Fanfic yes or no and why?

[Penny & Bryce Linsenmayer]

Hi --

Just as I was about to delete my OT-Chatter box wholesale, this topic
caught my eye ....

> I'm curious about why people choose to read or not to read fanfic.
> And how's the decision worked out?  (e.g. did you start reading fanfic
>
> and wish you hadn't?  did you have your mind made up one way or the
> other and then change it?)

Back about this time last year, Lori plugged her first chapter of PoU
over on another HP group.  I had to ask what she was talking about
because (a) I'd never heard the term fanfic, (b) I had no idea what ship
meant or what H/H stood for.  <vbg>  Now look at me!

I had never read any fantasy lit before HP (and might never have picked
it up had I known it could be classed as fantasy ... although I've since
revised my preconceptions about that genre).  I'd definitely not read
any sci-fi.  These genres seems the most apt to spawn fanfic so I'd
never heard of the concept before.  There's just *not* any Laura Ingalls
Wilder fanfic out there!

Anyway, I was intrigued & got hooked pretty quickly.  I didn't hear
about ff.net until sometime later -- probably at least a few mths.  I
tried to look around over there, but I decided pretty quickly that it
wasn't worth my time.  I'm very picky . . . and I rely on word-of-mouth
now to get the really good stuff.  In truth though, pretty much the only
fanfic I read are the offerings on the PoU group and the HP_Paradise
group at this point.  This is more than enough to keep me busy since
Lori, Cassie, Ebony & Heidi are all churning out novel-length fanfics.

I don't have any problem with the notion that I'm "tainting" my views of
canon.  I really haven't, as yet, ever *sworn* that some particular
tidbit was canon & have it turn out to be fanon instead.  I can keep
track of it all fairly well in my head I think.  Maybe I'm just
flattering myself, but I do think it's possible to keep the two
universes separate.  It would be really interesting though if someone
devised a quiz that included questions with fine nuances & asked you to
distinguish canon from fanon.  Alas -- something else *I* don't have
time for!

Anyway .... no, I don't think fanfic is absolutely definitively doomed
to ruin canon for everyone.  I think it's quite possible to read & enjoy
both.

It's also interesting that fanfic can make you think about canon in a
completely new way, and after all, what could be wrong with thinking
about a new analysis or take on a canon situation?  Heidi's Surfeit of
Curses is a perfect example.  Who's to say it won't be revealed that
Hermione has been in a study group with Draco for years now?  Writing &
reading well-written fanfic can really make you get into the characters'
heads.  It can also really make one think hard about the different paths
that JKR might choose to take.

I love it, and judging from the results of the poll that Amanda set up a
few months ago, about 75% of our membership at least reads fanfic on
occasion (with the majority falling into devoted consumers and/or
writers of fanfic categories).

Penny

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