Tuesday

[nightdog_barks]

Sunny and 77 degrees (25 degrees Celsius). Housely things to do today, along with a quick trip to the grocery store (didn't get out yesterday). So here are some news and fandom clippies:

Published, professional author Diana Gabaldon says fanfic is immoral, illegal, pornographic, and disgusting. Along with, y'know, any other Really Bad Thing she can think of, including the assertion that fanfic characters are but pale shadows of the original, without depth or complexity. Fandom_Wank is apprised of the post. Wank (and hilarity) ensue. I'd thank the person on my f-list who posted about this yesterday, but it was a locked post.

Oh, David David David. What were you THINKING? Oh, wait ... you weren't, because TEH SEXX0RS WAS TOO GOOD. Oy.

And. The skeleton of a 13th-century man from Tunisia has been found, buried on the grounds of a friary in Ipswich, England. How did he get there? Was he brought to England after the 9th Crusade? I love stories like this. :-)

Comments

[flamingchords.livejournal.com]

This (http://www.journalfen.net/community/fandom_wank/1246633.html?thread=213306025#t213306025) is my favorite comment from the Gabaldon wank. A guy getting branded, nailed to a table, and raped is just good fiction, but gods forbid people write naughty fanfic!

[nightdog-barks.livejournal.com]

And you know, if you're writing porn naughty fanfic, you're actually writing about the author's real family! Oh my God, the crazy.

[flamingchords.livejournal.com]

Oh, and apparently, Jamie Fraser (the guy getting branded, nailed to a table, and raped) was based on this guy (http://tardis.wikia.com/wiki/Jamie_McCrimmon). Note the character's first name, and the actor's first name.

This could not only be considered Who slash, given the time travel in the books, but it could also border on RPS.

[nightdog-barks.livejournal.com]

THIS, which I didn't know about until I read f_w! SHE TOOK A CHARACTER FROM A TV SHOW AND WROTE BOOKS ABOUT HIM. How is this thing not like the other thing? Did she have permission from the BBC? From Sydney Newman, C. E. Webber, or Donald Wilson, listed in Wikipedia as the creators of Doctor Who? I seriously doubt it.

Lady, remove the damn beam from your own eye before you tee off on fanfic writers. Jesus.

[felis-nocturna.livejournal.com]

OMG that Gabaldon stuff? I didn't even know her and I came across ignipes post (http://ignipes.livejournal.com/548222.html#cutid1) about this and spent some time reading Gabaldon's blog post, the comments, fandomwank etc. and then I went and read some reviews on her books. Conclusion: URGH. She has issues and some serious lack of brain cells or something. Also, despite being disgusted by some of this stuff, I had a really entertaining and informative morning. FANFIC IS AGAINST THE LAW OF GOD. DID YOU KNOW THAT??? Heh.

[nightdog-barks.livejournal.com]

ignipes! One of the first Housefic writers I read when I entered the fandom! *g*

Heh, I have to say I did read the first few books of the Outlander series and enjoyed them. The historical research seemed to be top-notch, and the storytelling was pretty good. This diatribe is just so ... badly thought-out and filled with crazy false analogies, though. Ew.

Edited because I've seen questions raised about the accuracy of the historical aspects. *g*

[srsly-yes.livejournal.com]

Gabaldon seems to lack a sense of humor--one reason I'm not going to check out her books. Besides, she should appreciate the free publicity. She should also consider other benefits like keeping her fan base alive between books, and attracting new readers who are curious to read the real thing.

[nightdog-barks.livejournal.com]

All of this. As others have pointed out, her post is laced through with condescension, taking needless swipes at people who are her fans.

I have no problem with writers who don't want others to play in their sandbox, but a simple "Please don't play in my sandbox" should suffice. Insulting folks who think enough of your characters to take them out and play with them isn't the way to go about it, and is actually a good way to ensure those folks won't buy your next book.

[l-eremita.livejournal.com]

Without even reading the link I find the Galbaldon thing HILARIOUS. Yes, I have skimmed her books as summertime frothy fare. All sorts of fanficcy things (such as slash) happen to her heroes all the time!

I even recall the hero Jamie Fraser thanking his male BFF (Lord John Grey, who is gay) for a great favour by offering him a roll in the hay. (Lord John, who is my fave character, increased his standing in my eyes by politely declining the offer!)

[l-eremita.livejournal.com]

Back from reading the link!

Where I agree with her is that it is not fair for anyone to profit off characters she created as she makes a livelihood from the books. This is my problem with people promoting "transformative works" for profit.

BUT fanfic which is for fun only -- not exploitative -- seems harmless to me.

And I don't buy her argument about using only no-longer copyrighted characters either. That seems lame somehow.

[perspi.livejournal.com]

kassrachel posted her favorite responses (http://kassrachel.livejournal.com/819766.html) to the Gabaldon thing, and I must say, they are all fantastic. I especially love bookshop's list of 'fanfiction' throughout history. :)

[nightdog-barks.livejournal.com]

Ah, that's wonderful!

:-D

[silverjackal.livejournal.com]

I have nothing but laughter over the authorial tantrum -- given the citation from her book about some character being raped after having his hands nailed to a table she can not say fan fiction is "icky" with any sort of plausibility. The rest of her assertions are... remarkably hyperbolic.

The thirteenth century African gentleman in Ipswich is fascinating, but not a bizarre as people seem to think. Tunisia is *close* to England, even in Medieval terms. The Holy Land was much, much further away, and I can think of a number of scenarios of how someone from northern Africa could have ended up in England, then or even earlier. The Phoenicians traded for tin with Britain, after all!

[danalwyn.livejournal.com]

Strange how some authors seem to react to this, almost as if some authors have invested a bit too much into their own world that they've created. I've often wondered how that works out, and whether there's a correlation between the dislike of fanfic, and the inability to rationally evaluate the world they've created, and how many new stories they can bring out of it (i.e., some authors seem to fall in love with their world and keep writing books set in it when they really should have stopped several volumes ago - it's not always the publishers fault).