Poll: Separation of Canon People and FF People

[thefourthvine]

(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]

Comments

[merryish.livejournal.com]

I don't think I have any really strong *personal* feelings about writers, tv people, actors, rpf-bsos, etc, reading my fan fiction. My comfort level is less about the fact of reading than about the possible effects of reading. For instance, if someone involved with my show stumbled across my slash and was so horrified by the concept that they had the desire and influence to effect changes that would make my show less fun for me, by way of discouraging people from slashing - that would upset me at about a 10. But if that ever actually happens, I think it's probably extremely rare, and I tend to class it as a fannish urban legend that it happens at all.

Mostly, my preference for the separation of fannish church and hollywood state stems from the fact that I'm an obsessive freak, and I know I'm an obsessive freak, and prefer only to display my obsessive freakiness among other obsessive freaks like myself. =)

[brak666.livejournal.com]

For the purposes of your 1-10 scale, in selecting my response, I assumed 5 was "complete apathy".

[bubosquared.livejournal.com]

Totally agreed on that last paragrpah. I think there's a certain amount of personal responsability on the part of the canon people, be they creators, actors or real people, that one should reasonably assume. My site's front page is the only thing not blocked from google, and googling for my fandoms or the people I've written RPF about won't even get a hit on that, and if someone did get to my site and clicked through the "Yo, explicit stuff ahead!" warnings, they pretty much bring it on themselves. I've done my part, and I tend to think enough of other people to assume they're responsible adults and can handle making decisions like that for themselves.

[opera142.livejournal.com]

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

Which canon folks would influence my reaction. I'd be much cooler with the PTB reading my ff than I would with the performers.

Also, it would depend on where they found it. The brain power/tinhattedness/sanity varies widely from posting location. I'd hope they'd see my work at one of the better lists/boards or my own lj. Worse of all would be a 3rd party thrusting my work upon them. Digging it up themselves = semi okay, having shoved in their faces, not so okay.

[twistedchick]

I was told, years after the fact, that the cast and crew of La Femme Nikita read my Nikita stories before the final season, and liked them. The person who told me worked on the set.

Even though I realize that none of the final season could legally be written based on what I'd done (copyright claims, etc.), it wouldn't surprise me if some of the actors turned the characterization a little toward the relationships as I saw them -- because they understood that at least some fans saw them that way. That's the only reason I can come up with for a few of their choices that strayed a bit from the previous canon during those last eight episodes -- that a whole lot of creative people were reading fanfic up there and decided to play with character a bit.

[kitchendinah.livejournal.com]

For the question regarding horror levels of discovery with regard to the types of fic written, I only checked the ones I'd feel squicky about that I've written (I'd feel squicky about some of the others I didn't check, to be sure.) That established, I'd be much more uncomfortable with the subjects of my RPF running across deathfics than people involved with my fictional sources. I don't really care if the latter reads my deathfic, at least not any more than I would care about their reading my non-deathfic in that fandom. And I mostly worry about the RPF deathfic being misconstrued. I don't want the RPF subjects to be maimed, mutilated, or otherwise spindled in real life, but I felt that there was a point to having that happen in the related fic. But I can see (and understand) where someone who is the subject of said fic stumbles across it and may not pick up on that.

[mgsmurf.livejournal.com]

Thought I'd add that in the situations you listed while part of my reaction would be just just so happy and joyous and a 10 on the scale, I'd have to rein in that joy with some hard truths about the matter (my fanfic was likely not very noticable and I shouldn't feel justified to any notice in the first place), and thus the result would not be a 10. Not really surprising as I assume most writers have some balance between complete ego maniac and shy recluse already with their writing.

[featherxquill.livejournal.com]

I am, I think, a complete whore. I have no proble with someone reading my fic, even if they are associated with it. Hell, I wrote a fic based on Ian Irvine's books, and I have email contact with him, and I PIMPED it to him. I have no shame. He enjoyed it. That was quite possibly the happiest I have ever been. I'd like to think that if someone associated with the canon were reading my work, they might be interested in my interpretation of the characters rather than want to sue me.

from a slash writer's perspective...

[apetslife.livejournal.com]

I'm very fortunate, in that my RPS is all written about boybands. Boybands who have, in fact, stated publically that they HAVE read the fanfiction and think it's HYSTERICALLY FUNNY, and obviously have no problem with it. If I were ever writing RPS about a person who had stated that they hated slash, found it invasive or offensive, etc. I'd have to stop, I think, out of respect for their wishes.

In terms of FPS? I know that the folks who worked on Buffy read the fanfiction, and it always gave me a bit of a fun tickle to imagine that they'd read MINE. *grin*

[mzcalypso.livejournal.com]

Don't write RPF. Do unto others.

Feel worse if readers got hold of early drafts, before story was worked out, or if reader didn't have clear boundaries between self and character and was threatened personally by slash stories about the character. (Come to think of it, most of the characters I slash are played by actors who've had the balls to play gay characters, so it probably wouldn't be a big deal.)

Feel better if actors/writers whose intelligence and/or attitudes I respect like my work.

[mistraltoes.livejournal.com]

I don't know if I've skewed your poll--I only write gen, but if I did write in the other categories, it would, yes, bother me for the actors and writers to read what I'd written (as opposed to other fans, whom I'd have written it for), so I checked them all.

[ex_mrs260625]

I'm not certain that a specific actor has read my fanfic, but I think it's more likely than not. (After he commented to three mutual friends that he really liked a review I'd written of his book, one of them gave him my URL, with my permission. The site has the unedited review of his book, but it more prominently features my slash about his character. I know he's read others' slash about his character, so I see no reason to think he hasn't read mine.)

I was a little uncomfortable when I worried he might not think my stories are *good* enough, but I don't worry that he'd be made uncomfortable by the content. He's been pretty vocal about his support of slash over the years.

[ex_mrs260625]

Addition to clarify my answers to the "feel worse if they were reading your..." question: most of the stuff I checked, I've never actually written. If I hypothetically had, I'd cringe at a canon-involved person reading it, that's all.

[tiggymalvern.livejournal.com]

I didn't check any of the boxes for 'I'd feel worse about it if the canon folks were reading my....' because I haven't written anything I'd be ashamed of anyone seeing (except maybe my mother XD). The only boxes I would be tempted to tick would be chan and hideous grammatical mistakes, but I would be mortified at the idea of either of those on principle, not because of the canon folks.

[elishavah.livejournal.com]

I couldn't answer several of the questions, as I don't write in those areas. But for the tv and movie fic that I do write, yeah, what others have said about not really caring about the writers, but I'd really rather not know whether the actors read fic. I know actors who have read fic by friends of mine, and who have been fine with it, but that's still a line that I would rather not cross for gen, het, slash, whatever. I know the actor isn't the character, and most actors would (one would think) be good at keeping the two separate, but I am writing about physical characteristics and mannerisms that the actor portrays. I'd rather not take the chance of making them uncomfortable.

Merry also made a good point about not wanting fic to affect canon. Pleeeease no. It's disconcerting enough (and annoying, oftentimes) when the creators bend their vision to fandom in general; I don't want them reacting specifically to fic. No.

[polaris-starz.livejournal.com]

It would also be okay if the canon-person in question was Terry Pratchett, who would probably find the whole thing very amusing. It makes me feel better about mainly writing slash fanfic for slightly obscure Discworld characters.

I'm not sure what the SGA people would think of my rabid slashing of the characters, but they seem to be pretty fandom-savvy. I'm wondering what they'd think of the fact that a large number of SGA writers seem to be former popslash writers. (I know I don't get it.)

[warhol65.livejournal.com]

First, I should explain that although I haven't really posted any FF anywhere (yet), I have planned out a few stories. It's just a matter of making myself actually write it and post it (stupid grad school, takes so much time!).

Strangely enough, I would be happier about an actor finding my story than a writer/producer type person. In general I think actors are a little more easy-going about stuff. Characterization is always my biggest worry in writing, and I feel that the actors often have more understanding of that than writers do; therefore I would respect their opinions more. Or disrespect their opinion more, if I think that the actor totally doesn't get the character and does a bad portrayal of him/her.

As for being more embarrassed about certain kinds of FF, I just don't write stuff that I would be mortified that other people read, such as RPF or chan. I guess I see it as a lifestyle choice; it's ok for other people to do, but I personally don't want to write or read it. Besides, for me the funnest part of writing is the world building. I get more kicks out of designing a nightclub where my characters will have a conversation than I do out of random sex scenes (yes, I know it's weird).

[tzi.livejournal.com]

I have to confess that I chose 7's because, in general, I would be more than neutral (5) and would, in fact, be terribly AMUSED. The whole notion makes me want to laugh. On the other hand, I take nothing seriously ^_~

[carlanime.livejournal.com]

I'd be mildly pleased with any canon-connected person reading my fanfic, with the exception of one or two of the people I write RPS about, and that's because I write satirical RPS about politicians, usually featuring conservative politicians. So even if I lived in a legal-repercussion-free world I suspect they'd track me down and break my kneecaps.

[alpheratz.livejournal.com]

I'm filling out the poll, but in the interests of full disclosure, the last time I wrote and posted my very sucky fanfiction was in seventh grade. My tastes and opinions have changed considerably since then. :D

[vegetariansushi.livejournal.com]

I'm sure that you've already noticed this, but just in case you didn't, I thought that I'd point out that the RPF query is a bit skewed, perhaps. There are, at the moment, 582 answers to that question out of the 655 people taking the poll, and I'm fairly certain that RPF is not that popular. I'd imagine that a lot of the weight towards the lower/more horrified numbers on that question is coming from people who don't write -- presumably for moral reasons, as that's the only reason I've heard for disliking it -- RPF in the first place.

This isn't to imply in any way that there are not a good many RPF writers who would be horrified if the subject(s) of their writing saw the fics, I just don't think that the number is quite that high. If you do a follow up poll, it might be worthwhile to ask that question again and add an option for 'I don't write RPS' to the answers.

Also, I find this poll oddly reassuring, in that the collective 'we' are apparently at a place where we're far more embarrassed by our spelling errors than our sexuality. About time!

[bitter-crimson.livejournal.com]

I would be interested in a poll working around this particular complication as well. Causal relationships are fun!

[rabidsamfan.livejournal.com]

Whoops, should have read the first comment first... I'd cringe if someone connected with canon read any non-con, chan, or incest I had anything to do with, but since I don't like the last two and wouldn't publish anything I might write of the first one, did not hit the check box. I wouldn't be any more embarrassed by kink or hurt/comfort, slash, gen, etc. than anything else. Although I might blush for the fluff...

[rabidsamfan.livejournal.com]

Oh, and I'd be more pleased if the reader had stumbled across my funniest stuff or the things which are actually complete...

[valjean1.livejournal.com]

I actually wrote fanfiction for a TV series WITH one of the actual writers from that show (after the show had gone off the air). She didn't want to let go of the characters either. We became pretty good friends online, and actually met to spend some time together one summer in Las Vegas while we were both at conventions.

Email me privately if you want to know more.

[ghostgecko.livejournal.com]

A while back, a friend of mine printed out the practically novel length fanfic I wrote for Charlie's Angels (the movie) center on the Creepy Thin Man character played by Crispin Glover . . . and gave it to Crispin at a book signing (I couldn't go, because was so far away from me). He told her he'd already read it, and apprently had liked it.

When she told me this, my first reaction was to almost pee myself with terror. The fic was probably the best thing I'd ever written and relatively slash-free, but if he'd found it on his own that meant he might also have found the naughty, naughty stuff, too, including RPS. However, as time went by and no one was sent to assasinate me, I calmed down about. The fic was a total love letter and it made me feel not quite so much as a lonely geek to have written it.

I still was not *quite* able to say, "Hey, I'm the guy who wrote the freakin' book about you!" when I finally got a chance to go to his book signing. Maybe next time. *evil grin*

[doolabug.livejournal.com]

For me, there is a big difference in canon-related people reading my fic versus canon-related people reading and attaching it to me personally. As long as I never meet Johnny Depp and he says to me, "Oh yeah! You're that chick who wrote about me blowing Jack Davenport in a dressing room!" I would be perfectly fine with him reading it. A subtle yet crucial distinction.

[bitter-crimson.livejournal.com]

I think the only thing that would really make me feel bad about anyone reading anything would be my writing sucking. So, yeah. I'd be really, really happy about them reading my stuff, but then I'd remember, "Oh shit. They're reading MY stuff." And then I'd want to go flay myself or something similarly masochistic.