Fanfiction is the Remix of Literature

Sometime some twenty years ago I came to realize that I enjoyed remixes, covers, and genre changes in music. Something about listening to a song suddenly played as Bluegrass or a rap song done in the style of Elvis that really makes my ears perk. It helps if I know the original to some degree.

In comic books this is Elseworld stories, and things like Red Son. They take a familiar concept and mess it up, shake it up or change one simple thing that alters the entire timeline from that change. It then asks what happens from there, and usually they find a story they couldn't tell before. Sometimes its about inevitability, the idea that no matter our choices we trend towards one outcome. Sometimes its a "more things change" situation.

In online comics I would say that the work of David Willis exemplifies this perfectly. He's also one of the few where the creator themselves are remixing the work. In this case he takes his characters and resuses them in different situations, each time slightly different, or hugely different. They end up with different people.

All this is to show that fanfiction is to literature what the remix is to music. Sometimes it scrambles it. Sometimes it is a genre change. They'll replace instruments and slow things down. I really started thinking about this when I came across a review of a newly posted story. The review essentially said, "This is an old trope, and it's a lame trope to boot."

Ouch! Harsh criticism strikes a critical blow! Now, this person, they themselves are writing stories that are a bit trope-ish, but he's doing so from a fresh angle. The person he reviewed seems to be rewriting a concept, and honestly this version is coming out better than others I have seen online (maybe even by the same guy, online can be like that).

But that criticism kinda doesn't affect what this guy is doing. He's writing a story he wants to write, and as Nancy Kepner almost said, "Most fans fanfiction is just a form of mas-"-turbation.

But fanfiction is a remix, its a genre change, and sometimes its a cover. Books are catching up on this concept, even though this is older. And has been done by Disney within our lifetimes. I also tend to view any work carried on by others to no longer be the original. And that's okay!

We can change stories to fit the times, and to fit what we want to tell. Characters and events are mutable. Take Batman. Batman is Zorro. Zorro is the Scarlet Pimpernel. And the Scarlet Pimpernel is only now becoming public domain (since it has now been 70 years since the Baroness's passing). But those stories are very much inspired by. Influenced by. But not, an actual fanfiction of the Scarlet Pimpernel.

Smallville is a fanfic of Superman. The new 52 Batman is fanfiction of Batman. Stranger Things is fanfiction of 80s Sci-fi and horror (this one is a bit of a stretch, I'll admit). Thing is, we remix ideas all the time. But it all just happens to be how closely we follow the source material. For fanfiction, we use the names, and sometimes entire history of the series. We branch off somewhere. Or we reinterpret actions. We make characters fall in love or make different choices.

So, if you find a way to step away, and make that fanfic your own. I encourage you to do so. I know I've been trying.

Humor for Creativity

I've been playing Magic the Gathering for years now. And last night, I got to play a draft with the latest set to be release, Unstable. Unstable is part of a series of joke sets released for the card game, but unlike previous attempts, they have made a legitimately fun draft environment for this set. It brings to mind one of my favorite ways of getting myself to think creatively, which is to tell jokes. They don't have to be good jokes, but the act of thinking in the way that jokes make us think, gets our brains going into the kind of thought processes required to be creative.

I often like to tell jokes or joke around when I'm trying to brainstorm a new level design. Sometimes I'll even design a level that is ridiculous to try to execute. Because in doing the joke. In allowing for the crazy, you end up creating heuristics that you can use on the sane creative thing you are going after.

Some people fail to understand why I work the way I do. I've learned to game myself. If I start feeling low I work out. If I can't think of solutions, I put it on the back burner and joke around. I ask myself out loud the question. I try to explain things in as simple a way as possible to my desktop figurines.

So whenever you find yourself stuck, just remember to tell a joke. It doesn't even have to be funny. For example, when I started this post the title was "Only to use the word Alabaster". I typed it without thinking. And it reminded me of the magic card: Angel of Flight Alabaster. From there I thought of the game I had last night, and well... the rest you just read.