otw_news | OTW mentioned on Zuckerman's blog and Boing Boing

OTW has been mentioned on Ethan Zuckerman's blog.

By using the word "transformative" in the organization name, the organizers of the group are advocating a legal argument - writing fan fiction based on the characters and universes of copyright-protected media is a transformative use, protected by fair use clauses in US copyright law. In other words, this is an attempt to stand up and fight for this interpretation, rather than hiding from copyright holders, which is a huge step forward to this subculture....

OTW has taken a very interesting step in declaring that fan culture has a dominant gender. In their statement of values, they note, "We value our identity as a predominantly female community with a rich history of creativity and commentary." Here, again, it's important to understand the definition of "fan culture" - media fandom, fanfic and vidding, a culture that's predominantly female, though not exclusively so.

Zuckerman's blog post has also been noted on Boing Boing.

ETA: OTW has also been mentioned on Netribution, and on the blogs of Tobias Buckell and John Scalzi. (Thanks to

droneish for the links to the last two.)

--

femmequixotic,

bethbethbeth,

ciderpress,

mirabile_dictu,

shrift,

svmadelyn
Community Relations Committee

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

I apologize for commenting anonymously, but it is quite cumbersome going on this site with a blackberry. Just refer to me as Concerned One, if you want to refer to me by a name.

It seems that most people who have not seen fanfiction before deeply misunderstand fanfiction and yet it is not easily articulable why they misunderstand it. This may have already been mentioned before, bit I want to mention it just in case it has not yet been mentioned:

1. In response to the idea that fanfiction is not original enough, the faultiness with that objection is that the purpose of fanfiction is not to create original things to make great things; fanfiction is not about being great. Rather, it is a social activity where people share personal ideas on things. The primary value of fanfiction is not of creating great works, but rather sharing personal thoughts with a community.
2. In response to the idea that fanfiction is leeching off the popularity of another person's works, the fact is that when one writes fanfiction, one is not writing it for the sake of one's own self, but rather for the sake of the community in which one is participating; it is for the good of their community, which some call fandom. This is the reason fanfiction writers want reviews from each and every single reader, in that the purpose of fanfiction is merely to be read, because fanfiction is essentially a way to talk to others; if others would not talk back, then most would not want to continue to write. In addition, most reviews I have seen are not critical evaluations of the value of the work, but rather personal comments on the work, and telling that they want the author to continue to write, indicating that it is a way to speak of personal things, and that they write because they want to contribute to and satisfy those who want to read it.

Rather, it is a social activity where people share personal ideas on things.

It's been mentioned (on my IJ) that fanfic is not only social--that many people do this as a solitary activity for years before finding anyone else who does it, and that many fanficcers have no interest in the "social" aspects--they want to exchange stories, perhaps, but not to read commentary or discuss them.

The claim that "fanfic is a social activity" needs more careful explanation, because from some perspectives, it's not true.

Hi,

elfwreck - here from

metafandom.

My personal experience has been that for me, sometimes the social aspects of fanfic writing have been hard to deal with. Sometimes what I have written isn't really what "the fans" want (I don't usually follow the OTPs, for instance.) Sometimes I put a spin on things that's important to me, but not necessarily comfortable for my readers. (FWIW, I have always encouraged readers who don't see eye-to-eye with me on everything.) Sometimes I've spent more energy dealing with negative reviews, when I should have been writing. And sometimes I feel like I've been too dependent on the social aspects (i.e. asking myself pitilessly what my motives are.)

But what *is* delightful about fandom is when I've gotten an idea that just burns a hole in me; I write a story about it, and someone says, "You too? You thought that too?" And you've not just expressed yourself, but linked up with another person who shares that vision with you. It's exhiliarating.

So I think it's a complicated issue, one that can't just be divided into social/non-social aspects.

I would like to add that there are writers who never (or almost) read other writer's works. So, even if it exist, the social aspect can be rather narrow.

Ela

I agree with

elfwreck. According to my experiences, what you write isn't universally true.

I know that there are lots and lots of fanfics that aren't great works and which aren't meant to be. However, I know also that there are writers who, in the literary sense of the idiom, try to achieve something praise worthy and are always trying to reach higher. Still, they're writing fanfiction, and they're proud of their work.

Sharing personal thoughts with a community as the primary value of fanfiction? I can't agree. If that were the primary value, why would so many writers and readers get frustrated when their personal thoughts are not tolerated by the people in the community? The phenomenon of OTP is the most prominent example. I would rather say that the primary value of fanfiction is to reach the majority conclusion about issues related to the fandom of the community.

One isn't writing fanfics for oneself? Once again I don't agree with you. There are writers who are great contributors for their community, that's true. But, according to my experiences, also those writers are writing for themselves. I don't know one writer who writes fanfiction for any other reason but that first and foremost they feel the need to write. Only then comes the social aspect of the fanfiction. If it comes.

I guess that by fanfiction most people mean what by that title can be found in the internet. Thereby, I can accept your thought that "the purpose of fanfiction is merely to be read". However, that definition isn't the one I think is valid. It doesn't apply to those fannish works that people write but with which they never go public. Just because the stories aren't public, are they not fanfiction?

Since we, the writers and the readers of fanfiction, aren't capable of reaching an agreement of with exactly what we are involved, I don't think it's too difficult to understand why the people outside of the fannish activities have no clue.

Ela

This is "Concerned One," again.
You have a good point there. I'll have to re-think this:

Indeed, it is not about all about participating in any community at all. I get the impression that it's all about the fact that one thinks that the work itself has value or is satisfying in some way - that it may not be directly for one's own self, but rather, for what one thinks is valuable. What would matter most then is that it is about the work itself, (de-emphasizing the author, and more emphasizing the work itself).

OTW mentioned on Zuckerman's blog and Boing Boing

On the purpose of fanfiction

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