Random commentary
Mar. 29th, 2010 08:06 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
yukieNo, I don't think original fic or RP of original characters is necessarily more creative than/superior to/possessed of more innate merit or value than fanficcing or RPing an existing fandom character.
"BUT FANFIC NEVER GETS PUBLISHED HUUUUUURRRRF" shut up, dimwit, yes it does, you just need to be licenced. XD Yeah, I consider tie-in novels to be in essence licenced fic. If you are deling ith a fandom like Star Wars that has different levels of canonicity depending on what material you're dealing with, the 'licenced fanfic' factor is increased by a lot. Or take X-Files. It had a few tie-in novels to its name and I remember fandom squabbles over their canonicity. That was the first time I saw the phrases 'licenced fanfiction' and 'alternate continuity' and that was way the hell back in '96 or so when Fox had an X-Files BBS and wasn't such a network full of fucking batshit. Generally the person writing the novels is a fan or they wouldn't be doing it (most of the time - sometimes you just have someone writing for cash), and some tie-in novels and expanded canon novels have wretched sues and stus in them equivalent to the derpings of your average teenage fan. I mean, heck - it's not as if official AU/fanfic-type material is directed only at adults (there were those second-person-P.O.V. Game Master books and a few standalone Zelda and Mario ones I recall at the local library - I never read them, but those were sure as nuts not 'mainline canon') and it's surely not exempt from crossovers (Captain N - which played it hella fast and loose with canon more so than the average fanfic).
I mean, heck - consider the expanded Dune universe and the expanded LotR universe. Both of these are books written by the kid of the original author and fandom's reaction to them is uh. Varied. World of Warcraft's got a bunch of tie-in novels and tie-in manga - basically official doujinshi. (These materials are the ones I was thinking about when I was all hurhur sues and stus because one author is really infamous for them, as well as for vastly deviating from the tone of the games and being a sexist numbnutter - and this guy IS officially backed.)
There's just as much drecky original work as there is drecky fanfic. There are just as many Authors' Darlings, sues and stus in original work as in fanfic. Plagiarism isn't unique to fanfic - go to Smart Bitches and search Cassie Edwards.
The rationale I hear with regard to the superiority of original characters over existing fandom ones in RP is usually 'oh but it takes more creativity to play a character you've made up whole cloth!' This is usually followed up by some vague remark or badly-justified bleating nonsense about knowing a character/having everything laid out for you/blarpty bleepty burpity fart buttscratch. ...Yeah, can we tell I don't put much weight on these arguments? I've never once seen them backed up with any real proof or weight. I mean, come on. If you make an argument you have to back that shit up.
My argument is that it can be equally easy or hard to play an existing character or an OC. How well you know a character can vary wildly and usually has little to do with their origin. I have original characters who I am still learning A LOT about, and I have played fandom characters whom I learn more about according to my crew's personal fanon/canon - personal fanon/canon can come up a lot when you're playing an existing character and that requires just as much creativity as does coming up with canon for an original character. You're still working within the boundaries of the world's rules. You're still bund by what is and is not plausible. You're still expected not to be a dipshit nutscratcher and throw in stupid crap willy-nilly. Many people learn about characters as they write - I've witnessed this A TON. Not everything is set down for you at the beginning, whether you made the character up or someone else did.
Hell - if I'm writing someone like Feyd-Rautha, I have a lot of filling-in-of-blanks to do. You get little snippets of the amazingly dysfunctional Harkonnen clan throughout Dune, but what happens in between those? What came before that? Sometimes you can get information from expanded canon books but as I said, fandom's consideration of those as 'canon' varies wildly from person to person. Why else would the Dune Wikia differentiate between mainline and expanded canon? (And then there's movie and miniseries canon versus novel canon...) Plus, either way, the expansion novels mostly focus on his dumbshit bro Glossu Rabban. Feyd's family gets more details, but he himself seems to remain mostly a mystery and a foil for Paul Muad'dib Atreides. We know he's the best of a bad lot, a capable fighter, a hedonistic punkass, not above trying to taunt the shit out of his opponent so they fuck up - he IS clever, but he's definitely not prescient, and he's hugely overconfident so he screws up. We know that his immediate family got screwed over somehow because he's living with his creepy douche of an uncle (whom he hates and tries to kill).
We DON'T know a whole hell of a lot.
So if I want to write about his past I have to expand on it in a manner that makes sense according to he world the books take place in.
If I want to write the past of an OC I have to do the damn same. Breaking the rules of one's own universe poorly or banging the tone of it up the nuts with a pile driver and no lube is the mark of a derpy author.
The merit of writing is in its content more than its nature, when it comes to fan writing versus original.
And no, this is not 'sour grapes' based on the fact that most of the stuff I post here is fanfic. I have a vast amount of original world and original character RP on hand; I simply haven't posted it here?
Why?
Various reasons. I've had work stolen before by people I trusted deeply. I've had people who were blocked and jealous start tearing me down and offering me useless verbal abuse disguised as 'critique'. In short, I've had a lot of bullshit thrown my way by common catfighty cockmonglers who owe me great big apologies and chocolate. Fucking losers have violated my trust. That takes time to get over. It's not personal for the most part - a vast majority of the time the issues are my own and I will readily admit it. If they are not and it is personal, well, that person's not going to get to see my original work because they're a thief or worthless.
;p If that hurts someone's fee-fees it isn't my problem.
I don't see why my writing or playing for, say, Sigismund or Rehl or Vicky has more innate merit than my writing or playing for Dracula or Feyd or Rasetsu-nyo. It's all WRITING, and it's really apples-and-oranges after all. If I feel like writing someone else's person I fanfic. If I feel like writing my own I do original work. If I want to do both it's crossover time.
It's fallacious and arrogant to assume that your work has more value than mine because yours is original and mine is fanfic. Laurell K Hamilton and Anne McCaffery's work is original and it's not necessarily very good, and Stephenie Meyer and Terry Goodkind's work is original and it's often plain BAD. I don't care for Robert Jordan either. I don't care for Cassie Edwards. A whole shit-tonne of original work is just as dreckeriffic as fanfiction and going 'oh but it's just YA/fantasy/romance/sci-fi' is disingenuous. You don't get to move the goal posts.
tl;dr the goodness or badness of writing and the value of writing doesn't have much to do with whether it's fanfic or original. Original work can be worthless, and fanfic can be awesome. It goes the other way too.
If I write original work it's on my own terms. I have friends who I trust to beta for me. If my original work shows up here in the future, it will show up.
I don't participate in NaNo-type stuff because real life gets in my way too much. Accuse me of making excuses if you wish - you'll be an ignorant cow-banger, but go right ahead. I'm living with more than one disability and sometimes they clothesline me. I work full-time and on occasion I run out of spoons. I am grieving the loss of my grandmother and I am grieving the dissolution of an engagement. I certainly do make time for creativity, but I prefer to do it on my own terms. Too much in my life is already dictated by things beyond my control and things that don't have much to do with what I want - medical treatment, doctors' visits, what I should and shouldn't eat. Creativity is where my freedom is. I'm not confining myself to any more schedules or restrictions than I have to or wish to.
The people who want to call me a coward for that can feel free to do so at the risk of my explaining to them exactly how spine-free and useless THEY are as compared to myself. Don't paint a target on your junks and flash the archers and don't make yourself into my cat toy if you don't want to be slapped around. XD I can give as good as I get, I just don't give much because I know I'm a fucking empress bitch.
I'll write what I want when I want. People don't have a right to demand writing from me unless I've promised them something or they've commissioned me.
I will do on my own terms the shit I can do on my own terms, as I always have, as much as I can.
"BUT FANFIC NEVER GETS PUBLISHED HUUUUUURRRRF" shut up, dimwit, yes it does, you just need to be licenced. XD Yeah, I consider tie-in novels to be in essence licenced fic. If you are deling ith a fandom like Star Wars that has different levels of canonicity depending on what material you're dealing with, the 'licenced fanfic' factor is increased by a lot. Or take X-Files. It had a few tie-in novels to its name and I remember fandom squabbles over their canonicity. That was the first time I saw the phrases 'licenced fanfiction' and 'alternate continuity' and that was way the hell back in '96 or so when Fox had an X-Files BBS and wasn't such a network full of fucking batshit. Generally the person writing the novels is a fan or they wouldn't be doing it (most of the time - sometimes you just have someone writing for cash), and some tie-in novels and expanded canon novels have wretched sues and stus in them equivalent to the derpings of your average teenage fan. I mean, heck - it's not as if official AU/fanfic-type material is directed only at adults (there were those second-person-P.O.V. Game Master books and a few standalone Zelda and Mario ones I recall at the local library - I never read them, but those were sure as nuts not 'mainline canon') and it's surely not exempt from crossovers (Captain N - which played it hella fast and loose with canon more so than the average fanfic).
I mean, heck - consider the expanded Dune universe and the expanded LotR universe. Both of these are books written by the kid of the original author and fandom's reaction to them is uh. Varied. World of Warcraft's got a bunch of tie-in novels and tie-in manga - basically official doujinshi. (These materials are the ones I was thinking about when I was all hurhur sues and stus because one author is really infamous for them, as well as for vastly deviating from the tone of the games and being a sexist numbnutter - and this guy IS officially backed.)
There's just as much drecky original work as there is drecky fanfic. There are just as many Authors' Darlings, sues and stus in original work as in fanfic. Plagiarism isn't unique to fanfic - go to Smart Bitches and search Cassie Edwards.
The rationale I hear with regard to the superiority of original characters over existing fandom ones in RP is usually 'oh but it takes more creativity to play a character you've made up whole cloth!' This is usually followed up by some vague remark or badly-justified bleating nonsense about knowing a character/having everything laid out for you/blarpty bleepty burpity fart buttscratch. ...Yeah, can we tell I don't put much weight on these arguments? I've never once seen them backed up with any real proof or weight. I mean, come on. If you make an argument you have to back that shit up.
My argument is that it can be equally easy or hard to play an existing character or an OC. How well you know a character can vary wildly and usually has little to do with their origin. I have original characters who I am still learning A LOT about, and I have played fandom characters whom I learn more about according to my crew's personal fanon/canon - personal fanon/canon can come up a lot when you're playing an existing character and that requires just as much creativity as does coming up with canon for an original character. You're still working within the boundaries of the world's rules. You're still bund by what is and is not plausible. You're still expected not to be a dipshit nutscratcher and throw in stupid crap willy-nilly. Many people learn about characters as they write - I've witnessed this A TON. Not everything is set down for you at the beginning, whether you made the character up or someone else did.
Hell - if I'm writing someone like Feyd-Rautha, I have a lot of filling-in-of-blanks to do. You get little snippets of the amazingly dysfunctional Harkonnen clan throughout Dune, but what happens in between those? What came before that? Sometimes you can get information from expanded canon books but as I said, fandom's consideration of those as 'canon' varies wildly from person to person. Why else would the Dune Wikia differentiate between mainline and expanded canon? (And then there's movie and miniseries canon versus novel canon...) Plus, either way, the expansion novels mostly focus on his dumbshit bro Glossu Rabban. Feyd's family gets more details, but he himself seems to remain mostly a mystery and a foil for Paul Muad'dib Atreides. We know he's the best of a bad lot, a capable fighter, a hedonistic punkass, not above trying to taunt the shit out of his opponent so they fuck up - he IS clever, but he's definitely not prescient, and he's hugely overconfident so he screws up. We know that his immediate family got screwed over somehow because he's living with his creepy douche of an uncle (whom he hates and tries to kill).
We DON'T know a whole hell of a lot.
So if I want to write about his past I have to expand on it in a manner that makes sense according to he world the books take place in.
If I want to write the past of an OC I have to do the damn same. Breaking the rules of one's own universe poorly or banging the tone of it up the nuts with a pile driver and no lube is the mark of a derpy author.
The merit of writing is in its content more than its nature, when it comes to fan writing versus original.
And no, this is not 'sour grapes' based on the fact that most of the stuff I post here is fanfic. I have a vast amount of original world and original character RP on hand; I simply haven't posted it here?
Why?
Various reasons. I've had work stolen before by people I trusted deeply. I've had people who were blocked and jealous start tearing me down and offering me useless verbal abuse disguised as 'critique'. In short, I've had a lot of bullshit thrown my way by common catfighty cockmonglers who owe me great big apologies and chocolate. Fucking losers have violated my trust. That takes time to get over. It's not personal for the most part - a vast majority of the time the issues are my own and I will readily admit it. If they are not and it is personal, well, that person's not going to get to see my original work because they're a thief or worthless.
;p If that hurts someone's fee-fees it isn't my problem.
I don't see why my writing or playing for, say, Sigismund or Rehl or Vicky has more innate merit than my writing or playing for Dracula or Feyd or Rasetsu-nyo. It's all WRITING, and it's really apples-and-oranges after all. If I feel like writing someone else's person I fanfic. If I feel like writing my own I do original work. If I want to do both it's crossover time.
It's fallacious and arrogant to assume that your work has more value than mine because yours is original and mine is fanfic. Laurell K Hamilton and Anne McCaffery's work is original and it's not necessarily very good, and Stephenie Meyer and Terry Goodkind's work is original and it's often plain BAD. I don't care for Robert Jordan either. I don't care for Cassie Edwards. A whole shit-tonne of original work is just as dreckeriffic as fanfiction and going 'oh but it's just YA/fantasy/romance/sci-fi' is disingenuous. You don't get to move the goal posts.
tl;dr the goodness or badness of writing and the value of writing doesn't have much to do with whether it's fanfic or original. Original work can be worthless, and fanfic can be awesome. It goes the other way too.
If I write original work it's on my own terms. I have friends who I trust to beta for me. If my original work shows up here in the future, it will show up.
I don't participate in NaNo-type stuff because real life gets in my way too much. Accuse me of making excuses if you wish - you'll be an ignorant cow-banger, but go right ahead. I'm living with more than one disability and sometimes they clothesline me. I work full-time and on occasion I run out of spoons. I am grieving the loss of my grandmother and I am grieving the dissolution of an engagement. I certainly do make time for creativity, but I prefer to do it on my own terms. Too much in my life is already dictated by things beyond my control and things that don't have much to do with what I want - medical treatment, doctors' visits, what I should and shouldn't eat. Creativity is where my freedom is. I'm not confining myself to any more schedules or restrictions than I have to or wish to.
The people who want to call me a coward for that can feel free to do so at the risk of my explaining to them exactly how spine-free and useless THEY are as compared to myself. Don't paint a target on your junks and flash the archers and don't make yourself into my cat toy if you don't want to be slapped around. XD I can give as good as I get, I just don't give much because I know I'm a fucking empress bitch.
I'll write what I want when I want. People don't have a right to demand writing from me unless I've promised them something or they've commissioned me.
I will do on my own terms the shit I can do on my own terms, as I always have, as much as I can.
no subject
Date: 2010-03-30 12:35 am (UTC)... I'm a wooby today, you can ignore me XD
no subject
Date: 2010-03-30 03:07 am (UTC)And I agree with what you said. I mean, a lot of artists will paint stuff 'after' a pro they admire. Like if they make heavy heavy reference? They'll sign their own name small and then write 'after Renoir/Klee/Mucha' bigger.
Painting in an artist's style is different. I can paint impressionist and not be painting 'after' someone but I'd be inspired by all the impressionists for sure.
And remixers usually do kinda the same? Like Group's Song by Remixer or something.
AAA I DUNNO I'm making littl sense i dunno XD; I'm glad you don't think I'm being bitchy. I just got a bug in my nose about this and wanted to go 'the value of something isn't easily pigeonholed or rated'. XD
no subject
Date: 2010-03-30 07:58 pm (UTC)I didn't know that!! That's really sweet, actually. I mean, I know there are a lot of "don't touch my stuff" folks out there, but I think that's really a huge honor.
no subject
Date: 2010-03-31 04:33 am (UTC)