Re: Fan fiction in general was: MOVED from MAIN - "sequels" to the classics

[dumbledore11214]

Magpie:
> I think for the most part they do--though sometimes people will 
> point to different behavior that they think shows they don't know 
> they're playing in someone else's world, because different fans 
have 
> different ideas of how fanfic "should" be written. 
> 
> For instance, there are some people who always think it should 
> be 'close to canon'--they stick to character pairings and things 
> they feel could have happened between the lines or afterwards. 
Other 
> people make no bones about writing what interests them even if it 
> goes directly against what the author seems to like or be 
interested 
> in. I tend to think it's really all about what the fanfic author 
> wants to read or write.
> 
> As just another fan personally I lean with the second group. 
> Ironically, I find the first group more presumptive. If you're not 
> the author, your story isn't any "more canonical" than anyone 
else's 
> story. You can't go slipping anything in expecting people to take 
it 
> as "what really happened" any more than anyone else. And also I 
> don't really see the point in keeping to the idea of "what the 
> author would like" as you write unless you like it yourself because 
> the author's not going to read it probably so you might as well say 
> what you want to say. I remember one discussion that really proved 
> the point to me, where there was a fanfic author who was 
> very "canonical" but got called on a technical thing she always did 
> that was wrong. Instead of doing what she claimed to do--which was 
> take the author's word as law--she argued the text into her own 
> interpretation. I just would have preferred it if she said, "Oh 
> yeah, I got that wrong. But I love writing about it my way, so in 
my 
> fanfic I pretend this is the case." I can completely understand it 
> if part of the suspension of disbelief involves the real author--
> sometimes it's just hard to buy a story if it seems to go against 
> the "feel" of the universe or whatever.

Alla:

Oh I absolutely agree that writer should just write about what 
interests him in a universe and go in whatever direction she likes, 
but I will tell you one thing, as a reader, I always prefer fanfics 
to be rooted in canon, I mean, they all are, but I guess I am trying 
to say that I prefer the first group TO THE EXTENT.

And it has nothing to do with whether author will like it or not, 
since I only read fanfics and do not write them. It has everything to 
do with the reason why I as reader go look for fanfics. I go look for 
fanfics because I want to have deeper exploration of something that 
occurred in canon. To put it simply – if I want Harry to join 
Voldemort, well, I don't want that, but if I want to read a story 
where hero is seduced by dark that much, I will go look for original 
story with that. I do not believe Harry in canon will ever join 
Voldemort, so fanfic where he does not interest me.

Heee, this is also a reason why so few Harry/Draco fanfics interest 
me – because I believe that in order to write credible Harry/ Draco 
you have to assign the fallings to Harry that he does not possess in 
canon and by the same token you have to assign goodness to Draco 
which he does not possess. I had started reading some wonderfully 
written stories about those two, but there are only two that I truly 
enjoyed. And when I recommended one to someone who is Draco fan first 
and foremost, she told me that for her Harry is too good in that 
story and Draco is too subdued. While for me Harry was sooo far from 
being too good and in that story Draco's path was the only path I 
could see those two EVER credibly getting together. I am sure you 
guessed it – Draco had to go through incredibly painful change of his 
views and NO, Harry's journey was just as painful but NOT about 
changing his views.

Anyways, what I am trying to say that I prefer characters to be 
recognizable, that is only my view of course, but if I want to read 
about characters that do something totally not canonical, I will go 
pick up original writing, you know?

That does not mean that I want 100% sticking to canon, I do not mind 
character DEVELOPMENT, but I want the starting point to be canon at 
least and I want it to be slow.

And another thing, I had to acknowledge the AU stories after Sirius 
died, LOL. Wanted to read about him and Harry getting happy ending. 
But I still wanted characters to be recognizable at least.

JMO,

Alla