beccaelizabeth (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
beccaelizabeth) wrote2007-06-12 11:13 am
beccaelizabeth) wrote2007-06-12 11:13 am
Entry tags:
canon creators
Wandering around I read someone say "no one will ever do it quite as well as the creator."
Which seems a pretty common attitude to sources written by a single author, or strongly identified with a single writer.
Thing is, if you apply it to comics or to Doctor Who it makes absolutely no sense.
I mean in a lot of cases I wouldn't even know who the creator of a particular character was. And they've been around long enough that the whole storytelling style has changed around them. So the original stories are just not what modern audiences want, or at least they don't require more of the same.
It's a bit like saying nobody does Robin Hood quite as well as the original ballads. I wouldn't even know how they did. I like the redone for every generation versions.
The thing with comics, or Doctor Who, is that they are, by now, basically run by fans. People who grew up with those stories and went into the field not just to work in that medium but to work on those characters. Because that's just how it works, that's the way stories are told - write your arc and pass it on.
I think there's a fundamental difference in mindset between people who think of texts as having a single godlike author who can do no wrong and sets canon down from on high and people who see it as a collaborative and ongoing process. You'd think fanfic writers would automatically be the latter sort, but a lot seem to be the former and just think they're poaching.
I read comics, and watch DW, and did RPGs for that matter - I see storytelling as fundamentally being a group activity where everyone contributes their bit and the story evolves between them. And sometimes you have to ignore a chunk to keep the story going where you want it to, and sometimes other people ignore your chunk, and that's just how it works.
So when I think about writing for fanfic, comics, television, I don't see it as basically different activities. We're all playing the same game, just some people went pro. No reason I couldn't too.
... actually a lot of reasons I couldn't too, starting with 'don't want to' and 'can't be bothered', but what I mean is that door is not only open it's happily spinning.
So we can all play with the creators' toys. Building on that foundation we can do all sorts of awesome things. And isn't getting better over time one of those things we all try for? So not only can new writers play with the same 'verses, they can and do improve on the first ones to try. Not just as well as the creator, better.
Which seems a pretty common attitude to sources written by a single author, or strongly identified with a single writer.
Thing is, if you apply it to comics or to Doctor Who it makes absolutely no sense.
I mean in a lot of cases I wouldn't even know who the creator of a particular character was. And they've been around long enough that the whole storytelling style has changed around them. So the original stories are just not what modern audiences want, or at least they don't require more of the same.
It's a bit like saying nobody does Robin Hood quite as well as the original ballads. I wouldn't even know how they did. I like the redone for every generation versions.
The thing with comics, or Doctor Who, is that they are, by now, basically run by fans. People who grew up with those stories and went into the field not just to work in that medium but to work on those characters. Because that's just how it works, that's the way stories are told - write your arc and pass it on.
I think there's a fundamental difference in mindset between people who think of texts as having a single godlike author who can do no wrong and sets canon down from on high and people who see it as a collaborative and ongoing process. You'd think fanfic writers would automatically be the latter sort, but a lot seem to be the former and just think they're poaching.
I read comics, and watch DW, and did RPGs for that matter - I see storytelling as fundamentally being a group activity where everyone contributes their bit and the story evolves between them. And sometimes you have to ignore a chunk to keep the story going where you want it to, and sometimes other people ignore your chunk, and that's just how it works.
So when I think about writing for fanfic, comics, television, I don't see it as basically different activities. We're all playing the same game, just some people went pro. No reason I couldn't too.
... actually a lot of reasons I couldn't too, starting with 'don't want to' and 'can't be bothered', but what I mean is that door is not only open it's happily spinning.
So we can all play with the creators' toys. Building on that foundation we can do all sorts of awesome things. And isn't getting better over time one of those things we all try for? So not only can new writers play with the same 'verses, they can and do improve on the first ones to try. Not just as well as the creator, better.