fandom snowflake challenge Day 14

[kaixo]

Day 14

In your own space, create your own challenge. Whatever your challenge is, and have fun with it! Leave a comment in this post saying you did it. Include a link to your post if you feel comfortable doing so.

For writers, I just want to challenge yourself to put a transformative statement on your work, tbh. Have a think if it's going to be yes, no, or maybe, then make a decision.

My friend is outchere looking for fics in a fandom to podfic. Out of 125 fics on her spreadsheet, none have transformative statements. Come on, writers, we need to do better.

Comments

erm... it's not really about me or 'my work'

[kaixo]

having someone make a transformative work of yours is like the best comment and compliment ever.

The thing is, it's really not about me or 'my work', and I'm hesitant to look at it that way.

Once the work is posted, and it's out there, it doesn't belong to me anymore in a lot of ways. I have no control in how people read it or perceive it.

Especially the fic is either based on intellectual property (be it Harry Potter or Marvel) or ... Real Person Fiction. The work is just an idea that spurs another idea from another creative if you're lucky, and each idea is its own work. As much as I'm appreciative of said transformative mixes of the work (I've had my stuff remixed, sequelled and podficced), I'm well aware that each person is their own universe and brings their own eyes to the work and in a lot of ways, their work is separate to mine and not mine.

I keep going back to loose ends, the podfic that itsadrizzit did with a story I just posted and moved on. She made it a lot bigger, a lot better and in a lot of ways --- she made me realise that the story didn't belong to me anymore. I think a healthier outlook is that the writer can realise that it's about the story and not about the writer per se and leave it at that.

I don't know how to say this without being any more indelicate, but this pov having someone make a transformative work of yours is like the best comment and compliment ever shouldn't be the point. Especially since with Transformative Works, there's an alchemy between the original bit of work vs their work. It's not about the podficcer wanting to spend all this time with 'my story' as much they're using it as a launching point for their work, tbh.

I'm sure I'll have a different pov if I owned Harry Potter, Marvel, and Real People (LOL), but I don't. I'm just a spinner of ideas, and I like the fact that people are inspired by what I do to feel free to do what they do. The danger is that their ideas might be a lot better than mine, but that only makes the fandom tapestry richer. As long as they link me (in terms of say, credit me as the base to their remix), I'm good.

Re: erm... it's not really about me or 'my work'

[kiki_eng]

*nods* Yeah, I find it an interesting cultural thing that permission needs to be given in a way because, yeah, if you're transforming my work it's not mine anymore and that's cool.

I think that's what's awesome about it from that italicized place, that someone found a spark in someone else's work and went and built something from it and poured themselves into it. I think that's a really neat interaction, between texts and creators.

...and I guess because I see it as a kind of dialogue I find the "please put up a permission statement" and "please comment on fic more" interesting because they're both about encouraging a kind of dialogue but they're not statements I see alongside each other very much? Though sometimes the "comment more" ones are spun as "fuel creativity". I think how fans interact and create and bounce ideas off each other and bounce off each other's ideas is all really interesting and I think there is a thing in this where fic gets privileged over other types of fanworks and I think it's bizarre.

I fucked up with my phrasing there a bit, writing something that feeds into that privileging of fic or of privileging of the remixed work over the remix or what have you. (having someone make a transformative work of yours is like the best comment and compliment ever)

Thanks for linking to that meta of akamine_chan's - I'd missed seeing that when it came out - and thanks for pointing out the problems with my phrasing.

Re: erm... it's not really about me or 'my work'

[kaixo]

"please put up a permission statement" and "please comment on fic more" interesting because they're both about encouraging a kind of dialogue but they're not statements I see alongside each other very much?

Yeah. The thing is, there are a lot of writers in my TL on tumblr who moan about the fact that the feedback culture is dead, people not leaving comments on their fics, etc, etc. So I'm like, "Do you have Blanket Permissions? Are you commenting on other's work?" Because you do have to give to get, be it saying that you're open to Blanket Permissions or you're going to get out of your navel and comment on other people's works.

It's also further compounded the fandom I'm in is changing a bit, and I think writers need to realise that they have to change too. It's not enough to post fic and wait for comments, because fandom is too fragmented for that. You have to get involved and socialise.

I think there is a thing in this where fic gets privileged over other types of fanworks and I think it's bizarre.

Yeah, same. On one hand, I get it, because I guess fanfic is where the ideas are, but the whole "Let me ask you permission of an idea from an intellectual property which isn't yours" is erm... yeah, awkward. As long as you don't dox me, and h/t me in terms of say, your remix, I'm good.