In Defense of Fangirls

First, it's stupid how many of my blogs are inspired by Pinterest. Like, seriously. I have a problem and I need to stop.

Now that that's out of the way, for today's post/rant: FANGIRLS

For those of you who don't know, 'fangirl' is the term for young females who are obsessed with a book series, TV show, or movie franchise. They are mostly famous for fanfiction written on Tumblr and for coining terms such as 'ship' and 'canon' and 'OTP.' None of those terms are important for today's discussion but feel free to look them up.

Fangirls are often mocked for loving books and characters to the point the rest of the world considers absurdity. Often, they are also ridiculed for loving books not viewed as 'real' fiction. In some cases, the Internet Idiots actually make a slightly less dick-ish distinction and call the books 'genre fiction.' 

I'm here to defend the fangirls and the books they love.

The entire mockery of fangirling (yes, it is actually a verb, I did not make that up. Ask the Internet)  is predicated on the assumption that the books/characters they love are not worthy of their love because they are: 
    A) almost always fit the YA genre 
    B) cater to cliched tropes 
    C) are not literary fiction 
    D) poorly written
If I have left anything out, please let me know and I shall add my rebuttal to your argument.

Let's start with YA fiction.

Not all YA fiction is great but this is true of all writing genres, be it YA, children's, romance, nonfiction, historical, mystery, biography, even poetry. To dismiss an entire genre of literature simply because it was written with teenage characters is as ludicrous as it is stupid. If you specifically want to dismiss a certain YA novel, that's your prerogative as a human with an opinion but you do not get to summarily call hundreds of books bad based on something so arbitrary. If you have any doubt that YA is only read by teenagers, you need only ask around before you discover plenty of adults enjoy it, too.

Next up, cliched tropes.

Let me be clear: most people do not understand the difference between being cliche and invoking a trope. A medieval story, for example, that includes a princess locked in a tower, is invoking that specific trope. If the prince rescues her, that could be considered cliche. But if the princess is locked in the tower because she has a nasty habit of bursting into flame at random intervals, it is not cliche. 

There is absolutely nothing wrong with using familiar tropes. You don't even have to invert every one you use. Some of them can just be familiar. If the author has done their job, the characters will be new and interesting enough the reader won't notice if not every trope in a story is original.

Literary fiction. *mimes vomiting*

Being a creative writing major in college, I am well-versed in the difference between literary and genre fiction. Literary fiction is the high-brow stuff you read in college. Genre fiction is Harry Potter, The Hunger Games, those sorts of books. If I have any fantasy fans out there, yes, this includes fantasy novels like Lord of the Rings and Name of the Wind. Literary fiction is seen as being better, especially in literary circles, and there is definite snobbery present when we discuss genre fiction in my fiction class. 

But there's really nothing wrong with liking genre fiction. Writing genre fiction is just as difficult as writing literary fiction. Do you think Ernest Hemingway could have written Game of Thrones? Hell no. It's not that one is better or more difficult: they are just DIFFERENT. And there is nothing wrong with liking one more than the other. The thing that makes you a jackass is when you start making fun of someone else for liking the other one more. Seriously, just stop. Putting down genre fiction does not make literary fiction better and it does not make you "deep" that you like to read Claire Vaye Watkins instead of J.K. Rowling. 

Which brings us to the last objection: that the books fangirls love are poorly written.

Really, this is the criticism at the heart of every other complaint regarding fangirls and the books they love. It's the one that makes me truly angry, too. And I'll tell you why.

If a book is really poorly written, no one would love it. Yeah. I said it. I wish it wasn't true because it means I have to make a serious concession to the validity of Fifty Shades of Grey but it is true. People love stories that make them feel and only a good writer can make people feel as deeply as fangirls do. End of story. I'm one and a half semesters away from getting my BA in English with a creative writing emphasis, I've been writing for twelve years, trust me: I know what I am talking about.

And before you say I'm only defending genre fiction because my story has dragons in it, let me be clear: I am perfectly capable of writing literary fiction. Ask my literary-fiction-loving-professor. I think there is value in writing and reading both. My argument is with those who dismiss one in favor of the other. Because that's just wrong.

So, fangirls and fanboys and fandoms of the world, I tip my hat to you and say I am glad you have found stories and characters to love.