Interesting interview with Annie Proulx [link]
She goes rantful on the fanfic writers, especially the ones who send her their stuff. (God, I can't even begin to imagine...)
WSJ: What effect did the success of "Brokeback Mountain" have on your writing life, if any?
Ms. Proulx: "Brokeback Mountain" has had little effect on my writing life, but is the source of constant irritation in my private life. There are countless people out there who think the story is open range to explore their fantasies and to correct what they see as an unbearably disappointing story. They constantly send ghastly manuscripts and pornish rewrites of the story to me, expecting me to reply with praise and applause for "fixing" the story. They certainly don't get the message that if you can't fix it you've got to stand it. Most of these "fix-it" tales have the character Ennis finding a husky boyfriend and living happily ever after, or discovering the character Jack is not really dead after all, or having the two men's children meet and marry, etc., etc. Nearly all of these remedial writers are men, and most of them begin, "I'm not gay but…." They do not understand the original story, they know nothing of copyright infringement—i.e., that the characters Jack Twist and Ennis Del Mar are my intellectual property—and, beneath every mangled rewrite is the unspoken assumption that because they are men they can write this story better than a woman can. They have not a clue that the original "Brokeback Mountain" was part of a collection of stories about Wyoming exploring mores and myths. The general impression I get is that they are bouncing off the film, not the story. There's more, but that is enough, ok?
I have to agree with Smart Bitch Sarah, who said that "because I'm a man, I can write it better" assumption seemed like a pretty big one to make. She's an interesting writer, but a bit off-putting in this interview. On the one hand, I can relate to the fact that she doesn't want to be labeled a certain type of writer, but thing is, she kind of is a certain type of writer.
Sidenote: it is interesting to me that most of the fic writers she gets this stuff from are men. Aren't most fic writers - overall - women?
Sidenote: it is interesting to me that most of the fic writers she gets this stuff from are men. Aren't most fic writers - overall - women?
That surprised me too.
I remember there was a male ficwriter posting on the Temeraire LJ, who clearly hadn't a very high opinion of "fangirls" or the online ficwriting community, despite the fact that he was enjoying the books enough to be penning fanfic himself. It was all a bit odd.
I'm guessing a majority of female slashfic writers have been in fandom long enough to know better than to send their work to the original source's author.
Sadly, not always. Plus, there are the new fandoms like bandom RPF where the fans actually have a much closer relationship to the people involved.
In this case, I think it's because the source actually involves two gay men, rather than being mostly based on subtext.
Men write a lot of fanfic. The difference is that they just call it porn, and post it on XXX story sites instead of on fan sites.
Although I know there is a HUGE fandom which goes to Prince Edward Island on "Anne of Green Gables" tours.
Would totally take that tour.
I remember there was a male ficwriter posting on the Temeraire LJ, who clearly hadn't a very high opinion of "fangirls" or the online ficwriting community, despite the fact that he was enjoying the books enough to be penning fanfic himself. It was all a bit odd.
Ahahaha. That is just funny on so. many. levels.
Sidenote: it is interesting to me that most of the fic writers she gets this stuff from are men. Aren't most fic writers - overall - women?
So, fandom-as-we-know-it (the loosely organized gift economy one with the 'zine past and the Kirk/Spock and what not, that is) is mainly female. But there are areas where you see a lot of fanworks by men, like old-school Who. It's a parallel universe, for me at least.
Sadly, not always. Plus, there are the new fandoms like bandom RPF where the fans actually have a much closer relationship to the people involved.
Yeah on both. The utter lack of a fourth wall with bandom (not usually the fault of the fic writers) continues to give me the wiggins. (When the people being written about leave feedback or bitch that they're not being paired with someone enough, my brain starts to short the hell out.)
Seriously. The brave new world is totally weird.
