Why we write

POSTED BY: Aramina
UPDATED: Thursday, March 17, 2005 19:15
VIEWED: 11104
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ARAMINA

Tuesday, March 15, 2005 7:36 PM

As part of my course I've been reading a lot of theory about fan production (fan art/fic/vids etc) and they all say how it's a power struggle and meaning negotiation etc etc. Some of the theorists also say that it's play, but I want to know what makes it play.

If you're a fan writer/artist etc, do you think that while you're writing you're playing, or does it feel more serious than that? Can you explain why?

If you enjoy reading fan fic, why do you enjoy reading stories that aren't necessarily canon?

When I think of an interesting signature you'll be the first to know.

RIELPRYN

Tuesday, March 15, 2005 7:45 PM

Play. At least that's why I do it. I get to take these characters that I love and have them act out things I would really like to see. I get to play in this make believe world that helps me escape from my heap of a life. I just get a lot of joy out of it.

Gabriel Pryn
"I reject your reality and substitute my own."
Browncoats of Memphis: http://firefly.meetup.com/53/

STARPILOTGRAINGER

Tuesday, March 15, 2005 7:55 PM

When I did write Fanfic, it was mostly play, with a tiny little thread of 'the series is really wasting its potential, so I'm going to play with the ideas' (I mostly wrote fanfic for Sliders).

Now I don't really write fanfic at all, what writing I do (mainly my alternaljournal right now, in my sig) is still mainly for fun. I also occasionally RP in worlds with established canon histories, and in that case, that, too, is all for fun.

Star Pilot Grainger
"Remember, the enemy's gate is down."
LJ: http://www.livejournal.com/users/newnumber6 (real)
http://www.livejournal.com/users/alternaljournal (fictional, travelling through another world)
Unreachable Star: http://www.unreachablestar.net - Comics & SF News/Reviews/Opinions

ARAMINA

Tuesday, March 15, 2005 9:19 PM

Quote:
Originally posted by Rielpryn:
Play. At least that's why I do it. I get to take these characters that I love and have them act out things I would really like to see. I get to play in this make believe world that helps me escape from my heap of a life. I just get a lot of joy out of it.

Thanks, that's very interesting.

When you say you escape from your life, do you think you could explain how writing becomes an escape for you? Do you think there's an imaginary line somewhere that you cross when you start to write?

I know that when I read fiction I like to be able to forget the fact that I'm sat in my room surrounded by all my junk and really immerse myself in my imagination. But when I write I find that I get easily distracted by things that are going on around me.

When I think of an interesting signature you'll be the first to know.

ARAMINA

Tuesday, March 15, 2005 9:24 PM

Quote:
Originally posted by StarPilotGrainger:
When I did write Fanfic, it was mostly play, with a tiny little thread of 'the series is really wasting its potential, so I'm going to play with the ideas' (I mostly wrote fanfic for Sliders).

So when you say that you were going to play with ideas because the series was wasting its potential, how hard did you try to stick to canon? Did you follow all the canon, or make up your own rules as to what you used from canon and what you didn't?

When I think of an interesting signature you'll be the first to know.

SHINY

Tuesday, March 15, 2005 9:35 PM

Play. It's just a creative outlet, and the characters and universe is so rich that you can just dive right it without having to do all the hard work of inventing them. ;)

Jayne, your mouth is talkin. Might want to look into that.

KAYSKY

Tuesday, March 15, 2005 10:03 PM

Play. Fanfic has been a great outlet. Life is a bit hectic right now. My world of fanfiction is stress free and anything goes. If it became something other than fun, I don't think I'd continue doing it.

Everyone needs an outlet. For now, Firefly is mine. Ask me six months from now and it might be different. The future is unpredictable.

***
All work and no play makes for very dull people. Or however the hell that saying goes.

STARPILOTGRAINGER

Tuesday, March 15, 2005 10:17 PM

Quote:
Originally posted by Aramina:
Quote:
Originally posted by StarPilotGrainger:
When I did write Fanfic, it was mostly play, with a tiny little thread of 'the series is really wasting its potential, so I'm going to play with the ideas' (I mostly wrote fanfic for Sliders).

So when you say that you were going to play with ideas because the series was wasting its potential, how hard did you try to stick to canon? Did you follow all the canon, or make up your own rules as to what you used from canon and what you didn't?

Well, in case you're unfamiliar with the series, Sliders was about a group of people who travelled through alternative universes, where history went slightly differently. So mainly what I did was stick with the rules of the show and the characters and history within, but put them in (what I felt to be) more creative situations than they were doing in the show, except I set my stories in the time period of the show that I liked best. However, occasionally I also would keep (roughly) the same rules of the show but set the story around different versions of the main characters deliberately to, for example, do a story where the characters missed their window to slide and, as the rules of the show state, you had to wait for 30 years for the next window (and after mid season 3 I didn't like Maggie so I wrote most of my stories either in the past or an alternate group where Maggie never joined)

There were times I think where the show made some weird decision about how things operated that I decided to ignore (for example, at times they mentioned that they had a '2 mile radius', so that when they slid out of one world, they slid into the next within 2 miles of the location. Later, storywise, they made the radius 500 miles. In the final season, they suddenly made the claim that if they were outside of the 500 mile radius when the timer was off, they couldn't slide at all).

Star Pilot Grainger
"Remember, the enemy's gate is down."
LJ: http://www.livejournal.com/users/newnumber6 (real)
http://www.livejournal.com/users/alternaljournal (fictional, travelling through another world)
Unreachable Star: http://www.unreachablestar.net - Comics & SF News/Reviews/Opinions

ARAMINA

Tuesday, March 15, 2005 11:49 PM

Quote:
Originally posted by Shiny:
Play. It's just a creative outlet, and the characters and universe is so rich that you can just dive right it without having to do all the hard work of inventing them. ;)

Ooh it's interesting how you note the difference between the work and play aspects. So do you think that anything about fan fiction that is hard work?

When I think of an interesting signature you'll be the first to know.

ARAMINA

Tuesday, March 15, 2005 11:51 PM

Quote:
Originally posted by KaySky:
Everyone needs an outlet. For now, Firefly is mine. Ask me six months from now and it might be different. The future is unpredictable.

So have you written fan fiction for other series then?

When I think of an interesting signature you'll be the first to know.

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