Fanfiction on NPR Today! Listen Live! Call In!

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Submitted by .fcoppa on

The Colin McEnroe Show on WNPR, Connecticut Public Radio, is doing an hour-long show on fan fiction today, Tuesday, July 19th, from 1 to 2 PM ET.

Guests will include Lev Grossman, who wrote a recent article about fanfiction for Time Magazine, OTW Legal chair Rebecca Tushnet, and Harry Potter fan fiction writers Beth H and Femmequixotic (both former OTW volunteers!) They'll also be taking phone calls from listeners, so if there's a point you always wanted to make about fanfiction: now's your chance!

You can hear the show on the radio if you're in Connecticut, parts of Rhode Island and New York, or you can listen live on the web or download the podcast after the show airs at the CPTV/WNPR website.

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Comments

liz replied on

Sort of weird, the concept of expertse. Lev Grossman spends 2 weeks in fandom, writes a mainstream article, and becomes the "resident expert" (quote), who gets to set the stage and talk for the first 15 minutes to create the context and such.

.fcoppa replied on

That's the truth. But you know, at least we got to get some good voices on there. Right now, they're going to do these stories anyway, because of HP: the best we can do is get smart, articulate fans on there.

liz replied on

Right, and I appreciate the voices of the OTW and the fan fiction writers. But this show so far has, unfortunately , seems to be not the same tone as Lev Grossman's article, which was on the fan's side. This shows seems to have more of a "point and laugh at the freak" feel to it. I appreciate the fans trying to pull it towards a different direction, but so far, I'm really struck right now with the gender dynamic here with the male interviewer and his point of view and his framing the questions and the conversation, and the female people who are actually part of this community are trying to set the record straight. And then the male "expert" who isn't actually part of the community still being turned to as an expert voice to dispute the experiences of the female community members who have the expertise of actually being in fandom and then additional expertise, such as legal.

.fcoppa replied on

Sadly, I agree with all of this. (Beth H is really rocking my world, though; I'm so glad she's on it!)

.fcoppa replied on

It does also show you the power of the moderator to shape the discourse; Lev had more control of his story.

liz replied on

Yes, and the ability to to be in your own space and speak for yourself and not have to fit into someone else's angle.

Although this just makes me go back to the conundrum of how do I say "it's not all about the porn!" without sounding like there's something wrong with the porn. But it's more than people (often women, and all the fans here have been women) creating pornography for you (male speaker in this case) to enjoy.

.fcoppa replied on

Well, I must say, I increasingly step into that fastball--if a person is afraid of the porn, it usually pays to challenge them on it by owning it, IMO, even though it is not "all about the porn,", as you say.

liz replied on

Although this is educational! I've been in fandom for a decade and I've never learned before that AUs are *controversial*.

Mark replied on

Liz,

Yes, that's what I heard. *sigh* Media interviews are dicey. I've done two, and having the moderator be generally interested and not judgmental helped a lot. IDK if I'd accept a mainstream news media interview. IMO sometimes they may be necessary, or the pluses may outweigh the negatives.