~~ the fanfic reader's dilemma

You know what's beautiful? Fanfic. I love fanfic-- reading it, I mean. I love getting to know the same character over and over again, seeing certain things change while others remain the same-- seeing the same themes be explored again and again with slight and sometimes huge variations.

I love seeing the same issue (or character) from a thousand subtly different angles, and I love how the Story is never really over, because really, good stories shouldn't-- couldn't-- end. And with fanfic, no story ends. No one really dies. Your favorite characters' first kiss can happen again and again in ways you yourself would never have envisioned if you wrote them. Everything familiar is made unfamiliar-- you never know what's up for grabs. It's a story that's both utterly familiar and utterly unpredictable. I just love it.

And it's brilliant when you can read a fanfic all the way through (all the way!!) without thinking 'he'd -never- do -that-' or 'he'd never think -that-' or 'they would NEVER EVER IN A MILLION TRILLION YEARS do -that-'. Yes, that is sheer bliss.
    And of course it's accepted wisdom that you're supposed to know & care deeply about the canon behind whichever fandom/pairing you're currently reading, fanfic-wise, but you know.... I think the dark, ugly truth is-- the more you know, the less you enjoy. It becomes a question of 'truth' vs. 'lies'-- rather than everything being some degree of... y'know... pretty lie. But very pretty-- and largely necessary if one fancies pairings which are inherently, well, impossible in canon and are thus fanon by definition (...like H/D).

I really think that the fanfic reader is a unique sort of fan-- regardless of their attitude to the canon source of whichever fandom they're currently reading in. I think if you're into reading fanfic, even if you care about canon accuracy, it seems that you will still implicitly priviledge fanon. And by 'fanon' I mean, you will priviledge the constant shifting of possibility of what can happen over the static actuality of what -has- happened. If as a reader, you're not prepared to do that, with any given pairing or fandom, you'll quickly realize that the great majority of fanfic doesn't hold much appeal.

    And so, at base level-- much as I'm a stickler for plausible extrapolation-- I'm that kind of fan. In the end, I care about the range of possibility most, and most especially, I want to be surprised as a reader. I realize I've reached some sort of apex of fannish discontent when no fic with my OTP has the ability to really -startle- me anymore. My most harsh criticism would be-- I know where you're going, even though it makes no actual sense.

I've realized there might be a -reason- my happiest times with reading H/D were the year before I'd actually read canon and officially knew enough to realize that most of the stuff I'd enjoyed so much was really kinda crappy if you saw it mainly as an extension of canon. Here I feel compelled to say I still knew -enough- canon for my purposes, merely from picking it up here & there. I mean, I don't precisely regret reading the books, because I do love canon Harry too much to ever regret meeting him-- even if it cost me the pleasure of a thousand fanfics I might otherwise have loved.

( And a reason why I miss those times. Therein lies the reader's conundrum. )

~~

Anyway, I'm seriously loving on the S/R fics at the moment. W00t! Feels so new & shiny, yeay! I made another Sirius/Remus art.com doodle from sheer squee, though it's nothing special.
    In other news, I saw `Garden State' last night, and it rocked out. Well, especially in the musical sense. Electronica is so the new rock, ahahahah.