Should There Be More Criticism of Fanfiction?
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| Title: | Should There Be More Criticism of Fanfiction? |
| Creator: | Janet |
| Date(s): | November 30, 1999 |
| Medium: | online |
| Fandom: | |
| Topic: | fiction writing, Feedback, Criticism |
| External Links: | Should there be More Criticism of Fanfiction?/WebCite |
| Click here for related articles on Fanlore. | |
Should There Be More Criticism of Fanfiction? is an essay by Janet.
It is part of the Fanfic Symposium series.
For additional context, see Timeline of Concrit & Feedback Meta.
Excerpts
The dearth of fan fiction criticism has been noted in many contexts. Some of us greet this lack with joy, others with sorrow.My feelings are rather ambiguous. Perhaps fan fiction should be a criticism-free zone? Or is this bad for the genre? Would fan fiction benefit from being scrutinizedon a regular basis by some sort of ad hoc committee? Or would this scrutiny merely scare off any potential participants?
Why should there be criticism of something that is done out of love, and which receives no compensation other than reader approval? Professional writers get paid at least starvation wages for their efforts. They should expect to be called on their fouls, it's par for the course. But why should a fan fiction writer expect anything worse than indifference, even if she produces nothing but dreck? After all, we didn't pay good money for her story. Just delete it, and forget it!
On the other hand, we would all like our fan fiction to be up to the standards of, say, Francesca, or Emily. Perhaps Fan Fic Crit would help. Surely it couldn't hurt. Let's point out everything that we hate about all that dreck out there, and maybe fan fiction will improve in the future.
However, do critics ever help shape literature? Does getting a scathing review in The Times turn a bad writer into a good one, or even discourage him or her from writing?If one considers the amount of literary criticism available, most professional writers should be superior to Shakespeare by now. But a mere sample of the current best sellers would put that theory to rest.
So I am going to stay on the fence in this debate, since I can see the validity of the arguments on both sides of the issue. Sue me!