#especially since has a vague respect for good fanfic because he is fundamentally incapable of writing it

[anghraine]

My best friend went to a SF/F conference which was apparently spectacular, and where one of the (prestigious!) authors present liked his (my friend's) response so much that the author told my friend, "I'm going to be thinking about that all day."

Anyway, it seems there was also a panel on fanfic and its relation to speculative fiction, and although my friend neither reads nor writes fic, nor really "gets" it outside of osmosis from me, he went nevertheless and he ended up being deeply fascinated by something he couldn't remember the name of but was more about consolation than adhering to the typical norms of Western storytelling in terms of conflict etc.

me: ...

me: ........

me: .....................was it hurt/comfort

him: YES

#his line of thought was that h/c /can/ have conflict in a fairly typical way but doesn't intrinsically need to #to really accomplish its function for people who are into it #and i mean. probably true??? #so it was an interesting discussion #especially since has a vague respect for good fanfic because he is fundamentally incapable of writing it #for basically the same reason that he enjoys literary studies enough but couldn't do it professionally #it feels like being kind of ... chained to someone else's ideas and so on when he could just do his own thing #where for me good fanfic combines storytelling and interpretation in a really interesting and engaging way #so although we're both extremely into creative writing and even into original sf/f in particular #my literary bent and his artsy creative writing bent do affect how we relate to fanfic #without getting into any assumptions about intrinsic inferiority or whatnot #anghraine babbles #fanfiction