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metafandom, someone I don't know, ![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
nightspring, said
I really don't think Michelle Kwan makes a habit of walking up to random recreational skaters skating happily around a public rink and telling them that in order to get the full skating experience, they should be jumping triples and gliding artistic spirals. So why do some professional writers apparently think *everyone* who shows the least bit of interest in writing should do so at their level?
I left a comment there, but I wanted to expand a little on the joys of amateurism.
As well as fanfic, which I have written for most of my life without knowing what it was, I'm into lots of crafts: sewing, quilting, embroidery, art journals, altered books, cards, artist trading cards, and a huge variety of sewing and papercrafts. I do all of this for fun, and spend considerable amounts of time and money on it, just as I do on comics and books.
As soon as I show any craft item to a non-crafting person, they immediately compliment it by telling me that I should sell it, particularly if I've made them a card. I tell them that the amount of work I put into a card wouldn't be reflected in the price, but what I really mean is that it's my hobby. I don't want to be paid.
I don't want to spend all that time, money and effort finding outlets for my work and selling it. Even more importantly, I don't want to shape my ideas to what will sell. I want to write and make things that are fun and/or meaningful to me, and to the people that see them. This might be a story for X-Men fans, an art quilt for my art quilt swap, or a gift for someone I care about. Why is this less meaningful than churning out something that has monetary value?
Obviously, many writers, and crafters who sell their items, have found that balance, or made sacrifices, and are happy with that. I'm reading Naomi Novik's Temeraire right now, and that's a work of passion if ever there was one. But the fact that her work is published does not make it intrinsically better than someone else's, though it may be more polished. "Hand-sewn" pyjamas in a shop aren't automatically better than the ones I made for myself, though the seams are probably straighter! It just means the purpose is different. And that's fine.
Then there's the matter of audience. I much prefer to be freer in my hobbies, and only show the things I make to a small, appreciative audience. There's positives and negatives to that, of course, but it's my choice. Someone like Robin Hobb or Anne Rice, who complains about fanfic, has not really understood the potential negatives (to them) of having a larger audience that reads the books. Part of the risk of showing your work is that people will do things with it that you didn't intend. The larger the audience, the larger the chance that someone will be saying, "Hey! What if..." Some authors don't like that, in which case I wonder why they felt the urge to share in the first place. It's not as if anyone, ever, has launched the Perfect Story Of Universal Understanding on the world.
I like to think of the fanficcers and recreational cross-stitchers in a line stretching back into the Victorian age, where it was largely expected that an educated person would have a hobby, whether it was making scrapbooks, writing plays for the household, playing an instrument, studying history or collecting interesting rocks. The world has lost little and gained much from the efforts of these amateurs. Fanficcers and readers enrich the context of their fandom, and, if you want to be mercenary about it, provide extensive free advertising. My crafting hobbies do this too: other crafters ask "Where did you get that paint? What fabric is that?"
I like to be part of the people who ask the questions, who create on a small scale. I like to be able to say "Thank you" to people who look at something I made. If, in the future, I did decide to make embroidered handbags for a living, or write novels, I've had plenty of practise in the basics. If not, I've got wonderful hobbies that enrich my life and help me meet fascinating people (that's you, friendslist!).
metafandom, someone I don't know, nightspring, saidI really don't think Michelle Kwan makes a habit of walking up to random recreational skaters skating happily around a public rink and telling them that in order to get the full skating experience, they should be jumping triples and gliding artistic spirals. So why do some professional writers apparently think *everyone* who shows the least bit of interest in writing should do so at their level?
I left a comment there, but I wanted to expand a little on the joys of amateurism.
As well as fanfic, which I have written for most of my life without knowing what it was, I'm into lots of crafts: sewing, quilting, embroidery, art journals, altered books, cards, artist trading cards, and a huge variety of sewing and papercrafts. I do all of this for fun, and spend considerable amounts of time and money on it, just as I do on comics and books.
As soon as I show any craft item to a non-crafting person, they immediately compliment it by telling me that I should sell it, particularly if I've made them a card. I tell them that the amount of work I put into a card wouldn't be reflected in the price, but what I really mean is that it's my hobby. I don't want to be paid.
I don't want to spend all that time, money and effort finding outlets for my work and selling it. Even more importantly, I don't want to shape my ideas to what will sell. I want to write and make things that are fun and/or meaningful to me, and to the people that see them. This might be a story for X-Men fans, an art quilt for my art quilt swap, or a gift for someone I care about. Why is this less meaningful than churning out something that has monetary value?
Obviously, many writers, and crafters who sell their items, have found that balance, or made sacrifices, and are happy with that. I'm reading Naomi Novik's Temeraire right now, and that's a work of passion if ever there was one. But the fact that her work is published does not make it intrinsically better than someone else's, though it may be more polished. "Hand-sewn" pyjamas in a shop aren't automatically better than the ones I made for myself, though the seams are probably straighter! It just means the purpose is different. And that's fine.
Then there's the matter of audience. I much prefer to be freer in my hobbies, and only show the things I make to a small, appreciative audience. There's positives and negatives to that, of course, but it's my choice. Someone like Robin Hobb or Anne Rice, who complains about fanfic, has not really understood the potential negatives (to them) of having a larger audience that reads the books. Part of the risk of showing your work is that people will do things with it that you didn't intend. The larger the audience, the larger the chance that someone will be saying, "Hey! What if..." Some authors don't like that, in which case I wonder why they felt the urge to share in the first place. It's not as if anyone, ever, has launched the Perfect Story Of Universal Understanding on the world.
I like to think of the fanficcers and recreational cross-stitchers in a line stretching back into the Victorian age, where it was largely expected that an educated person would have a hobby, whether it was making scrapbooks, writing plays for the household, playing an instrument, studying history or collecting interesting rocks. The world has lost little and gained much from the efforts of these amateurs. Fanficcers and readers enrich the context of their fandom, and, if you want to be mercenary about it, provide extensive free advertising. My crafting hobbies do this too: other crafters ask "Where did you get that paint? What fabric is that?"
I like to be part of the people who ask the questions, who create on a small scale. I like to be able to say "Thank you" to people who look at something I made. If, in the future, I did decide to make embroidered handbags for a living, or write novels, I've had plenty of practise in the basics. If not, I've got wonderful hobbies that enrich my life and help me meet fascinating people (that's you, friendslist!).
