Fanfiction

[annwfyn.livejournal.com]

This is a slightly random question, but do all PoC writers have to be published, or does fanfiction count?

I'm quite happy with it not counting, but as I've been spending most of this morning entranced by some really quite nice X-Men fanfiction, written by a Native American writer, I thought I should really ask.

Comments

[alias_sqbr]

I've thought about this, and I personally think it counts if you read a books worth, and know for sure the author identifies as POC. Don't know how everyone else feels though.

[annwfyn.livejournal.com]

I'm sure she identifies as PoC - there's some stuff on her website about her identity as a Native American. She wrote a wonderful short story, actually, about non-European magical traditions in the Harry Potter 'verse, which was what got me reading the rest of the site.

[alias_sqbr]

Ooooh. I've been thinking about that myself! (And wondering what happens in Australia :))

I've been reading "Finding Himself" and..he has limited mobility! Woot! Heh, that sounds odd, but I have (a different sort of) limited mobility, and am still coming to terms with it, so really appreciate a story which deals with it without being all after-school-special.

[kyuuketsukirui.livejournal.com]

If it's who I think it is, she writes novel-length fic, so I wouldn't see a problem with counting it myself.

[annwfyn.livejournal.com]

www.themedicinewheel.net?

The website got bounced to me by my housemate who's a bit of a fanfic connaisseur. It is really really rather good.

[kyuuketsukirui.livejournal.com]

Yep, she's on my flist. :)

[annwfyn.livejournal.com]

Oh is she?

Oooh...I'm all impressed now. ;)

[vom-marlowe.livejournal.com]

This sounds really interesting. I checked out the site, but I'm not sure where to start. Did you have a particular favorite? (Mods, hope it is OK to ask this here, since the conversation isn't a new post.)

[annwfyn.livejournal.com]

I'm very fond of the Cedric Diggory stories - 'Finding Himself' is what I'm reading right now.

[lizw.livejournal.com]

The community FAQ says e-books count, and so do "other booklike things", so I think it would make sense to count book-length fanfic. Also, AIUI, one part of the purpose of this community is to counter the tendency for POC voices to go unheard, and given that part of that tendency is that publishers are often less willing to take on POC writers, it seems consistent with that purpose for unpublished works to count.

[anitabuchan.livejournal.com]

minisinoo? She writes novel length fic, and is a published author in real life, and several of her fics feature Native American characters, so...I'd say yes. If the point is to read book-length stories from POC, then it counts.

[hesychasm]

Personally, I'm watching this community because I want to start diversifying my book spend and book time. I don't have the same level of interest in fanfic these days, and I wouldn't get as much from the community if a high percentage of the posts were focused on fanfic recommendations.

Whatever the majority wants is of course whatever the majority wants. But if we start including fanfic recs, I suggest we adopt some conventions for labeling posts clearly as either BOOK or FANFIC so people like me can skip or tune in as applicable.

[waelisc.livejournal.com]

Ditto. I've spent most of the last two years reading almost nothing BUT fanfic, and I've been in and out of fandom for decades, so truly I don't want to exclude it from this comm because I think it's a lesser genre or something. I don't.

But I do think it's fair to say that many fanfic stories are less enjoyable/less comprehensible if you haven't seen the source material, and I'm not in the market for new fandoms. I'm here because right now I want to expand my reading of authors of color, and of writing in other genres besides fanfic.

Which is a long way of saying: if you review fanfic here, please just put FANFIC in the subject line.

[monanotlisa.livejournal.com]

I second this. (While I may be interested in fanfic regarding specific fandoms and/or characters, I'd definitely wish to skip all other such posts.)

[kyuuketsukirui.livejournal.com]

But why should fanfic be singled out like that? I mean, I'm not interested in a lot of stuff that people post and I'm sure a lot of people aren't interested in what I post about, but that's what the scroll wheel is for. I see someone post a romance book, scroll scroll scroll. Someone posts a children's (picture) book, scroll scroll scroll. Poetry? Scroll. Etc.

[rydra_wong]

I can't see why book-length fic wouldn't count.

The only possibly-relevant thing I can think of is that some people have decided not to "count" things that they already read a lot of anyway (for example, IIRC, someone who already read a lot of manga mentioned that she wouldn't be counting them in her 50).

But obviously that's a personal choice, in terms of how you want to challenge yourself.

[annwfyn.livejournal.com]

My challenge rules seem to keep changing, but in a fairly healthy way.

For example, when I started, I read loads of genre fic, and paranormal romance, and books I probably would have read anyway. Then I decided I was wussing out, and have just read a pile of somewhat more earnest heavy reads. I'm now taking a break, and reading some lighter fluff, and I'm sure I'll go back to the more serious books in a while.

I think what's important is that I just keep reading. I'm still torn as to whether to count the fanfic - it's book length, and it is really good. I'm tempted to count if for my own personal goal, but I'll just count the entire site as one read, and won't do a full write up in this comm, and then move on.

I was slightly surprised to discover, btw, that I've actually got on to book 24 since I started the challenge in February. It turns out that when I keep track of what I'm doing, I read a

lot.

[daedala.livejournal.com]

1. I am 100% in favor of counting fanfic.
2. I strongly prefer noting that something is fanfic in both the subject line and the tags.
3. I'd prefer to keep "does this author count?" posts to a minimum. Regardless of whether it's fanfic or published, really; but it seems somewhat more likely to come up when there are no author's blurbs. Please apply cluestick if this is unfair.

[rosalux.livejournal.com]

I don't read much fanfic, but since I know a lot of published writers do/did write fanfic, and it's a way into the SF community, and part of the point is to support writers so they stay in the various writing communities, I'd say it should be included.

[sanguinity]

The other mods and I have been talking, and it turns out that we would all prefer that fic recs and reviews not be on this comm. Reasons vary, but part of it is that we anticipate that fic recs could become pretty heavy, and any particular rec is generally only of interest to people who follow that fandom. Fanfic also has a distinct culture, enough so that it makes sense that it appear on a different comm, where community norms could be organized around the conventions of fic.

Which brings us to our proposal: we'd rather see a sister comm for fic, something like 12films_poc. Do you (or anyone who's still reading this post) feel up to organizing such a comm? Or should I bump this up to a new post, asking if anyone wants to step up and create a comm for fic by people of color?

[annwfyn.livejournal.com]

I think it's a lovely idea, but I definitely don't read enough fanfic to be qualified to run such a comm. So, I'd suggest bumping this to a new post.