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Wednesday, August 29th, 2007 01:21 pm
fire pretty, tree green
Have a question. This is vaguely in reference to authorial intent, but also, in general, author etiquette in fandom (aka, how authors conduct themselves in discussion so as not to stress other people. Or themselves for that matter).
There's one or two discussions I fell on top of regarding Story of a Girl (and to preface, totally made my day. People could have been talking about how much they *hated* it and I would have been happy. I'm a writer--I want to know it did something, good or bad. So--you know. If you hated it, carry on with that. Also, surprisingly, I like attention. Who knew?) and I'm curious--good or bad to participate? More important question--do you in general participate?
This is where it comes up with authorial intent.
I mean--yes. God yes, I love DVD commentaries and I love reading what authors say--but like, *way after I've processed it*. Which could be two days, or two weeks, or whatever, etc etc etc. This is because I do not like to feel idiotic when I talk about the author's symbolism in using the color red and then she says oops, I meant for that scene to be green, dammit, and you see where this is going.
OTOH--
Oh my God there is *such good discussion* and I want to *participate* and this is like the only reason I would ever even consider socking. I mean, I won't (I'd give myself away in about five seconds), but....
But in this case, it's not because it's my story--it's hitting, or at least grazing, some of my favorite reading and discussion topics. (Canon Mary Sues! MY FAVORITE THING IN HISTORY THIS WEEK!)
The thing is, the second an author--well, jumps in--it changes things. There's always that--thing where the author kind of screws it up by textualizing the subtext. And being a slasher and a fanfic writer (reader, meta-writer, artist, lurker), subtext is what most of us are all about.
(Note: It is ridiculous, but my level of glee is very high--if I'd been asked? I wouldn't have thought Girl!John would be all that--interesting for anyone outside shippers and I'm going to stop now before I start trying to examine my own motives, which were kind of "Huh, so that would be different.")
In summation: fire pretty. And what do you do when you see story discussion of your fic?
There's one or two discussions I fell on top of regarding Story of a Girl (and to preface, totally made my day. People could have been talking about how much they *hated* it and I would have been happy. I'm a writer--I want to know it did something, good or bad. So--you know. If you hated it, carry on with that. Also, surprisingly, I like attention. Who knew?) and I'm curious--good or bad to participate? More important question--do you in general participate?
This is where it comes up with authorial intent.
I mean--yes. God yes, I love DVD commentaries and I love reading what authors say--but like, *way after I've processed it*. Which could be two days, or two weeks, or whatever, etc etc etc. This is because I do not like to feel idiotic when I talk about the author's symbolism in using the color red and then she says oops, I meant for that scene to be green, dammit, and you see where this is going.
OTOH--
Oh my God there is *such good discussion* and I want to *participate* and this is like the only reason I would ever even consider socking. I mean, I won't (I'd give myself away in about five seconds), but....
But in this case, it's not because it's my story--it's hitting, or at least grazing, some of my favorite reading and discussion topics. (Canon Mary Sues! MY FAVORITE THING IN HISTORY THIS WEEK!)
The thing is, the second an author--well, jumps in--it changes things. There's always that--thing where the author kind of screws it up by textualizing the subtext. And being a slasher and a fanfic writer (reader, meta-writer, artist, lurker), subtext is what most of us are all about.
(Note: It is ridiculous, but my level of glee is very high--if I'd been asked? I wouldn't have thought Girl!John would be all that--interesting for anyone outside shippers and I'm going to stop now before I start trying to examine my own motives, which were kind of "Huh, so that would be different.")
In summation: fire pretty. And what do you do when you see story discussion of your fic?
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