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writethisfanficDay 2! How's it going today?
And for discussion, we return to the flamingo:
[Canon is more what you’d call (fanfic flamingo) ”guidelines” than actual rules]
How wedded are you to canon? Is your canon even internally consistent? A lot of fic writers will twist bits of canon deliberately in order to make a statement about something in canon (& of course there are AUs, which are a whole different situation!). But aside from that, are you a stickler for canon -- making sure you can cite canon support for the decisions you make in your fic -- or are you more willing to bend the rules? Do you feel differently about this as a reader?
Poll #7442 Day 2 check-in!
Open to: Registered Users, detailed results viewable to: All, participants: 8
What did you do today on your fic?
View Answers
Write
2 (25.0%)
Edit
3 (37.5%)
Procrastinate
1 (12.5%)
Post
1 (12.5%)
Send to beta
1 (12.5%)
Research
0 (0.0%)
Something else I will describe in comments
2 (25.0%)
And how are you feeling about that?
What's your goal for tomorrow?
And for discussion, we return to the flamingo:
[Canon is more what you’d call (fanfic flamingo) ”guidelines” than actual rules]
How wedded are you to canon? Is your canon even internally consistent? A lot of fic writers will twist bits of canon deliberately in order to make a statement about something in canon (& of course there are AUs, which are a whole different situation!). But aside from that, are you a stickler for canon -- making sure you can cite canon support for the decisions you make in your fic -- or are you more willing to bend the rules? Do you feel differently about this as a reader?
Tags:
zzzzzzz
Date: Saturday, July 2nd, 2011 21:19 (UTC)I think canon is really important, & I prefer to only go against canon when I do it on purpose to call attention to something I want to address. But I don't like having canon nail down everything, too: I like to have room to write in the cracks!
Re: zzzzzzz
Date: Sunday, July 3rd, 2011 01:26 (UTC)I like using canon. I have to forcibly drag myself away from it at times. But as I see it, fanfic is mostly for figuring out what canon really meant, or fixing what canon got wrong.
Re: zzzzzzz
Date: Sunday, July 3rd, 2011 12:28 (UTC)I agree, fic is definitely for clarifying canon or fixing it!
no subject
Date: Sunday, July 3rd, 2011 01:23 (UTC)no subject
Date: Sunday, July 3rd, 2011 12:39 (UTC)no subject
Date: Sunday, July 3rd, 2011 01:55 (UTC)Well, I do mostly write RPF, so the nature of 'canon' is a lot more fluid than it is for FPF. I don't always stick to canon either. I love writing AUs and messing about with that, so canon is only really important in that context of keeping them IC. But again, depends on the AU. Some are closer to canon than others. Though, to be fair, I did resist the urge to add footnotes and citations to my queer_fest fic, pointing out all the RL references that turned up in there. Because there were a helluva lot of them. It's more because I want to be able to distinguish stuff I've made up, and stuff that actually happened, you know? That sort of thing.
no subject
Date: Sunday, July 3rd, 2011 12:41 (UTC)Oh yes, canon would be different in RPF -- good point (I don't write it & don't usually read much of it myself, so it didn't occur to me: too centered on myself & my fics, I guess? Eeeeek).
I could see wanting to footnote stuff! Eh, why not? I've seen a few people put footnotes in their fic. Sometimes people really appreciate the extra info. :)
no subject
Date: Sunday, July 3rd, 2011 12:55 (UTC)Nah, that's cool. Canon has different meanings with regards to RPF. Not all RPFers see it as having canon, though. I do, if only to make my life easier. What to include and not include is sort of left up to the individual.
I suppose it's because it's canon that pretty much only I know? And I like Edumacating my Readers. Or something. Maybe I'll do some annotated fics later on, but I have other priorities right now. I do want to do it though. Because I have itchy footnote urges. :D
no subject
Date: Sunday, July 3rd, 2011 02:31 (UTC)Beyond that, no new words, but some older ones polished. Good day, overall!
I like to stay as canonical as I can in my writing -- I tend to write shortish character study things, so making sure my characterizations fit with canon is something that's important to me. But, that said, I'll totally bend rules to make a point or to write a fixit. That seems to be my preference in what I read, too -- I love missing scenes and episode tags, things that wonder about and explore the gaps left in canon.
no subject
Date: Sunday, July 3rd, 2011 12:44 (UTC)Yeah, I think for me characterization is really key -- things have to "feel right" for the person, even if I tweak some other things. Of course, this is all assuming canon makes sense & is clear on things, which, alas, doesn't happen nearly enough for my liking. :/ I think I do better tweaking things for fic rather than making things up out of whole cloth (this is also part of why I tend to ficlets that are character studies, & am flummoxed by actual plot).
(Also, congrats on winning one of the contest days at
no subject
Date: Sunday, July 3rd, 2011 03:08 (UTC)As to the discussion question, one of my favorite things to do is look at people's relationships, so I enjoy seeing Character A and Character B together, especially if they are awesome ladies. (In my head, all the ATLA ladies are polyamorous and queer :D) And when I think of AUs (so far--I haven't thought of many), they're more crossovery than part-of-canon-happens differently. This is because I don't write stories with actual plots. :-)
no subject
Date: Sunday, July 3rd, 2011 12:47 (UTC)The research does sound fun for that, though! Good luck!
I approve of queer polyness in A:TLA, yesssssss!!
(& hahahaha, I almost never write plot either. I've been struggling w/Actual Plot for the past couple months, but before that pretty much everything was feeeeeeelings, except for a couple of plotted fics that were baseball games -- & so v. easy as far as plots go!)
no subject
Date: Sunday, July 3rd, 2011 04:21 (UTC)I'm pretty keen on canon -- maybe not quite a stickler, but close! Whatever I write, I try to have it fit with canon as much as possible, even if it's not something that actually occurred in canon. When I go off on my own, it's never really outside of canon -- in fact, I always check my ideas against canon to see if I can make them work within that framework, and my OC's are canon-worthy (at least I think so!).
Oddly enough, much of my writing is AU where a character who dies in canon lives in my stories -- but aside from that, I try to stick to canon with him inserted back in. It's kind of like an experiment to see how much canon actually changes with that difference in place! (There is such a thing as canon AU, right?) It sounds as if it might be restrictive, but I really have a lot of room to maneuver in spite of sticking to canon like I do. I have tried to bend the rules, so to speak, and give myself more freedom, but I don't like it. :-D
I do find I'm much more flexible as a reader, though. I can definitely enjoy a story that doesn't stick with canon -- though I always find myself noticing where it diverges, alas -- even when I don't want to. One of the dangers of being canon-conscious is that it's always there in front of you, even when you don't want it!
no subject
Date: Sunday, July 3rd, 2011 12:49 (UTC)Yeah, I think that makes sense -- & in a way it can make you more creative, kind of like... IDK, writing poetry to a form (sonnet or sestina or whatever) can make you stretch & come up w/something more interesting than if you were writing free verse & didn't have any structure to hew to.
no subject
Date: Sunday, July 3rd, 2011 08:43 (UTC)I try to stay as canon as I can in keeping characterization right. But I also write total AU too. Characterization is key to me. As my canon has half a century 's history and retcon frequently, I will pick and choose canon for my sake. I like to use obscure canon facts when it fit my purpose.
no subject
Date: Sunday, July 3rd, 2011 12:49 (UTC)Yeah, I think when there's been so MUCH canon, a lot of which gets contradicted, it definitely becomes more of a matter of choice for the author as to what to consider using or ignoring. Which can be a lot of fun!! Especially if you can pull out obscure points in service of your fic. :D
no subject
Date: Sunday, July 3rd, 2011 08:48 (UTC)Been doing some replay to refamiliarise myself with details and voices.
no subject
Date: Sunday, July 3rd, 2011 12:50 (UTC)Doing a canon refresh is never a waste of time! At least, that's what I tell myself. :)
no subject
Date: Sunday, July 3rd, 2011 11:43 (UTC)I may just piddle with my HP fic I started on Friday as I have watched HP last night and am feeling particularly sweet on Harry right now and I may not have a whole lot of time to time to write much of anything later today. In fact as soon as I'm done here it's off to the grocery store (at 7AM on a Sunday!).
Canon. I'm firm believer in sticking with canon as much as possible. Except when it suits me to not! That rarely happens though. Now canon CAN be manipulated by a talented author (not me) and if it's presented well and motivated properly then I can certainly accept it without issue.
HAPPY FOURTH everyone in the US of A!!!
no subject
Date: Sunday, July 3rd, 2011 12:52 (UTC)I hope you're able to get some work in on your HP fic while you're feeling especially sweet on Harry -- it's great when those feelings & time to work on fic actually coincide!
no subject
Date: Sunday, July 3rd, 2011 16:38 (UTC)As for Days 1 and 2 writing, I did my ladyfest story and got down over 700 words for it so far. There was a short smut scene that took me a while to write it out because I'm always paranoid over if my smut scenes aren't good enough, LOL. I got that out of the way though and so the rest of the fic should be written fairly fast from there on.
For the canon question I try to stick to canon as best as I can. There might be times I'll wish for something in canon to be expanded, and thus where my headcanon comes in, haha. As a reader I too would see if the writer is sticking to canon to his or her best ability, but I don't mind if they put some stuff in their headcanon too. Sometimes something that they thought would be in canon I would never thought before.
no subject
Date: Tuesday, July 5th, 2011 19:47 (UTC)Yay for getting 700 words down!
no subject
Date: Monday, July 4th, 2011 00:46 (UTC)I'm planning to do some writing tonight.
My attachment to canon is rather . . . flexible. It seriously depends on the fandom I'm writing for. Example, for due South, the canon was fairly inconsistent with big and small things to begin with (Fraser can drive! No, HE CANNOT! RayK has an older brother! I DON'T THINK SO!). Therefore, if I'm not writing an AU fic, I tend to use the foundation of the story arcs for the characters rather than stick to it faithfully.
In Bandom, I tend to write AUs most of the time. In addition, the "canon" keeps changing (people get together, they break up. Same with bands) so, there's only so much adhering to the canon I can do without going crazy. There are a few resources (including a detailed, through-the-years timeline spreadsheet that I might look at every so often) available.
Still, if someone is going to complain that Gerard couldn't have been in L.A. for XYZ date because he was elsewhere, well, all that person is going to get from me is a too bad, so sad.
Checking on canon while I'm reading (as in, getting upset if Frannie Vecchio does or does not have sixtuplets--as per the series coda) is not something I do. I will admit that I might raise an eyebrow if someone has Frank Iero be from Montana (rather than New Jersey), but I'll put my trust in the author that the change in the canon will be explained at one point or another in the story.
no subject
Date: Tuesday, July 5th, 2011 19:49 (UTC)Yay for editing -- sounds like if you added more words to the story they were things you saw were needed, so yay for being able to add them in right away!