Fandom Meta

worldserpent - LJ: The colony of fear Why is it that in the HP fandom people are so consumed with knowing what others think about them? (And so into anonymity?) They've already had hate memes, memes where you can give e-props to people, the brutal honesty meme, etc. I thought the Sorting Hat anon meme was cute, though. These memes are a result of normal human curiosity, but I wonder why it happens there and not in other fandoms. You don't see people in comic book fandom or House or whatever doing these things. Are they really that bored waiting for book seven?

greyweirdo - Wankers wank I’ve often noticed an amazing myopia in Fandom. It’s got several aspects (which is odd for myopia wouldn’t you say?) but it boils down to the following statement… “My fandom is the greatest and everyone agrees with me and if you don’t agree you’re just stupid and I can ignore your opinions.”

cadhla - In which Seanan ponders people. The Internet -- and fandom, and worst of all, Internet fandom -- creates a constant sort of illusionary celebrity, just like high school did (and does, and always will). Maybe the coins of the realm are a quick wit and a modicum of talent, rather than large breasts and good hair (although large breasts and good hair quite frankly fail to hurt), but it still happens, often without the awareness of the people involved. Betty goes to bed, innocently unaware that her essay, 'How I Spent My Summer Vacation As Jason Dohring's Pool Girl', has just been linked from five thousand fansites. The next day, she has seven hundred new people reading her LJ, she can't possibly keep up with all their comments, and yes, people almost immediately begin calling her an elitest snob who thinks she's better than everyone else. Backlash is a wonderful thing. Meanwhile, Bobby gets mad because people seem to like Betty better, and the cycle starts again.

campfollower - A big divide in fandom One of the biggest divide in fandom I see is the division between "nice" girls and "mean" girls. Much conflict in fandom which seems on the surface seems to be a shipping war, or fps vs. rps, or friending, or concrit really comes down to a culture war between "nice" girls and "mean" girls.

nindulgence - Recurring Issues in LJ Etiquette: the Responding-to-Feedback Mole Whacked for Your Convenience Bearing that in mind, how best can each of us show good fic/feedback/response etiquette towards other fans? I think this boils down to just a few simple guidelines: 1. Recognize your own paradigm, and accept its drawbacks as well as its rewards. 2. Be upfront about your paradigm. Avoid sending mixed messages to your readers.

Fanfic Meta

thete1 - Today's small thought: Fannishness & Music What this all boils down to are nebulous ideas about taste, identification, and the half-conscious (or less) choices we make because of those nebulous things. Our musical choices don't *always* (perfectly) match our character types, but it does often enough to be kind of noticeable to *me*. I mean, again, I barely had any 'Tim music' at all when I started out with his mix, but many of the songs which are on it now -- thanks to the wonderful music pimps of my acquaintance -- are favorites.

thete1 - Porning in the shadows: Revisiting 'I like them young.'
Probably the biggest *thing* about a (Western) chan story, to me, is that it's absolutely *not* meant to be read as something which should -- or even *could* -- take place within the world of the canon it refers to. It's fantasy -- and while all erotic fiction is (to at least some extent, to at least some readers) fantasy -- most Western(ized) chan is kind of a step beyond the usual. The fantasy aspects become infinitely -- and *definitively* -- more important than the fan-fictional aspects.

telesilla - This just in! All fic takes place in an alternate universe! Film at 11 In light of the most recent RPS/F discussion -- this pro-RPS post led to this anti-RPS post -- I just had a thought/theory/thingie that I'd like to share with you all: All fanfiction is inherently Alternate Universe fiction.

amireal - Discussions in continuity It occurs to me, as the discussion has been brought to the forefront, some of our issues we the fans constantly bring up and have with what the writers/producers on a writer pool style of show like Smallville or anything in the Gateverse, are intrinsicly tied to how the show is produced.

Specific Fandom Meta

( Cut for possible Spoilers for the Fandoms: Nip/Tuck, SGA, HP, Farscape, Alias, House )

On Reading and Writing

mgsmurf - Present tense and first person I as see them being useful While most fiction is written in past tense and third person, when I first start a new project I often just leave them up to what comes out. But writing is in part about manipulating the reader and so there are reasons why I have picked what I did without thinking, and as I don't have that wonderful an instinct on these things, I like to know just what that reasoning is. Here's my recent conclusions on reasons why I use present tense and first person.

scoradh - PORN What I'd really like for Christmas, you see, is for fandom to learn some pacing. As an entity, it is what it describes -- a teenage boy who lasts about five minutes, with quality to match. It explains why my rec-list (which I will get around to publishing some day, like anyone cares) is so short. Most R/NC-17 fics are unmemorable for the very reason you read them at all.

gmth - Lazy writers I see this all the time. Usually it's in connection with someone posting about his/her pet peeves in fan fic, and the writers who are considered lazy are the ones who Do That, whatever the "That" happens to be that particular day.

indefatigable42 in fanficrants - Writing and the subconscious I wonder, and not in a snarky way, what's going on in the heads of writers. I suspect that a lot of the melodrama and wank that people write about, from the most misunderstood Dark!Sue to the sickest rapefic, are things they want to write about subconsciously but don't understand why.

Links, Polls, Requests, Other

ethrosdemon - Jensen doesn't really know how to ride a horse, but Chris does. Man, BBM’s going to burn the segment of fandom I’m in to the ground. All the issues in fandom in one movie!

isilya - A little light paranoia I created LJ Backup, the Yahoo! mailing list, just in case. Spread the link! Sign up! Remember the Great LJ Black Out of not so long ago? We were all running around like headless chickens signing up for Greatest Journals and DeadJournals and JournalFen accounts?

cathexys - Looking for FicI am looking for experimental multimedia and/or hypertext.