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cleolinda
2009-04-16 10:07 pm UTC (link)

Yeah, I think there are some feral fandom aspects of Twilight, or at least a huge number of teens and moms for whom this is their first fandom. But many of them have gravitated to fansites and boards, even though that fandom inexperience/naivete still shows (I think there's one board that closes at like 9 pm every night because the mods can't be there to make sure everyone plays nice?).

All I know is, Meyer is apparently active on various message boards, communicates with the fan sites and the fans, participates in discussions--her fandom is pretty invested in her as a person (which is smart, generally). I feel like a lot of people are so personally invested in the books and/or her (certainly in the books,* if nothing else) that they are going to be very, very touchy about anyone attempting to grab authorship equality--not just over Meyer, but over them. That's why I think she doesn't know fandom too well--I mean, Thou Shalt Not Profit is pretty much the cardinal rule of fandom to begin with. And then, trying to place herself above other fans (you know, those uneducated fanfic writers!) as Meyer's equal in terms of the right to tell the Jacob story? Yeah. I don't see that going over well, no matter what anyone thinks of either writer's talent or quality.

* One of the big things about this fandom is that they're really big on identifying themselves with Bella, or with Bella as a direct reader proxy. So, again: not gonna be happy with someone who tries to take over the story on a "professional" level.

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(Anonymous)
2009-04-16 10:25 pm UTC (link)

She doesn't know the fandom well, as evidenced by the large number of fans and fan sites that smacked her the first time (second? third? what the hell number are we on now, anyway?) she pulled this crap.

The problem though, the crack in the Twilight armor so to speak, is the large number of first-time fans that populate the fandom. These people don't understand that it is the nature of something like the Twilight books to generate fanfic as a byproduct of its existence, and may see this as a true continuation (especially the Team Jacob fans). I recall a number of comments from the first press release, actually, saying they'd like to read this story. If this nutbar goes ahead with her original plan to publish this text physically, then these naive (heh, in this fandom? really?) people may be duped into thinking it's genuine.

'Course, by this point, they'd have to be living in a cave, on Mars, with their fingers in their ears; but, you know, stranger things have happened.

As little as I respect Twilight and so many of the people who cling to it like a golden puppy from God, I know there's people out there who get a great deal of pleasure from it. A book like this, especially if they bought it unknowing (or worse, buy into her lunacy online), could take that enjoyment from them, and that would make me sad. Unless they wanked about it. That would make me smile.

Rats, no I'm torn.

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(Anonymous)
2009-04-17 11:20 pm UTC (link)

I think there's one board that closes at like 9 pm every night because the mods can't be there to make sure everyone plays nice?

That is just the most darnedly cute thing I've ever heard! Daawww, I just want to tug its adorable little cheeks!

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