Tuesday, May 11, 2010

On fiction

Sorry it's been a while. I've had...things...to do. Like hard work and stuff that no one else in the world will understand. Trust me on this.
But, I have come to a certain conclusion about fiction. It's important for me to do that because, you see, I write fiction for a living, which is awesome. It really is. But, this conclusion. It's important and you should probably listen to it. I came across a website. Don't go there, but it's the livejournal group fandom!secrets. And, it truly taught me what hate is.
Sure, I used to say hate a lot, because it was just a really effective way of evoking utter disgust and anger. It's really a stretch, though, to say that I really truly ever hated anything. Other than, you know, pedophiles and rapists and such. I just didn't like a lot of people, you know. But, whenever I see fandom!secrets, I sincerely feel that what these people are celebrating is something no legitimate author can even accept. I literally hate it.
Let's put aside all the secrets that say "I want to have violent, disgusting sex with fictional character X because I have untreated mental condition Y." Because those are either trolls, or people who need help (although the line is very thin sometimes). Those secrets just make me shake my head. I really do want to help these people, but it's anonymous, so there isn't much I can do.
Those secrets are actually the ones that I don't hate. The ones I hate are the ones who "ship" or put some kind of unrealistic expectation on some fictional character. I think it's what's really wrong with fiction and literature these days. See, these people want fiction, be it a TV show or a movie or an anime or whatever to go the way they want it to. They believe that their opinion of how the characters should interact is something worth considering. News flash: It is not.
It is not up to you how fiction happens. It's not up to you how a character dies or how their story ends. Like it or not, you have no effect on a work of fiction. You can have the experience differ from person to person, but you can never have the work itself change. You can't ship things. You can't see the facts of the story change for you.
I swear to god, if I ever see someone use my works like that, I will fucking destroy them and you can take that to the bank.

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