Make no demands of me.
Jan. 2nd, 2001 11:06 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
rsadelle"Want!" This expression appears far too often in chat, and it often refers to fic. No one has the right to demand either that fic be written or that somebody send them a fic that's already been written.
Those of us who write it, write it for ourselves. Sure, I'll occasionally write something specifically directed at entertaining a particular person, but the writing itself is still for me, and if I weren't interested in it, I wouldn't be writing it.
Of course, "Want!" often refers to fic that was written in chat while the person demanding it was away. This might seem like a slightly more reasonable demand, but this isn't appropriate either. If you weren't there, you weren't there. You didn't get to watch it being written. Like all the other people on the lists who were not in chat, you can wait to read it until the people writing it decide to clean it up and post it. And if they never do that, then you'll never get to read it, and neither will anyone else. Hanging out in chat does not give you the right to demand other people's writings. Nothing gives you that right.
Those of us who post our writings and share them with people do so because we choose to do so, not because other people demand it.
Those of us who write it, write it for ourselves. Sure, I'll occasionally write something specifically directed at entertaining a particular person, but the writing itself is still for me, and if I weren't interested in it, I wouldn't be writing it.
Of course, "Want!" often refers to fic that was written in chat while the person demanding it was away. This might seem like a slightly more reasonable demand, but this isn't appropriate either. If you weren't there, you weren't there. You didn't get to watch it being written. Like all the other people on the lists who were not in chat, you can wait to read it until the people writing it decide to clean it up and post it. And if they never do that, then you'll never get to read it, and neither will anyone else. Hanging out in chat does not give you the right to demand other people's writings. Nothing gives you that right.
Those of us who post our writings and share them with people do so because we choose to do so, not because other people demand it.
I disagree
Date: 2001-01-30 04:36 pm (UTC)First, I disagree with your premise that those who write, write because they write for themselves. I started writing fanfic specifically because of requests from others for stories. Most of the additional writing I do stems from the Gind (the-gind.blogspot.com) asking for more of particular stories still woefully unfinished. I don't have any particular inner compulsion to write, nor do I find writing to be a fun or amusing task, although it can have intrinsic rewards. But I've kinda promised some people that I would write some things for them, so I'm slogging through it, hoping to finish before the end of the decade.
I offer my example simply because I don't think any one particular aspect of my life is unique. (I am a unique agglomeration, but other people have experienced similar circumstance to any one facet of my life, or they will after me.) Also, I have seen public statements from writers who write fanfiction explicitly because they can get public response. Otherwise, they'd write original fiction.
Second, "Want!" let's someone know that something is wanted. "Hey, I like your work. Let's see some more of that!" is all that keeps some writers going, as noted above. Some stories only get written because someone says, "That ridiculous plotbunny you thought up would actually make a good story."
Third, just because a demand (and it's arguable that this is a request, looking like a demand because of the shorthand rampant on the Net) is made, doesn't mean anyone has to meet it. I can demand that the sun not rise tomorrow, I have the right to demand that the sun not rise tomorrow, but I have no means of enforcement and would be thoroughly shocked should such a thing actually occur.
WitchQueen (http://www.slashx-files.com/blog)
Re: I disagree
Date: 2001-02-02 11:22 am (UTC)If you want people to continually bother you and ask you when you're going to finish that story, fine, but no one has the right to say it in such a way that makes you feel pressured to comply. "Want!" to me always carries with it the intimation that I should feel guilty if I don't write the idea or share the fic that's being "Want!"ed.