The Scenic Route
| Meta | |
|---|---|
| Title: | The Scenic Route |
| Creator: | Melissa "Merlin Missy" Wilson |
| Date(s): | 2002 |
| Medium: | online |
| Fandom: | |
| Topic: | |
| External Links: | The Scenic Route linked to Idylls of the Wizard |
| Click here for related articles on Fanlore. | |
The Scenic Route is a 2002 essay by Merlin Missy. It has the subtitle: "More fanfic musings."
Some Topics Discussed
- The Mary Sue Litmus Test, specifically The (Original) Mary Sue Litmus Test
- advice
- taking risks, getting lost in the weeds
- listening to those who've already made the same mistakes
Excerpts
I've always told myself stories about my favorite characters from tv and movies. When I was younger, I acted them out with my action figures, then with Barbies. The stories eventually came too fast to bother with toys, and so I watched the tales unfold in my head while I hid in my room away from my stepsisters. [This is true. One of said sisters is actually quite attractive, and my stepmother is one of the nicest people I've ever known. Just for the record.]
The first time I put pen to paper for a fanfic (a word I wouldn't learn for seven more years) was during an assignment at my first eighth grade. The fandom isn't important, but the fact that I changed the names and the situation very slightly so the teacher wouldn't know is. And I thought to myself, "This is fun."
I was thirteen, and in high school, which is synonymous with saying I was depressed and lonely, and so I wrote morbid poetry and bad fanfic. The second fanfic I wrote was seventy pages long, handwritten in a spiral-bound notebook, first-person POV, an alternate universe story with the names and situations slightly changed, because hey, I could sell this when it was done, couldn't I?
I still write fanfic. I like writing fanfic. It gives me an outlet for creativity, provides almost instant feedback thanks to the Net, and has led to some of the best friendships of my life. On the flip side, fanfic has also alienated me from some people I care about, mostly folks who don't get why I feel the need to use someone else's characters to tell my own stories. I've never been able to come up with a sufficient answer for them, and I probably never will.
I write fanfic, and I also write essays. A certain two essays have gotten quite a bit of notoriety, which is funny if you know that both were written entirely because I was pissed off at some other writers. They were writing badly (spelling, grammar, plot, and need I even mention the name Mary Sue?), and rather than accept anything less than abject praise, decided that there were no problems with their works, and that anyone who thought otherwise was simply not at a level to understand the "suttleties" [sic] of their efforts or appreciate the spontaneity that went with not bothering to spell check. Also, beta readers were only out to steal their stories.
When I write essays on fanfic, it's to make myself feel better. There's a saying that stress comes from repressing the desire to throttle someone truly deserving, and I say, stress is bad for my health. Online, I can't reach out and throttle someone who wouldn't know a clue if it snuck up behind them wearing Groucho glasses and wielding a large blunt goat. I'd certainly be happier if I could. However, I *can* write essays for everyone else. I can put down in words all the things said clueless people have done wrong, *why* they're wrong, and how to avoid these same problems. I do it without bringing to mention the name of the particular clueless one who inspired the rant, because there remains the possibility, however slim, that said person will actually read the essay, take it to heart, and produce better stories. It could happen.
Mine aren't the best essays on the subject by a long shot. There are wonderful pieces out there by professionals, and people who do professional-level writing, and those guides far outstrip mine in usefulness. Even the ones written by good ol' fanboys/girls like me can be helpful. Whenever you have a chance, read one, even the columns at fanfiction.net. You may disagree with the author, but you'll learn how some people think regarding a particular kind of writing, and that can also be useful.
Think of writing guides, fanfic essays, litmus tests, and everything of that ilk as a kind of road map. Not a one is complete in itself. Some are good for overall information, more an atlas of places to see, while others give detailed information about a very small part of the landscape. Each one, presumably, has been written with the goal in mind of helping newcomers to the area, because we were all new once.
When I was thirteen, the stories I told myself in my head almost invariably centered around the angst-ridden adventures of my many Mary Sues. They had mysterious pasts, torrid love affairs, exotic eyes, special powers, and were loved and (of course) mourned by one and all. When I started reading fanfic, I encountered these characters again, and in each one, I saw my own creations from days past. I know this part of the road well. Thanks to bits of advice gleaned from all over, plus perspective gained by feedback after feedback, I also know how to avoid the metaphorical bad parts of town. Follow my map, and you'll spend a mercifully short time in Marysueville, with just enough time to buy a postcard.
If you choose.
See, here's the thing. Those of us who've written these essays have, for the most part, had to learn things the hard way. We've been stuck in Clichetown without a gas station or even a clue that we were caught. We've wandered the shaded two-lane roads without a beta reader in sight, and called our errors inspired, and descried editing as oppressive to originality. We've plastered our stories again and again at the same place, hoping suddenly someone will see it, call us brilliant, and ask us to write professional novels. Every one of us has taken a ride with Mary Sue, if only in our thoughts. "Gee, wouldn't it be nice if a character just like me but much cooler showed up and everyone liked her?"
There's a great deal to be said for taking the scenic route. You can spend years pausing at one place or another, finding the metaphorical best eats in town among the dives. I've spent more time than I'd care to say in vast cities of nothing but ‘shipper stories, reading them, writing them, not bothering to acknowledge that there were even other places out there. (For me, ST:TNG didn't have a second season. It went from first to third.) You can do that, gentle reader. You can spend time idly among the ‘shippers, and dancing with Mary Sues, and even gunning madly down the highway dropping flaming participles behind you. You can learn first-hand all the same rules it took the rest of us years to finally get, or you can ignore them altogether in the name of artistic freedom. The scenic route can be a lot of fun.
There's something to be learned from the guides, and there are different lessons to be learned from doing things the long way around. A little over a year ago, I revisited that same bad fanfic, scavenged the worthwhile parts, and wrote what I consider one of my best stories to date. Without that blind foray into the unknown, I never would have had the story to tell.
So go exploring. Publish a story now and then fresh from the word processor, without an extra set of eyes or an extra read-through. Take out an old Mary Sue, give her a make-over, set her loose in a new place and see where she goes now. Rewrite the same romance story that every single ‘shipper in the fandom has done before you, but give it a twist no one has even contemplated. Rewrite your first fanfic and give it a real plot this time. Just remember where you're headed and take a look at the maps from time to time so you don't get lost while you're sightseeing.