Comments

The Silmarillion Writers' Guild is more than just an archive--we are a community! If you enjoy a fanwork or enjoy a creator's work, please consider letting them know in a comment.

Thank you so much for this! I enjoyed everything about this - your richly coloured imagery, your tone, your analogy that so clearly highlights the very valid nature of derivative works, and the fitting reference to Williams. Lovely!

Thank you very much! I'm happy that my approach to the subject worked for you!

And it is good to hear that yarn as a metaphor spoke to you, personally.

Or, possibly, not exactly good, as I'm sorry that you have an extreme critic in your head, too, apparently!

But I had wondered whether I was carrying coals to Newcastle, posting a defence of fan creations to a fanworks archive, and it seems I am not the only one who can still use a reminder to self, sometimes.

I think perhaps it's often more a case of an eternal battle with embedded internalised external critics (that seem to have a tendency to leak from one area of one's emotional life to another), especially having received derisory judgements at a developmental stage, (whether that's childhood or beginning a new craft), and which are frequently reinforced by other people, usually those who are ignorant of the full picture or refuse to acknowledge that there's more to it than suits them. So it's never a surplus to express supportive backing that reinforces the reprogramming of a healthier viewpoint.

(Urgh, that's a mouthful and a half and could be expressed way more attractively, but it's bath time (aka TRSB reading catchup time, yay!) and it gets the message across, so it's staying as is.)

Thank you very much! I'm happy that my approach to the subject worked for you!

And it is good to hear that yarn as a metaphor spoke to you, personally.

Or, possibly, not exactly good, as I'm sorry that you have an extreme critic in your head, too, apparently!

But I had wondered whether I was carrying coals to Newcastle, posting a defence of fan creations to a fanworks archive, and it seems I am not the only one who can still use a reminder to self, sometimes.

 

[ETA: Apologies, you may be getting this twice, but looking at this on the site, I am not sure my reply has threaded as I had intended, so I am trying again.]

Oh, I didn't expect any reader on AO3 to see any connection, or anyone really, unless I had explained it to them!

And the "walking song" is very much meant to be about storytelling more generally rather than fanfiction specifically, even though in both pieces one story to leads to another.

I'm glad you like both of them!