Draco doll and fanfic musings

[czeri]

Apparently there's going to be a high quality Draco doll. Isn't it the prettiest thing ever?! I have to visit Harrods one of these days to see if they'll be available over here and if so for how much. Now, if only they made a Lucius doll as well. They'd go together so beautifully! ;-)

In other news, while reading the requests in one of the numerous exchange fests recently I've been struck by the realisation that a large part of fanfiction is not actually based on canon but instead on kink-fulfillment. The starting point for many a fic is not a plausible extrapolation of canon but a scenario or image into which the characters are forced to fit. Naturally the fit is rarely good, which results in loads and loads of OoC'ness. That's a pretty fascinating phenomenon, isn't it? After all, as the name itself suggests fanfiction is fiction written for and by fans of a particular show/book/film/whatever. Which would imply that fanfic writers find their source material appealing and have a strong emotional bond with it. Why then are so many of them ready to completely ignore it? And shouldn't the stories that are produced in this way be more accurately called anti-fanfiction? Hmm...

Comments

[son-of-darkness.livejournal.com]

I think kink fulfillment in fanfic is perfectly ok. In fact, that's what most fanfic is all about. I don't want to write fic about Harry going on and long a arduous journey to find the remaining horcruxes when in a couple of months time, I'm going to be reading about it in canon, anyway. Not only does it seem silly to write what is going to be given to us, anyway, it would make me all frustrated if everything I wrote and all the cool plot twists I came up with were debunked in the space of a 500 page book. I, and I know lots of other people, write fanfiction as a way of making things happen that would NEVER happen in canon. We KNOW it's not canon, but that's a big part of the reason why we do it.

I mean... Lucius/Draco?? Prime example. ;)

[czeri.livejournal.com]

Oh yes, sorry I wasn't very clear in my original post - I agree, kink fulfillment in fanfic is perfectly ok and it is indeed what makes the fanfic being written in the first place. What I was referring to is a situation in which the kink gains priority over the source material, that is when the author starts to fit the characters to the kink rather than the kink to the characters. I believe at that point a line between fanfic and anti-fanfic is crossed. After all such a story would be more accurately classified as belonging to the kink's fandom rather than the characters' fandom, wouldn't it?

And whatever do you mean by implying Lucius/Draco is not perfectly canon compliant? :blinks: ;-)

[ramblingnic.livejournal.com]

Must have doll! Now!

I love kink in my fanfic, but if it doesn't make any sense it turns me right off. Like if all of a sudden Neville is on the giving end of a non-con fisting fic, or something.

Okay, I'm still looking at the doll. I wonder how much it would cost to get it made up in life-size?

[czeri.livejournal.com]

I must have doll now too! Particularly since in two weeks I'm going to see Jason Isaacs live on stage and naturally am going to wait after the show in the hopes of meeting him. If I had the doll, I could give it to him for signing and take loads of pictures as he fumbles with it and... Yeah, I'm aware I'm the saddest person in history ;-)

And yes, kink going against all canon is exactly what bothers me. I feel it's false advertising, you know? Luring me with the promise of being about my favourite characters and instead giving me weird constructs designed to fulfill the author's fantasies.