I think that fanfiction gets a bad rap for several reasons. First of all there are the popular misconceptions about fic and fic writers:

• all fic writers are 40 year old nerds living in their parents' basements and holding down meaningless McJobs

• fic is necessarily of poorer quality than 'professional' fiction

• most fic is smut and/or wish-fulfillment

• fic authors need to 'get a life'

Then, there are other issues, such as the sticky ones about copyright, intellectual property, etc. and so forth. Also, I think that the fact that most fic is read from the internet vs. from a printed book makes it seem less legitimate to many people. I think it's also hard for Americans to understand why someone would write something that couldn't be copyrighted or generate royalties.

In Japan, IIRC, fan written and drawn manga (doujinshi) are permitted by the publishing companies. These things are bought and sold at conventions and in comic shops. The owners of the original series apparently look at these things as a form of free marketing. I know that I've gotten hooked on several anime and television series thanks to fanfiction and fan sites.

On edit: That said, I also agree that it would be nice to see an article without those sort of errors.

I tried to interest Salon in such a thing. The tech editor pointed me to an article he had written FIVE YEARS ago about Xena and Gabrielle, and said they didn't need anything else.

Well, it's probably mushroomed greatly since.I thought at one time I would write an article, but the ideas didn't jell properly. Plus, I see now I didn't "get it".Not that I understand it all now, but my view has shifted.

Fanfic lore has it that every time a new writer comes to the hobby, the first thing she does is write herself into the plot.

No, that's only the bad writers.

I'm standing right here.

I love yours, Ita. Cause Willow or someone else doesn't act like Ita. You are just having some fun with wish-fulfillment,and that's cool, imo.

Some believe fanfic sits in the folk tradition of participatory storytelling, a process responsible for The Iliad and the Arthurian legends, among others. Professor Henry Jenkins, director of media studies at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, told The New York Times that "if you go back, the key stories we told ourselves were stories that were important to everyone and belonged to everyone. Fan fiction is a way of the culture repairing the damage done in a system where contemporary myths are owned by corporations instead of owned by the folk."

cheers

Others, the more commercially minded among us, see it as a straightforward copyright abuse. But the major entertainment conglomerates have not leant as heavily on fanfic as they have on fan sites that use copyrighted images of characters. If you're writing Simpsons stories you're far less likely to receive a lawyer's letter than if you're drawing Simpsons pictures, or using their images to enhance your site. A picture is apparently worth 1000 words, in dollar terms at least.

Okay, the bit in bold rankled, and the whole HP porn intro thing made me cringe, but it could have been worse. Hmph.

I hate that fanfic is so ridiculed, though; I mean, I know there's an awful lot of rubbish, and I know that the whole fandom thing is by its nature exclusive, but I'm still so bloody excited about this medium, and still thoroughly delighted by the proliferation of good writing that is out there. It pisses me off that the genre is looked down upon. I understand it, but it pisses me off. And ditto LJ/blog culture, actually - by its nature it's incredibly insular and specific, but it's also a really vibrant and fascinating form of communication, and within my limited experience it's shown itself a terrific forum for debate about literary style and technique and blahblahblah pretentiouscakes.

But then, I am living in my parents' basement, in the manner of NotSuave!Xander. So possibly I should just shut the fuck up. And get back to writing my assignment. Right. Fine.

grumblegrumblegrumble.

Oh! Before I go - did we ever find any Magneto/Wolverine?

Word on all Dana's comments. My god, how HARD is it to understand fic? It's like going into a bookstore and not understanding shelves are alphabetized by author.

Feh. t insert here canned rant on how all fic is not slash, all slash is not porn, there's plenty of porny het fic as well as PG-rated adventure stories blah blah fishcakes

Also, still quoting Textual Poachers and Enterprising Women? Someone so needs to write the definitive study of internet-based ficdom.

There's a marvelous LJ post here about fanfiction and legality.

Also, still quoting Textual Poachers and Enterprising Women? Someone so needs to write the definitive study of internet-based ficdom.

Looks pointedly at Consuela, Dana, Nutty and Shrift

I thought the article was fair and, being broad and general, got the gist of it. Any complaints of inaccuracy are the same you'd hear from any group being reported on from the outside. It's the difference between the way Riot Grrrl was reported on in the major media and the way the zines themselves discussed it. There will never be an article that gets it entirely right until an insider - again with the pointed looking - writes it.

Dude, I tried. At least, I tried Salon. Someone give me other suggestions of where to pitch it, and I will try again.