Talkin' Fanfic: Intro and ”Defiantly Amateur”
| Podcast Episode | |
|---|---|
| Talkin' Fanfic | |
| First Episode · Episode #1 · Next Episode | |
| Episode Title: | Intro and "Defiantly Amateur" |
| Length: | 32:19 |
| Featured: | Storyshark2005 |
| Date: | July 6, 2020 |
| Focus: | Introductory episode |
| External Links: | Episode at Podbean |
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Talkin' Fanfic: Intro and ”Defiantly Amateur” is a podcast episode by Storyshark2005, introducing herself, a brief discussion of her fannish history as well as discussing the aims of the podcast and what it means to be "Defiantly Amateur" as discussed by Francesca Coppa. There is also an introduction to the Cobra Kai fandom, including some of the work already created by fans in the fandom.
Sara (aka Storyshark2005) gives the lay of the fandom land and talks about what it means to be "defiantly amateur" as a fanfiction author. She also waxes poetic over fellow podcast "Cobra Kai Kompanion" and advises you not to venture on Wattpad.
For others in the series, see Talkin' Fanfic.
Introduction
Hey everybody, this is Sara. You are tuning in to the first episode ever of Talkin' Fanfic Cobra Kai. So, yeah, let's talk some fanfic, sit back... I suggest you get a cocktail because I'm getting a cocktail and here we go.
Links
- Episode: 1: Intro and ”Defiantly Amateur”
- Promotional post on Tumblr
Topics Discussed
- Reason for producing the podcast
- A celebration of fanfiction authors and Archive of Our Own
- A very brief autobiography and fannish history of Storyshark2005.
- Discussions of fans within the Cobra Kai fandom, including the hosts of the Cobra Kai Kompanion and fan writers and authors brihana25, LostMagician, and others.
Excerpts
Storyshark2005: So, Cobra Kai started in 2018 as a show. I missed the start of the show, I didn't find it until one year ago or there abouts, about Spring 2019. And I watched the first season, loved it immediately went to AO3 — as you guys all know, Archive of Our Own if you're a fan fiction reader or writer, you know the site it's the best site. If you're messing around on Fanfiction.net or, god forbid, Wattpad... Jesus, get out of there and get on AO3. It's where the good stuff's at. And it's a nonprofit and the only place you can go and post your stuff and feel safe that your stuff's not going to be randomly deleted one day because somebody wakes up and freaks out about explicit work or something like that. Anyway, I went on there. I think we were less than 200 works at that point. And I read all the good stuff. And I thought 'God I want to write something'. But the exciting part was that season two at that point was coming out in a couple of months. So, I was spoiled. All I had to do was wait a couple of months. And I was blown away, obviously, by season two and I thought 'I'm gonna write something' and I did. I wrote a one shot that eventually turned into 100,000 word plus works.
Storyshark2005: I think of Cobra Kai Kompanion as a bridge between mainstream fandom and the creators of the show. Then you have Brihana and I think of Bri... I think Brihana is important in this fandom. I think the reason is that she's been a bridge between mainstream fandom and fan fiction fandom, and she's really interested in normalising fan fiction, because we are we're sort of a self... what would you call it? Self-marginalised, self-segregated group and there's some good reasons for that, actually. And I think Brihana, and I kind of have different views on that not contradictory. I do want to interview her and, actually, she's gonna be one of our first interviews, so that's exciting.
Storyshark2005: And we are definitely, and defiantly, amateur and I say defiantly because I found this cool essay called "Writing bodies in space" by Francesca Coppa. It's from a collection called The Fan Fiction Studies Reader, edited by Karen Hellekson and Kristina Busse. Let me just read a little bit of this real fast."The line between amateur and professional writing is both sharply defined and frequently crossed in science fiction fandom, because science fiction is a literature itself written by fans of the genre; to be an amateur science fiction writer is therefore merely a step on the way to becoming a professional science fiction writer, and professional writers still go to conventions to hobnob. From this perspective, the professional is superior to the amateur, who is serving a kind of apprenticeship. Conversely, MediaWest prides itself on being a convention run by fans and for fans, without any paid guests (professional authors, actors, or producers), and fan fiction writers tend to be defiantly amateur in the sense of writing precisely what they want for love alone. In this schema, to be a professional is to write at the command of others for money."
But the important part there is that it describes fanfiction writers as defiantly amateur. Let's talk about what an amateur is because this is important because typically when you talk about fan fiction, and people know that you are they kind of... their response is like, "Oh, that's cool. So what have you written That's original?" Or "That's neat? What are you going to do next? Or how are you going to transition this into a profession and actually make money?" And the implication of that is that what you're doing now? isn't really worth doing. If you're not making money?
Additional Information
- Storyshark2005 goes onto talk about her fannish history in more detail in the Talkin' Fanfic episode "Workshop - '(No) Mercy for the Midlife Crisis' by Storyshark2005 & Elise_51"[1] and in her appearance on The Fanfic Maverick in Interview With Fanfiction Writer Storyshark2005.