Me, I used to take fanfic way too seriously. This was back when I was in Trek fandom. I used to be very snooty, would look down my nose at anyone who didn't write fanfic The Right Way (Which was, of course, a euphemism for "My Way." :) ) Very sanctimonious, I was. Still am, sometimes, though not generally about fanfic.
But I realized something over the years. For me, fanfic was always something done for fun. I never had any illusions about it being or morphing into anything resembling High Art. However, "fun" for me was defined as researching stuff and challenging myself to make my stories as "canon" as I could while at the same time adding outrageously un-canon stuff like slash. I assumed that because this was fun for me, it must be fun for other fic writers, too. It wasn't until later that I learned that *gasp!* other people thought that that which I absolutely detested in fanfic was fun to write! That other people had very different definitions of fun! That some people's fun thinking goes something like this: "Gee, Omega Supreme and Rumble are meant for each other! BANZAI!"
And really, who am I to argue, you know? People are going to write badfic no matter how much I kick and scream about it. Some people RELISH writing badfic. Live and let live, sayeth I, nowadays. I'm done with the Fic Police stage in the Evolution of a Fanfic Writer, I guess. :)
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Me, I used to take fanfic way too seriously. This was back when I was in Trek fandom. I used to be very snooty, would look down my nose at anyone who didn't write fanfic The Right Way (Which was, of course, a euphemism for "My Way." :) ) Very sanctimonious, I was. Still am, sometimes, though not generally about fanfic.
But I realized something over the years. For me, fanfic was always something done for fun. I never had any illusions about it being or morphing into anything resembling High Art. However, "fun" for me was defined as researching stuff and challenging myself to make my stories as "canon" as I could while at the same time adding outrageously un-canon stuff like slash. I assumed that because this was fun for me, it must be fun for other fic writers, too. It wasn't until later that I learned that *gasp!* other people thought that that which I absolutely detested in fanfic was fun to write! That other people had very different definitions of fun! That some people's fun thinking goes something like this: "Gee, Omega Supreme and Rumble are meant for each other! BANZAI!"
And really, who am I to argue, you know? People are going to write badfic no matter how much I kick and scream about it. Some people RELISH writing badfic. Live and let live, sayeth I, nowadays. I'm done with the Fic Police stage in the Evolution of a Fanfic Writer, I guess. :)