I don't like it when those worlds collide. My opinions on the inclusion of actual fan fiction writing or reading by a character in a piece of fan fiction are entirely vituperative in nature.

I'm with you on this one. Honestly, I feel as though if it's a normal thing to do (and obviously it is a normal thing to do) then it ought not to bug me to read it -- but every time I see it, it feels clumsy and out of place. Maybe that's for the same reason characters on TV don't tend to watch TV (and additionally for them to write/read fanfic about it seems out of character), or maybe it's just because the authors don't seem to be completely comfortable with the idea.

There was a mention, sometime last spring, by a character on of all things Crossing Jordan, of going home and relaxing on a Saturday night with a glass of wine "and some Star Trek fan fiction". Something to that effect; I didn't see it, but it was well-reported among a couple of my friends.

I don't know what the tone was in that instance, but I think it's safe to say that the TV people, at least, don't think we're automatically psycho freaks any more. Perhaps good for a laugh, on occasion; then again, real coroners probably do go home on a Saturday night and relax with some good old K/S.

wrod on the cringe-inducing nature of the idea - it's so difficult to un-Mary Sue fanfic in which the characters read fanfic. Bleagh. And yet I'm quite happy to buy the idea that Willow - and indeed perhaps Xander - might have read fanfic. They were both pretty geeky and/or fannish kids, after all, and Willow was little miss hack-into-the-Pentagon-computer-three-times-before-breakfast. So logically it seems fair enough - but it's still the sort of plot summary that does make me shudder. I'm sure a good writer could pull it off, though.

characters on TV don't tend to watch TV

Spike does. I think Dawn does.

FayJay, precisely. But it seems to be the sort of thing that people put in because it seems cool, rather than because it seems believable. Or organic. So I think it could be plausible, but it always seems shoehorned. Plus it always seems to be a plot point, and how likely is that, really?

Plus, no one ever seems to find it strange. And you know, in real life, at least one of their friends would be like, "Fanfiction? Oh, please."

Wow, have I gone on about this for long enough? Actually, it kind of interests me because it falls into that group of things that people seem to have a difficult time not Mary-Sueing. Like a character cooking what is obviously the author's favorite dish, or going somewhere on vacation, or talking about a book.

Spike does. I think Dawn does.

Oh, Betsy, with the being right. Yes, they do. But not onscreen (much), which I think was at least partially my point. Maybe.

Okay, no, my point was that generally the focus of characters on a show is their own lives, leaving little time to be involved in someone else's storylines. But you're right, they are shown to get involved in TV shows. Okay, I take it all back.

I've read "character reads/writes fanfic" as a sort of parody - often the character is reacting to common problems or annoyances in fics, like the ones where Garak bitches about Garak/Ziyal stories...."I suppose I should just lie down and think of a nubile Englisman," or Spike's "'I hope you dance?' More likely, 'I hope you get eviscerated."

Willow did get a strange look for admitting to the fanfic. And I have no problem imagining her writing herself as a Mary Sue at age 12 into a Doogie Howser story.

characters on TV don't tend to watch TV

Very true, in the main. I cannot recommend too highly (AD's ex girlfriend) Caroline Aherne's show The Royle Family, which is about a slobby working class Northern family who spend every episode sitting in front of the telly smoking and drinking tea. It's entirely possible, of course, that it's too culturally specific in terms of both humour and pathos, but I swear I've not seen anything better on stage or screen, imho. She's a f*cking genius. It's poised perfectly between comedy and drama, totally accessible (to a UK audience, at least) but still very subtle and true and cringe-inducing. And moving. Bathetic and pathetic both, in the best sense of the word.

t / gushiness.

Caroline Aherne is AD's ex-girlfriend? No way! I didn't know that. (I love The Royle Family too.)