~~ it's all about the porn, man.
Feb. 24th, 2004 01:17 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
reenkaI write porn. That's what I do, right?
See, two guys were talking behind me on the bus about what they did-- they were art majors. One was a painter and the other was a sculptor (actually, I think he had a sculpture concentration in a Studio Art major while planning to be a programmer as a life goal, but hey). Kindred spirits, all that, right.
I guess if one actually asked me what -I- did, I'd say, "I write porn". Or at least, that'd be truer than most things. I mean, it's not even "artsy" porn-- it's most definitely intended to be hot. And it's fanfiction. If I called it "art", quite a number of people would just laugh, wouldn't they? But hey, I think so. I'm an artist, even if there's no actual proof.
Roughly speaking, it seems like there are 3 categories of fiction: a) popular fiction-- written for entertainment purposes (porn, horror stories, detective stories, a good number of adventure/violence stories, humor, etc); b) didactic fiction-- written to express a philosophical thesis or to make some point about life and/or the world (myths, some fairy-tales, family & growing-up stories, a lot of love-stories, some historical novels, fables, Ayn Rand, etc); c) interpretive fiction-- written to transmit a certain slant or expansion on "the hard facts" as the writer sees them (some people would put fanfiction here by default).
Inevitably, of course, all these get really confused and mixed together until you can't really separate them at all in practice. But... for some reason, I did feel chagrined when I saw this long essay all about how Gundam Wing (the show) is a victim of "fan rape". Basically, 'cause everyone's writing everyone as OOC and that just... hurts the "artistry" of the show somehow. Dude, that's just freakin' funny.
"Art" isn't a separate thing, an inviolate thing that's confined to the source material of some fanfic. It's a sacred thing, okay, but... everything is art. Fanfiction is art. Breathing can be an art if you do it with -intent-. I've taken whole classes based around the idea of asking "what is art", and there's never been an actual settled-on answer, but I think I can easily say that fanfiction is an art without regard to its adherence to its source or its degree of in-characterness. That's just silly.
Most people would say that "didactic fiction" is closest to "Art" out of my categories, and I think that's interesting in itself, because most people wouldn't claim to write it, and if they do, they'd likely be seen as stuck up. I say I "just write porn" too, even as I fall into that trap myself, wanting everything I write and read to -mean- something, to be "saying" something about... something. Thing is, you can't really escape that. You're always going to be saying "something", simply because meaning exists whether you yourself put it there or not. It can always be -found-. Question is, how well do you as the writer understand what you're inevitably unconsciously saying? How well do you understand the world? How well do you understand yourself? I think one's writing improves with every increase in the level of this understanding.
To me, the dividing line between porn (entertainment) and myth (Meaning) is very thin. I am entertained by meaning and a sense of some sort of mythic significance more than almost anything else, so one easily becomes the other. My need for a certain set-up, a certain background, extends into both characterization and mood as well as the simple mechanics of the scenario-- that is to say, I don't care who's slapping whose ass and who's calling who "Daddy" if you can't make me interested in the various psychological dynamics there. This isn't to say I need "plot" or "story" with my porn-- this is simply to say that I don't get visceral pleasure out of most sexually-based ideas, though I do have a small number of kinks (S&M or vanilla are the same to me, in other words-- doesn't matter). I get this pleasure from a lot of emotionally-based ideas (passion is what matters, and love if you can write it convincingly-- most people... not so much).
My point (to finally get to it), is that in the end, getting worked up on charges of OOC writing is useless. That would only matter if the writer was going for an "interpretive fiction" story, and most people aren't, fanfiction writers or not. Leaving aside the question of whether there -is- such a thing as a solid "canon" in any case ('cause it's -always- going to be 85% individual interpretation). You're still left with the fact that most people read and write fanfic for "entertainment only"-- in other words, it's a form of pornography, or "popular fiction". It's fiction with a -goal- in mind, there to hit specific buttons, even if your button is "this sort of Draco". The fic is there to cater to you.
Personally, I judge stories based on whether they make good -fiction-, not good fanfiction. I don't -care- if it makes good fanfiction, 'cause really, what kind of achievement is that, anyway? Like coloring by numbers, except people knock themselves out harder trying to accomplish it. You could write the most in-character HP fanfic of all time and in a way, it'd be a waste of effort, really, wouldn't it? I mean, what would be the point, exactly?
It seems to me that writing in itself is always an art if that's how you approach it, no matter if you write porn or The Great American Novel. The characters' humanity has to come before their "accuracy", whatever -that- means. It's writing-- a creative process-- not engineering, right? You can't really separate such a complex endeavor as writing into categories, I think. It's always going to be more than would fit into any box; good writing will have overflow, will resist categorization, won't be entirely recognizable as really -like- anything else that came before it. That's what makes it good. That element of surprise, of revelation, of sudden connection. "Good fanfiction" wants to add an element of recognition to the mix-- wants to have it both ways. And people generally have to decide for themselves which of these goals is more important to have achieved.
I guess what I'm trying to say is... I like my porn to work on many other levels as well, and I'm rather demanding about that. But as far as whether it's in-character... if I really wanted "in character", in the end I'd recommend going to the source. Which is why I get frustrated with people who seem to confuse the interpretative fiction end of things & the actual source. The -source- doesn't have slash. Slash and all other subtext is inherently connected to the source, yes, but it's not really -merged- with it. So any fanfiction playing up subtext is going to disfigure the source in some way.
Fanfic is all about messing with the source, it seems to me, 'cause if you read it to be "true" to it somehow, you'll just be disappointed a lot. Unless -you're- the person writing it, in which case you'll be sure to please yourself (if you write well enough). And of course, now we're back to the porn, as always.
See, two guys were talking behind me on the bus about what they did-- they were art majors. One was a painter and the other was a sculptor (actually, I think he had a sculpture concentration in a Studio Art major while planning to be a programmer as a life goal, but hey). Kindred spirits, all that, right.
I guess if one actually asked me what -I- did, I'd say, "I write porn". Or at least, that'd be truer than most things. I mean, it's not even "artsy" porn-- it's most definitely intended to be hot. And it's fanfiction. If I called it "art", quite a number of people would just laugh, wouldn't they? But hey, I think so. I'm an artist, even if there's no actual proof.
Roughly speaking, it seems like there are 3 categories of fiction: a) popular fiction-- written for entertainment purposes (porn, horror stories, detective stories, a good number of adventure/violence stories, humor, etc); b) didactic fiction-- written to express a philosophical thesis or to make some point about life and/or the world (myths, some fairy-tales, family & growing-up stories, a lot of love-stories, some historical novels, fables, Ayn Rand, etc); c) interpretive fiction-- written to transmit a certain slant or expansion on "the hard facts" as the writer sees them (some people would put fanfiction here by default).
Inevitably, of course, all these get really confused and mixed together until you can't really separate them at all in practice. But... for some reason, I did feel chagrined when I saw this long essay all about how Gundam Wing (the show) is a victim of "fan rape". Basically, 'cause everyone's writing everyone as OOC and that just... hurts the "artistry" of the show somehow. Dude, that's just freakin' funny.
"Art" isn't a separate thing, an inviolate thing that's confined to the source material of some fanfic. It's a sacred thing, okay, but... everything is art. Fanfiction is art. Breathing can be an art if you do it with -intent-. I've taken whole classes based around the idea of asking "what is art", and there's never been an actual settled-on answer, but I think I can easily say that fanfiction is an art without regard to its adherence to its source or its degree of in-characterness. That's just silly.
Most people would say that "didactic fiction" is closest to "Art" out of my categories, and I think that's interesting in itself, because most people wouldn't claim to write it, and if they do, they'd likely be seen as stuck up. I say I "just write porn" too, even as I fall into that trap myself, wanting everything I write and read to -mean- something, to be "saying" something about... something. Thing is, you can't really escape that. You're always going to be saying "something", simply because meaning exists whether you yourself put it there or not. It can always be -found-. Question is, how well do you as the writer understand what you're inevitably unconsciously saying? How well do you understand the world? How well do you understand yourself? I think one's writing improves with every increase in the level of this understanding.
To me, the dividing line between porn (entertainment) and myth (Meaning) is very thin. I am entertained by meaning and a sense of some sort of mythic significance more than almost anything else, so one easily becomes the other. My need for a certain set-up, a certain background, extends into both characterization and mood as well as the simple mechanics of the scenario-- that is to say, I don't care who's slapping whose ass and who's calling who "Daddy" if you can't make me interested in the various psychological dynamics there. This isn't to say I need "plot" or "story" with my porn-- this is simply to say that I don't get visceral pleasure out of most sexually-based ideas, though I do have a small number of kinks (S&M or vanilla are the same to me, in other words-- doesn't matter). I get this pleasure from a lot of emotionally-based ideas (passion is what matters, and love if you can write it convincingly-- most people... not so much).
My point (to finally get to it), is that in the end, getting worked up on charges of OOC writing is useless. That would only matter if the writer was going for an "interpretive fiction" story, and most people aren't, fanfiction writers or not. Leaving aside the question of whether there -is- such a thing as a solid "canon" in any case ('cause it's -always- going to be 85% individual interpretation). You're still left with the fact that most people read and write fanfic for "entertainment only"-- in other words, it's a form of pornography, or "popular fiction". It's fiction with a -goal- in mind, there to hit specific buttons, even if your button is "this sort of Draco". The fic is there to cater to you.
Personally, I judge stories based on whether they make good -fiction-, not good fanfiction. I don't -care- if it makes good fanfiction, 'cause really, what kind of achievement is that, anyway? Like coloring by numbers, except people knock themselves out harder trying to accomplish it. You could write the most in-character HP fanfic of all time and in a way, it'd be a waste of effort, really, wouldn't it? I mean, what would be the point, exactly?
It seems to me that writing in itself is always an art if that's how you approach it, no matter if you write porn or The Great American Novel. The characters' humanity has to come before their "accuracy", whatever -that- means. It's writing-- a creative process-- not engineering, right? You can't really separate such a complex endeavor as writing into categories, I think. It's always going to be more than would fit into any box; good writing will have overflow, will resist categorization, won't be entirely recognizable as really -like- anything else that came before it. That's what makes it good. That element of surprise, of revelation, of sudden connection. "Good fanfiction" wants to add an element of recognition to the mix-- wants to have it both ways. And people generally have to decide for themselves which of these goals is more important to have achieved.
I guess what I'm trying to say is... I like my porn to work on many other levels as well, and I'm rather demanding about that. But as far as whether it's in-character... if I really wanted "in character", in the end I'd recommend going to the source. Which is why I get frustrated with people who seem to confuse the interpretative fiction end of things & the actual source. The -source- doesn't have slash. Slash and all other subtext is inherently connected to the source, yes, but it's not really -merged- with it. So any fanfiction playing up subtext is going to disfigure the source in some way.
Fanfic is all about messing with the source, it seems to me, 'cause if you read it to be "true" to it somehow, you'll just be disappointed a lot. Unless -you're- the person writing it, in which case you'll be sure to please yourself (if you write well enough). And of course, now we're back to the porn, as always.
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no subject
Date: 2004-02-24 07:12 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2004-02-25 10:04 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2004-02-25 11:18 am (UTC)But I do write original fiction too; that's more of what I think of when I think of writing, myself. Even having written in other universes for series, the idea of writing fanfic totally intimidates me! But, uh, anyway, your post above really made me think about the differences, because lately writing I've found myself thinking how difficult it is to hammer out your own world and your own characters (which is why I saved it under "more things S_C says casually about writing that rock my world..."), and how I think some people might not even realize how much work is being done for us in fanfic even with characters that are not described at all in canon. Like you think you know nothing about Blaise Zabini, but in fact you know a lot.
Ooh, must have discussion on this. Lemme try to put together something coherent in my lj.:-D