why fanfiction/fanart/fanwork is allowed to suck ass
so, yesterday (or this morning for some of y’all), i just posted something of a diss towards dc canon because they deserve it.
now, in the responses to my post, someone said that our fanfiction isn’t that good, and that we’re not much better than canon
i was really wondering if it was worth responding to, but, honestly, i appreciate fanfiction, fanwork and fanart too much not to defend them when i see fit.
because you see the difference between writers on ao3 and writers on dc is one simple thing: one of them is paid for it and the other isn’t.
i’ll give you a clue: the one writing 50k+ words, updating weekly, doing research, finding betas, looking for canon-support, spending hours perfecting anatomy, hair, eyes, looking at proportions, looking at poses while ALSO juggling a full-time/part-time job/school isn’t the former.
so, yes, are our fanfictions better than canon? some, yes. some, no. does it matter? no. because another difference is that i can opt in and out of fanwork. i don’t like the tags? sure, i’ll leave. unto the next self-serving AU that i love and enjoy. that’s not how it happens in canon. in canon, what you do to our heroes and our characters will stay with fans and their story forever.
my issue with current dc canon isn’t oh no :( bruce not spending time his kids :(
it’s my childhood hero - the one i spent all night watching with my dad, the one i watched growing up as a kid, the one i loved and admired, the one hero that was human and had no abilities outside of his brains and brawn - is fucking beating his kids.
how the fuck do you think that’s gonna affect readers? supporters? fans who were victims of child abuse? how do you think victims of child abuse are going to feel looking at bruce wayne hit jason so hard he broke through metal, and drag his bleeding body?
and that’s going to affect the character for years, potentially decades to come in ways even the most popular of fanfiction won’t.
so, yes, i’m allowed to hate on dc and, at the same time, indulge myself with shitty and terrible fanwork if i fucking want to. i would much rather read a plotless fanfic that’s, i don’t know, the batboys making bruce wayne a fucking cake while ruining the whole kitchen than having to look at what dc has done to my favorite characters.
to the people who think their work is bad: it’s okay. you’re contributing to this fandom and to the fans. you’ll get better. you’ll be able to do what your favorite artist can, you’ll be able to form sentences as beautiful as the ones in your fave fics. but don’t stop contributing to this fandom and to any fandom. there will be someone who needed to see your work now and there will be someone who will be happier for it.
i have a small following on this blog, and i generally reblog fandom posts on my personal blog to keep this one clean and organized, but i’m thinking of spending a day or two just reblogging work from other creators to show how much i appreciate them. will you guys be okay with that? or maybe i can make a masterlist of blogs to follow! what do you guys think?
p.s. if you’re a content creator, i am REQUIRING you to reply and say that you are. i don’t care if you don’t think you’re good enough. you deserve love, validation and recognition all the same
to op who commented: sorry, but i couldn’t just sit quiet. i suppose this isn’t even a rant at you - i probably even went off topic there - but i get so riled up when ppl diss on fanart/fanwork/fanfiction ??? lmao