Ficcy Fandom Things

[ithildin]

In the course of reorganizing my Delicious bookmarks/tags over the last few weeks, I've also been doing a lot of reading along the way. One of the things I read was a series of M7 ATF stories that I quite enjoyed. What brought me up short though was on reaching about 2/3s into the series, I discover from the authour's notes that she' only ever seen one episode of Magnificent Seven. So I assume she got her knowledge strictly from fic, which is really odd to me. I normally won't even contemplate writing fic unless I've seen the series through at least once, and usually twice. Or in the case of a show currently on the air -- which doesn't happen often -- reviewing episodes. I can't imagine writing fic in a fandom where I'd never seen the show. I'm not saying there's anything wrong with it, but it's just interesting to me since it's totally the opposite of how I tend to think of fic and fandom.

Which brings me to fanon! One of the other things I came across along the way was an authour who had compiled a fanon versus canon page. It reminded me of something I'd thought of before and was going to post about, but forgot. All fandoms have such quirks, but I think I probably notice it more in M7 since I'm coming into it ten years after the show's been off the air, as opposed to Highlander which I was in from from the beginning. As a writer, I find myself wondering if I need to incorporate fanon into my stories to make my M7 fic more accessible/enjoyable to readers. Since I only saw the show recently, then started reading fic, I still find a lot of the fanon content of stories can take me out of the story simply because the series is new and fresh in my mind. Things that immediately leap to mind are Josiah constantly calling Ezra 'son' and him acting like he's some sort of father figure to him, or Chris frequently being physically violent towards Ezra. The abuse Ezra takes from Chris and Nathan in many fics makes me wonder how on earth he could stay or ever trust them afterward. There's a bunch more, but those are my main two head scratchers.

So anyway, back to my question [g] If you write fic, do you ever feel as if you need to go with popular fanon when you write or do you stick to canon as you see it as much as you can?

Question two: as a reader, do you prefer to read fic with familiar fanon content, or do you prefer more canonical fic?

And last: what are some fanon/canon things in your fave fandoms? Which ones do you hold true in your personal fanon canon and which ones make you twitch?

Yes three questions! I'm very demanding!

ETA: in the case of M7 I'm talking strictly about Old West fic. I love ATF fic, but it is its own universe and for me at least, has more leeway since it's a modern day AU.

Comments

[ithildyn.livejournal.com]

I can't think of anything in fanon about Methos that's something I'd feel compelled to use in fic of my own. I'm actually trying to think of any prevalent fanon on him at all right now actually... Maybe the one where he invented beer? I'm sure someone will remind me of something.

You know, I'm not involved in LotR fandom at all, so I have no idea what you all get up to [g] My LotR fandom world is me and the books and I am content :)

[grachonok.livejournal.com]

I'm not sure there are such widely accepted facts about Methos, that they can be called fanon, but some stereotypes surely exsist:). Methos starting the Watchers, Methos and Darius friendship (not a word in canon, alas), Methos knowing the Holy Man of Paris and so on.

My LotR fandom world is me and the books and I am content :)
And that's wonderful!:). Besides, Russian Tolkien fandom is completely another story, providing the long adventure of books translation and publication here:). And then there are land-based role-playing games, which take canon/fanon discussions to new dimension:).