But we can't Selllllll fanfic

[valarltd]

This has been brewing for a while.

Why can't we sell fanfiction?
When there are books like Scarlett and The Wind Done Gone.
When My Jim debuts to critical acclaim.
When The Open Window totally takes Wendy Darling out of character and sells for $14.95.
When The Red Tent is being read by women's book groups all over country.
When the X-Wing and Buffy and ST books go on and on and endlessly on.

What makes THEIR fanfiction so superior to ours?
The fact it's packaged as literature?
The fact it's approved by the owners?

Help me out here, because I'm confused, and getting crankier by the day.

Comments

[franklymydear.livejournal.com]

Don't forget the officially sanctioned real person slash... or het, whatever. Any historical movie... Alexander, for example. And aside from that, you've got Pirates of the Caribbean and Haunted Mansion- fan fiction about theme park rides. Or movies like Ocean's 12 and Being John Malkovich that play around with the actors themselves and fanfic the actors into the plot- hmm.

However, the thing I like the most about fan fiction is that it is what people tend to do when the commercially sanctioned thing they're a fan of does not provide what they want. For example, a relationship not going the way they wanted to, a relationship that they think should be there but isn't- Kirk/Spock, perhaps. So, with totally pure intentions and for a higher purpose beyond looking for what will sell the best they fill in the gaps. The commercial vehicle of the show or fandom gives the viewers what they will pay the most to see. Fan fiction gives them what they would rather see on a fun day. What I'm trying to say, I suppose, is that fan fiction should be the pure version- we should do it not with the intention of making a profit, because that would corrupt it in a sense, but merely because we love the fandom and this is just expressing our frustration or our appreciation of whatever direction the Powers That Be decide to take. Sometimes it's better and sometimes it's worse, but charging a fee for it would make us more like the Man that won't because of viewership/readership crap give the minority what it wants.

Uh, or something like that.