Unpopular Fandom Opinions

[kennahijja]

(gacked from ella_bane)

Yup, unlike the fanfic heresy a while back, these are contentious (and not surprising, if you know me). But I still love you, all right! You don't have to agree, and are welcome to hit me with dead carps too!

1. It almost physically hurts me when fics are taken down just because the author falls out of love with them or decides to leave fandom.

2. I hate it when people try to tell others what they shouldn't write/draw because it's immoral/harmful/whatnot. But watching people self-censor their imagination is even more painful.

3. Compared to the utter wrongness of dragging RL – employers, lawyers, police, spouses – into fandom disputes, plagiarism is *nothing*. Because hell, it's supposed to be us against the mundanes – running to RL authorities is, well, treason to the Cause!

4. Once your work's out there, it's fair game for just about everything except posting under somebody else's name – especially for reccing, reviewing, downloading, sharing and writing spin-off fic for. Deal!

5. Ron haters make me msad [... except for Ron-haters with a pureblood pedigree, a riding crop and a nice line in acerbic banter]. (yeah, that's pretty much plagiarised from ella_bane, but she's dead right! And amended after intercession by fee_absinthe, who, as always, has the priorities right)

6. The 'say good things or say nothing' attitude to feedback that seems to dominate fandom annoys me to no end. But bitching about concrit makes me *really* mad.

7. 'Anymore' bugs me even more than 'cum'. Though not quite as much as 'orbs'.

8. LJ name changes... meh! Fandom name changes suck in general, unless it's for good RL reasons. It's hell on those of us with brains full of holes.

9. Taking your OTP(s) seriously is seriously silly.

10. As long as there's slash and gen, we could almost do without het, couldn't we? *ducks*

ETA: One of those is a joke - just in case it's not obvious.

Comments

[mijan.livejournal.com]

Most definitely in agreement with most of that. Especially the fact that we could do very nicely without het. There's enough of that crap in canon, right? :D

*huggles*

[kennahijja.livejournal.com]

Nah, well, the het thing is practically in as a red herring (really the only thing I don't really mean - yeah, well, it's not what I jump on, but then others don't like gen/slash, and that's perfectly fine too). But ugh, yes, I'd take less of it in canon any day!

[mizbean.livejournal.com]

Yes, to #1. I don't think this gets talked about much, but it disappoints me too. I know their fics belong to them, but it makes me sad, especially when I don't understand their reasons.

[kennahijja.livejournal.com]

There *are* good reasons, i.e. if RL backfires, but everything ego-related makes me pretty unhappy - that's one of the things where I honestly believe that the needs of the many (readers) are more important than that of one (author). *stops plagiarising The Wrath of Khan*

[roz-morgan.livejournal.com]

Re: 10 - Het's very nice but it's all over TV and radio and real life and it doesn't need to be in fandom.

Does anyone apart from teenage girls and Mills and Bloon Housewives read it?

[ceilidh]

Does anyone apart from teenage girls and Mills and Bloon Housewives read it?

Yes. Most definitely, they do.

[kennahijja.livejournal.com]

Oh, sure. And I was honestly more making a joke with this. But personally, *if* I read het, I'd perfer the Mills&Bloon variety to fanfic too. With some exceptions ;).

[florahart]

2. I hate it when people try to tell others what they shouldn't write/draw because it's immoral/harmful/whatnot. But watching people self-censor their imagination is even more painful.

10. As long as there's slash and gen, we could almost do without het, couldn't we? *ducks*

I dunno, I think these two contradict each other.

For the benefit of previous commenters: I am not a teenager nor a housewife. I write slash. A lot. I also write het. I also read it. I also like it. I also like slash. And genderfoolery. And bisexuality. And various other explorations of any number of things. I in fact think the label itself is messy; the dynamics of the particular pairing in the particular fic may or may not fall in line with the stereotypical representations of het reality, or with canon. For instance, I doubt anyone has written a sweet canon-like Bellatrix/Neville. Would that be het? Absolutely. Would it be real likely to have any of the same dynamics as any canon relationships? Not so much, unless you think Bella/Rodolphus is clearly delineated in canon and has the same sense about it. Is it worth exploring anyway? Maybe. I don't write that particular pair, for what it's worth. What about Tonks/Remus? That's canon, but there are not exactly painfully few ficks in which it is genderfucky. Metamorphmagus, and the blood relationship to Sirius--that gets played with a lot.

In any case, I think it's funny to say you don't want to tell folks what to write/imagine, but then say really, we could just do without this whole category. There are whole categories I personally could largely do without (most deathfic, for instance), but I don't think "we" should do without them. Just me, applied by not clicking those particular cuts.

[roz-morgan.livejournal.com]

I'd like to say that I didn't say Housewives! I specified a group of housewives - those who pick up the tacky romance shelve novels. I was making a comment about the plots of certain het stories, sadly the ones you hear about most - normally when their author is being flamed for plagiarizing or is causing a huge fuss about being given constructive criticism.

[kennahijja.livejournal.com]

I know. But 2 is meant seriously, and 10 is a calling-for-carp joke :). As in going from serious to silly and ending with something very silly.

I won't pass up on het if it's good, and I sure read bodice rippers though not as a teen or housewife. Perhaps that's why it doesn't interest me in fanfic that much - for me, fic is for other purposes. Well, unless it's interesting, like Bella/Neville would be.

[melusinahp.livejournal.com]

Well, without het there would be no Harry/Bellatrix and I would be sad.

[melusinahp.livejournal.com]

And I agree with floraheart, as well. It's just the emotion, energy and dymanic between various people that interest me. Their genders aren't the major issue.

[annephoenix.livejournal.com]

without het there would be no Harry/Bellatrix

WORD!

Wow .... I'm defending EWWWWE HET! :D.

[furiosity.livejournal.com]

1. What if the author is ordered/asked to take down their fanfic by their pro publisher?

2. I do not understand how anything fictional can be immoral or harmful at the source. I also think that if someone thinks something fictional is harmful/immoral, they should avoid that type of fiction. >_<

3. Dude, yes.

4. Pretty much. Though I'd say that if someone's writing spin-off fic, it's only fair to let the author know, since concepts/storylines are likely to be borrowed.

5. I like to pretend that nobody hates Ron. Some days, I am successful!

6. D'you think something can be done about it?

7. *confused* What's wrong with "anymore"? Just that it's US spelling?

8. Meh, I'm pretty indifferent to those. Their LJ, their money.

9. Haha, yes. Especially if your OTP is a slash pairing.

10. I don't read or write het, but it's no skin off my nose if other people do.

[rfachir.livejournal.com]

How could anyone order a person to remove it? How would they know? Who tell a publisher they wrote fanfic? (Not being troll-ish, just having a hard time wrapping my brain around the "orders from higher up" problem.)

[kennahijja.livejournal.com]

1. What if the author is ordered/asked to take down their fanfic by their pro publisher?
That's why I very purposefully phrased it '*just* for leaving fandom/coming to dislike'. RL pressure is totally different. Although there's a pretty well-known German bestseller writer, Tanja Kinkel, whose Highlander fanfic is still out there (or was, two or three years ago after she'd published more than a few novels). I always admired that to no end.

4. Yup, letting know is nice (and an ego boost), but not required, imho.

5. ... and then I stumble over the next H/D fic where he can't deal and goes to defect to Voldemort :(. Well, I don't mind dark!Ron, but unmitigated!bastard!Ron is so bleh.

6. It can be ignored with a vengeance?

10. That was what the dead fish was provided for ;).

[snorkackcatcher]

Mostly agree, oddly enough. :)

#2: Depends what their imagination throws up. For some stuff, I'd be delighted if they'd keep it to themselves.

#3: Generally, I have no problem with the mundanes, even if I'm not very good at being one a lot of the time. :)

#7: But none are as annoying as the use of 'length' to mean cock, er, penis.

#10: *follows trajectory of duck to ensure dead carp hits regardless*

Well, I did say mostly agree. :D

RE: with a dash of OT

[kennahijja.livejournal.com]

#2. No - that's what 'don't like, don't read' is for.

#3. Everything that makes their offical side squint at fandom too closely makes me nervous...

#7. Really? That's something I can live with for variety (you can only use cock so often...

#10. ... and deservedly so! ;)

[rfachir.livejournal.com]

re:10.
*Winds up with a big slimy monkfish.* It may be a weak excuse for porn (the het route in general) but it's like mocking the OTP people - it's a deep and abiding love. There's no reason to go mocking the ordinary - sometimes it can be sublime. (And sometimes it can be dreck. Just like Veela!Draco. But he needs love too!)

[kennahijja.livejournal.com]

*goes down under monkfish, and deservedly so*
I was just kidding - just because it doesn't float my boat there's nothing wrong with it. Just like with - *takes deep breath* - Veela!Draco.

[gunderpants.livejournal.com]

Het can be just as fun, meaningful, sexy and intelligent as slash or gen and I enjoy reading them equally. It doesn't depend on the orientation (which is offensive) but more on the author and how they handle the pairing. I'd rather read a great fic about my most despised pairing than I would a shitty fic about my OTP.

Not that there isn't shitty het out there: JPC, if you've seen some of the shite submitted to R/T communities you'll know what I mean. But there's an equal amount of shitty, unsexy and lacking-entirely-in-merit slash as well.

[gunderpants.livejournal.com]

... and do people say "anymore"? We got that flogged out of us in year two.

[dbassassin.livejournal.com]

I'm no het fan, but I don't like watersports or bloodplay either, and I'd never consider the idea that other people shouldn't write it. Whatever floats people's boats. But I see this point is more than adequately addressed above, so I'll shut up about that now.

And regarding the last part of 4. I think writing spin-off fic featuring someone else's OCs or original magic is a big no-no. I would never consider using, as an example, rock magic a la Hall of the Mountain Kings without asking Tara Tory's permission. If someone were to write a fic featuring one of my OCs I would be right pissed off. Does that make me a hypocrite? *shrugs* Perhaps, but unlike JKR, I don't make billions from my fic.

[kennahijja.livejournal.com]

I was kidding on the het! It's not my favourite genre, but well, it floats boats, so power to it.

IMHO, writing spin off to fic is writing fanfic for fanfic. And if I write fanfic myself, not giving others the very same right would feel hypocritical to me. Money really doesn't make any difference to me there. I find it complimentary is someone asks me, but I always point out that asking is really not necessary.

[masterofmercury.livejournal.com]

1-6: yes.
7. >_> *hide her bucket load uses of 'anymore'*
8. it confuses me more than annoy me, because I'll, most of the time, have no idea who's who. meh. And it's not likr everyone will annouce that they just changed their name from this to that.
9. *nod*
10. Hear, hear! XD

[kennahijja.livejournal.com]

7. ;)
8. Mmh, the confusion annoys me. It's hard enough to tell people with similar usernames apart...
10. Yay, you got it! *g*

[pushdragon.livejournal.com]

*defriendz you instantly*

Your priorities are so out of whack, girl! How can *anything* be worse than "cum"?

I also think you mean to qualify item 5 by adding " ... except for Ron-haters with a pureblood pedigree, a riding crop and a nice line in acerbic banter."

[kennahijja.livejournal.com]

*wails about OMGOPPREZION! and defriendz back*

Dunno... cum slipped by me in a handful of hot situations ;).

Added! Too good and right not to ;).

[alexandramuses.livejournal.com]

*cries* I'm guilty of one of those. But I'm not a Buffy fan, and people kept assuming I got my name from Fyre's fic, which really stung, since it made me feel less original.

And I'm holding onto my het! You can't make me, can't make me, nooo!!

(I don't understand people who didn't see that you were making a joke...)

[kennahijja.livejournal.com]

... um, so if I knew you before under another name, you'll probably be not too surprised that I didn't figure out the switch? (did I?).

Yeah, well, written stuff isn't doing well at transmitting irony and misunderstanding-prone, but I admit to being a tad stung that anyone would think I meant that seriously...

[bellonablack.livejournal.com]

Actually, I agree :)

Het can be pretty vapid as well as highly cool and intellectual. So can slash. (and I know you were playing around too, Hijja :)) I prefer utterly weird pairings, so slash or het, I am still amused :)

[kennahijja.livejournal.com]

Yup, the utterly weird is fun, but I've also got a weakness for the tried&true (i.e. H/D), *g*.

Vapid slash hurts me more, but then I'm more inclined to finish it and mope afterwards ;).

[fpb.livejournal.com]

1) How about if your creativity has come to a dead end and you don't know how to keep going with it? That is why I took down "...if all the heroes lose?" and a couple of other things.

3) I thought this was real life?

4) I disagree. And I seem to remember someone telling me off because of excessively negative reviews. I hope this is a case of change of mind and not of mere inconsistency.

6) I thought that was your attitude? We had a debate about it, if you remember.

9) No sillier than being obsessed by slash and all other non-canonical sexual relationships. But of course none of us wise people would be so silly, would we now?