Ianthe Nox
(?)Community Member
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- Posted: Sun, 17 Dec 2006 06:06:02 +0000
Discuss.
I have been hearing a lot of negative things from would-be authors I've asked about slash*. They say things like, "Oh, yeah, it would be cool if they did fanfics about my work but when I'm rich and famous if they turn my characters slashy I'll hunt them down, 'cause like ew."
In my opinion (my opinion, not fact) there's nothing wrong with slash and femmeslash, my darlings.
No power in the 'verse can stop it. The thing is, once a book reaches a certain level of fame, it's no longer the author's property; it's the property of the fans. It is an institution. Its characters have souls, they are breathed to life by the millions of people who think and fantasize and write about them.
That's fanfiction; slash!fanfiction is just as unstoppable.
Henry Jenkins said, and almost every fanfiction site quotes, that "Fanfiction is a way of the culture repairing the damage done in a system where contemporary myths are owned by corporations instead of owned by folk." So just think of slashfiction as a way of culture repairing the damage done by a system in which heterosexual couples are the only ones written about. Authors like Tamora Pierce (who is a beloved and well-known writer for teenage girls, and has recently released a novel in which it is irrevocably stated that two of her long-standing characters from the same world are lesbian and bi respectively together, and where another of the main characters comes out as lesbian) are already taking the baby steps.
That being said, watch this: {~} It's hilarious, I love Alan Tudyk. heart So one thinks reading one's.own.work!slash would be horrific? Think of the actors reading their own movie!slash. And yes, I have read some stuff that sounds exactly like what he's describing, but that's n00b!slash. There's no substance to it. Those n00b!writers will grow up to write the real stuff. We just have to water them, and occasionally, shift their pots to get a bit more sun.
If you've read this far, well done. Discussion, anyone?
*Slash is homosexual relationships in a story, or a story with homosexual relationships.
I have been hearing a lot of negative things from would-be authors I've asked about slash*. They say things like, "Oh, yeah, it would be cool if they did fanfics about my work but when I'm rich and famous if they turn my characters slashy I'll hunt them down, 'cause like ew."
In my opinion (my opinion, not fact) there's nothing wrong with slash and femmeslash, my darlings.
No power in the 'verse can stop it. The thing is, once a book reaches a certain level of fame, it's no longer the author's property; it's the property of the fans. It is an institution. Its characters have souls, they are breathed to life by the millions of people who think and fantasize and write about them.
That's fanfiction; slash!fanfiction is just as unstoppable.
Henry Jenkins said, and almost every fanfiction site quotes, that "Fanfiction is a way of the culture repairing the damage done in a system where contemporary myths are owned by corporations instead of owned by folk." So just think of slashfiction as a way of culture repairing the damage done by a system in which heterosexual couples are the only ones written about. Authors like Tamora Pierce (who is a beloved and well-known writer for teenage girls, and has recently released a novel in which it is irrevocably stated that two of her long-standing characters from the same world are lesbian and bi respectively together, and where another of the main characters comes out as lesbian) are already taking the baby steps.
That being said, watch this: {~} It's hilarious, I love Alan Tudyk. heart So one thinks reading one's.own.work!slash would be horrific? Think of the actors reading their own movie!slash. And yes, I have read some stuff that sounds exactly like what he's describing, but that's n00b!slash. There's no substance to it. Those n00b!writers will grow up to write the real stuff. We just have to water them, and occasionally, shift their pots to get a bit more sun.
If you've read this far, well done. Discussion, anyone?
*Slash is homosexual relationships in a story, or a story with homosexual relationships.
