Poll: Separation of Canon People and FF People

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Poll: Separation of Canon People and FF People

(Note: I'd like to get responses on this from as many different fan writers as possible. Anyone who pimps it will have my eternal gratitude. And if you leave a comment letting me know where you pimped it, you will get my eternal gratitude and an imaginary cookie.)

This poll is for anyone who has ever written fan fiction and in some way shared it - internet, zine, carrier pigeon, coded broadcast to Alpha Centauri, whatever.

So. If someone connected with the canon found and read your fan fiction, how would you react? For the purposes of this poll, I would like you all to imagine that we live in a world where there are no possible legal consequences. In other words, your weird new readers can hate you, but they can't take you to court or send a C&D.

[Poll #698126]

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I am here to write smut and slash, in a fandom so I am not sue-able. Call me arrogant, but if authors, actors, artists, actors read my stuff, they would realize that it is meant to augment what they have done. I do not write in fandoms that I think are basically stupid. I am out to supplement, not rewrite. FX: Even if George Lucas can't write a love scene, his characters had them when he wasn't listening, or the film wouldn't have been able to happen. And my grammar is without stain, thank the hundred small gods.
Perhaps I'm lucky that the RPF thing does not flow for me. That would be likely to offend the RPs. I only did it once, and spent most of the piece trying to justify its existence.

Woah.

I didn't even fill this poll out, because I haven't really finished anything much, and not enough to answer most questions.

But. Hmmm.
Thinking about it, the whole actor thing, that is kinda wiggy. Crap.
Maybe I should move back to book/comic fictional characters. :(

See, an actor does choose what roles they want to portray, and maybe there's some roles they wouldn't. And that's totally their call, I am not going to question that. Writing fic about them isn't quite the same.

And see, it's not even necessarily the actors who are looking up this fic, but I guarantee you, their friends and relatives are.
Especially when drunk at parties...
Some friends had bit parts on LOTR, and yeah, we'd go look up their names online. They only had such bit parts (but still! Names! Better than most extras get. :) ), they were usually only mentioned in group sex orgy bad!fic, which made it even more amusing.
So yeah, that's kinda funny and embarassing, and while thinking about that now makes me slightly uncomfortable, it is still a fictional character, that they played.

That reaction is even more acute with RPS, and well - I read it, though that's probably not such a good idea, there's plenty of things that really good writers have managed to kink me for - I see why people write it, but I really hope I never go there, or even anywhere near, because I don't think actors are signing up for anything like that when they take a part. Actually, part of it may be cultural thing, I'm in NZ, and overall we have stronger privacy laws in a bunch of areas than say, the States, which carries over to my assuming that in most things, people have a right to privacy. Celebrities occupy this weird space in our brains, where we recognise them as if they're familiar people, or friends of ours, and gossip about them like they are friends, I want to know who their new partner is etc, but I have to pull myself back and go - I don't actually know this person, they're a stranger, there's really no reason for me to know all this stuff, and really? I shouldn't.

I do wonder about the really AU stuff (RPS seems to be a jumping off point for some people into pretty original fiction - which s actually kinda cool), it's like - why even use their names? Why not put pictures of the actors and go, 'this is who inspired me, this is what I think these characters would look like...'.

Woah. Blabber. I'll shut up now.

*hits own forehead*
RPS should read RPF.
Ooops.

(no subject)

mzcalypso.livejournal.com - 2006-03-26 08:18 (UTC) - Expand

The only thing that would freak me out -- and it would, enormously -- is if I'd written RPF and one of the people involved were to read it. I haven't written any yet, but I'm poised on the lip of that particular precipice at the moment, so it could happen at any time. And this question absolutely has made me think not just twice but a hundred times whether or not I'm really willing to go there.

As for fictional characters, though, as far as I'm concerned they're up for grabs, and while the canon folks involved might or might not like it, I figure that's their problem, not mine.

I have absolutely no interest in whether or not actors/producers/creators/authors read my fanfiction, and unless they can prove to me that they're fans (as we define the term), I don't care what they think.

OTOH, if they are part of the fandom in question, then I'd love to hear their feedback, but no more than anyone else's. I don't go to pieces at the idea either way.

Here via

metafandom

I'd just like to clarify my 'answers' for You'd feel worse about it if the canon-connected folks were reading your:

Although I have ticked some, I don't write any of them, nor would I dream of doing so (I have nothing against the vast majority of them, they just aren't my thing). So I have answered hypothetically, with a highish degree of discomfort I must say, but having read your response to someone who raised the same point, I decided to do so, to give you a fair view of your poll. I hope that was okay.

Nor do I write, RPS, so the above also applies to this.

Interesting poll. Very interesting.

The distributions on your first four questions are simultaneously entertaining and dismaying to me, being how I've spent weeks immersed in statistics (dismaying because my distributions are nothing like that neat, and I've been in it for weeks because I'm having a hell of a time working out what the hell the numbers mean).

I admit that I did not answer the RPF question, because I don't write the stuff and couldn't even begin to imagine what my hypothetical feelings would be in that situation, on account of in order for me to be writing it in the first place so much about my thought processes would have to change that as I am now I'd no longer be able to predict my reactions. If you see what I mean.

First, what's "chan."? I'm still very clueless about a lot of terms.

For me, I'm just shy in general. It got out to my friends and family that I write fanfiction and now they all want to read it and I am sooo embarrassed. It would really come down to whether this canon person knew my real identity. And I knew they knew it.

I've got a problem with RPF, in general, so I wouldn't be comfortable with people reading it, but then I wouldn't write it in the first place.

Is there anything about the canon folks themselves that might influence your reaction?

I would definitely be more comfortable with those that don't object to fanfiction, but that would probably only stop me if I knew that they would know who I was. Since I don't make money, bash, or claim to be anything but a fan, I don't feel a lot of guilt. I'm actually a little confused as to why there is a problem, other than people being incredibly possessive or phobic about the sex stuff. Personally, I can't just sit staring at the TV (or reading a book) and passively absorb stuff. I love to fantasize and I can't turn it off. Being able to share with others was the greatest thing about fanfiction, especially since I have almost no local friends with the same TV/Book interests. I really think the makers need to get that: it's just another way to appreciate their stuff. Is it really any worse than getting together on the bboards and speculating, character bashing/adoring, saying what so-and-so should/shouldn't do/have done, etc.? Do they really think people won't do that? Or shouldn't? As long as we don't claim to be the original makers or that we have their approval, and don't make money off of it, all we're doing is having fun.

I mostly write in comics canon, which is shared by hundreds of creators, some of whom started in fanfic, so I wouldn't really care either way if someone read something. Additionally, it's one of the few fandoms where permission has been given to write for one's own amusement.

While I think it's a little silly for people to oppose fanfic (aka free advertising) of their books, I still feel too uncomfortable to write in a sole-creator universe where they have asked people not to venture, such as Lynn Flewelling's Nightrunner world. I think that sums up my reaction to everything of that ilk.

I think that at least part of the question is "Do I feel comfortable having non-fans reading my work?" And the answer is no - I don't think they'll get it, and I think that their reactions won't be terribly positive. (Which is not to say that they'd be negative, but a polite 'Oh, how interesting' isn't my idea of a fun time to be had by all.)
With regards to the type of ff... I'd be most comfortable with them reading something gen and g rated, but I wouldn't be truly comfortable with them reading unless they were a fan.

As for the 'canon' aspect - well, I'm not too happy with it. It might adversely influence the canon, for one thing. And also because fandom is (for me) very much a community we're-all-equals kind of place (let's not touch the BNF part of this) and there's definitely a gap between FF and canon (despite what outsiders think). So I think that the canon creators have greater status in fandom than fic writers, and if someone read my fic then that sudden power differential would make me uncomfortable.

(me: *posts fic*
fellow fan: Hey, nice! I love Character X!
me: Glad you liked! Character X is awesome, aren't they!
canon creator: Hey, that's a nice look at Character X!
me: ...

I mean, what do you say? "Hey, I like them on the show too! Put them in more episodes!" "Hey, I like the fact that you created Character X!"? And what if they say, "That's a nice look at Character X, although we don't see it that way"? Would they feel obliged to respond to speculation with a 'this will/won't happen' statement? There is a huge potential for pain and awkwardness there.)

And then you have the pain of single creator fandoms, like books, and the high possibility that they might feel like someone stole their building blocks and built something else out of them. And actors, who can't seperate between themselves and their character (to whatever extent).

In short, I think that canon creators and actors already have a place in fandom, and it's floating somewhere outside fandom.

(That said, if the canon creater was a fan, I'd be more okay with it all. Actors, though, would still wig me out. My brain is a strange place.)

I would feel so, so much better about it if I knew for a fact that the creators couldn't do a thing to their creation after reading my fanfiction. The most awful thing, in my mind, would be for the author to read it and then alter canon (either to bring it closer to my fic or to react against it and shut off any possibility of seeing what I wrote). I think they're less likely to react if it's romance, because they can brush it off as the wishful thinking of a pre-teen fan (although it'd mortify me anyway, most probably), but gen could be deadly. Even if they wanted to remain completely untouched, the creators would almost definitely have some reaction.

I'd be way less worried if it were a closed canon.

Really, my dialogue is with other fans, and I often write in order to take advantage of or patch up holes in canon, or to air my far-fetched ideas. My other thought is that it'd be hugely annoying for an author to tell me "No, that isn't what I meant at all!" when I, for one, care more about what I can take from canon than what the author is trying to tell me.

A lot of this depends on quality -- I've written stuff I don't want anyone to see. *g*

I'd be perfectly comfortable with anyone reading one of my stories that I felt was good. Then again, I strive to write things in-character, and tend to swim as close to canon as possible. Yes, even with slash. Especially with slash, actually. So yeah.

I write slash, het, and gen. I wouldn't feel better or worse about anybody reading any of these *shrugs*

Knowing that what I has written was in fact good prose and good story telling would make me feel a lot better - better than just knowing that I had crossed the "t"s, dotted the "i"s and had clean knickers on.

Otherwise a story is a story. If I'm not happy for actors/authors/directors to read it, I shouldn't be sharing it all.

(PS - I socialise with at least one actor whose characters I have slashed. I have never discussed fanfiction with them, and probably never will.)

Hm. As someone who would probably blush so hard I'd stroke out if anyone outside of fandom read my stories, I think my answers probably tended to be on the more conservative side overall. I think it comes down to a sort of understanding, really-- almost a type of kinship. If you're a fan (like me), and/or a writer (like me), I assume that there's a common understanding between us. (The understanding being that my stories are only a what if? and something I do because I love the source material, and that what I write is nothing more than an ephemeral sort of offering.) But if it's someone who's coming from outside of our fannish community, which has all its unspoken rules and points of order, I worry about the possibility of unintentionally offending or distressing someone whose word I admire.

That said, I also have to echo a few people ahead of me, and say that I think a lot of my responses would differ according to (a) the genre of canon I'm working off of, and (b) the individual differences between TPTB. For example, I've written some stories centered in the DC comic universe, and, although those are the few stories I've ever written with explict sex (not to mention the slash and underage issues), those are actually the few stories I'd be most okay with having read by TPTB. (For certain values of okay, anyway. I'd still probably go around with red ears for a few months.) I think this is probably because (1) the comics industry is so fan-centered, (2) the storylines are so maleable-- examples being retcons, AUs, etc., and (3) I think those stories are probably my best, from a purely literary standpoint.

But if JK Rowling ever stumbled upon some of the utter crap I wrote while still mucking around over in HP, I'd die of mortification.

Something else, which I will detail in the comments.

I'd feel worse about it if the canon-connected folks were reading the stories I myself think are pretty bad - badly written, that is.

For me, it entirely depends on a) the quality of the story written, and b) whether the canon person in question *finds* the story quality. Essentially, if they like it, great. If they don't like it, well, okay, I might feel bad. If they were utterly disgusted by it and wanted to burn their eyes out, I'd probably feel a crawling sense of shame and might consider f-locking stuff in the future. Especially if I thought they were coming back.

The one exception is RPS, mostly because I can't imagine anyone being anything but freaked out at finding an RPS story in which they have a starring role, and I don't want to be the cause of freaking anyone out that badly. (That's actually the main reason I don't write RPS--although no, I don't really feel a burning desire to do so. But even if I did, I believe I would refrain, because I do *not* want to scar for life anyone Googling his own name.)

I couldn't care either way about TV scriptwriters. I care a bit more about authors. My one book fandom is Tolkien and he's dead, so phew. My other book fandom is HP and I don't really care about JKR, unless legally.

Now rpf! I would be VERY, VERY embarrassed. They must NEVER see my fic. I would change all the names. I am not one of those fans who went to cons or stood around at movie premieres (lotrps). I want to keep the so-called 'real people' in a different universe from the canon as I see it on TV or my computer screen. I do not want real live contact. *cringes* Once I sat two seats away from one of the men I slashed on the tube in London. I was in a total state for several stops. Finally, he got out. When I got home, the kids innocently asked, 'Oh, why didn't you get an autograph?' I thought, duh, it would have been so easy: 'Hello, my children would be thrilled if...' But because I had written this guy, I could not move.

I write fanfics of different kinds.

A couple of years ago I wrote a few pieces about 'Cubby', the mug owned by Tony Almeida in 24. (Yeah, stop laughing at me, they weren't serious, OK, and I'm not a fan of the character (or his mug) they were written to cheer my friend up.) She printed them off and sent them to the actor concerned (Carlos Bernard.) At first I was horrified. Then tickled pink, then horrified again. I'm just very glad that he doesn't know me, and that the fics were obviously meant to be funny.

He's mentioned them a couple of times since in interviews. If I were a fan of his I think I might be more embarrassed. As it is I'm glad they have made lots of people laugh, and I'm damn glad noone knows who I really am :)

I'm sort of ambivalent about this. I answered 5 because I think that's where I'd end up. Initially, it would probably be a combination of both ends of the spectrum. I'd feel worse about RPF if I wrote it.

I don't really care if writers/producers/directors/actors read my slash (I only write slash)because it's fiction. As I explained it to a non-slash friend, who was concerned about the actors: The character isn't the actor or vice versa, really. They just happen to look a lot alike. If an actor is good then he/she is not playing his/herself on screen and if they're a bad actor, and they have a problem with slash they need to overcome their homophobia and maybe become a better actor.

To my knowledge I've never had anyone associated with canon read anything of mine. Closest I've ever come to that sort of thing was a few years ago, I started a website for one of my fave actors (who's not really well known and on whom there wasn't much information out there nor many sites). Within a few months of starting it, I received an email from a film director who'd worked with the actor in a short film early in his career--and the director told me how impressed he was with the site. I was totally pleased and wrote back thanking the guy for taking the time to comment. I think my reaction would be somewhat similar with slashfic. I'd squee, then worry, then settle down and be middle of the road about it.

I'd be WAY more upset if anyone in my RL found my stories and connected them back to me! I live and work in a very rural, small town area. And I sure as hell don't want my family reading it!!! That would bother me so much more than any actor or creator of a show reading my fic. Oy. I don't even like thinking about it.

Re: the last question. I checked "I'd be okay with it if I knew the canon person was perfectly fine with FF." By this I meant that if I found out that the canon person was completely against fanfiction, I would feel bad about it, but I wouldn't stop writing. Perhaps I would be more or less put-off (if, for example, the canon person was calling fanfiction writers maniacs or something), but that would have more to do with the image I'd get of his or her persona.

Which brings us to why I also checked "Yes, but not any of those things. I'll tell you what you missed in the comments." The canon person's "civilian" personality has a big influence on my fandom experience (which is why I try to stay away from any RL information about them); if they were complete dickheads, I'd be more wary and would probably dislike them reading my stuff; if they were complete dickheads, I in fact would probably dislike writing about their characters in the first place.

I think the biggest concern I'd have with canon people reading my stuff is that... Not necessarily that they're reading, because I know that they are out there and it is completely possible, but that they'd get it wrong. Like, if I wrote a story that was generally very profound and thoughtful character study but had one graphic sex scene in it, they'd only concentrate on that sex scene because they would feel self-conscious about it and in doing that, completely miss the point and then think I'm a loony. :)

(LJ ate my comment, so sorry if you get this twice.)

Oh, and also, I'd like to add that I'd be more bothered with finding out that Paul McGillion was lurking around

icaw (a character fan comm which I moderate) than I'd be with finding out that he read my Beckett-fic because, well, fiction is always fiction and characters are always just characters, but at the comm we do spend quite a lot of time being silly over how he/Beckett looks and that does come close to his RL person, so that could be a bit... awkward.

To be honest, over the last nine years, I've pretty much gone through the stage of 'omg, must crawl into corner and *die*' and got stuck somewhere around the 'eh' stage. This is especially more so now that practically everyone is on the internet and I know I have at the very least three or four authors of stuff I am fannish about on my friendslist. (although, I don't write fanfic for their particular stuff *at the moment* but that's never ruled out.)

I used to get a bit freaked at the probability of the more geekier RPSers finding it because, man, they know how to vanity google but then I just thought to myself, fuck it - life is too short. The only time I ever get close to wishing for death now is when TPTB are shoved into it, rather than finding it themselves. And it's normally the shovee that I end up wishing death for. But that, I guess, is only really applicable in the C&D world.

In the end, I generally work on the same principle that I do with RL friends, if they find and they become freaked out? tough shit. I'm not someone else's babysitter and I don't particular want to have to censor my fannish glee because someone else doesn't like or understand it. There's a warning like that on most of my sites where I cordially invite them to sod off.

I would also say that *if* they were to read my stuff, I'd rather it was the stuff I consider to be my better written stuff (so, anything from the last... four years) and not, say, the stuff I wrote back when I started. Mostly because I know a lot more about writing now than I did when I was 14. That's probably the only thing that made me go :flail: at the thought because god, some of the stuff I wrote at 14 was lucky to get a *spellcheck*, the middle stuff was mediocre and while I'm not perfect now, I'm a damn sight better than I was.

Well, I don't write smut, either het or slash, so that's not a concern. And since I only write LotR, I'd be amazed if JRRT ever read my stuff. I hope that he would not be completely appalled at it, and perhaps he could answer some questions about those pesky gaps I try to fill. I sincerely hope that he would remember the old adage about the sincerest form of flattery, and might even pat me on the head and say, "good try" or the British equivalent of "close, but no cigar". On the other hand he might be thoroughly disgusted. But I'd chance it.

And if PJ ever read my stuff (as LotR is the ONLY movie that would count) I would also be glad, because I've done my best, where I could, to fix things he screwed up, and even to explain some of his lapses, so he should appreciate my efforts on his behalf, LOL. As to the actors, I'd not mind a bit. I'd love to hear some of their reactions to how I've written their characters.

The only thing I might be embarassed about is some of my sillier fluff and humor pieces, as I am not sure that my sense of humor would come over all that well to them.

Yay, clarifications! Because I can never just tick a box. :D

I answered the first questions on the assumption that I don't know for sure that they're reading my stories, and also that they've not contacted me about it. I think I'd be more embarassed if I had to actually acnowledge that I know they read it--kinda like how I know my parents have had sex, because I used to hear them, and they know I used to hear them, but neither of us will acnowledge this because it's easier to pretend we don't know, that way. (Yes, I'm bad at anaologies. Shut up.)

As it is, I scored 4 for all those questions because I don't generally care, but it'd give me a few moments of "Augh! Must readjust worldview so fanfic and canon/real life are seperated again."

I'd feel worse if people read my self-indulgent stories, not because of the sex or h/c or death or whatever, but because of the self-indulgent part. But then, I feel kinda bad for anyone reading the self-indulgent stuff, you know? It's just that bit worse when the reader is the very person whose creation/public image I've just spewed my kinks and issues all over. <g>

As others have noted, knowing that the person in question is at least familiar enough with fanfic to know why people write it, and more importantly, why people usually don't write it (i.e. that we're not trying to usurp the author, and in the case of RPF that the vast majority of us are sane enough to know the difference between reality and fiction) would make a big difference for me.

Side note: I find it interesting (and refreshing, after having recently seen yet another round of the RPF debate) that most people, even those who don't personally write RPF, have similar comfort levels regarding actors finding FPF about their characters as they do regarding real people finding RPF about themselves.

For the most part, I'd be thrilled to hear that someone related to canon read my stories. I'd be squeeing and bouncing off the walls. But there are just a couple stories that I would really want to fold up, hide in my back pocket, and say 'there's nothing to see here.' Mostly because they put the characters in a situation that makes me as an author feel uncomfortable, and I'm sure real canon folks would not appreciate them. ;-)

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Poll: Separation of Canon People and FF People

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