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I'm still receiving emails with every new post from Diana Gabaldon's blog here , and I am finding that I keep getting caught up in terminology.
When Ms. Gabaldon used the term, "fan-fiction" in the title of her post, I made the immediate assumption that she didn't know what she was talking about, because "fan-fiction" is a really uncommon formulation of the term.*
The spelling "fan-fiction" got picked up by Ms. Gabaldon's immediate supporters, a number of whom admitted that they had never heard of the term before and were unaware of the concept. Thus, in the course of this conversation, "fan-fiction" has become associated with the perspective of an outside to the fannish community looking in. I perceive "fan-fiction" negatively, at least in the context of this conversation, as holding connotations of mis- or poorly -informed opinions. I believe this has somewhat shaped the way I read the discussion of anyone who uses the term "fan-fiction."
I consider the correct term* to be "fanfiction", one word without spaces or hyphens, and "fanfic" to be an equally appropriate term with exactly the same meaning. In fannish contexts, I consider "fic" to be another interchangeable term for "fanfiction" or "fiction," depending on the context of thw writer to add the appropriate prefix of "litfic," "profic," or "fanfic" to clarify if the point is unclear.
To corroborate my views, I looked at the Fanlore wiki, and I discovered that this issue was under more contention than I'd thought- while my views reflect usage in fandom, academia has difference usages, and "fan fiction" is considered the correct term in academic circles. But, when I looked at the comments to the discussion on Ms. Gabaldon's blog, while I saw "fan fiction," I thought that it was odd and possibly as outsider-ish a term as "fan-fiction." However, the contents of the posts using "fan fiction" suggested that it was an accepted term in fandom- many of those using "fan fiction" wrote as members of the fandom community.
So, what do you think?
*From my own experience as a fandom lurker dating to 2000 or so.
When Ms. Gabaldon used the term, "fan-fiction" in the title of her post, I made the immediate assumption that she didn't know what she was talking about, because "fan-fiction" is a really uncommon formulation of the term.*
The spelling "fan-fiction" got picked up by Ms. Gabaldon's immediate supporters, a number of whom admitted that they had never heard of the term before and were unaware of the concept. Thus, in the course of this conversation, "fan-fiction" has become associated with the perspective of an outside to the fannish community looking in. I perceive "fan-fiction" negatively, at least in the context of this conversation, as holding connotations of mis- or poorly -informed opinions. I believe this has somewhat shaped the way I read the discussion of anyone who uses the term "fan-fiction."
I consider the correct term* to be "fanfiction", one word without spaces or hyphens, and "fanfic" to be an equally appropriate term with exactly the same meaning. In fannish contexts, I consider "fic" to be another interchangeable term for "fanfiction" or "fiction," depending on the context of thw writer to add the appropriate prefix of "litfic," "profic," or "fanfic" to clarify if the point is unclear.
To corroborate my views, I looked at the Fanlore wiki, and I discovered that this issue was under more contention than I'd thought- while my views reflect usage in fandom, academia has difference usages, and "fan fiction" is considered the correct term in academic circles. But, when I looked at the comments to the discussion on Ms. Gabaldon's blog, while I saw "fan fiction," I thought that it was odd and possibly as outsider-ish a term as "fan-fiction." However, the contents of the posts using "fan fiction" suggested that it was an accepted term in fandom- many of those using "fan fiction" wrote as members of the fandom community.
So, what do you think?
*From my own experience as a fandom lurker dating to 2000 or so.
