aetherling (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
aetherling) wrote2014-08-21 09:07 pm
aetherling) wrote2014-08-21 09:07 pm
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I was recently at a workshop on "How to Network" and one of the tips was to "talk about a hobby or interest outside of your career". Believe me, I'd love to talk about all the fanfics I write and never get around to updating, if it weren't for the whole, y'know, stigma.
Maybe the problem is the label. Fanfiction unfortunately conjures up the connotation of incredibly low-brow writing that comes in two popular genres: your favorite characters hooking up or your favorite character hooking up with your thinly-veiled author avatar. And the fanfics that've made it big and hit the mainstream (I'm looking at you, 50 Shades)...well let's say they are definitely not the best the internet has to offer.
No, to be successful in fanfiction is to pretend you're not making fanfiction. That's right. When E L James got her publishing deal she did not go around saying her trilogy started off as an alternate universe where she wanted to see Edward Cullen spank Kristen Stewart's unresponsive ass. When Gregory Maguire published Wicked, it's not fanfiction of The Wizard of Oz, it's a tragic retelling of an American classic from the villain's point of view. When C S Lewis wrote the Narnia series, it's not fanfiction of the Bible with Jesus as afurry lion, it's a heartwarming children's tale of betrayal, blood feud, and slut-shaming. Oh, and it's definitely not copying, or being too lazy to come up with your own original characters, it's an allegory man, like, the stuff they talk about in high school English.
So instead of saying "I write fanfics" for my "interest outside of my career", I'll tell them I write. But I'm a different sort of writer. I recycle great novels. I expand worlds. I explore paths never trodden. I give second chances. I wield both happiness and despair with a pen.
But honestly I just make my favorite characters pork. Each other.
PS: My sincerest apologies for placing Narnia and Wicked in the same category as 50 Shades. C S Lewis and Gregory Maguire are light-years from E L James's level.
Maybe the problem is the label. Fanfiction unfortunately conjures up the connotation of incredibly low-brow writing that comes in two popular genres: your favorite characters hooking up or your favorite character hooking up with your thinly-veiled author avatar. And the fanfics that've made it big and hit the mainstream (I'm looking at you, 50 Shades)...well let's say they are definitely not the best the internet has to offer.
No, to be successful in fanfiction is to pretend you're not making fanfiction. That's right. When E L James got her publishing deal she did not go around saying her trilogy started off as an alternate universe where she wanted to see Edward Cullen spank Kristen Stewart's unresponsive ass. When Gregory Maguire published Wicked, it's not fanfiction of The Wizard of Oz, it's a tragic retelling of an American classic from the villain's point of view. When C S Lewis wrote the Narnia series, it's not fanfiction of the Bible with Jesus as a
So instead of saying "I write fanfics" for my "interest outside of my career", I'll tell them I write. But I'm a different sort of writer. I recycle great novels. I expand worlds. I explore paths never trodden. I give second chances. I wield both happiness and despair with a pen.
But honestly I just make my favorite characters pork. Each other.
PS: My sincerest apologies for placing Narnia and Wicked in the same category as 50 Shades. C S Lewis and Gregory Maguire are light-years from E L James's level.