~~ it's all about the porn, man.
Feb. 24th, 2004 01:17 amI 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).
( ...And of course I can't help but elaborate. )
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).
( ...And of course I can't help but elaborate. )
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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