Fandom Meta

bethbethbeth: Post-ConneXions Songvid Thoughts - "I should preface this by saying that I know next to nothing about the technical side of vidding. I think "aspect ratio" has something to do with fact that sometimes images in vids look too narrow, as if you were watching them in a fun house mirror, but generally my vidding vocabulary is limited to "thing...er...thingy." However, I did have some thoughts (probably not terribly original ones) while watching the already-seen vids and previewing vids at ConneXions, about what sort of categories vids fit into."

justacat: Connexions ... mostly! - "I know this is an incredibly complex area - folktales, myth, fables and fairy tales, Jungian archetypes, etc. - and I know I'm simplifying wildly and probably hopelessly mangling various key academic concepts, but I'm going to proceed anyway.... It seems to me that fanfic, like fairy tales or Greek tragedies, generally follows predictable patterns, there are predictable character roles and forms of interaction, there are a set of fairly standard motifs. (Sometimes people refer to these as clichés, but to my mind they're only clichés when they're poorly executed.) All of these are to a large degree predictable - but the predictability is comforting, in some ways part of the appeal, and it need not be boring."

executrix: Once, In Flight School - "The mods asked for a show of hands on who identified primarily as fans, although they didn't ask who identified primarily as slashers and who divided their identification equally. One thing that emerged during the discussion is a point that repays further research: differential attitudes toward *television.* Some fen have gone for long stretches of time without watching much TV, or even owning one of the damn things. I wonder whether canon orthodoxy is positively correlated with heavy consumption of, and fondness for, broadcast TV, whereas those who consume less TV and usually in TiVo, video, or DVD form are more likely to have a positive attitude toward, e.g., AUs, ARs, crossovers, and fusions?"

estrella30: Fandom and Sexuality - "But see, the thing is, whether or not in five years I’m involved in fandom is no longer the issue. Because I’m changing the person I am now because of fandom. I’m understanding myself, and happier with myself, and loving myself more, and that – that part of my personality and the changes I’m making - will still be around in five years. It will affect the way I look at things and handle things. So yes, will fandom be important to me in five years? You bet. Because the person I am then, will be because of it."

caras_galadhon: Pinning Down Those Butterfly Souls (Honesty in Asking for Feedback) - "We've talked over and over and over again about the reader's responsibility to be respectful, careful and kind, but what about the writer? This needs to be a shared venture, and so far, I'm not seeing a lot of people making writers responsible for the types of feedback they want." and Don't Forget to Wipe Your Feet (Sometimes Silence is a Better Type of Feedback) - "But then I notice something odd. I have comments coming in from people (more than one) who have popped up their heads to ask for something from another reader, and that's all they're popping up to say. Not even a throwaway, "this fic sux!" to speak of, yet they clearly have to have read the fic, given that they made it all the way to the comments at the end."

halegirl in fanthropology: Fan Fiction Quality & Readability - "I arrived at the basic idea that the way to measure quality was to consider three factors: Mechanics, Style, Canonicity/Characterization. This should really be waited and an equation created... Anyway... I then proceeded to go to FanDomination.Net's Good Charlotte category and basically choose ten stories at some what random. I checked to make sure that indeedy do, there is a story in the post... and that it has some length. And I ignored ToS violations in terms of disclaimers which *slaps wrist* bad me... After that, I created three poll questions for each story where I asked readers to rank on a scale of one to ten the quality of the mechanics, style, canonicity/characterization."


Specific Fandom Meta

donnaimmaculata: This is where My!Remus comes from [HP] - "Reviewers have referred to my Remus as: "bad", "evil", "ruthless", "immoral" and "slutty" and some have expressed their bewilderment about my characterisation of him. I have my reasons for writing him that way, and I claim that I extrapolate from canon and don't use characteristics that aren't alluded to in the books. However, I place a different emphasis."

rhapsodysmuse: Squicky recommendation [HP] - "I'm sure everyone has read And Just Plain Wrong, by amanuensis1? I read it for the first time today and I must say it's the single most disturbing thing I have ever read. Yet somehow it's also one of the most compelling."

shellmidwife: by semi-popular demand, some ranting [Lost] - " Since a few people said they were actually interested, I'm going to tell you my opinion of what they got wrong in last night's Lost. And this is all from memory--I didn't save the show and watch it again or anything, so apologizes for anything vague or that I missed or whatever."

midnitemaraud_r: Hogwarts v. the Typical British Boarding School [HP] - "We, as a fandom, tend to equate Hogwarts on an even keel with other boarding schools, and I'm not sure if this is accurate on our parts. What are the common adjectives and notions that we universally equate with boarding school? Proper, privileged, wealth, stuffy, strict, uniforms... There is no mention in any of the books about tuition fees. You can't "buy" a spot for your child. Family lineage, nepotism, and tradition play no role in the student body selection. There's no 'blackballing' and the only exclusion is if you fail to meet the one criteria for admittance: Magical ability."

gehayi in fanficrants: In Defense of Pansy Parkinson [HP] - "To the fangirls: I'd like to speak up in defense of Pansy Parkinson."

minisinoo: So ... Finding an editor/beta/whatever [X-men] - " I wondered if there might be any interest in the creation of an LJ community devoted to matching up editors / betas with writers? A couple comments on the previous entry suggested maybe so, but such a community would require some structure, I think, such as an easy way to FIND the beta reader one needs despite the serial nature of LJ entries, etc."


Other

st_crispins: Why We Write/The Squee Heard 'Round the World - "It's so difficult to recreate what it was like 40 years ago. There was no internet obviously, but also no DVDs no VCRs, no cable (except in rural areas) no cable networks, no IM, no cell phones. The portable radios were tinny transistor types. Music came on records. There were only three networks and in some parts of the US, less than that. Most houses had one black and white set, usually controlled by the father of the house. If you wanted to watch a program, you had to negotiate with Dad. One. Television. Set. Our lifeline to the rest of the world."