Woof. woof.

@thecatfather

Pencil • Over 20. • No pronouns. Do not address me. • Unhinged reblogging. • Occasionally nsfw for shits and giggles. • @thecatfather2 for my fic and fic recs.

I don't really enjoy fanfiction. It's not something I read in my spare time, but I believe in the value of a varied media diet, and I enjoy seeing what my internet acquaintances are reading.

As someone with a more traditional literary education fanfiction is bizarre to read. It's like an entire mode of writing that completely missed the boat on narrative multivalence and complex figurative language, but has an absolutely scalpel-fucking-sharp hand at pacing.

I find that fascinating! Maybe it's just the things I've been exposed to, but I feel like theres a pattern. I've found that even lackluster fanfiction prose tends to be delivered with a fairly advanced understanding of narrative pacing.

I don't know much about the broader culture of fan authors, but if I had to hazard a guess, it probably comes from a culture of discussions around what could make an existing story better. That would be an excellent trial-by-fire for getting a sense of when the important beats should happen.

You can tell that a lot of FF authors have never really studied poetry, or done close readings of other literature. Authors often seem entirely unaware of or uninterested in cultivating a symbolic language. Which isn't necessarily bad, but it's leaving a lot on the table.

Set dressing, objects, even actions, are given comparatively little attention. They're almost suggestions, with the vast majority of the narrative legwork placed on dialogue and blocking. The effect is that fanfiction in my mind reads less like literature, or short stories, and more like a film or stage script. It's strikingly theatrical.

I think that's a lot of my displeasure with fanfiction. To my ear, it reads like someone trying to cram a one act play into a short story shaped hole.

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Not to be a drooling socialist cuck, but if a full day's labour can't purchase three square meals, 24 hour's worth of rent and utilities, a fraction of a month's clothing budget, and a reasonable portion to be saved for when you can no longer comfortably work, what the fuck are we doing shit for