[HPFGU-OTChatter] Fanfic

[Starling]

snips from Rosmerta and Jen:

> Which leads to my very last question: why is fanfic limited by and
> large to genre? I'm not seeing the JM Coetzees of the world being
> rewritten or The English Patient being fanfictionalized. Why is that?
> Is that because the Pulitzer/Booker/Nobel caliber stuff isn't
> derivable (is that a word? You know what I mean, I hope) in the sense
> that those works are utterly complete and unrevisably themselves,
> whether you liked them or not?  Someone posted something a long time
> ago on the main list that suggested fanfic was around to fill in the
> holes in the primary work......is HP fanfic around mostly because
> it's still a work in progress?

Most fanfic, in my experience, tends to be produced in sf/fantasy
fandoms (with lots of exceptions, especially now with the influence of
the internet).  And most fanfic is not based on books, but on tv shows.  
It's probably got more to do with the cultures of the various fandoms
than with anything inherent in the canons themselves.

to be honest, I think the reason sf/f gets the most ardent fans, and tends to attract fanfic, is its nature.  I'm also a big fan of historical fiction, but i never write historical fiction.  For a fan trying to loose themselves in a genre like historical fic, a walk through Valley Forge or Versailles or even the local restoration village (I used to spend hours at the one at Bethpage on LI) is like heaven on earth.  Romance...well, I've never tried, but i'm sure there's lots of ways to immerse oneself in that...::gets out ten foot pole for this topic::  But sf/f -- well, I don't have a wand.  I used to think if i shouted loud enough, scotty would hear me and beam me up.  and for years, I've been convinced I really do belong on the back of one of Anne McCaffrey's beautiful dragons.  Barring that, cutting crystal on Ballybran.  But these universes are much harder to loose oneself in in the world around us -- hence fanfic.  Writing down all that stuff in my head makes it just a little more real.  Since I can't walk around the Enterprise, I have to go with the next best thing.  
I suppose what I'm saying is that most genres are much more firmly based in the here-and-now, so if one really wants to immerse oneself, it's easy to find a way to do so.  Sf/f are based on the here-and-now but have developed into something that's different enough that there's really no easy way to immerse oneself in it.  Leading to symptoms like writing fanfic or doodling "I love Bill Weasley" across my notebook in history lectures... ::looks innocent::
this makes plenty of sense to me...but then it's 3 am and i can't sleep thanks to the cramp caused by the mystery meal i had in the dining hall, so my heads a little foggy.  Feel free to demand clarity during daylight <g>

Abbie, who hates her old computer for kicking two years ago and eating all the stuff she had on it from high school...stoopid 'puters...


starling823 at yahoo.com
69% obsessed with HP and loving it
"Ah, music," Dumbledore said, wiping his eyes.  "A magic beyond all we do here!"
          -HP and the Sorcerer's Stone

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