General Fandom Meta

cereta - The good, the bad, and the overly educated - I've always maintained that when it comes to popular culture, it's far easier to be the only person who doesn't like something than to be the only person who does. The only person who doesn't like something is more discerning, more critical, dare I say more intelligent, than those who do. I say this having been on both ends, and feeling much more comfortable being the person saying, "but the plot holes! And the set-up! That clumsy bit of exposition right there," than being the person saying, "but didn't it kick ass?"

flambeau - Ewan's penis (and other things) - to me, characters in movies and tv series etc don't look exactly like the actors who play them. I mean, obviously there is a strong resemblance. But to me, they aren't the same and sometimes the phenomenon of checking out an actor in all his other roles to get a better view of the body, as a sort of secondary canon, leaves me... hm, I don't even know how to put it. Thinking that I clearly don't think like other people about this, I guess.

themostepotente - Fandom Discussion: Two's Company, Three's an Orgy - The Appeal of Threesomes in Fandom - Since a lot of people in fandom claim to have an OTP, I was interested in doing a discussion about threesomes and OT3s. I've broken this discussion up into two parts; personal and fandom related.

lunalelle - Squicks and How Much is Too Much? - Why do I feel this need to make my readers feel the same squicks that I do, and why do I occasionally turn these squicks erotic so that it squicks even more? And, more importantly, when does this cross the line? [...] Where is this line? Does intent matter? Just as porn plays with your pleasure button, why is playing with your squick button any less tasteful (although some porn isn't tasteful, I'll admit)?

makesmewannadie - 24, House, and marriage (contains mild 24 spoilers) - It's interesting - I was reading Housefic the other night and realizing that it's one of the only fandoms I can think of where one of the main slashables is married.

musesfool - take your instinct by the reins You know how sometimes people rub you the wrong way? I'm not talking about people with whom you've had run-ins, per se, but just ... something about them irritates, so you mostly avoid them, and they go on their merry way oblivious to your dislike, and life is great. In many ways, LJ has exacerbated this problem.

nakeisha - Loyalties - it suddenly made me realise that the question of where loyalties rest is one of those hitherto-indefinable things that I 'have to have' in my partnerships in order to make them work for me. Simply put for me their loyalties have to firstly and foremostly be with one another, i.e. they put each other before the organisation for whom they work.

raedbard - [untitled] Book fandoms are so...difficult. [...] But when the fandom is something (or in Terry Pratchett's case, almost 30 rather thick somethings) which you have to sit down and *read*, rather than slam on the dvd and absorb by osmosis (which is how I prep for writing BtVS and Stargate) it becomes a little less accessible.

petronelle - You look familiar, but what's your name again? - My point, anyway, is to wonder whether people who are in fandoms that don't have a one-to-one ratio of depiction/actor to character settle on one and keep it, or whether they have malleable interpretations dependent on the setting.

Fandom-Specific Meta

thepouncer - Star Wars - After seeing Revenge of the Sith, it became clear to me that the story told in Star Wars isn’t just the story of Jedi and Sith, Skywalker father and son, Rebellion and Empire. No, the linking factor in all the films, the one character who is always present and manipulating events, is Palpatine.


Reading/Writing/Creating

stakebait - [untitled] - I am neither a responsible nor a compassionate writer. The entire idea makes me feel like I can’t breathe. [response to minisinoo's post]

to_cry_about - Imagination vs. Experience I think this is mainly a dispute between two different approaches to writing, which are probably equally useful, just as Method acting is only...well, a method. [response to minisinoo's post]

marinarusalka - And knowing is half the battle! - This is definitely a question where I can see both sides, because on the one hand, as a writer drawn to fantasy and science fiction, I'm well aware that I frequently write about things I only "know" for a rather loose definition of "knowing." On the other hand, I wish I had a dime for every time I bailed on a story (fanfic or profic) in disgust, muttering, "this idiot author doesn't know what the hell she's talking about." [response to the realism debate]

petulantgod - A Completely Subjective Comparison of Male and Female F*ckery - In light of my recent rant about anal sex in fandom, I've decided to revamp and elaborate on a post I wrote a very long time ago and have kept locked to my f-list. I'm removing the more personal information and expanding on such things as might need better explanation before presenting it to a larger audience.

executrix - Whacktivism, Mud and Chickens - Certainly I would say that anyone who has a choice between abolishing sexism and heterosexism, on the one hand, and writing a Jayne/Simon PWP* on the...well, on the one hand and opts for the latter: Bad Slasher! No Biscuit! I do not, however, think this is a realistic choice. I prefer to think of it as "changing the world, one libido at a time."

kleenexwoman - Fear and Loathing on Earth and Beyond - So I suppose I'm a science fiction addict. Or perhaps a fanfiction addict. Or, to be more specific, a slash fanfiction addict. I'm hooked, I know, but I don't mind. It's a social habit, really. I can huddle in my own little corner of the Internet and share needles--I mean stories, sorry--with my friends.

Miscellany

maeglinyedi - Ficlet: Muggle Sex 101 by H. Potter and S. Snape - A/N: There has been a lot of discussion about realistic sex around fandom these last few days. I thought about making a post to explain my views on this subject, but then I realized it would be much more fun to let the characters speak for me. [A fictional response to the realism debate]

dramaphile - Because I'm feeling rather Meta... - I'm feeling a bit meta lately, and I got to wondering where people get their ideas for fics and art, because people come up with some pretty amazing creative stuff, and I've always sort of wondered where it all comes from, you know? [poll]

alchemia - short poll on nature/nurture, sex, gender, and hermaphoditic-mpreg fanfics - I was wondering how people here in fandom would look to certain things after some discussions both here in fandom and elsewhere. [poll]