March 25th, 2006

UF black and white

Poll: Separation of Canon People and FF People

(Note: I'd like to get responses on this from as many different fan writers as possible. Anyone who pimps it will have my eternal gratitude. And if you leave a comment letting me know where you pimped it, you will get my eternal gratitude and an imaginary cookie.)

This poll is for anyone who has ever written fan fiction and in some way shared it - internet, zine, carrier pigeon, coded broadcast to Alpha Centauri, whatever.

So. If someone connected with the canon found and read your fan fiction, how would you react? For the purposes of this poll, I would like you all to imagine that we live in a world where there are no possible legal consequences. In other words, your weird new readers can hate you, but they can't take you to court or send a C&D.

Poll #698126
Open to: All, detailed results viewable to: None. Participants: 982

Please check this so I know how many people have taken this poll:

View Answers
I've written fan fiction. There, I said it.
971(100.0%)

You write fan fiction for a book, and you learn that the canon author may be reading your stories. Please rank your reaction. 1 = Dismay so severe you will need to find not only a new hobby but also powerful psychoactive drugs. 10 = Joy so intense that you might as well already be on psychoactive drugs. (Remember: NO LEGAL CONSEQUENCES.)

View Answers
Mean: 5.75 Median: 6 Std. Dev 2.28
1
25(2.6%)
2
41(4.3%)
3
119(12.5%)
4
104(10.9%)
5
164(17.2%)
6
135(14.1%)
7
132(13.8%)
8
130(13.6%)
9
32(3.4%)
10
73(7.6%)

Same question, except this time it's FF for a TV show or movie. 1 = "Now I must leave the country with bag over my head." 10 = "Yes! At last they will see how it should be done!"

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Mean: 6.44 Median: 7 Std. Dev 2.26
1
26(2.7%)
2
15(1.5%)
3
69(7.1%)
4
76(7.8%)
5
149(15.4%)
6
139(14.3%)
7
146(15.1%)
8
173(17.8%)
9
73(7.5%)
10
104(10.7%)

Again with the TV show or movie, but this time it's the actors who might be reading it. 1 = "Oh my god someone please take the internets away from the pretty people before I die." 10 = "Oh my god YES. And they will send me letters of comment, and they will love me, and it will end in friendship and/or marriage, and also I will get a pony."

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Mean: 4.98 Median: 5 Std. Dev 2.48
1
87(9.0%)
2
89(9.2%)
3
120(12.3%)
4
129(13.3%)
5
176(18.1%)
6
97(10.0%)
7
100(10.3%)
8
78(8.0%)
9
47(4.8%)
10
49(5.0%)

You write RPF. The real people in question may be reading your stuff. 1 = "I knew I was going to the special hell, but I didn't realize I'd end up in it while I was still alive." 10 = "This must be what heaven feels like!"

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Mean: 2.57 Median: 2 Std. Dev 2.01
1
385(44.6%)
2
140(16.2%)
3
126(14.6%)
4
66(7.6%)
5
68(7.9%)
6
27(3.1%)
7
20(2.3%)
8
17(2.0%)
9
3(0.3%)
10
11(1.3%)

You'd feel worse about it if the canon-connected folks were reading your:

View Answers
Slash (m/m, f/f).
13(1.4%)
Het.
2(0.2%)
Gen.
0(0.0%)
Incest.
2(0.2%)
Chan.
1(0.1%)
Total kinkfest.
9(0.9%)
Totally self-indulgent porn (NC-17 PWP).
26(2.7%)
Totally self-indulgent hurt/comfort.
6(0.6%)
Deathfic.
3(0.3%)
AU.
0(0.0%)
Non-con.
5(0.5%)
Character-bashing.
2(0.2%)
Stuff riddled with grammatical, spelling, or other usage errors.
101(10.6%)
Nothing could make me feel worse than I would just knowing canon folks were reading anything I wrote.
50(5.3%)
Something else, which I will detail in the comments.
17(1.8%)

You'd feel better about it if the canon folk were reading your:

View Answers
Slash (m/m, f/f).
3(0.3%)
Het.
0(0.0%)
Gen.
17(1.8%)
Very best stuff.
164(17.1%)
Very cleanest (in the sense of sex) stuff.
9(0.9%)
Very cleanest (in the sense of writing errors) stuff.
31(3.2%)
Most recent stuff.
9(0.9%)
Nothing could make me feel better about it, either.
68(7.1%)
Something else. Go commentwards, angel.
10(1.0%)

Is there anything about the canon folks themselves that might influence your reaction?

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There are certain writers/actors/whatevers I'd feel better having read my stuff, or ones that would make me feel worse.
130(13.6%)
I'd be okay with it if I knew the canon person was perfectly fine with FF.
222(23.2%)
I'd be okay with it if I knew the canon person in question wrote FF.
24(2.5%)
No. Nothing.
132(13.8%)
Yes, but not any of those things. I'll tell you what you missed in the comments.
15(1.6%)