It turns out I have something to say about the fanfiction debate after all.

[owlectomy]

Lewis Hyde, in his book "The Gift," makes a very convincing case (to me) that there is a strong and vital gift economy in any healthy culture, and it is to our own peril that we devalue it in favor of a market economy; and also, that art only works when it's treated as part of the gift economy. I know why we have gift registries and people who ask for cash as a wedding gift and there's not necessarily anything wrong with that, but I think we're in danger of turning the gift economy into a market economy. Did you see that book last year that suggested, half seriously, that buying Christmas presents was inefficient because people would rather have $50 than an ugly vase? It's true economically but it entirely disregards the ways that gift giving builds up relationships between people and within communities.

I'm obviously very glad to have a publisher and to get paid for writing books. But I would not be writing books at all if I had not seen, in fandom, how writing IS a gift, how it builds up relationships, how it expresses caring and solidarity. To me this is WAY more important than any talk about "You should think up your own ideas" or "You're taking money out of my pocket."

So fanfic = awesome yay.

Comments

[wintersweet.livejournal.com]

That is a really good point. I don't do fanfic (I don't do short stories and I don't do reading fiction on the computer; it has nothing to do with fanfic), but that's an excellent point.