As a professor, may I ask you what you think about fanfiction?
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| Title: | As a professor, may I ask you what you think about fanfiction? |
| Creator: | downtothelastbullet (inkandcayenne) |
| Date(s): | August 9, 2012 |
| Medium: | online, Tumblr post |
| Fandom: | |
| Topic: | |
| External Links: | tumblr post link to a reblog by theumbrellaseller, Archived version, |
| Click here for related articles on Fanlore. | |
As a professor, may I ask you what you think about fanfiction? is a 2012 post by downtothelastbullet.
NOTE: This is not the title of the post, which is untitled; it is, instead, the first sentence.
The post garnered 42,980 notes as of May 23, 2015.
Topics Discussed
- Fanfiction
- storytelling
- copyright
The Post
tywinning asked you: As a professor, may I ask you what you think about fanfiction?
I think fanfiction is literature and literature, for the most part, is fanfiction, and that anyone that dismisses it simply on the grounds that it’s derivative knows fuck-all about literature and needs to get the hell off my lawn.
Most of the history of Western literature (and probably much of non-Western literature, but I can’t speak to that) is adapted or appropriated from something else. Homer wrote historyfic and Virgil wrote Homerfic and Dante wrote Virgilfic (where he makes himself a character and writes himself hanging out with Homer and Virgil and they’re like “OMG Dante you’re so cool.” He was the original Gary Stu). Milton wrote Bible fanfic, and everyone and their mom spent the Middle Ages writing King Arthur fanfic. In the sixteenth century you and another dude could translate the same Petrarchan sonnet and somehow have it count as two separate poems, and no one gave a fuck. Shakespeare doesn’t have a single original plot—although much of it would be more rightly termed RPF—and then John Fletcher and Mary Cowden Clarke and Gloria Naylor and Jane Smiley and Stephen Sondheim wrote Shakespeare fanfic. Guys like Pope and Dryden took old narratives and rewrote them to make fun of people they didn’t like, because the eighteenth century was basically high school. And Spenser! Don’t even get me started on Spenser.
Here’s what fanfic authors/fans need to remember when anyone gives them shit: the idea that originality is somehow a good thing, an innately preferable thing, is a completely modern notion. Until about three hundred years ago, a good writer, by and large, was someone who could take a tried-and-true story and make it even more awesome. (If you want to sound fancy, the technical term is imitatio.) People were like, why would I wanna read something about some dude I’ve never heard of? There’s a new Sir Gawain story out, man! (As to when and how that changed, I tend to blame Daniel Defoe, or the Modernists, or reality television, depending on my mood.)
I also find fanfic fascinating because it takes all the barriers that keep people from professional authorship—barriers that have weakened over the centuries but are nevertheless still very real—and blows right past them. Producing literature, much less circulating it, was something that was well nigh impossible for the vast majority of people for most of human history. First you had to live in a culture where people thought it was acceptable for you to even want to be literate in the first place. And then you had to find someone who could teach you how to read -- and write (the two didn’t necessarily go together). And you needed sufficient leisure time to learn. And be able to afford books, or at least be friends with someone rich enough to own books who would lend them to you. Good writers are usually well-read and professional writing is a full-time job, so you needed a lot of books, and a lot of leisure time both for reading and writing. And then you had to be in a high enough social position that someone would take you seriously and want to read your work—to have access to circulation/publication in addition to education and leisure time. A very tiny percentage of the population fit those parameters (in England, which is the only place I can speak of with some authority, that meant from 500-1000 A.D.: monks; 1000-1500: aristocratic men and the very occasional aristocratic woman; 1500-1800: aristocratic men, some middle-class men, a few aristocratic women; 1800-on, some middle-class women as well).
What’s amazing is how many people who didn’t fit those parameters kept writing in spite of the constant message they got from society that no one cared about what they had to say, writing letters and diaries and stories and poems that often weren’t discovered until hundreds of years later. Humans have an urge to express themselves, to tell stories, and fanfic lets them. If you’ve got access to a computer and an hour or two to while away of an evening, you can create something that people will see and respond to instantly, with a built-in community of people who care about what you have to say.
I do write the occasional fic; I wish I had the time and mental energy to write more. I’ll admit I don’t read a lot of fic these days because most of it is not—and I know how snobbish this sounds—particularly well-written. That doesn’t mean it’s “not good”—there are a lot of reasons people read fic and not all of them have to do with wanting to read finely crafted prose. That’s why fic is awesome—it creates a place for all kinds of storytelling. But for me personally, now that my job entails reading about 1500 pages of undergraduate writing per year, when I have time to read for enjoyment I want it to be by someone who really knows what they’re doing. There’s tons of high-quality fic, of course, but I no longer have the time and patience to go searching for it that I had ten years ago.
But whether I’m reading it or not, I love that fanfiction exists. Because without people doing what fanfiction writers do, literature wouldn’t exist. (And then I’d be out of a job and, frankly, I don’t know how to do anything else.)
Reactions
scarlxttbarnes reblogged pantheonofdreams#fanfiction #fanfiction writers
- D I love this@lmere19 lookee
I consider every movie based on a book as"fanfic", or "fanart". This view allows me me to be accepting of the otherwise incomprehensible story alterations in the movie. One kind of fabric rampant is fairy story fabric with a plethora of books and movies on any fairy story you care to think of.
The above should read " One kind of fanfic rampant at present is fairy story fabric with a plethora of books and movies on any fairy story you care to think of." Yet never a word about "steamin" is uttered.
kashinoha reblogged cheesybadgers
Reading this reminded me of the time Stephen King wrote Sherlock Holmes fanfic and published it as one of his short stories. Anybody can write fic, so don’t feel ashamed or embarrassed about it–go ahead and write!
#love this #a good post #fic
emeebee reblogged librarian-amy
THIS is why there are so many movies based on books and superheroes and sequels coming out these days. Just because something is popular doesn’t mean it is devoid of quality, of goodness, of substance, of meaning.
#This whole post was incredible and important #but I wanted to highlight something that stood out to me #lots of people #hipsters and religious type folks (I'm speaking from a christian influence) #seem to believe that popular means that something is inherently not good #and it infuritates me #indie things can be beautiful and good and mind-blowing #but they are not the only things that are #emeebee tags
leftmywingshome reblogged thevampirecat
Thank you!
gneebee reblogged leftmywingshome
Well, there it is
goldenolaf25 reblogged neversatisfiedgirl
I like how this prof encourages fanfic because it helps keep literature around!! Great interpretation!!! Love it :)
sleeplessandcynical reblogged writergrrrl29
“Here’s what fanfic authors/fans need to remember when anyone gives them shit: the idea that originality is somehow a good thing, an innately preferable thing, is a completely modern notion. Until about three hundred years ago, a good writer, by and large, was someone who could take a tried-and-true story and make it even more awesome.”I remember hearing this in college for the first time and it BLEW MY GODDAMN MIND. Originality > origin > holy shit.
pulpbomb reblogged mccoymostly-deactivated20180705 As a fanfic author with esteem issues, this post is great!
#fic #fanfic #writing #literature
musicprincess1990 reblogged mizjoely ALL OF THIS. THANK YOU.
#fanfiction #author #this is truth #validation
mrsmcrieff reblogged mizjoely
This ^^^^. It helps me validate what I write..thank you.
thegnatsknickers reblogged mrsmcrieff Just this.Not just for fanfiction, but for whatever you write. Whoever you are.@inkandcayenne, you are wonderful!
#for all writers everywhere
blueinfernian reblogged mizjoely This. All of this.
#fan fiction is literature #everything is a fanfic of something else
presidenthades reblogged mizjoely
YASSS
aerica13 reblogged presidenthades THISTHISTHIS
#fandoms #reading #words fandom #fanfiction #yesyesyesyesyes #important #paalme look
mycapt-ohcapt reblogged whostheblondegirl
For when I start berating myself for my little hobby @mypatronusismrpricklepants
bea-sayan reblogged colubrina Thank you for the history recap! I’m really closed to frame this ;)
#about fanfiction
marciellaniello reblogged steverogersnotebook
YES. ALL OF THIS
heymisswanderer reblogged colubrina
Honestly bless all the fanfic writers
raendown reblogged mouseymightymarvellousIf anyone ever tries to tell you fanfiction isn’t real literature you just whip this post out likeBitch please
#fanfiction is life
katbalogger reblogged soldieronbarnes This is the best thing I’ve ever read
#fanfiction
ninemoons42 reblogged imsfire2
reblogging again!
bro-kenn reblogged flamesofatimelord
I felt an incredibly huge amount of pleasure reading this.
cincoflex reblogged her-pegship
- sniffle* “Witness me!”
frogeyedape reblogged redshoesnblueskies Just look at Shakespeare. That man wrote fic like nobody else.
#reblog every time
labelleizzy reblogged shazrolane
<3 this so much#encourage fanfic writers #writing fanfic is writing! #why fanfic is good
dreamdreaded reblogged spnyoucantkeepmedown @somethingmorecreative1
#fanfiction
eyesofatragedy67 reblogged thayerkerbasy
…get the hell off my lawn!
ludi-ling reblogged camilla-esme
THIS.I’d also like to add that the modern notion of copyright has had a lot to do with promoting the idea of the author as genius whose work is sacrosanct, and who has a unique intellectual monopoly over their creation and how it is to be ‘correctly’ perceived by its audience. This is part of the reason why fic as high literature flourished until modern times, and why fic is now considered low-brow, or even, to some, deviant. The more participatory and collaborative culture is now becoming in...
#fanfiction #copyright #intellectual property #research musings
this-darkness-light reblogged thorkified
As someone with a degree in English and history: bravo. Also totally agree and not just because I’ve spent my life writing fic for various fandomsAlso also “the eighteen century was high school” lmao so true (I’m looking at you, Pope. Right. At. You.)
incredifishface reblogged flintsredhair
“I think fanfiction is literature and literature, for the most part, is fanfiction, and that anyone that dismisses it simply on the grounds that it’s derivative knows fuck-all about literature and needs to get the hell off my lawn.” “Here’s what fanfic authors/fans need to remember when anyone gives them shit: the idea that originality is somehow a good thing, an innately preferable thing, is a completely modern notion. Until about three hundred years ago, a good writer, by and large, was...
#what i've been saying but better #more eloquent and concise #properly backed by data
}darklittlestories reblogged lunariagold
I needed this so fucking much today. THANK YOU for reblogging this *when I needed it*, my dears. I’ve been a wreck about it all. This sorts it out nicely. There’re several thousand words one can (and many have, beautifully) about the sexism interlaced through most fanfiction writers being women.
#fanfiction meta #postmodernism #deconstruction of originality #it is a myth anyway #EVERYTHING creative is a remix
tonnaree reblogged incredifishface
Brilliance
ellainaparker reblogged yourfluffiestnightmare
fanfiction is for everyone cause you dont know who is behind the screen its awesome like that heck i have an account on fanfiction.net that has over 1900 stories i have read on it i started reading it in high school its a good thing
#fanfic #awesome
lipstickandligature reblogged i-dwell-in-darkness
This is absolutely wonderful. What a thorough analysis.
isignedupforbenedict reblogged tonnaree
I haven’t been reading much fanfic lately because I thought I should be reading more “real books”, but this has made me rethink the definition of literature. Thanks, Professor!
#fanfic #literature #cultural snobbery
mynameisnoneya1991 reblogged ladytp
This! Anyone who wants to give me shit about reading or writing fanfiction knows nothing about literature in the first place. Take that, naysayers!
#fanfiction writing #fanfiction authors #fanfiction is literature
eilitintheheartland reblogged ladytp
Also, Grendel by John Gardner and The Wide Sargasso Sea by Jean Rhys are published fan fiction books (before the term existed), widely distributed and often taught in literature classes.
#yes #fanfic #writing #literature
silversexual reblogged iwt-v
This professor should read Black Sails fanfiction… he may change his mind about the writing not necessarily being “good” lol. But yes. THIS.
#fanfiction #writing #in terms of what's considered 'iterary' #literature #yes i relate everything to black sails
nerdingout-reylosw reblogged nightsofreylo
Beautifully put ❤
myaccueill reblogged scatterations
“…because it takes all the barriers that keep people from professional authorship–barriers that have weakened over the centuries but are nevertheless still very real–and blows right past them…” Throwing the pepper - loved reading what you had to say @inkandcayene
andthencamemacdubh reblogged inkandcayenne
👏👏👏
visitorfromaforeignplanet reblogged inkandcayenne
Too technical for my wee brain. I love fanfiction cos it’s an interesting departure from a story already loved by so many AND most of it is written by wonderfully talented authors.
fullofowls reblogged hydok
Please consider: The brothers Grimm did not actually write the ~true fairy tales~ that they’re known for. Those were also fanfiction of orally told stories from long before them. They just added their own messed up narratives to them. They wrote grimdark fanfiction of fairy tales.
professorwillie reblogged squirrellygirlart
As a professor, I agree. I give a whole lecture on fanfiction, why it’s important, and how to use it in the classroom.
bethylsgreene reblogged predictableismymiddlename
This is SO SO important and definitely worth the read
#fanfic
internet-surfing-blondie reblogged bethylsgreene
I’m so glad someone actually said this, this post deserves more recognition!
birdkeeperklink reblogged bethylsgreene
This is amazing and awesome, and I’m pretty sure I grew a brain cell from reading it.
daphneblithe reblogged writernotwaiting
I couldn’t agree more, and I am an academic too.
whopooh reblogged transformativeworks
Yes to all of this, very well put! (Except the last bit, since I read a large amount of very good fanfic that is also good in terms of crafted prose.)
#on fanfiction #fanfic
bluecityrose reblogged whopooh
i totally agree @whopooh, as I’ve said before and will say again, the fanfic I’ve read lately has been such high quality, it has spoiled me. Some of the recent published fiction I’ve read has been disappointing in comparison (MFMM writers, I’m looking at you!)
#mfmm #fanfiction #Homer and Virgil and Dante oh my!
psycoticobsessedfannibal reblogged allionne
Everybody needs to see this
freediatonicism reblogged n-x-northwest
Nothing is new, originality is a lie, referentiality is everything, and fanfic rules!!
#things you learn in the humanities #this is SO TRUE THO #fanfic #literature #academia
ambar-gris reblogged allionne
Excelente reflexión a cerca del fanfiction. Dedicada a todos los que hemos pasado cientos de horas delante de las pantallas, leyendo y escribiendo. Imaginando mientras vamos en el metro o conduciendo… Tendiendo puentes hacia ese otro lado en el que todos encontramos lo que más nos gusta, el fanfiction.
enasbloodyending reblogged lonelykenobi
Bless this and AMEN.
opinions-about-things reblogged inkandcayenne
FollowedOn my main causeOfThis answer my phone is so broken
squeakystuffedparrot reblogged diva-gonzo
@harmonierainbow send this to dad. :p
burgundydahlia reblogged like-a-whisper
I’m, like, weirdly emotional about this.THIS MADE ME SO HAPPY, YOU GUYS.
#fanfiction #harry potter fanfiction #harry potter fandom #writing #writer #written word #creative writing #writing tips #writers on tumblr #fanfic #write it anyway
lumiolivierlithium reblogged anandasamsara
This is the post that justifies my existence.
grymwolfen reblogged otw-fanlore
Best sassy fanfic history ever. From one prof to another, thank you for this.
#fanlore #fanfiction #history of fanfic
miss-kitty-fantastico reblogged jmathieson-fic
The bit about publishing really gets me… do you know how difficult it is to get published? (I imagine most of you actually do, better than me probably.) Then try adding an LGBTQIA or POC, or disabled character into the story (and I’m not talking erotica, just a good fantasy or sci-fi story that happens to have a character who is one of the above), the chances of you getting published plummet… but change those characters to some well-known characters from a TV show or movie and put it online...
artemisastarte reblogged northray
Excellent analysis.
pelydryn77 reblogged teekettle
I adored this.
grouchylion reblogged transformativeworks
Love this!
yessss
starfaeblossoms reblogged barbaxcarisi
Omg yes
a-lafaye reblogged stripedsilverfeline
The Renaissance, peeps. What is that if not an entire era of fanwork?
geekinglikeaboss reblogged amberfox17
#fanfiction is literature #literature is fanfiction
- me scooping this up to shower in it*
disaronnus reblogged artemisastarte
This post covers a lot what I’ve come to realize is so beautiful about fanfiction and other types of fanworks in the last year.
#fanfiction #writing #fandom #gatekeeping #storytelling
tostrive2seektofind reblogged rubynye
New favorite post, mostly because of the first paragraph.
#fanfiction #literature #fanfic #amen
As an arthurian fanfic author I find this post especially amusing and positive : )
#fanfiction #literature
texaspeach101 reblogged loekas
Preach.
iamhisgloriouspurpose reblogged philosopherking1887
“the eighteenth century was basically high school“ - I wish my English lit professor were still alive, because he would love this statement.
#fic #fanfic #literature #write your stories
aerica13 reblogged all-i-want-is-oathbringer
@presidenthades
#fandoms #fanfiction #yesyesyesyesyes #words fandom #thank you #important #food for thought #paalme look
royalermine reblogged brighton-lgbtq-fanfic
That’s a wonderful sentiment, eloquently expressed.
15qwerty reblogged conversationswithjohnlock
This is lovely, and what I’ve felt about fan fiction since I started reading it. All fiction is a derivative of someone else’s work.
lordsofmedrengard reblogged inkspot-fox
A good summary.
veronica-rich reblogged alitbitmoody
I don’t get money, but I can count on a steady trickle of kudos from AO3, and I know how lucky I am.
Good points although I wish you would have elaborated on how/why originality came to be more prized.
lurker-no-more reblogged lessoleilscouchants
I love this so. much. Bless all the writers, especially the fic authors who take our favorite characters on wild new adventures … and help us scratch or hardest-to-reach itches. ❤️
nightluthany reblogged thessalian
Awesome meta! Also! “That doesn’t mean it’s “not good”–there are a lot of reasons people read fic and not all of them have to do with wanting to read finely crafted prose. That’s why fic is awesome–it creates a place for all kinds of storytelling.”
randomingoftherandomness reblogged sarahhbe
I’m planning to do my Master’s thesis on fan fiction. This should be fun.
#acafan #fanfiction
younggayanddoingokay reblogged ofroadmapsandpaperbacks
Fucking YEEEEES!
avengerandxman reblogged spectralarchers
I love you, awesome professor
rissa-rey reblogged inkandcayenne
Another professor (history, not lit) here that completely agrees with all of this. A+ content here, folks.
#fanfic #fanfiction
lilithrevised reblogged shannaraisles
This is exactly how I feel about fan fiction being literature (except the not reading bit). It’s just explained much better by this person. I usually just say “Literature is an ethical laboratory” and hope it psychically transmits how I feel/think about that.
lilaswordsandthings reblogged elianabwrites
Love this, so true
singingpeople reblogged heywriters
thats so sweet
foxsoulcourt reblogged fuzzballsheltiepants
LoVe this articulate post. While I could affirm much of this earlier (and had read P+P fanfic in book form) I never fully appreciated my internalized disdain for fanfic until Rainbow Rowell’s Fangirl slapped me upside the head.
#fangirl was my gateway drug to tumblr and ao3 #fanfic #literature is all fanfic #some gets put into book form #and gets called classic
lurks-no-more reblogged patchworkpoltergeist
I’m personally convinced that originality is the most overrated quality of fiction, and I know I’ve read a lot of fanfic which beats the socks off of a lot of published fiction I’ve read in terms of quality.
#fanfic #fan fiction #wise words #seriously people
akamine-chan reblogged talkingcinemalight
This is lovely.
juruna-yudja reblogged emptysurface
I find awesome that someone pointed out that fanfic isn’t inferior to ‘classic’ literature but was literally a part of it a few centuries ago. Also, the reference to Gary Stu is informative and hilarious.
#fanfic #history
ameliahcrowley reblogged storiesintheashes
My personal favourite is Tale of Genji Fix-it fic.