leroux | My thoughts; have them.

By way of

happydork, some author named Diana Gabaldon (I've never heard of her) posted about how gross she finds fan fiction, followed shortly thereafter with a more moderated post wherein she sounds like less of a douche.

This came to my attention just after I'd read

atrata's really phenomenal piece of Iron Man fan fiction, "Almost No One Makes It Out" (which I recommend to any and all because it is a) a fantastic piece of writing; b) will enrich your enjoyment of Iron Man source material, whether you have only seen the movie or, like me, have been reading the comics for ten years; and c) contains no porn, so will not offend any sensibilities).

More collected people than myself have talked about the many ways in which Gabaldon's post is "inconsistent, problematic, and/or faintly ridiculous" (see

metafandom), but what it comes down to for me, at this moment, with

atrata's story being the one at the forefront of my mind right now, is this:

1.

atrata's story is a great piece of writing. It is not "practice", and I don't just like it because I love Iron Man and will read anything about him. It is well-crafted, entertaining, and has a depth of emotion and a thoroughness in its exploration of human strength and interrelationships that outdoes many, many works of published fiction.

2. The story is a valuable transformative work in that it reacts to and exposes biases, class issues, and flaws in the source material. It is fundamentally about and in conversation with the Iron Man mythos, comic books, superheroes, the American military, action movies, and fiction. There is no way to file the serial numbers off that story and call it original fiction, which is what makes it a great piece of fan fiction.

3. It cannot be said that because "Almost No One Makes It Out" is a piece of fan fiction - and it definitely is - it is not original, or "easier" than writing so-called original fiction. Taking Iron Man in general as an example, the canon backstory for Iron Man (Tony Stark inherits riches, which in a shocking twist of fate leads to success!) is a far easier story to write than

atrata's story, where Tony Stark is working-class.

atrata's plot is her own, as is her dialogue, and her themes and her turns of phrase. As well, she couldn't say, "Well, these are my characters so everything they do or say is in-character because I say so," which, in the realm of characterization, sounds easier to me.

4. Fan fiction isn't illegal. Really.

5. I find it interesting that Gabaldon's post about fan fiction came from her blog, which is precisely the forum where fan writers and fan readers interact with each other these days. I find it unlikely that her motives are any different than the average fan writer for keeping a blog with open comments; feedback, praise, a two-way dialogue. Here's the thread where I commented on

atrata's story. Fandom is a gift economy, and the result of this beautiful system is that complete strangers make each other super happy. I'm not giving that up for anybody's backward feelings, especially someone whom I have to pay in order for them to give me stories. Stories that are maybe not even as interesting as the transformative works that derive from them.