Think I'll Stay Up Late

POSTED BY: YT
UPDATED: Saturday, February 25, 2012 15:12
VIEWED: 5131
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RIONAEIRE

Tuesday, February 14, 2012 4:57 AM

Hi Wish, there is some trashy fanfic out there, because you are allowed to write anything you want in fanfic. I think the key is to have a standard and to not deviate from it. You can have as strict or as loose of a standard as you want. You might do better with fanfic at fanfiction.net because they have a rating system, so you can choose not to read the really graphic ones if you like. The better the summary is the easier it is to decide whether a fanfic is right for you. I'm pretty able to avoid trash when I read fanfic (I have lots of Firefly fanfic reading experience, but not in the Blue Sun Room) so I know exactly what I like and don't like and I can see where something is going pretty fast and assertain whether I wish to continue.

"A completely coherant River means writers don't deliver" KatTaya

CYBERSNARK

Tuesday, February 14, 2012 3:52 PM

Quote:
Originally posted by RionaEire:
Okay, so if they write books would they have to be cannon, or could they be AU cannon. Because there are umpteen Star Wars books and not everyone considers them cannon, many Star Wars fans never read the books. Could it be like that?

Well, it varies. Canon /= Continuity /= Licensed ("licensed" is distinct from "fanfic," just cause it's cleared legal and editorial --there's really no accounting for quality).

The Star Wars books are kinda a clusterhump; years ago (back before the Prequels), Lucasfilm created a "Continuity Guru" --a specific editorial position, tasked with managing every book, comic, game, and toy, and making sure everything hung together. Authors could write what they wanted, then the ContGuru would do an editing pass and say "change the name of this planet," "this character would only be a child at this time, so create someone new," or "don't kill off this character; we're still using him." Really non-invasive editorial stuff that you'd encounter in any franchise, really.

It worked great for years, with authors collaborating, giving feedback and suggestions, and building a complex interconnected mythology. Then Lucas did the Prequels and started over-writing perfectly good material (often with stuff that was. . . not perfectly good). Bad enough that it was just him, but suddenly LucasBooks started saying that it was fine if authors didn't agree, and people started taking a perverse thrill in kicking over each others' sand-castles.

Today, the Star Wars "canon" is an impenetrable web of different "grades" (A-grade canon overrules B-grade, which overrules C-grade, etc --but some of that A-grade stuff relies on the C-grade stuff that didn't happen, so no-one's quite sure what's going on).

On the other side of the coin, you have the Star Trek books, which went the opposite way: originally, each new Star Trek novel was a "one-off," directly spinning off from whatever TV series it was based on.

Then, without any firm editorial mandate, the authors themselves started comparing notes, trading characters, and bouncing ideas around, leading to the development of the Pocket Books "re-launch timeline," where most of the post-TV Trek novels explicitly share a universe (someone from Voyager can end up on the Titan, or the Enterprise crew can meet former novel-only DS9 crew members).

These books are in-continuity, but non-canon, in that any future Trek shows in the Prime universe can overrule them. However, the odds that Trek will ever return to the Prime-verse (as opposed to the Abramsverse) are increasingly astronomical --if no-one ever contradicts them, they may-as-well be canon.

Personally, I'm a continuity pornographer, so I love a big interconnected timeline, but I think the Star Trek approach works better than what Star Wars does.

Think of the Star Wars continuity as a tree, with the Skywalker/Solo family as the trunk. There are a whole bunch of different branches (Rogue Squadron, Republic Commando, Jedi Academy, etc), but most of them either get reabsorbed, trail off, or get pruned by well-intentioned continuity-police. Ultimately, everything goes back to that Jedi bloodline and the galactic wars that seem to hinge entirely upon them.

Star Trek is more like a group of vines, each free to go their own way and split off into new directions, while occasionally intertwining with each other. It's more free to redefine itself to appeal to different tastes; fans of cerebral diplomatic/cold-war thrillers will love the Typhon Pact and TNG, while the action/adventure fans will love the Klingon Empire series and New Frontiers. People who love character drama can read Corps of Engineers and DS9, while hard SF fans can get their fix from the Titan and DTI series.

Imagine if, instead of just Serenity, you could also have a gritty military-SF series set during the Unification War, or a quiet character-drama following Shepherd Book on Haven, or a courtly romance su

GREENKA61

Wednesday, February 15, 2012 12:10 AM

Have you read "Lex Talionis"? That is the single best Firefly fanfic I've read. If you haven't, Google it to find it and read it.

WISHIMAY

Friday, February 17, 2012 2:02 PM

Ok, read it... The feel of the characters was pretty spot on, and I definitely had to finish it- but it made me squirm a bit, the whole overtly pickin on the slightly helpless... I think if anybody is a target for that kinda violence- It's Inara. I'm pretty sure had we gotten a whole series- there would've been some epps. dealing with that- after all even Atherton mentioned uglier'n her up...

Cybersnark- that is an excellant rundown, and I agree with your ideas about how FF books should be. I intend to have hubbs read what you wrote should he get five minutes anytime this month, I think he'll find it interesting

YT

Saturday, February 25, 2012 7:55 AM

Quote:
Originally posted by Wishimay:
I thought for a second there was a book that was approved published cannon that I missed

Pocket Books bought the rights to publish 3 Firefly books: the novelization of the movie, and two original Firefly novels to be written by others but approved by Joss. Steven Brust submitted a manuscript, as did Keith deCandido (an original story, in addition to his novelization), & there may have been others. Joss did not appprove any

Keep the Shiny Side Up,

YT

YTonTw1tt3r

BUP

Saturday, February 25, 2012 2:12 PM

How about this? Joss? Just send all potential Firefly novel manuscripts for Wishy to read. She can send back the best ones. That will buy you some time to decide whether to publish Firefly novels and Wishy gets her books.

WISHIMAY

Saturday, February 25, 2012 2:51 PM

Thanks, Buppy
That sounds great actually...I'm a fast reader Joss!!!

Wondering once again- why no real action from Joss, even when there is open opportunity...the man is up ta somethin', I tell ya...

BUP

Saturday, February 25, 2012 3:12 PM

Quote:
Originally posted by Wishimay:
Thanks, Buppy
That sounds great actually...I'm a fast reader Joss!!!

Wondering once again- why no real action from Joss, even when there is open opportunity...the man is up ta somethin', I tell ya...

But of course, he must be.

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