Non-fic: Fandom Wank

2038-01-19T03:14:07Z

I've typed this post several times over the last few years, and deleted it every time because I decided it was better not to involve myself at all in the wanky gossip that happens in fandom. But lately, a few epic wank threads have started to swerve a little too close to home, and I want to make sure my opinion is out there for the world to see, just so there's no misunderstanding.

I. do. not. care.

I don't care if XXX's Cloud, or Mello, or Byakuya is out of character. I don't care if XXX's plots are cliche. I don't care if XXX never played the game, or read the manga, or watched the anime that he/she is writing fic for. I don't care whether someone from Manchester would say 'frosting' or 'icing' and I don't care if you have a PhD in baking, or if your grandmother was a pastry chef for 100 years and taught you everything she knew (I'm looking at you here, Harry Potter fandom). Yes, I know: you played Final Fantasy VII when you were two years old, and you've been reading Bleach for twenty years, and your fifth cousin was one of the lead animators for Cowboy Bebop. Very impressive, hooray for you, I still don't care.

Because the truth is this: we write fanfiction, most of it pornographic, about other people's characters. This is not serious business, people.

I appreciate fanfic as a creative outlet for those times when I don't have the energy to focus on my own original plots and characters. I value it as a tool for me to hone my skills and experiment with different styles. I make every effort to polish my stories to the best of my ability before posting them. I try to keep my characters as true to canon as possible (well, most of the time, anyway). But do I expect everyone else to do the same? Absolutely not.

There are some people who just want to have fun writing, post the finished product, and go on with their lives, and I don't understand why so many fandom wankers find that so offensive. For fuck's sake, leave these people alone already. If you take writing seriously, and you want your writing to be the best it possibly can be, then by all means, pursue that goal. But stop expecting everyone else to do the same, and stop whining when someone else's work fails to meet your personal standards for what fanfic should be like.

It's very simple: if you don't like the way XXX writes your beloved characters, or XXX's plots, or XXX's incorrect use of semicolons, then don't read their stories.

Now, I'm not saying that no one should offer constructive criticism, especially if the author asks for it. I personally appreciate it when people call my attention to errors in my stories that I might have overlooked. But there is a huge difference between constructive criticism and blatant trash-talking, and I'm sick to death of seeing nasty comments being made in public forums about writers who, as far as I know, have never once done anything to insult, harass, or otherwise bother anyone.

Anyway, the basic point I want to make is this: some of us take our writing very seriously, and others don't take it seriously at all. Some of us want to be published authors, and others just write fanfic because it's fun. But there's no point in either side trying to tell the other "ur doin it rong" because there is no right way.

I know this post isn't going to change anything. There are always going to be wankers and whiners, no matter what anyone says. All I ask is that you keep it away from me-- keep it away from my email, keep it away from my journal, keep it away from my phone. Sorry, but I just can't find it within myself to care enough about adverbs to be personally offended when someone abuses them.

And above all, please remember... being praised for being a good slash writer is like being asked to be a guest speaker at a Star Trek convention: it's flattering, and your peers will applaud you, but to the rest of the world, we're still nerds.

Nishizono Shinji

Non-fic: Fandom Wank