It's Official
Jan. 24th, 2009 11:58 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
oselleThe latest issue of Time magazine has an article about how the boundaries of "published fiction" are expanding to include works such as the once highly disparaged self-published novels, internet-published fiction and even novels published strictly for cell phones (in Japan, where else?). They give one heck of a shout-out to fanfiction, calling it, and I quote, "a literary form in its own right."
I know that those of us who read and write fanfiction have felt like this for years and have long thought that fanfiction, for all the scorn people heap upon it, is closer to the natural tradition of storytelling than a lot of the stuff that actually makes it onto bookstore shelves. It's really interesting now to see fanfiction being included -- with no snark, overt or implied -- in a serious article on the evolution of publishing. I always knew we were onto something!
The article goes on to discuss the role that editors will play in the new world of publishing and mentions that "unpaid amateur editors have already hit the world of fan fiction, where they're called beta readers." I love this description of beta readers "already" having hit the world of fan fiction, as if this were some new trend and not something we've all been doing for years. I also love that the term "beta readers" actually needs a definition. It reminds me that the vast majority of people out there don't know anything at all about this world that so many of us are so passionate about, are so ignorant of it that they need a commonplace term like "beta reader" explained to them. Wow...street cred and a feeling of exclusivity from one article. Not bad, Time. Not bad.
Read the whole article.
I know that those of us who read and write fanfiction have felt like this for years and have long thought that fanfiction, for all the scorn people heap upon it, is closer to the natural tradition of storytelling than a lot of the stuff that actually makes it onto bookstore shelves. It's really interesting now to see fanfiction being included -- with no snark, overt or implied -- in a serious article on the evolution of publishing. I always knew we were onto something!
The article goes on to discuss the role that editors will play in the new world of publishing and mentions that "unpaid amateur editors have already hit the world of fan fiction, where they're called beta readers." I love this description of beta readers "already" having hit the world of fan fiction, as if this were some new trend and not something we've all been doing for years. I also love that the term "beta readers" actually needs a definition. It reminds me that the vast majority of people out there don't know anything at all about this world that so many of us are so passionate about, are so ignorant of it that they need a commonplace term like "beta reader" explained to them. Wow...street cred and a feeling of exclusivity from one article. Not bad, Time. Not bad.
Read the whole article.