Okay, so I waited a day before posting my reflective comments on writing my story. First of all, I did not attempt to post it to a fan fiction site. Why? Because I didn't feel comfortable doing that. For one thing, despite reading a few stories, I didn't feel comfortable adding my little "story" to the mess. For me, reading a few stories wasn't enough to get me involved in the culture. The other larger reason was that I felt attached to my little story and I didn't want to offer it up to public commentary. Sure I'll post it to the blog, but that is a horse of another color in my book.
Community conventions, scriptural economies, and textual poaching...
I feel that as far as community conventions go, I just wasn't familiar enough with them to really meet them. As far as I could tell, pretty much anything went on the Doctor Who Fan Fiction sites that I browsed. Some of the quality was really excellent, some was weak (like my own story) and some of it I just want to forget because I really don't want to think about some of my favorite characters in that light. I did write a more traditional slash fan fiction dealing with a potential male/male relationship. However, this is nothing new in the Doctor Who series since it was an accepted theme in the Television series that Jack Harkness was bisexual and had a huge crush on the Doctor.
I did employ some direct textual poaching. In my short-short story below, I used a couple of lines from the Doctor Who Episode "The Sound of Drums." They are the isolated lines in italics. However, I don't think that I was as good when it came to scriptural economies. For me, that was a matter of knowing that my potential audience (classmates) were not familiar material, so I really felt the need to add in more detail.
What did I learn from this experience? I'm not the type to write or even enjoy fan fiction much. I'd rather keep my theories and fantasies to myself or just share verbally while viewing the media. It may sound a bit harsh, but I don't really care that much, certainly not enough to spend any significant time on the websites or doing much more beyond viewing the DVDs with their bonus material.
4.07.2008
Doctor Who slash fiction story
The words echo in Jack’s head as he sits alone at his desk. The rest of his team has finally been convinced to go home and get some sleep after his sudden reappearance. It’s been years, but only days since he last said good bye to the Doctor and Martha. The distance between him and the Doctor was only inches, but it might have well been miles.
It’s like when you fancy someone and they don’t even know you exist.
The Doctor had said trying to explain how his latest contraption would enable them to spy on the bad guys. And it still echoed in his mind. Much like it probably echoed in Martha’s head as well.
You too, huh?
At least Martha could say to herself that she walked away first. Me, after getting literally dumped on a space station, I couldn’t take a hint. No, the first chance I get I’m chasing after him again. As soon as I hear the distinctive whirr-whirr of the TARDIS, I drop everything to run after him. Telling myself that I need his help, that he needs my help, when all I was really doing was getting my heart broken yet again.
It time and then some to let him go. Let him go and go on with my own life and stop acting like a silly young boy chasing after his first crush. I swear I can hear the sound of the TARDIS even now. Which is even more stupid than…
I can hear the TARDIS!
The lift isn’t fast enough, so I race up ladder and out an exit no one else knows about. The Doctor’s ship, stuck in shape of a Blue Police Box that went the way of the pay phone back in the early sixties, sits in splendid isolation in the dark. As I run, the door opens and the Doctor stumbles out and into my arms looking rather worse for wear. Holding him fills me with joy once more and I ache to kiss him just one more time, but his eyes only hold a weary acknowledgement. He knows, but he turns away once more: A heroic coward who risks his life to save others without hesitation, but runs from risking his heart in something more than a friendship.
He opens his mouth to speak and the moment passes just like that. I’ll help him with whatever mad scheme he has to save the world and then I’ll put my heart back together again when he leaves until the next time we meet.
It’s like when you fancy someone and they don’t even know you exist.
The Doctor had said trying to explain how his latest contraption would enable them to spy on the bad guys. And it still echoed in his mind. Much like it probably echoed in Martha’s head as well.
You too, huh?
At least Martha could say to herself that she walked away first. Me, after getting literally dumped on a space station, I couldn’t take a hint. No, the first chance I get I’m chasing after him again. As soon as I hear the distinctive whirr-whirr of the TARDIS, I drop everything to run after him. Telling myself that I need his help, that he needs my help, when all I was really doing was getting my heart broken yet again.
It time and then some to let him go. Let him go and go on with my own life and stop acting like a silly young boy chasing after his first crush. I swear I can hear the sound of the TARDIS even now. Which is even more stupid than…
I can hear the TARDIS!
The lift isn’t fast enough, so I race up ladder and out an exit no one else knows about. The Doctor’s ship, stuck in shape of a Blue Police Box that went the way of the pay phone back in the early sixties, sits in splendid isolation in the dark. As I run, the door opens and the Doctor stumbles out and into my arms looking rather worse for wear. Holding him fills me with joy once more and I ache to kiss him just one more time, but his eyes only hold a weary acknowledgement. He knows, but he turns away once more: A heroic coward who risks his life to save others without hesitation, but runs from risking his heart in something more than a friendship.
He opens his mouth to speak and the moment passes just like that. I’ll help him with whatever mad scheme he has to save the world and then I’ll put my heart back together again when he leaves until the next time we meet.
3.17.2008
authorless and ownerless
What does it mean for something to be authorless or ownerless in today's world?
To answer this question, first I'd like to consider this question in a historical context. Ong's theory of primary orality along with Havelock and McLuhan consider the use of narrative in pre-writing cultures. Instead of stories being authored, they are inspired. In the case of the Ancient Greeks, we still talk about a writer's muse even today. A story was ownerless, since it was the culture as a whole that "owned" the story. And the story changed to meet the needs of the community. For example, Ong points to an example from an isolated African tribe whose 5 princes changed to 3 princes over a century or two to reflect the current conditions of the tribe as their geographical territory shrunk over the years.
What it means to be authorless and ownerless in today's world means something altogether different. As opposed to those authors who have chosen to be anonymous over the years or relinquished their ownership through time or intent, I would argue that to designate something as authorless and ownerless requires a great deal more effort. The Software Linux provides us with an excellent example of what it takes to ensure the authorless and ownerless status of something as well as an alternative model of authorship and ownership.
According to the website Linux Online, "Linux is written and distributed under the GNU General Public License which means that its source code is freely-distributed and available to the general public."
The idea behind freeware, which could be applied to other areas as well, is that one copyrights something and then offers EVERYONE the license to copy, alter, and distribute the product. Also inherent in the copyright is that anyone wishing to copyright their modifications can only do so if they also allow the same distributed rights. You can read more about Linux and the specifics of their copyright provisions at the link above,
To answer this question, first I'd like to consider this question in a historical context. Ong's theory of primary orality along with Havelock and McLuhan consider the use of narrative in pre-writing cultures. Instead of stories being authored, they are inspired. In the case of the Ancient Greeks, we still talk about a writer's muse even today. A story was ownerless, since it was the culture as a whole that "owned" the story. And the story changed to meet the needs of the community. For example, Ong points to an example from an isolated African tribe whose 5 princes changed to 3 princes over a century or two to reflect the current conditions of the tribe as their geographical territory shrunk over the years.
What it means to be authorless and ownerless in today's world means something altogether different. As opposed to those authors who have chosen to be anonymous over the years or relinquished their ownership through time or intent, I would argue that to designate something as authorless and ownerless requires a great deal more effort. The Software Linux provides us with an excellent example of what it takes to ensure the authorless and ownerless status of something as well as an alternative model of authorship and ownership.
According to the website Linux Online, "Linux is written and distributed under the GNU General Public License which means that its source code is freely-distributed and available to the general public."
The idea behind freeware, which could be applied to other areas as well, is that one copyrights something and then offers EVERYONE the license to copy, alter, and distribute the product. Also inherent in the copyright is that anyone wishing to copyright their modifications can only do so if they also allow the same distributed rights. You can read more about Linux and the specifics of their copyright provisions at the link above,
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)