Metaphors we read by: People, process, and fan fiction
New metaphors must be adopted for the writing of fan fiction. Henry Jenkins's metaphor of the textual poacher has achieved tacit acceptance and widespread circulation, suggesting that it has become relatively fixed as a description of fan creative practices among fans as well as in scholarship....
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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Organization for Transformative Works
2013-09-01
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| Series: | Transformative Works and Cultures |
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| Online Access: | http://dx.doi.org/10.3983/twc.2013.0486 |
| _version_ | 1818571665534091264 |
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| author | Juli J. Parrish |
| author_facet | Juli J. Parrish |
| author_sort | Juli J. Parrish |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | New metaphors must be adopted for the writing of fan fiction. Henry Jenkins's metaphor of the textual poacher has achieved tacit acceptance and widespread circulation, suggesting that it has become relatively fixed as a description of fan creative practices among fans as well as in scholarship. Challenges to this model and metaphor are important but have not successfully displaced the prominence of the textual poacher. One promising alternative structure is that of Brownian motion, a scientific concept that both Michel de Certeau and Constance Penley have offered as a metaphor for creativity. Whereas textual poaching offers us a vision of fans as nomads, moving through a place and collecting materials, Brownian motion offers us a vision of fan fiction as world building, a process that remakes the place itself. Metaphors such as Brownian motion do not only offer us a different framework for understanding the creative processes that characterize fan fiction writing; they also remind us to focus on those creative processes themselves, as well as on the fans who engage in them. |
| first_indexed | 2024-12-14T13:59:01Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-e6b7a362a5034e609ff11b6c8dea8331 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 1941-2258 1941-2258 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-12-14T13:59:01Z |
| publishDate | 2013-09-01 |
| publisher | Organization for Transformative Works |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Transformative Works and Cultures |
| spelling | doaj.art-e6b7a362a5034e609ff11b6c8dea83312022-12-21T22:58:47ZengOrganization for Transformative WorksTransformative Works and Cultures1941-22581941-22582013-09-011410.3983/twc.2013.0486Metaphors we read by: People, process, and fan fictionJuli J. Parrish0University of Denver, Denver, Colorado, United StatesNew metaphors must be adopted for the writing of fan fiction. Henry Jenkins's metaphor of the textual poacher has achieved tacit acceptance and widespread circulation, suggesting that it has become relatively fixed as a description of fan creative practices among fans as well as in scholarship. Challenges to this model and metaphor are important but have not successfully displaced the prominence of the textual poacher. One promising alternative structure is that of Brownian motion, a scientific concept that both Michel de Certeau and Constance Penley have offered as a metaphor for creativity. Whereas textual poaching offers us a vision of fans as nomads, moving through a place and collecting materials, Brownian motion offers us a vision of fan fiction as world building, a process that remakes the place itself. Metaphors such as Brownian motion do not only offer us a different framework for understanding the creative processes that characterize fan fiction writing; they also remind us to focus on those creative processes themselves, as well as on the fans who engage in them.http://dx.doi.org/10.3983/twc.2013.0486Brownian motionCreative processReadersTextual poaching |
| spellingShingle | Juli J. Parrish Metaphors we read by: People, process, and fan fiction Transformative Works and Cultures Brownian motion Creative process Readers Textual poaching |
| title | Metaphors we read by: People, process, and fan fiction |
| title_full | Metaphors we read by: People, process, and fan fiction |
| title_fullStr | Metaphors we read by: People, process, and fan fiction |
| title_full_unstemmed | Metaphors we read by: People, process, and fan fiction |
| title_short | Metaphors we read by: People, process, and fan fiction |
| title_sort | metaphors we read by people process and fan fiction |
| topic | Brownian motion Creative process Readers Textual poaching |
| url | http://dx.doi.org/10.3983/twc.2013.0486 |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT julijparrish metaphorswereadbypeopleprocessandfanfiction |