oh god, Outlander

[silverflight8]

So they made a TV series of it and it's currently airing. I'm not watching, but omg, the memories!

See, Outlander was my introduction to fandom. And I started out, hilariously, on a bulletin board--ladies of Lallybroch, even though this had to be mid 2000's already. (It's still up, and going, I'm pretty sure.) They did (do?) quotes of the day, where they discussed the book quotes, sometimes thematically, but they also had a more general social board, jokes board, etc etc speculation, everything. It was mostly good and I just lurked. It's where I first found Celtic Woman--someone linked them!

But oh god, they hated Laoghaire. They also didn't like Frank Randall much either. Laoghaire is like sixteen, against Claire's twenty or thirty something, and both Jamie and Claire are a lot more experienced in the world and life than her. This part in particular bugs me, because the ladies on the forums were most definitely themselves older; most talked about their teenaged sons and daughters on the more social forums (DH, DS and DD automatically recall Lallybroch to me.) Laoghaire was stupid, yes, but young too. Frank--well, not blameless but his wife disappeared for years and then suddenly reappeared pregnant with a daughter who did not look anything like him, and then his wife said she had time-travelled three hundred years into the past and had married a man there--well, anyway. Now that I think about it, the board was not unsurprisingly skewed very heavily Jamie/Claire, and since I too shipped them it was fine. It was not a general discussion forum though.

I posted fic about Outlander. I'm so glad it's off the internet. Actually I think I lost the fic itself, but I think I can do without that phase in my life. The reason it's off the internet is because then Gabaldon had her thing with fanfiction (it was spectacular), and I'm pretty sure this is how I discovered the existence of fandom_wank.

I took down my fic and ragequit everything to do with her. I was also mad that I bought An Echo in the Bone just before the whole debacle; I very rarely buy books--one to two a year these days, less then--and only do so with books I couldn't wait for the library to get. A hardcover copy too.

Comments

[ankaret]

Ahahahahahaha I had forgotten the Gabaldon 'how dare you write fanfic' flounce thing. I gave up on the books when I couldn't get through A Breath Of Snow And Ashes even though I was stuck on a transatlantic flight.

[spiralsheep]

I know I've said this before but you have my sympathy for your First True Fandom having such an irritating creator.

[silverflight8]

Ahahaha the novels kind of splinter into a thousand different storylines by then. The first book is so much more straightforward. And the timetravelling isn't as important anymore, which takes a lot out of it.

[silverflight8]

Hee, I appreciate it but no lasting damage, except (as I said on lj) that it's a good lesson to not look up authors' views in general. Ignorance is definitely bliss.

[ankaret]

I kept thinking 'if I'd wanted a book about eighteenth century child-rearing and surgery, I'd have bought one'. I just wanted to get my own stone circle and use it to rescue Brianna and Young Iain from that book.

[silverflight8]

*nods* I didn't mind the surgery so much--I've always wondered and kind of wished we could import some of our medical research/knowledge into the past!--but yeah. I was really disappointed when they moved to America too. Blah, Pre-Revolutionary America, very original.

[senza.livejournal.com]

So ... I am actually watching the show because I am fond enough of the characters that I'm curious to see what they do with them in a television series. Thus far, I'm mostly just finding it boring interspersed with pretty shots of Scotland scenery.

I wish I could ragequit everything to do with her because I think her views on fanfiction are totally ridiculous, but I'm invested enough in Claire and Jamie that I keep reading each book as it comes out.

It sounds like Outlander was for you what The X-Files was for me, in terms of being the gateway drug into fandom. =)

[mezzogiorno.livejournal.com]

I LOVE it when authors get all high and mighty over fanfiction, especially using terms like "it makes me want to barf". Oh man, white slavery? No.

But it is sad when that sort of stuff happens to something you previously loved. I've only started reading the books because of the show, and I don't think I'd be popular on that forum as I love Frank! At least, he's not done anything horrible yet (whereas Jamie has, to me). Claire and Frank aren't right for each other, but that doesn't make Frank horrible.

Overall I am sorry that the fandom was ruined for you :(

[wordsofastory.livejournal.com]

I never read the books, but I heard about Gabaldon's fanfiction thing even over in my own corner of fandom. I've been vaguely watching the news about the TV show with interest, to see if it sparks a new wave of fanfiction and how she'll react, but I haven't actually seen any of the episodes.

[silverflight8.livejournal.com]

Honestly, the Scotland part was one of the biggest draws for me--I hated it when they moved to America (especially since it was pre-Revolutionary America, where scads of novels are set).

Eh, what can you do? I was in the library the other day and her newest book was in the New Acquisitions section and I passed by once, twice, three times and then opened it in morbid curiousity. I can't remember half of what happened and who people are--the novels got really complicated with the sprawling family bit.

One of the earliest, definitely! I don't remember how I found fanfiction.net...

[silverflight8.livejournal.com]

It was some really impressive hyperbole! :P

I think he was perfectly nice and that Claire and Randall were, if not soulmates, certainly just fine together.

It's okay. No lasting damage! Except the useful lesson that the less I know of authors' personal lives and views, the better. And that goes for everyone from Heinlein to Robin McKinley. Wait, OK, let me take that back--I'm not sorry for finding out how lovey JKR is. But everything else, I think I'll stick to just reading the books.

[silverflight8.livejournal.com]

It was a big blowup!

Huh, I wonder...but I think (and hope) she's smart enough to not say anything. She did eventually put up a statement about fic that was something about she doesn't want to see it iirc but not incendiary, way later.

[gothrockrulz.livejournal.com]

Never heard of Outlander before I saw some promos for the TV show. But now you and other commenters have me intrigued. :) (Though I'm sorry an author's words/actions made you ragequit. That's one of the worst things an author could possible do.)

[silverflight8.livejournal.com]

It was very compelling! It's okay though, no lasting damage done :P Still fannish!