#transformative works

[roy-co]

Sometimes, when I'm bored, I open a single fanlore page and read it in full. Then if there's another page linked, I'll move onto that one. If not, I backtrack and keep hopping between pages until I'm in a completely different school. I do not go here, but I'm looking around your campus and classrooms then going "damn this is nice" before walking down the road again. Wonderful time to be alive

[s-t-y-x]

I'm sure I'm not the only one to hold or voice such a view but I love the creativity of the TWST OC community. I love seeing all the Disney media and/or folk tales that people draw inspo from for their characters. I especially love seeing multiple OCs based off of the same character or concept and yet still unique. I love seeing people look at the same template and take it in countless different directions. Give me all the Greek God OCs. Give me all the expies from the terrible-yet-great direct-to-video sequels and the underrated television series spinoffs. Give me the expies from 'it's technically owned by Disney' media. Give me the expies of inanimate objects I never would've thought of. Give me your fan schools, your fan dorms, your fan countries and cultures. I love seeing the sheer endless potential of all the creators working within the same sandbox.

[flowerparrish]

SOAPBOX: On Podfics as Transformative Works

So I decided I wanted to write my SOAPBOX on one thing, after going off on a mini Soapbox the day before challenges dropped for Voiceteam and it gave me an excuse to do it. But then I spent a week thinking about where I wanted this to go, and came up with an adjacent-but-different direction to head it in, whoops?

That said, welcome to my Soapbox on Podfic as a Transformative Work. This will include some of my original ideas such as the inherent podficcer desire to embrace chaos that is evidenced by the way we on the whole flock toward things like texting / social media fics and non-traditional narrative formats, and our desire to embrace the challenge of finding a way to bring those stories to life in audio in a way that fully represents the way they appear on the screen, BUT. More than that, at the core, I really want to talk about WHY podfic is a transformative work, because a lot of people—particularly those who aren't familiar with podfic, and haven't listened to much if any of it—don't seem to understand that it is more than just reading aloud the words of a text.

I get it, I do. At its most basic level, that IS what podfic is, right? That's often how we start to explain podfic; my go-to definition is "you know audiobooks? you know fanfic? cool, imagine audiobooks of fanfic." I stand by that; at its most basic level, that IS what podfic is. And yet one of my favorite things to rant about is that podfic is so much MORE than just an audiobook of a fanfic, or at least DIFFERENT/DISTINCT, in the same way that fanfic as a genre is distinct from traditionally published works. Why? Because podficcers have the same freedom and flexibility, due to the nature of fanworks and the fact that they are created for love and joy, not for profit, to get really weird and experimental with what we're making. You don't have to, obviously; you can make a podfic that is more or less an audiobook of a fanfic and it's perfect valid as a podfic AND as a transformative work—I'll get to that more later. But I think the easiest way to see how transformative something like podfic can be is to listen to something absolutely WILD that a podficcer put their whole soul into, be it through ridiculous voicing or over the top effects, and understand that this is an art not bound by the chains of capitalism in its need to be something that will appeal to the largest possible audience. In fact, podficcers don't get very much interaction on our works, a couple of comments on a single pod is a raging hit as far as we're concerned. People have already done great meta on this point this week, so I won't go too far into it beyond saying—we're not in this for popularity, or even feedback (as nice as it can be to get it); we're doing it for fun and joy and community and, yeah, a little bit of chaos.

Sure, you say, that makes sense. And maybe I can see how a really weird podfic is transformative. But ALL podfic?

Yes. All podfic. Let me put it to you this way: have you ever been in a classroom with a teacher who is just the most boring human you have ever had the misfortune of being forced to learn from? I feel like chances are high most of us have, and if you haven't, you've probably at least witnessed it second-hand from some kind of media. Compare that experience with the joy of learning from someone who is really good at teaching—not just at knowing their subject matter, but at engaging their students in a way that makes learning actually enjoyable, whether or not you're equally invested in the subject.

Podfic is like that. You can have Text-to-Speech read something to you, sure, but comparing it to a real person is like… even if you don't like the real person's style, or the way their audio turned out, it's got LIFE in it. THAT'S what makes podfic transformative. A real person is VOICE-ACTING as they bring a text to life in audio, putting in expression and empathy, and THAT is what makes podfic a transformative form of art.

Do you have to like it? No! Many people don't enjoy listening to audio-based stories, or only enjoy them in certain contexts or formats, and that's fine. But it's not the same thing to say "this isn't for me" and "this isn't actually a work that transforms the original in any way because it's just reading the words aloud". To those people: I challenge you to make a podfic. Any podfic. Learn how to record, and how to narrate, and how to edit, and when you're done, see if you've learned anything from the process about what makes this an art. Because it is enjoyable for those of us who do it, but it is a skill that you learn and practice the same way writing and painting and photo editing and a thousand other skills and art forms are. It is human artistic expression, combined with practical creative skills, and it can be so, so magical. From the most simple narration of a fic to the most complicated multi-voice with sound effects and music, every podfic is a work of art, and in my opinion, if a single person bothers to read this and grapple with that idea, fandom will be better for it.

[jacki-daytona]

GOSH I STILL LOVE EVERYONE IN THIS BAR.

Thankyou bucktommys, you are all superstars.

I truly appreciate how thoughtful the posts have been, how unafraid to show emotions you all have been and how lovely most of us have been to each other.

This is the fandom love song that I ADORE.

Because it’s the community that we become for each other. It’s the group chats and the mutuals and the friends that still pop in occasionally to say “hey, sorry I didn’t reply, I’ve been thinking about you though!” (that one is me, I’m sorry I didn’t reply!). It’s the peers we rely on to check our assumptions and the bravery and pure fucking strength of character to exist as a minority in fandom spaces. I love you. Thankyou for sharing.

At the end of the day, these characters become special to us, and to be loved is to be changed - transformed!

(Get it? Transformed? Transformative fiction?)

That means they belong to us. Please stay creating, not just for me - cuz I’m still in love - but for yourselves. This joy is still yours. It’s still ours.

[unquietspiritao3]

my whole annoyance with the idea that fanfic must be canon-accurate with perfectly in-character characters is how it wildly misses the point of fanfic for me. i’m doing this to create the stories i want to see, the ones that the wider media doesn’t give us. that, by necessity, means changing the characters and diverging from canon. it’s called transformative for a reason. i’m not here to perfectly replicate what already exists.

[xiaokuer-schmetterling]

hey fic lovers and fic authors!

tl;dr--direct link to fanworks permission statement builder

-> DO YOU LIKE PODFIC?

or have you ever wondered: what is podfic??? and why do i keep seeing podficcers on my dash posting about permission statements?

permission statements help your creative community to know which authors do or do not welcome podfic, etc without having to ask you personally in the comments or DMs!

so: if you are a fic author--please consider adding a 'Podfic Welcome' tag and/or a blanket / partial permission / denial statement to your ao3 and / or socials profile! if you do choose to give BP, there is a 'Blanket Permission' tag on ao3 too

(also applicable if you are a fic aficionado who has a verrrrry fav that you want podfic or other follow-on fanworks made of lol pls consider gently suggesting a profile permission stmt to that author)

-> you can use my ao3 profile, or my fandom bestie @maelstrom-of-emotions ao3 page for some examples of permission statements

-OR-

if you prefer, here is a helpful resource that walks you thru how to build a specific permission statement! LINK

and ​btw! this is especially important for podficcers in particular bc podfic is defined on ao3 as derivative work and cannot legally be posted to ao3 without specific author permission!!!

additional thoughts in part 2

*ps. if this post inspires you to make an update to your ao3 or other author profile, pls lmk in replies or rbs bc i'm curious lol*

pps. if you've read this far! thx for your time and attention 💖💖💖✨✨✨🎧🎙️😎🐈‍⬛💙 and HAPPY MERMAY lol pls send me ALL THE MERMAY FICS AND ARTS !!! i LOVE mermay so much it's my favorite fandom month

also idk why this was a search result for 'merperson' but bucky with a puppy was toooooo cute to resist

[serenaew]

Hi everyone! I know I've been absent for a while (life aka clusterfuck) but here's a dash of Serena-madness for you!

They'll hopefully all get realised sooner or later, I hope (looking for co-mods and brainstormers here XD but...) I guess the speed I'll be getting on to them is proportional to the number of votes an idea gets.

Cheers,

Serena

[elliespectacular]

Hi, I recall some time ago you made a video of different techniques that can be used to avoid being flagged by YouTube's copyright detection system, do you still have that video? If not, can you offer other general tips? Thanks.

That was a thread on Twitter dot com (which I don't use anymore) but here's the quick version:

Copyright detection algorithms for video/audio basically hold up the original next to yours and judge how similar they are. So making your fair-use transformative work more and more different is the name of the game.

To this end there are a lot of techniques you can use:

- Leaving no more than 3 seconds of footage unedited (the most important technique)

- Edge cropping

- Letterboxing/adding a frame

- Decreasing contrast/saturation

- Adding noise

- Layering other semi-transparent sources

- Adjusting the color

- Mirroring the footage

- Changing the speed/pitch

- Warping the video

- Using filters

- Adding audio layers

- Intermittently inverting the audio waveform

- Separating voice and music

- Making the video move around

But the real trick is to combine combine combine! No single one of these is enough on its own. I make no guarantees about the effectiveness of this approach but it has served me fairly reliably for the last few years. Algorithms are getting more sophisticated with time but you can always get around them. Remember that a human person can still manually issue a takedown, so make sure what you post is something you can say is adequately transformative with confidence.

[demonscantgothere]

Writing fanfiction is sort of a mix of hobby and catharsis and fun all at once, and I think you're all doing a great job and I hope you're having the time of your life doing it, and if you're not, take a breather and remember that it's just a hobby. There is a lot of talk lately of critical approaches to fanfiction and fandom and headcanons, but I firmly believe if you aren't having fun, and maybe you find yourself focused too much on things that aggravate or upset you (whether in private or public), then you should take a step back, find a thing that does make you happy, and follow that instead. Don't allow yourself to be unhappy. Don't surround yourself with something that does not stir positivity in you. If there is one thing I have learned over the years, it's that fandom can be overly critical at its worst. Do not allow that criticism to change you. We all have different interpretations, headcanons, and tropes that bring us joy—and there is room enough for all of them to coexist at the same time.

So, this is my message to you if you haven't heard it lately: You're doing great. Express yourself. Explore those worlds. Create your vision with whatever transformative work calls to you. I'm cheering you on. They are all valid, and they are all worthy. So is yours. You're doing something brave in creating a work and putting it out there, and I think that's beautiful and commendable no matter what your interpretation of that universe is. The whole point of fanfiction is to explore all the different possibilities not in canon. So, if someone says, "this doesn't seem like canon," well, that's because, at its core, it's not meant to be. It's meant to branch off of canon to explore a path not before trodden or taken.

Remember that, and never forget it.

[thegreenlizard]

Fandom is a pure idea. It occurs spontaneously and without instruction. Random acts of transformative works are occurring constantly throughout the galaxy. There are whole armies, battalions that have no idea that they've already enlisted in the cause. Remember that the frontier of the Fandom is everywhere. And even the smallest work of transformation pushes our lines forward. And then remember this. The IP owner’s need for control is so desperate because it is so unnatural. Capitalism requires constant effort. It breaks, it leaks. Authority is brittle. Oppression is the mask of greed. Remember that. And know this, the day will come when all these skirmishes and battles, these moments of defiance will have flooded the banks of the corporate authority and then there will be one too many. One single thing will break the siege. Remember this. Try.

[purplecowbell]

This may just be because I grew up writing it, but can we stop using "it's like fanfic" as a criticism?

Like even setting aside how I disagree with the assumption that fanfic is "lesser," it's too ambiguous. What do you mean when you say that? WHAT DO YOU MEAN? Are you saying that because the work is self-indulgent? That it doesn't have the depth that you hoped for? That it has a focus on character interpersonal dynamics? That it's angsty? That it's fluffy? That it has low production value? That it's "pandering" to a specific audience? That it's formulaic?

Well, bringing it back to how I don't assume fanfic is lesser, none of those qualities are unique nor mandatory to fanfic! Works that are self-indulgent/ "pandering" are not unique to any one genre. Romance is one of the biggest genres that is part of many of the others (and don't start dismissing that now too)! Most literary classics are the way they are because they focus a great deal on internal anguish that a character can't easily resolve! People like shallow happy times in other works like comedy movies and family sitcoms.

Is it because of low production value? Poor spelling, grammar, and clumsy foreshadowing? Well, news flash! That's called sampling bias. Fanfiction does not hold a monopoly on beginner writers! You just don't read beginning original works because you don't want to try it, or writers don't publish it without that community to encourage it, or you did read it but don't find it indicative of a genre/medium.

Fanfiction does not have an upper or lower limit on skill level, nor requirements for focus/tone. It is just art about other art. If all art is part of a discourse with everyone else, then fanfiction is the art that is focusing on specific parts of the conversation. Not vaguely alluding to, but specifically about. And why can't people talk about the conversation? There is so much to say within other art.

You, the person reading this, if you are dismissive of fanfic, then all I ask is for you to do two things. First, try to make some. Think about art that you love, resonates with you, or you find interesting. Then think about how you would explore untouched areas or unanswered questions within that art. What if the protagonist didn't survive? What if the factions were different? What if the genre was different? What if characters met at different times? What happened off screen? What was another character's perspective?

And then, after you do that: find some good fanfic to read. Look for fandoms that you enjoy and filter out whatever you're not interested in. Find what other premises and questions people have for the art that both of you love. What questions are they asking about the original work? What are they saying about it? What are they adding to the conversation?

Now, this good faith effort may not be effective for everyone. But I think there needs to be an earnest attempt to connect with something like this before dismissing it.

[dovand]

i love you fanfiction. i loev you transformative works. i love you glossing over canon events that it is mutually understood the reader knows. i love you "the tall man" "the blond man" "the man had dark hair and striking, tired-looking blue eyes" and epithets that don't actually do anything unless you know the characters, you know the guys, you know who they are already. i love you assumed knowledge. i love you first person narrators with familiarity to the audience, i love you changed circumstances but unchanged people. i love you coffee shop aus and soulmate aus and two person love triangles and fix-its and what-ifs and every other version of the story. i love you the author projecting their own identity onto characters—i love you autistic au, ocd au, blind au, jewish au. i love you little bits of incredible familiarity with a field only mentioned in passing that make you go, ah, the author works in this field. i love you entire rejiggings of canon to focus on linguistics or aviation or medicine that make you go, ah, the author really works in this field. i love you chapter notes and end notes and personal headcanons and out of characterness. i love you brief differences that tell you the author is canadian or british or a child of immigrants or specifically from boston. i love you every version of the story.

[fansplaining]

Special Episode 34: Interview with the Vampire: Season 2

Valiantly fighting extreme baby-induced sleep deprivation, Flourish returns to Fansplaining to discuss the most important thing in the world: AMC’s Interview with the Vampire. While the first-season special episode was from a show-only perspective, Flourish and Elizabeth have now collectively read thousands of pages of The Vampire Chronicles, and are able to celebrate the (somehow even better????) second season as both incredible television and an extraordinary work of adaptation. From very smart changes (Madeleine! Louis with agency!) to the many, many metatextual layers (Enduring for Guido!!), why IWTV feels like a truly transformative work. 

Special episodes are available to Patrons at $3 a month and up!

Your support helps us pay journalists for our ongoing publication, or web/audio hosting costs, and for our wonderful transcriptionists—the reason we can share audio *and* a transcript for this episode at the same time!

[the-final-sylleblahsome]

slight vent post? fandom-related, though.

i posted for the first time on a subreddit for one of my fave shows. after lurking for some time i had determined it was rather chill compared to other fandom reddits and decided to offload one of my casual theories.

cue the socmed culture shock.

as i come from a transformative works background, i'm used to holding multiple canons at once... i was surprised to see several big swingers on the subreddit seem more interested in being Right about their fan theories than exploring the space. or shitting on people that explore the space in supposedly 'boring' ways.

while anticipatory disappointment makes total sense - showrunners often choose to take their story places we feel aren't the most interesting - my view has always been You Can Fix It In Post And No One Can Stop You.

i'm no stranger to analyzing a work to bits and constructing elaborate theories. that, too, is 'fanfiction' in its way!

it's just sad to see that people would rather be Completely Right in their fictional sandbox opinions than let others enjoy the sandbox.

[michelleelizabethtanner]

I wanna talk about this again. I probably need a different hobby to fixate on, but I’ve gone down the rabbit hole of the commercial publishing communities and I simply cannot not have Opinions™.

So the other day I came across this TikTok by a commercially published author, and I specifically saved it because it made me have brain activity I wasn’t able to move past.

It’s a really long video where she goes off on a tangent about novel structure and all that blah blah blah, and I skipped all that because 🥱😴 BUT the front end of this whole post is her suggestion for how to become inspired when you want to write, but aren’t inspired. She was like, “Okay, guys. Here’s a special ✨trick✨ I use. First, you think of a classic piece of media, like movies or literature. Then, you take a current, commercially successful piece of media. And you just mash them together. Think of how these modern characters would behave in a classic setting.”

Like, ma’am, have you heard of fanfiction? 😂😂

It just really made me think how out of touch with each other our two very similar writing communities are, all the while being so similar and so inspired by each other. How much stigma there is about amateur writing, about writing for fun or pleasure, about writing because something out there in the universe moves us enough to start writing.

Again, this is probably because I’ve screwed up all my algorithms now, but I keep seeing so much critique about what makes a “real” writer. “It isn’t ‘real’ if it’s fic. Fic is stealing. Fic is plagiarism.” While in the same breath, commercial authors both acknowledge that they use media for inspiration, recommend it within their circles to combat writer’s block, yet denigrate writers whose type of content they’ve never consumed nor studied.

I’ve moved back to reading mostly commercial works at this point, but listen… The connection, inspiration, and emotion that AO3 authors have made me feel is unmatched. I’ve been a reader all my life and I know how rare and special it is to connect to a piece of literature emotionally, to become invested and attached. And this group of people, who write for fun, who write for free, who write in stolen, spare moments, have outpaced anything that the commercial market has paid millions for and is selling as “real” writing.

It’s all real writing.