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30-Day Fanfic Writing Meme, Day 13
13. Do you prefer canon or fanon when you write? Has writing fanfic for a fandom changed the way you see some or even all of the original source material?
Fanon, since I'm usually writing slash pairings that don't exist in canon (Snape/Lupin, Kikuchi/Onozuka) or that are only hinted at but never actually become a couple (Leon/D).
However, I usually start off with a basic grounding in canon. When I first started writing Always, the first entry in my Snupin series of the same title, I tried for the most part not to contradict the canon for Prisoner of Azkaban, showing scenes with Snape and Lupin when Harry wasn't around, or covering time periods that were skipped over in the book so that it could conceivably be taking place "offstage," out of range of Harry's POV. (Though I did change a few details for the sake of the plot.) However, as the series continued and I started including more OCs, it started drifting more into fanon territory. And since I started writing the series not long before Book 5 came out, more and more of my story became contradicted by canon. I was able to incorporate the OOTP plot into the series (though I made a drastic change by eliminating the character death), but with the large gaps of time between the release of the last two books, I ended up writing my own version of Years 6 and 7, which of course were completely contradicted by HBP and DH. So now the series is completely AU, but given how the canon series turned out, I'm very okay with that.
With Haru, I also started off with a basic grounding in canon. I incorporated canon events, like the tv shows and movies that Iwaki and Katou starred in, and I kept the basic relationships between the characters: the love between Iwaki and Katou, and their friendships and rivalries with the supporting characters like Miyasaka, Onozuka, Yoshizumi, and Asano. The main fanon element I added was having Kikuchi and Onozuka become lovers, when there's no indication that they've ever met in canon. (On the other hand, it's not explicitly stated in the manga that they've never met--we just haven't seen it.) So I was mostly expanding on canon by giving the supporting characters a bigger role and seeing more of their interactions with Iwaki and Katou, but then I did make a major AU twist when I had Katou actually get shot at the Academy Awards. I wasn't originally planning to, but I'd often wondered what would have happened if he had, and the shooting also helped two of the other couples (Kikuchi and Onozuka, and Yoshizumi and Kenzaki) move forward in their relationships. So now it's a lot more fanon than when it started, but hopefully the characters still seem "real"--I feel like getting the characterization right is the most important thing in fanfic for me, rather than trying to stick to every little canon event or detail.
My Petshop fics are probably the most AU out of all the fandoms I write, mostly because I'd only seen the anime at the time, and the manga had not yet been translated into English. (I eventually bought import copies, and myself and a few other fan translators worked on translating them on the Petshop_of_Horrors Yahoo Group until TOKYOPOP finally licensed it and released it in the US. However, whoever adapted it into English played fast and loose with the translation, and Americanized some references and dialogue--more than I'd like, but not as bad as Initial D, where all the Japanese characters were given Americanized names.)
Anyway, I made some assumptions that were later contradicted by the manga--I didn't realize at the time that the pets in Count D's shop appear to be human (at least when we're looking at them through D or Chris's POV). So I came up with a couple of OC pet characters, like a tabby cat that turned into a tiger, rather than a tiger that appears to be a woman when no normal humans are around. I also had Leon talk about his parents, when the manga eventually reveals that his mother is dead, and his father is never mentioned--his mother appears to have been a single mom. I was able to fold most of the canon events and characters into my fanfic series, but I went completely fanon after the end of the first manga series, and had Leon track down D and bring him back home after he left at the end of Book 10. I also had them get together and have a child when their relationship never went beyond friendship and a bit of UST in canon.
So for me, canon is a springboard for fanon, I guess. I feel like if I'm going to write everything the same as canon, then I might as well just read the books. Obviously I love the canon or I wouldn't be writing in that fandom, but I like having the freedom to move beyond it. I don't usually do drastic changes, like say, having Snape and Lupin be Muggle teachers at an American high school--it's usually a smaller "what if" change: what if Character A was in love with Character B? What if Character C didn't die in canon? Or wondering what happened after canon ended, or in a certain time period that canon didn't cover.
Previous days:
Day 1
Day 2
Day 3
Day 4
Day 5
Day 6
Day 7
Day 8
Day 9
Day 10
Day 11
Day 12
(You can find the full meme listed at the end of Day 5).
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Sorry, great post, too, btw! I love learning about people on my flist.
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Thanks, I'm glad you're enjoying the posts.
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Your post may have changed how I answer this question when it comes up.
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Anyway, glad I was able to give you some food for thought.