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I am stuck on this Death of the Author idea. I have been telling stories all my life, but written only a very little. When I first encountered fandom, it was at a rather young age and it was a sudden confrontation with graphically, abusively sexual fanfiction about two fictional characters I utterly loved. ( II )
I was/am ace and I get that other people like sex, I do, but I do not, and when I was younger and less wise (not that I am much smarter now, mind) that almost immediately put me off the idea of publishing stories entirely. I have always seen imagination and the making-up of stories as one of an individual’s major assets for determining what is good, and true, and worthwhile. Sometimes this gets very personal. ( III )
So that someone would take characters and ideas that someone richly portrayed and carefully thought out and casually employ them for vicarious fulfilment of (whatever) desires of a very one-dimensional sort still bothers me deeply. When people talk about Death of the Author, my brain wants to translate that as an “excuse to do whatever I like” with an author’s heart and mind, without any consideration for the act of vulnerability that is almost any telling of a story. ( IV )
Storytelling one way I try to pull other people, perhaps wiser people, into the conversation about Life, The Universe, and Everything. And I am fairly certain that a great many authors tell stories this same way (I am sure of Dostoevsky, at least). Then people come along and say “Death to the Author!” and it is like… like ( V )
like Hayao Miyazaki walked into a room and talked about watercolour painting and translating children’s books to the screen and the importance of women in his tales and then asked for questions, and some fellow raised a hand and inquired, “How did you decide how big Princess Mononoke’s boobs should be?” ( VI )
That guy is missing the point. I cannot for certain say what the point itself would be (maintaining a meaningful conversation? how do you define meaning?), but that question just strikes me as totally wrong, in the same way some fandom responses to stories strike me as totally wrong. (VII)
So… you are a published author intimately familiar with fandom who has done some seriously quality thinking about how people work, with wonderful results. I was hoping you might let me ask, “What, if anything, of the world do you try to say when you write? If so, does/would it bother you when people use your stories to write pwp or AUs or make your characters do things that would never, in your imagination, take place? ( VIII )
Why does Death of the Author NOT disrespect the human thought and effort and emotion that an individual puts into his stories?” Thank you in advance. Sorry to bother you if I did. ( IX; last one)
This is going to be a very, very long answer to this very good and cool question, so bear with me! Gonna attempt to put the rest of this under a cut, if tumblr decides to cooperate.
Keep reading
I am stuck on this Death of the Author idea. I have been telling stories all my life, but written only a very little. When I first encountered fandom, it was at a rather young age and it was a sudden confrontation with graphically, abusively sexual fanfiction about two fictional characters I utterly loved. ( II )
I was/am ace and I get that other people like sex, I do, but I do not, and when I was younger and less wise (not that I am much smarter now, mind) that almost immediately put me off the idea of publishing stories entirely. I have always seen imagination and the making-up of stories as one of an individual’s major assets for determining what is good, and true, and worthwhile. Sometimes this gets very personal. ( III )
So that someone would take characters and ideas that someone richly portrayed and carefully thought out and casually employ them for vicarious fulfilment of (whatever) desires of a very one-dimensional sort still bothers me deeply. When people talk about Death of the Author, my brain wants to translate that as an “excuse to do whatever I like” with an author’s heart and mind, without any consideration for the act of vulnerability that is almost any telling of a story. ( IV )
Storytelling one way I try to pull other people, perhaps wiser people, into the conversation about Life, The Universe, and Everything. And I am fairly certain that a great many authors tell stories this same way (I am sure of Dostoevsky, at least). Then people come along and say “Death to the Author!” and it is like… like ( V )
like Hayao Miyazaki walked into a room and talked about watercolour painting and translating children’s books to the screen and the importance of women in his tales and then asked for questions, and some fellow raised a hand and inquired, “How did you decide how big Princess Mononoke’s boobs should be?” ( VI )
That guy is missing the point. I cannot for certain say what the point itself would be (maintaining a meaningful conversation? how do you define meaning?), but that question just strikes me as totally wrong, in the same way some fandom responses to stories strike me as totally wrong. (VII)
So… you are a published author intimately familiar with fandom who has done some seriously quality thinking about how people work, with wonderful results. I was hoping you might let me ask, “What, if anything, of the world do you try to say when you write? If so, does/would it bother you when people use your stories to write pwp or AUs or make your characters do things that would never, in your imagination, take place? ( VIII )
Why does Death of the Author NOT disrespect the human thought and effort and emotion that an individual puts into his stories?” Thank you in advance. Sorry to bother you if I did. ( IX; last one)
This is going to be a very, very long answer to this very good and cool question, so bear with me! Gonna attempt to put the rest of this under a cut, if tumblr decides to cooperate.
Keep reading
