A friend brought up the topic of folks vocally hating pastiche the other night, talking about fanfic as well, and it was interesting to me how close and yet how far apart the terms "pastiche" and "fanfic" can be. And why one fuels the flames a bit more than the other.
Fanfic, of course, is simply that fiction written by fans, both extending and deep-diving into some existing intellectual property with their own creations. Pastiche, however, while often written by fans for the same reasons, can more easily tread on holy ground. A true pastiche is actually trying to replicate an experience anew, to catch a creator's voice and give us that one thing we so desire: That new tale the original creator did not tell. Fanfic so often is used to write stories from other mediums, so it raises less hackles. Pastiche dares to work in the same medium as the original, where direct comparison is possible and charges of blasphemy or fraud can be levied by the self-appointed judges of said works.
Loving something so much you want to try to replicate it, make something like it all your own, is really the next level in being a fan. It's also the exact opposite of that other next level of being a fan -- the sort of love where you want to put your beloved text in a box, protect it, and keep it a sacred and special part of your life. And with two next levels of the same fandom, we suddenly have the sheepmen and the cattlemen of the Old West, ready to go to war.
Both sides have their point. Creativity and the freedom to explore the world that exists in a great work is a grand concept. Trying to recreate, to inspire that feeling we felt before, is a basic human urge. And we have seen those who seem to succeed. Yet all creativity has its failures, and Frankensteining parts of a great beauty into a monster can also bring the villagers with torches. While most try to be kind and not call out the uglier specimens wandering into our fandom village, there will be those, through choice or habit, just have to be a little too honest.
I've been on both sides of this great divide in fandom, and after decades of being a Sherlock Holmes fan, I've learned there are no winners in fighting that fight. (And some other fights.) Sherlockiana is not that big a pond, and sometimes we have to accept that the opposite of our opinion exists in this big tent, to mix my metaphors. The divide is not a chasm, there is no real canyon that separate us from the other side. Just a spectrum of fans in between us and our opposite numbers, sharing our views to a degree and their views to a degree, friends who can bridge that gap and occasionally call us out when we might be verging upon unkind or treat our wounds when we're cut to the quick by a sharp comment.
And few things bring out the cutting comments more than a new attempt to make new Sherlock Holmes, be it TV, movies, or that story you wrote last week. The best wisdom that exists in this internet age has long been "never read the comments." Being careful where you swing your own sharp objects, however, is a wisdom that goes back to when humans first used tools, so maybe we need to give that one even more consideration.
Walp, this palaver went a lot of places I didn't expect, so I'll step away for now. Take care out there.
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