#marginsofprint

For this reading, I am particularly interested. Fanfiction has long had a sometimes bad rep in the world of literature, and I have at times shared this bias. When I was about fourteen was when I first discovered it on the internet. As someone who had no context for what fanfiction was, I was intrigued, I saw it as a creative outlet based off a story I already knew. What this reading brought to me was the long history of fanfiction, zines, and the like. A particular quote stood out to me. “Today's home or self-publishing is now considered among the least respectable forms of literary endeavor, with fan fiction even lower because it is written for pleasure rather than profit.” This both made sense and frustrated me. If all published works were for profit or simply knowledge and not pleasure, we would be missing a massive portion of our society’s literary codex. Fiction in general has long brought knowledge through it’s plots and characters, and made new ideas a reality that would be unfathomable otherwise. I see the codex being much larger than the margins of widely published or profitable works, and would be frightened to know what the world would be like if we did not read for pleasure.

To me when I hear fan fiction I think of normal people writing about popstars or other celebrities.  The article Margins of Print relates fan fiction way back to the 1930s.  The author believes that many have not accepted that fan fiction is part of the history of women’s writing.  She states, “Nonetheless, I would like to argue that if we problematize how we consider the form and content of fan writing in both its creation and reception, we can read fan fiction as part of a continuum of historical publication practices. This reading relies on acknowledging that we have accepted as a cultural norm hierarchies of value between print and digital that emphasize traditional patriarchal and public practices of reading and writing over private coterie practices, ones that have their roots in the history of women's reading and writing.”  Before reading this article, I would never have considered fan fiction as women’s history since I viewed it as a platform for amateur writers to publish their fantasies about their favorite celebrities.  In the article it explains the history of the fannish writing and how it came to be.  At the beginning it was marked as an easy and affordable way to quickly circulate one's ideas.  With time, and technological advances, the stories being publish became available to a larger audience.  Now a days some fan fictions receive millions of reads off of popular websites like Wattpad. 

I think fan fiction is a great way to connect fans and artists all over the world. This type of writing inspires readers and audiences that wish to continue and recreate their favorite stories with others who share the same interests. I find it really interested that these stories gain their popularity online and only become hit works once they reach print. Usually, the process works the other way around and takes the approval of professionals and publication companies to reach bigger audiences. The power of fandoms and fanfiction can lead to chart breaking movies and bestsellers lists. Fan fiction culture reminds me of active reading games and activities because it gives the reader a chance to recreate their own stories and add missing elements that the original author left the reader hanging on. This can come in many forms as well, artwork, comics, poetry, music, practically anything can be created as a result of fan fiction. 

discussion questions

How has fan fiction influenced the original authors when writing? Do they take into account that fans will use this as a baseline to make their own story? 

Can fanfiction ruin an original story by emphasizing and pointing out hidden messages or meaning that the author didn't mean to be taken a certain way?

In the reading titled “Margins of Print” I was surprised to learn about the way fanfiction is written and distributed. I never thought about wanting the things your write to be “private” and only for your intended audience. In my mind, you either share what you write, or you don’t. If you share it, it’s out there for everyone. I found the idea of locked communities very interesting. It makes total sense to make it so the unintended audience does not get to read your fanfic. The whole point is to geek out with other people who enjoy the same thing as you and share a connection over common interests. An outsider may not be able to “get it,” and an insider may challenge the ideas brought forth by the author of a particular piece and spark debate about the selected topic, which is what fandom is about. Another interesting part of the reading was about the roles of women in the production of books, like laborers in a textile mill. I never really thought about that before, it was quite thought provoking to think that women were being used as a labor force to manufacture a product that was thought to be a primarily male dominated area. This was a very interesting read, for sure.

-Stephen

Questions:

1. Although fanzines are intended for a niche audience, do you think they should be included along with more mainstream works as a part of book history?

1. What can be done to expand the recognition of non-traditionally published works? Is it even important to expand the recognition if part of the communities intentions are for it to be personally shared only to those interested? 

2. After reading “The Margins of Print,” what do you think about this quote from Stephen Downes’ article about his concerns for fan fictions?...

“The first is the separation of young people from their own lives into the virtual lives of FanFic. One 13-year-old FanFic author I spoke to, in person, described himself as alienated at school; he was ignoring school work, shunning friends and all to produce vast amounts of FanFic for a particular site. 

The wordage produced by some young FanFic authors/contributors is staggering. To give you some idea, an average published novel is 95,000 words, a saga novel can be twice or three times that and can represent three years’ work for a professional author. It is not uncommon for dedicated FanFic writers to produce 300,000 words of FanFic a year. Truly, 300,000 words is a monumental amount of time and effort, and sadly most of it is wasted as the vast majority of FanFic authors will not go on to write in any professional sense.”

In “The Margins of Print: Fan Fiction as Book History,” Catherine Coker invites the reader to reconsider how texts are legitimized by their canonical standing. Moreover, she emphasizes how to redefine the validity of a text by negating the importance of its production and publication. Using fan fiction as an example, Coker argues that the space of production should not indicate a text’s value or level of authenticity because digital publications and print-on-demand texts are often completely overlooked. These “problems of invisibility” help explain why fan fiction is disregarded as an authentic text. As Coker states, “What is not seen becomes nonexistent,” (7). To relate the modern treatment of fan fiction to her audience, Coker shifts her focus to the treatment of women’s texts throughout history. Often considered inadequate material for the textual codex, women’s texts were produced, shared, and enjoyed in a private sphere in response to patriarchal control. Through an oppressive cycle, the men who controlled the canon believed that these “underground” works from women did not have enough notoriety to be considered substantial, regardless that they forced these women to remain hidden in the domestic sphere. Similar to the complete mistreatment of women’s texts, the lack of biographical information of fannish work makes its existence in book history limited. Since book history reinforces the traditional status of books as printed sources of material, fannish work falls back into a private sphere. As Coker explains, book history creates the canon, and subsequently, supports the printed codex of a Western, patriarchal society that has a distinct focus on a white masculine discourse. Consequently, it is determinantal to fannish and other marginalized works to be ignored from book history because it ignites a cyclical behavior of misrepresentation.

Discussion Questions:

This article highlights some of the issues posed by the literary canon. Additionally, many other articles express concern for the canon’s lack of inclusivity. Is the canon still relevant to today’s culture? If not, what should we, as readers, writers, and consumers, do to reinvent or improve the canon?

Do you agree with Coker that alternative forms of literature should be included in book history and the textual codex? What qualifies something as a text? Think about zines, fan fiction, novels, cookbooks, children’s books, digital media, online blogs, etc.

There is no shortage of group’s stories being overshadowed by the white male perspective. From the way we teach children the history of our country in school to the current focus on how white men feel in response to being “attacked” by the Me Too movement, “The Margins of Print” by Catherine Coker shows yet another example. Almost identical to how last week’s article, “Zines Then and Now,” described girls involvement with zines, Coker explains fanfictions in the following way: “Indeed, scribal historian Harold Love has argued that the gendered differences in publication created a "stigma of print" against women writers (1993, 54), and so their retreat into private reading and writing practices became a form of what he calls "bonding" (180), in which literary cliques were formed as conspicuous, gendered acts of exclusion” (8). When I was in middle school, my group of girlfriends and I followed a One Direction fan fiction that had a new chapter come out every week for at least a year. The main characters were the members of the band, but the story was completely original and when compiled together it was quite long as well. At the time I was reading it, I didn’t really consider it a book, because it was online and presented in installments, but now we’ve seen how wide the definition for a book really is. My parents would tell me I needed to be reading “real” books (despite them now enjoying eBooks of all forms), but I saw it as an opportunity to bond with my friends and read something other than a text book for once in my free time. I also thought it was interesting that Coker brought up that “print production has spent centuries solidifying itself as the dominant demonstration of literary force, training readers (and writers) to accept very specific codes of aesthetics as defaults, such as the Times New Roman font that is the mainstay of academics and the octavo format codex that is instantly recognizable to genre readers” (9). We discussed this in lecture on Friday, and before then I had never considered the implication of the font I was always just told was standard. I liked that Coker talked about considering “why?” before absentmindedly choosing Times New Roman next time we write. I can see the importance of following the trend on font depending on your audience. It can prove beneficial to understand the professional label that goes along with certain fonts.  If I am trying to convince a conservative traditionalist to pay attention to my argument I am not going to give them a reason to question my legitimacy before even reading the words I have to say. And from another practical stand point for example I would never give my dad something to read that would be out of his typical reading style if its longer than half a page or so because it’s hard enough on his eyes as it is. Coker’s advice is still strong: question why first and then do what you think is best for your purpose.

As someone who enjoys reading and consuming content with deep and interesting characters, setting, lore, and history, the idea of fan fiction and fan interpretations always rubbed me the wrong way. The idea that someone outside of the creation of the story can just add to it however they please felt unusual and wrong. Not only are they tampering with content that has already been finished or will be finished, they are also creating work that is mostly unoriginal already using characters, setting, and a story, that has already been established. That's why I never understood the idea of fan fiction appealing to so many people. It is a popular cultural phenomenon. People love fan fiction. Reading this article, I can see why so many people love it, as it is something shared amongst communities. When people want to share anything, they use whatever means they can, whether that is social media, text, email, and so on. Fan Fiction works the same way. According to the article, there are many websites and distribution platforms, like WattPad and LiveJournal, where fan fiction can be shared and read across the world. It has built communities worldwide due to a collective "fandom." What I found interesting in this read, though, was the longevity of fan fiction (stemming from the 1930's), and its apparent renaissance during the rise of the internet. Many people are writing and sharing fan fiction than ever before. There are libraries and websites that host a bevy of fan fiction narratives, and many are considering it its own original works of fiction. Many book series that once began as fan fiction is now incredibly popular best-sellers, and some even turn into Hollywood films (fifty shades, etc.). The new cultural relevance and publishing tactics of fan fiction have definitely altered the view of many towards it. It now seems to become a genre of its own rather than an extension of another narrative. While I still do not enjoy the notion of fan fiction, the sudden rise and relevance of it this day and age is something that should be commended and appreciated.

Discussion Questions: 1. Would fan fiction be as popular as it is now without the internet? What other forms of publishing platforms would make it flourish? 2. Is fan fiction considered original art? Even though the setting, characters, and initial story are already established by someone else, but the story is completely unique, is it still original?