Chat transcript for "The Future of Fanworks" fan panel: cereta, Yoon Ha Lee and Eve
| Interviews by Fans | |
|---|---|
| Title: | Chat transcript for "The Future of Fanworks" fan panel: cereta, Yoon Ha Lee and Eve (Lucy, yhlee and yifu) |
| Interviewer: | Jintian |
| Interviewee: | cereta, Yoon Ha Lee and Eve |
| Date(s): | March 16, 2014 |
| Medium: | |
| Fandom(s): | |
| External Links: | Chat transcript for “The Future of Fanworks” fan panel – Organization for Transformative Works, Archived version |
| Click here for related articles on Fanlore. | |
Chat transcript for "The Future of Fanworks" fan panel: cereta, Yoon Ha Lee and Eve was conducted and posted to Organization for Transformative Works in 2014.
Some Topics Discussed
- differences and changes in fandom
- violating the fourth wall, more interaction with creators, the chilling effect that fan/creator interaction can have
- Lois McMaster Bujold and Vorkosigan Saga
- Mel Keegan and fans turned pro
- queerbaiting
- Festivids
- the term lemon
- the Gabaldon thing
- The Powers That Be from Teen Wolf and Sherlock saying recently that fans who are there for slash interpretations are just flat-out reading the shows wrong
- anime
- the Sherlock incident/Caitlin Moran
- Tumblr
- gender issues in fandom
- pseuds and real names, trends
- trigger warnings/content notes, tags
- fandom has gone from being centered on sources (a show, comic, franchise, book, etc) to being focused on fans themselves
Excerpt
What do you remember as your first encounter with fanworks or issues surrounding fanworks?
Eve
My first encounter with fanworks was through the internet in the late 1990’s, when I discovered fanfic and fanart for my major fandom. If issues here refer to problems, I remember some authors forbidding fanworks of their books. This was later, in the early 2000’s. I remember being surprised at that time but acknowledging their right for forbidding it.
Lucy B.
You know, that’s a hard question. Was it when I made up stories about Spider-man after watching him on The Electric Company? Was it the continuation of V: The Series (the 80’s one, not the new one) that my friend and I co-wrote for two years? Was it the online RPG set on Deep Space Nine that I played on my first BBS? No, I think I’d have to say it was Star Trek fanfic on Usenet. I think the thing I remember most was the way I gradually, tentatively edged into slash, and the way my own realization that hey, I really like this stuff seemed to parallel it becoming more visible. Of course, I started looking into it because I wanted to write a paper about the gender disparity between discussion and fiction on the newsgroups, but woe, Henry Jenkins had already written the book. Story of my life.
yhlee
My first encounter with fanworks issues was in Legend of the Five Rings (L5R), a USAn collectible card game/tabletop RPG that’s been releasing canon/story for 15 years. Fanfic in L5R normally runs backwards in that the norm is to NOT write about canon characters, but about OCs (like your RPG character). One fanfic writer wrote a series of parody fics that involved things like dubcon gay sex. L5R’s game company asked her to stop and she did. The writer took down all her fic without argument, so there was no dispute, but there were a lot of people really unhappy because she was very popular in the fandom and a very good writer as well. I find it hilarious that the dubcon gay sex was more of a big deal than the sometimes graphic violence and outright torture in canon, but okay.