April 17, 2004

Re: Fan Fiction
Danny

Publishers know that to publish fan fiction based on Tolkien is a lost cause. Here is why. Future literature based on Tolkein's world would only appeal to the fans of the book. It wouldn't be like the movies that had a tremendous market appeal and huge advertising campaign to pull in those who didn't know anything about it before. It couldn't pull in new fans without them first reading all of Tolkein's work to understand it, so one reader in ten million might do that much reading just to pick a new book off the shelf. So the market for future Tolkein literature is not likely to grow beyond the few Tolkein fans who would be open minded enough to give it a try. This forum is the perfect example of what I am talking about. If anything, the scrutiny of PJs adaptation has shown how close minded we are to things that we perceive as untrue to Tolkein's spirit. Not many Tolkein fans would be open minded enough to read the fan fiction. Don't take me wrong, I would be very reticent to read it myself.

Each one of us has had differing opinions of PJs adaptation of Tolkien's writing. We agree on some pretty drastic liberties, but for the most part, we all have our own idea of what Tolkien's world should be like, and many of us refuse to accept deviations from that as being true to Tolkein. Many have offered very harsh criticism and a reluctance to accept PJs adaptation.

We all are aware of the nature of adapting to film. We all know that it was not going to be possible to completely do Tolkien justice in film. Yet, we are all (myself included) judging the film adaptation under our own view of Tolkien criteria. Ok, so now imagine if someone were to actually publish Fan Fiction with an international book publisher. He would be subject to the very individiual scrutiny of each Tolkein fan, but he would also be subject to our expectations that it be perfect. We would think 'It is not film now so it should be able to adhere perfectly to Tolkein.' Add the challenge that we would be expecting the author to adhere to a world of Tolkein that is not there for them to adhere too. I hate to break it to some of you, but Middle Earth does not exist, and nothing actually happens after the last word of Tolkein is written. Yet we would all have our own ideas for what should happen here or there, and if that doesn't happen it would be absolutely untrue to Tolkein. It is a recipe for almost universal rejection. If a film adaptation (being known to be subject to severe limitations) has been intensely scrutinized by the Tolkein comunity, any future Tolkein-adapted literature will only be more highly scrutinized.

I have to laugh at us in a lot of ways. I don't want to offend anybody so I want it to be known that I am including myself in this last statement. We tolkein fans are really a piece of work sometimes. We approach Tolkein's fictional world as though it were an actual history. We practically make it a field of study. I will admit that I know far more about Tolkein's world history than I do about the history of most real nations. What a bunch of erudite scholars we have become. I can see us all sitting in a posh study sipping tea as we discuss how the latest fan fiction is so thoroughally unTolkein. Obviously that author doesn't belong with us. Let us take away his tea and his membership.

Sometimes I think we could all use a dose of fresh air, and realize that the beauty of Tolkein is the wonderful story it tells, not wether Boromir had a birthmark on his left hand (an interesting new discussion for the forum lol 8), or wether Tolkein intended Sauron to be a paralell to Nazzii Germany, or wether the Balrog had wings etc etc. I love a good Tolkein discussion as much as anybody, but I have also been guilty of closing my mind to other ideas about the story and silently declaring my own intelectual superiority to those foolish enough to have any different views than I do about Tolkein.