FanFiction and Twilight: Do we or Don’t we

Confession found on PostSecret.blogspot.com (click)

Dear Twilight,

I’ve learned a lot because of you.  I know that despite not having a real celebrity crush for 25 years of my life, it just took a book about vampires & an attractive male lead to bring out my inner teenager. I learned that people other than my geeky cousin can find friends on the Internet & that most some people aren’t weirdos. And I learned what in the world FanFiction was. That’s right- up until we started LTT & LTR I had never even heard of Fan Fiction.

I know you’ve probably been wondering why Moon or I have never discussed FFic on LTT. We’re grown-women. We say bad words & talk about naughty things- why aren’t we openly discussing how turned on we get when Jasper makes Bella feel attracted to him and then they get it on while Edward and Esme do it in the kitchen after he reads her mind and sees that him preparing a morning omelet makes her hot? Welllll…I’m kinda ashamed. And for a long time I pushed it off even thought we were getting emails with FF links sent to us on a daily basis. Then finally, after reading Breaking Dawn my 3rd time through and getting frustrated w/ SMeyer’s Fade to Black, I looked up some good ol’ Isle Esme FanFic. And man, was it good! It’s my “thing” that I do when a TwiVirgin finishes the series. I send her an e-mail with the link and a simple “You’re welcome.” No explanation. They thank me. Always.

Now words like “Wide awake,” “lemons,” “unicorn,” and “Domward” are regular parts of my vocabulary. Seriously. Oftentimes 10 times a day I’ll yell, “DOMWARD, I’m Wide Awake & I want some lemony unicorns.” No I don’t. And I’ve probably read a total of 3 FF since my initial jump into non-fade to black territory (and started and never finished countless others). I think most (not all) FanFiction is horribly written, most is incredibly cheesy, most say “unconditionally & irrevocably” way too often, and most are a waste of time. But the select few I’ve read that meet my strict “This Twilight FanFic better not suck” guidelines have been amazing. And I don’t regret reading them (even though I’m still ashamed.)

I’m not going to review the FanFic I have read- there are plenty of other sites for that. I’m not even really going to tell you what I have read cuz it’s not really important, but I am going to explore the FanFic phenomenon with the help of some amazing LTT readers.

After the jump, check out the survey I did with: Brooke, Mrs. P, Veddersgirl, Kristin, Too_Far_gone, Marta, Gozde, Vickyb, Jbell, Southfriend and Moon PLUS some special FanFic thoughts from two girls anti FanFic: janetrigs & limeslice

Part One: The Survey w/ FanFic readers

Q: Did you read the Twilight books before the movie came out?

A: 8 people did, 3 people did not

Q: If you read the books before the movie, did you read FanFic?

A: Everyone said no! Until Moon got mad that I didn’t include her in the survey & she submitted her answers. Turns out she read N’Sync FanFic back in the day (I will allow a moment for you to laugh at her) Too_Far_Gone explains how she got into FanFic:

I did not read FF until I had already read the entire Twilight series about 5 times and feeling completely cock-blocked by SMeyer. I mean, I must have read the scene where Edward hitches Bella’s leg around his hip about a zillion times. Then I realized that I was being completely pathetic and was like “move on to a REAL BOOK you assclown” and I started reading Mansfield Park by Jane Austen. About 100 pages in, I realized that Mansfield Park has no vampires, and I gave up immediately. At that point I was already on twitter and someone was losing their complete shit over another Wide Awake chapter, and I was hooked. I started reading Wide Awake on a Friday night after I got home from work, and I didn’t stop until Saturday morning when I had read all 39 chapters that were up at the time.

Q: Have you read any other FanFiction other than Twilight?

A: Five girls have and six have not. Mrs.P has read some funny GoldenGirls CrackFic, Marta accidentally started Dawson’s Creek FanFic once and Southgirl adds:

No but I’m a weird one and probably would, if I knew how to go about searching for ‘worth it’ fanfic. I’m a fanfic snob. I want a plot, not just smut. I want proper grammar and sentence structure, too. I hate all the little ‘fanfic-isms’ and actually have a running tally in my head of the most overused phrases. If I read them in fanfic my opinion of the author and story immediately drop.

Q: Do you picture Rob as Edward in Twilight FanFic?

A: Four girls do and six do not. No, you’re not crazy, someone forgot to answer. I won’t tell you who except that I will- it was Too_Far_Gone & I’m going to assume her answer is “Yes” and that she sees Rob in everything she does. He’s the old man giving her a sticker at Wal-Mart. He’s the guy at the dry cleaners, He’s her pastor… It’s okay, Too_Far_Gone. That’s Normal.

Q: Are you ashamed of your love for FanFic?

A: Everyone said no except for one person! (It wasn’t me! I dind’t participate) I loved so many of the responses for this question:

• No, It’s healthy (Marta)
• Sometimes I’m ashamed, like when I’m reading stuff on my phone- but it’s helped my sex life, so the shame doesn’t last long (Mrs.P)
• I’m not ashamed- not even when kids are crying because they have to have cereal again for dinner (vickyB)
• Absolutely not. Is anyone ashamed from watching a movie with a really intense hot sex scene? (The movie Unfaithful as an example). Sure most of the good fanfic is much more graphic, but if it is written well, the Lemons move the story forward, express desires and emotions of the characters and are just frankly HOT. (Brooke)
• Totally Ashamed (Anonymous)

Then I asked the girls to list their top 3 fav FanFics. I was surprised at how many I haven’t heard of!  Unsurprisingly, “Wide Awake” won by a landslide (I’ll admit to reading that one- although I haven’t read the updates yet). “The Office” came in second with “Art After 5” coming in third!

Part Two: The Non-FanFicers

I asked each person to explain why they won’t read and if they think they might give in eventually:

Janetrigs, lover of DrunkRub, hater of FanFic:

I do not read FF and do not ever really want to. It’s not that I think there is something wrong with FF, I think it’s just not for me. So, I’ve compiled a list of reasons why I don’t read Fan Fiction. Some are serious and some are silly, but they are nonetheless the reasons why I still hold that FF purity ring!

I do not read Fan Fiction because:

• I like to read fiction that has been fully completed (that’s what she said)
• I am an impatient bitch that does not want to wait for a new chapter of something I am reading to come out every week
• I like to hold the book in my hands while reading, it’s old school, but I like it
• I stare at the computer screen all day at work, altering subcontract agreements, reading LTT/LTR blogs and Twitter, why would I also want to stare at the screen even longer than I have to to read stories?
• I want to pay attention to where I am walking and not be too distracted, e.g. From @Brookelockart >>PSA: walking through the city during Friday rush hour while reading fan fic can be hazardous

At this point I will not give in, on principal. Give me my cold hard books that are fully completed (that’s what she said, I think). I mean, someone has to represent the opposing view and call it the lawyer in me or the Political Science undergrad major, someone has to stand tall for the minority opinion!

Limeslice (who made sure to say she means no offense to FanFic readers!)

Why I don’t read it:

• I just think reading fan fiction would make me feel “dirty,” and not in a good way, hah. I don’t know if dirty is the right word – I just have a gut feeling that it would be more than a little embarrassing. First-hand, to boot. Plus, I don’t feel like I need more out of the characters – I know, I know, the fade-to-black killed me too – but I feel like my own imagination serves better for those characters than reading porn about them written by someone other than the author (though we all know SMeyer is probably ghost writing tons of these – am I right or am I right?).
• I already feel like Twilight has consumed an area of my life (although it has had lovely consequences!), and I pretty much refuse to let it enter my sex life! Plus I feel like I make fun of the characters too much to be able to take any twi porn seriously, hehe.
• I can’t tell you how many times some of my LTT friends have confused plot points of FF with the actual series – yes, hilarious. No, not something I’m eager to do!
• Finally, and most important to me: Maybe I’m weird, but I never saw Edward as a hyper-sexualized character (in the porn-explicit way.) Obviously parts of the books were SO hot, but to me it was hot because of the restraint (the anticipation is hotter than anything sometimes). Reading explicit sex scenes with those characters would just go against my concept of them, and feel wrong. (I know Rob told me to “feel like it’s wrong,” and I do, Rob! I DO!) I understand the point is *imagining* these characters doing something completely different, but I don’t really feel the draw!

Will I ever give in:

No. Holds no interest for me. (Although I know of a few former purity ring holders who have tossed theirs out for FF!)

________________________________________________________

Phew! That was long. And Fun (that’s what she said) So to recap: I’ll probably read FanFic from time to time (Moon too- she’s read less than me- only 1.5 maybe) although I’ll continue to be ashamed.  Although, I really relate to that PostSecret card above.  Call me a prude, but I’ll take a classic love-story and a story of restraint over a smutty one any  day!

Now leave me alone, it’s 4am and I still have 3 chapters of my latest FanFic to finish before I go to bed. Who needs sleep?

Love,
UnintendedChoice

FanFic-ers: Comment with YOUR survey answers- and share your favy stories

Non-FanFic-ers: We wanna know why and if you think you might give in to the peer pressure!

Thanks to all the ladies who participated. Shout out to MrsP, Brooke, VeddersGirl, DanySpike & Too_Far_Gone who have a FanFic Blog you should check out!

The Forum has a great FanFic section where tons of writers hang out!

Images all found on google images or FanFiction.net