Wobbling over canon
Aug. 27th, 2006 07:05 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
pensnestI thought I'd got over the RPS wobbles ages ago. Actually, for someone whose first fandom definitely frowned on the Real People Fic, someone who didn't like actorfic, I think I sidled over to the dark side the wonderful world of popslash with remarkable ease.
But I'm having a bit of a wobble at the moment.
It's Lance, of course. He's given/giving us lots of fresh canon right now, *personal* stuff. Not releasing a new album andplaying working with JC like Justin is doing, but insights into how he managed for years in NSync without talking about the fact that he was gay, and how shocked his family were to discover it. And, of course, there's Reichen. And while I'm charmed to the point of dissolving into a sentimental puddle by the photos of those two together, the fact that they are together makes me hesitant to write about them.
Hasn't actually *stopped* me, I admit, but I wibbled and wobbled about it, as![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
ephemera_pop can attest.
So I'm trying to figure out, why the wibbly-wobbling? There are two things, I think, going on here.
With regard to Lance's revelations about what he had to go through, I think there's a lot to be written about that, but I wonder whether anyone's going to do so? The possibilities of Lance having to hide his homosexuality, and being afraid to come out, have already been explored in fiction. So maybe there's no generally-felt need to go into that. (Or maybe there is someone among you right now producing something? Hmm?)
As for his family, well, again, there have been all sorts of representations in canon already, from cool, understanding and accepting to screamingly homophobic, so perhaps the ground has more or less been covered. Or is it that, now that we *know*, there's not much fun to be had by writing fiction, where the fun is in the guessing, the speculating on possibilities?
I hope that we'll see more stories that explore both these things, although at the moment they both feel like tender spots. Also, there's the fact that Lance's sexuality seems to have been dealt with in silence rather than solidarity, which feels like a breach in the agreed fanon of "all for one and one for all", and it's a lot easier to retreat into crack!fic than to poke cautiously at this.
Still, it's not so much the revised canon of the past that troubles me, but the canon of present and future. Do I want to write L/R, I ask myself? Do I want to read L/R?
Um.
I think, after much cogitation, that it's a bit too real and a bit too immediate. I can happily write an explicit Trickyfish sex scene because, well, I'm making it up. And I *know* that if I were to do the same with Lance and Reichen (okay, digression: what are we calling these two? CareBears? 'Cause ColdFish just doesn't seem right) I'd be making that up, too, but...
I think I'm accustomed to being separated by time from the canon events in question, whatever they may be. It's easy to write fic set a few years ago, possibly because the people they were then aren't the people they are now, or, possiby, because there's already a clouding of fanon around everything.
And sure, I've responded with a quick drabble to things like the Lancelot Incident, and the Snowboarding Auction (oh, Lance, you do give *good* canon), but it's not the same thing! Maybe there's a degree of emotional distance necessary, too. When the Lancelot story came out, emotional distance was achieved by laughing like a drain. Seeing our two lovebears beaming at one another in a succession of venues doesn't provide me with that kind of distance, because the non-writerly part of me is too busy squeeing.
Perhaps it's also that I feel a wee bit lost without a background of existing fanfic. I find I'm a bit intimidated by the thought of being the first...
How is it for you?
But I'm having a bit of a wobble at the moment.
It's Lance, of course. He's given/giving us lots of fresh canon right now, *personal* stuff. Not releasing a new album and
Hasn't actually *stopped* me, I admit, but I wibbled and wobbled about it, as
ephemera_pop can attest.So I'm trying to figure out, why the wibbly-wobbling? There are two things, I think, going on here.
With regard to Lance's revelations about what he had to go through, I think there's a lot to be written about that, but I wonder whether anyone's going to do so? The possibilities of Lance having to hide his homosexuality, and being afraid to come out, have already been explored in fiction. So maybe there's no generally-felt need to go into that. (Or maybe there is someone among you right now producing something? Hmm?)
As for his family, well, again, there have been all sorts of representations in canon already, from cool, understanding and accepting to screamingly homophobic, so perhaps the ground has more or less been covered. Or is it that, now that we *know*, there's not much fun to be had by writing fiction, where the fun is in the guessing, the speculating on possibilities?
I hope that we'll see more stories that explore both these things, although at the moment they both feel like tender spots. Also, there's the fact that Lance's sexuality seems to have been dealt with in silence rather than solidarity, which feels like a breach in the agreed fanon of "all for one and one for all", and it's a lot easier to retreat into crack!fic than to poke cautiously at this.
Still, it's not so much the revised canon of the past that troubles me, but the canon of present and future. Do I want to write L/R, I ask myself? Do I want to read L/R?
Um.
I think, after much cogitation, that it's a bit too real and a bit too immediate. I can happily write an explicit Trickyfish sex scene because, well, I'm making it up. And I *know* that if I were to do the same with Lance and Reichen (okay, digression: what are we calling these two? CareBears? 'Cause ColdFish just doesn't seem right) I'd be making that up, too, but...
I think I'm accustomed to being separated by time from the canon events in question, whatever they may be. It's easy to write fic set a few years ago, possibly because the people they were then aren't the people they are now, or, possiby, because there's already a clouding of fanon around everything.
And sure, I've responded with a quick drabble to things like the Lancelot Incident, and the Snowboarding Auction (oh, Lance, you do give *good* canon), but it's not the same thing! Maybe there's a degree of emotional distance necessary, too. When the Lancelot story came out, emotional distance was achieved by laughing like a drain. Seeing our two lovebears beaming at one another in a succession of venues doesn't provide me with that kind of distance, because the non-writerly part of me is too busy squeeing.
Perhaps it's also that I feel a wee bit lost without a background of existing fanfic. I find I'm a bit intimidated by the thought of being the first...
How is it for you?
no subject
Date: 2006-08-27 08:56 pm (UTC)I suppose it comes down to that, really - that when we RPS (is that verbable?) we're doing it *because we know it's not true*... It would feel intrusive to write a story about Lance & Reichen's sex life. Although I have, in an oblique way, done one about Joey and Kelly's. Hmm. Dear me, I seem to be a very Bad Person. [I've also written fic derived from someone else's fanfic without even thinking of asking permission (seen the SGA kerfuffle?).]
As for Lance's way of dealing with being gay... I see what you're saying, that he *chose* to keep it secret (or at any rate unspoken), and in recent years he seems to have been perfectly happy 'hiding' in plain sight. I kinda hope some other people write serious stories looking at his teenage years, and the NSync dynamic, in the light of this information - I think it's worth mining. Also, I'd rather read it than write it myself!
no subject
Date: 2006-08-27 10:17 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-08-27 10:56 pm (UTC)