Sasra's Scrapyard

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Don’t enjoy the characterizations in a fic? Is it too OOC for you? Feel free to stop reading and move on to something else.

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Content of a certain fic might be triggering or upsetting to you? Please stop reading and move on to something else.

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It is *always* a reader’s responsibility to decide what they do and do not read. It is *not* the writer’s job to adhere to anyone else’s standards or preferences.

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Headcanons are no longer personal opinions but “you are wrong and always have been wrong”, “you are DIRECTLY going against canon with this and here’s a list of reasons why this is so!”

Do I even need to bring up the “fiction = reality” argument here that’s currently so prevalent in fandom circles that, sure, definitely has some truth in it when you’re considering a piece of mainstream media which is going to reach millions of people, but not so much when you’re applying it to a fanfiction with 100 views tops 

There are certain things fans want to see in their mainstream content, and that’s okay! I do that too! Diversity is a necessity in media and it’s wonderful that the mainstream media is finally taking steps to rectify that, no matter how small. Fans can now openly communicate with content creators on social media and get them to confirm all manner of headcanons, and that’s good too! 

Except some fans have run with this and started using it against fandom, and suddenly you’ve ended up with fans terrified to put forth their own content because it doesn’t fit into the requirements they’re requesting from the mainstream. 

One of the best examples to illustrate this recent shift that I can think of is (oh god here we go I’m not even in this fandom) Reylo. If it were to become canon in the films? Sure, feel free to criticise the creators behind the decision all you want! However, exploring the potential such a relationship could have in a fanfiction no-one’s going to read except other people interested in the same idea doesn’t open it up to this same criticism.

50 Shades of Grey, in its original form as Twilight fanfiction, was fanfiction written for fandom consumption and published in a fandom space.

EL James, in deciding to publish it, took that fanfiction out of the fandom space and opened it up to full public consumption. 

And in turning that fanfic into a published novel, in removing it from its fandom space and placing it in a literature space, EL James should have done her research, or at least sought out critical opinions which influenced the novel’s transition from a fanfic written entirely to amuse herself to a published work.

Does this mean we should be criticising fanfictions which gain popularity in fandom in case the authors decide to do as EL James did and publish it as an original work?? 

In my opinion, no.

Fanfictions published in fandom spaces are written freely, given freely. We have no way of judging why an author felt the need to write their fanfics and fanfiction authors do not need to justify themselves even if they do (to use 50 Shades again) write fucked up dynamics in a romantic way, or haven’t done any research on a topic central to their work such as BDSM, etc. If, however, you choose to edit your fanfiction into an original work, it no longer exists in a fandom space and you should be aware of that. 

I know this because my mom has had Chronic Fatigue Syndrome essentially my entire life, but I couldn’t understand her fatigue until I got sick myself.

I know this twice over because when I got extremely ill with Lyme Disease, she couldn’t understand my fatigue. Twenty years of CFS and she would chastise me for not doing some things she thought I should be doing, even when I said I was too tired. A few years later, her condition worsened and she apologized to me, saying that it was only then that she got it.

So please, don’t think that the tiredness you’ve dealt with is comparable to what a chronically ill person has to fight, every minute of every day, to try and scrape by an existence. In fact, don’t even try to understand, because you can’t. 

Headcanons are no longer personal opinions but “you are wrong and always have been wrong”, “you are DIRECTLY going against canon with this and here’s a list of reasons why this is so!”

Do I even need to bring up the “fiction = reality” argument here that’s currently so prevalent in fandom circles that, sure, definitely has some truth in it when you’re considering a piece of mainstream media which is going to reach millions of people, but not so much when you’re applying it to a fanfiction with 100 views tops 

There are certain things fans want to see in their mainstream content, and that’s okay! I do that too! Diversity is a necessity in media and it’s wonderful that the mainstream media is finally taking steps to rectify that, no matter how small. Fans can now openly communicate with content creators on social media and get them to confirm all manner of headcanons, and that’s good too! 

Except some fans have run with this and started using it against fandom, and suddenly you’ve ended up with fans terrified to put forth their own content because it doesn’t fit into the requirements they’re requesting from the mainstream. 

One of the best examples to illustrate this recent shift that I can think of is (oh god here we go I’m not even in this fandom) Reylo. If it were to become canon in the films? Sure, feel free to criticise the creators behind the decision all you want! However, exploring the potential such a relationship could have in a fanfiction no-one’s going to read except other people interested in the same idea doesn’t open it up to this same criticism.