leethet | A question on fandom familiarity

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A question on fandom familiarity

I just read a remark from someone saying they'd read and enjoyed an MFU fanfic despite knowing nothing about the show, and it got me thinking ... how? Why? WTF? *G*

Then it occurred to me, if you read a fanfic about a show you know nothing about, you're really reading original fic, aren't you? For your purposes, it's all new, there's no "canon" (that you know about) to compare the story or characters to, there's only the writer's skill at telling a story. It's original fic.

I assume this reader read the fic because they knew the writer from another fandom and trusted their work (because I can't imagine why anyone would bother, otherwise). But I'm interested in people's thoughts on this. Is it weird to read in a fandom you know nothing about? Would you do it? If so ... why? Because it's an author you trust from elsewhere? But ... isn't it still, basically, reading original fic? So why?

Any thoughts are welcome here. This is really weird to me. :)

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That's exactly what I did with The Professionals. It was a combination of two things that started it. One, a good friend whom I trusted had seen a few eps and had waxed poetic over their adorability *g* and their so-very-married banter. That was intriguing but it wasn't until she sent me links to some outstanding stories that I was hooked.

It was actually a bit of a risk, now that I think on it, because by the time I actually watched the show, I'd fixed these characters quite firmly in my mind. I count myself very lucky that I'd read stories that were true to the show, so that when I saw the episodes, I wasn't disappointed. We all know how fanfic can wander far afield from what the source material intends!

Having said that, I think it was a fluke for me. I can't imagine reading fanfiction for something with which I had no familiarity, no matter how talented the writer. I've never followed a fanfic writer from fandom to fandom, even though I know there are outstanding stories that I'm missing.

The only other thing I'd add is that in this day and age we really don't have to read in a fanfic vacuum. There's oodles of information out there about anything, so if I were interested in something where I had no access to the source, I could readily find it. I think I did that with Pros, too - joined a listserv, used the links and info from there, and informed myself.

Well, you actually did have a bit of a lead in - someone whose taste you knew and trusted, who knew what you liked and tempted you. That might be enough to lure someone in to read fanfic even if they don't yet have access to the show.

It's true that there's a lot available out there on even shows that are technically long off the air - but still, this person had read a fic with zero knowledge of the show, which shows that it's still possible to avoid information even when you're deluged with it. :) Nothing wrong with it, I just can't imagine it myself. What's the lure, you know? Unless, again, you really love that writer's style and look at it as original fic. :)

I came to the "Professionals" without any lead; I just knew the name of the show and I had seen a few pictures of it on Liza's site (and wasn't attracted at all then). I was looking for stories in

crack_van because I was a little fed up with the sort of MFU fanfiction that was published at the time (or simply I was having an overdose of it). I was extremely impressed by the outstanding writing quality of the first "Pros" stories I happened to read (the old, novel length, classic ones). Many of them have nothing to envy to the best of the mainstream literature. I didn't know anything about the show and once I dared to ask a question about a story's background, I got to be positively insulted (by rabid fans, not by the author who is perfectly civilized). I kept on reading however and almost exhausted the archives on line. Then I bought the DVDs, watched the show, liked it a lot though I didn't much recognized the characters from the fictions. Eventually I changed my favourite pairing, dropping the partners for one of them and his boss! And, still this time, it was because of a fateful story of which I strongly admired the writing. The sad result is I have now almost nothing left to read because it's a very unpopular pairing. End of the story.

That's very interesting - especially that you devoured the fanfic first, then found the show not much like the fanfic. I imagine this would happen a lot. Fanfic develops its own ... currents, I think. I don't think it's conscious, but it's true that writers who read fanfic are affected by it, and something that occurs in one fic here, another fic there, becomes a kind of minitrend. I don't think that's bad - it's just a social aspect of fandom - but it can lead the body of fanfic work further from whatever consensus there is regarding "canon." (Such a slippery word anyway)

It's just so odd, to me, that someone would look for fanfic from a show they knew nothing about - you can only assess based on whether the writer is telling a good story or not. Would you agree with me that it is then, in essence, original fic to you as a reader?

Would you agree with me that it is then, in essence, original fic to you as a reader?

In a way, yes, but an original fic with all the typical features of fanfiction. I developped this point earlier in the same discussion. See below.

I certainly took my first "Pros" story as if it was an original fiction. It was so for me. However I was in a "fanfic" turn of mind; I mean, I knew I would find there some basic elements that, for me, are at the core of fanfiction (and very rarely found in the mainstream literature), that is to say: action, friendship, partners, mainly male characters (and only very minor female characters) and, principally, a strong focus put on the partners' relationship (would the story be slash or gen).

Outside fanfiction, I don't read fiction at all (with the rare exceptions of a few classic works or detective novels) necause I know in advance I will be repelled by the characters most readers seem to appreciate in the current literary trends.

That's very interesting - especially that you devoured the fanfic first, then found the show not much like the fanfic.

That's Pros for you. I don't know what most of the authors are watching but it sure wasn't the same show as me. Sadly, I'm seeing the same in MFU. The boys are used as shorthand or avatars for whatever story the author wants to tell, rather than as themselves in their own world, doing what they do in the show.

I prefer them in their natural habitats,ie time, place, degree of campness, etc.
why write in a fandom who's canon you don't like? I don't get that.

Hm. Well, on the one hand I think multifandom authors sometimes suffer from this - they dabble in a new fandom but the stories are only superficially different cross-fandom. A multifannish version of any two guys. Not to say a mono fannish person might not suffer from the problem of creating her own characters and simply pasting on the names Illya and Napoleon. It just seems more common with dabblers (then again, maybe I'm just a harsher judge of the polyfannish butterflies *g*).

But I would also have to say that probably a lot of the writers you feel are not getting the feel and sense of the show feel that they are. :) Now, I grant the show was camp and low budget, but personally I prefer the stories that take things a little more seriously. I'd grant it isn't dead on canon, but it's canon as it could have been with more time and budget. At least, so I think. :) Then again, it's not an unreasonable argument to say a slasher cannot be a canon Nazi anyway. :)

But I would also have to say that probably a lot of the writers you feel are not getting the feel and sense of the show feel that they are. :)

I'm sure they do ;)

And I like the tongue in cheek banter, the pink gas, the big gay evil overlords. That's what makes UNCLE UNCLE. Otherwise it'd a completely different show, rather like James Bond isn't Harry Palmer isn't Napoleon Solo. They're all 60's spies but in no way alike. When you try to make one the other you lose the individual flavor. Without the individual flavor, its on its way to ATG.

See, I love - adore - the tongue in cheek banter, but I prefer it with a slightly more serious plot. Not necessarily really heavy, but of the show's plots, I like the serious ones better, so I like fanfic that takes a more serious tone (still leaving room for banter and some ironic humor regarding the situation). But I think I understand the desire to take these guys and put them in serious situations. Granted, it's not the tone of the show, but I admit I like it (when it's not overdone. Too heavy, too dark, and, yes, it loses something of what I love about the show).

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A question on fandom familiarity

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