Fremedon, if anyone needs the link. She gives links to a later entry and to the TNH post.