General Fandom Meta

fabu - Friending Stuff - I think it's true that all of us initially have an expansionist approach to our flists, and that, once we reach a certain number of "friends" (a number that's probably different for each of us), we're less open to new people. In effect, this creates layers of friends groups, most of whom created their journals (or entered a new fandom) at about the same time. I also suspect that for most of us, time is the critical issue - as our flists get larger, do we end up trading depth of interaction (long discussions with a few people) for breadth of interaction (short, superficial conversations with many people)? And does this cause problems between people with different size flists, and perhaps different expectations?

guede_mazaka - Poking at old horses - fabu posted yesterday about perceptions that PotC is changing in terms of how it organizes itself as a fandom. Reading the comments reminded me of the old retort, "What Internet are you looking at? 'cause it's not mine." Only remove the bitter sarcasm from that and insert a deep confusion. I'm rather aware that I've got blinkers set up by my personal experience, and especially the bad ones, which tend to leave me with long grudges, but nevertheless I'm always startled to find out how different perceptions are.

nostalgia_lj - more! - If there's one thing to say about money and knowledge it's this; that generally speaking, your socio-economic class will impact upon your education. [...] fannish discourse is becoming increasingly academic in nature. People will quite often mention their academic qualifications to support their argument. And frankly, there's a lot of stuff that's utterly opaque without a university-level liberal arts qualification. So, taken together, there is a (non-deliberate) socio-economic bias in fannish discourse. The accepted explanations and beliefs will tend towards the values of specific - relatively privileged - classes. I'll venture to say that this may be part of the reason fannish discourse so rarely considers economic issues and issues of class. There are significant elements of fannish discussion that are closed to segments of fandom for reasons other than intellectual ability. I really can't stress this enough. It is an issue. Class/income is something that affects which segments of fandom set the tone for the elite discourse, affect whose history we're writing about.

jenavira - dammit, nos' is making me feel guilty. - Fandom is obsessed with sex above all else. Fandom is mostly made up of well-off white women, and so this is understandable, because sex/gender is one of the main issues for that particular demographic, but this only highlights how well fandom disguises its own economically underpriveliged members [...] So, um, why does fandom never discuss things like race or economics, or even religion?

executrix - The Long-A Theory - I have little tolerance for fanfics with Little Orphan Jayne backstory; I think he's an even meaner sumbitch than circumstances strictly called for (just as the Measure of the Vampire for both Spike and Angel is how much worse they behaved than they had to for strict nutritional purposes). However, and bearing in mind that they may often be the same people, I wonder if the Jayne-fans, like the Snape-fans, are unwilling to accept the conclusions of the POV character at face value?

_elektra - Slash fic and the outside world - I really, really hate reading articles on fanfiction written by a journalist (or random idiot) on the outside. Inevitably I stumble upon them, and cannot look away. Inevitably, the writer has no fucking idea what they're talking about.

miriam_heddy - Poll/Question: G-Rated Slash. Is it possible, and what - This provoked me to wonder whether you all agree that it's even possible for slash to be PG or G, and what criteria you all have for such a story. In other words, what's your tipping point--your own sense of what makes a slash story a slash story, and is that compatible with the "G" rating which the MPAA assigns as "General Admission"?

minisinoo - When is fanfiction not fanfiction? - At what point does fanfic cease to be fanfic? Obviously, the answer to that depends a whole hell of a lot on how one defines "fanfic," itself. [...] Yet the problem of defining fanfic is that people write it for a variety of reasons, which obviously impacts what we think it IS -- and where/when we think a story has stopped being fanfic to become something else. So I'm kinda curious what others think on this matter.

up_your_peach - ruby gets thinky. run. - I don't think it's wrong for people to write the most cracktastic of cracktastic AUs, and not just because I have a fondness for AUs. I've seen situations presented in fic that make my head hurt, but if it makes you happy, hey, get to it. But I don't think it's wrong for people to want to see a little of the Spike and Xander and Lindsey and Angel and Buffy they recognize from TV in the fic they read, [...] I also don't think it's wrong for people to want to read a story that doesn't contain so many misspelled words that it's rendered unreadable. And more importantly, I don't think it's wrong for them to say so.


Fandom-Specific Meta

the_royal_anna - These two will sizzle: Rose/Nine from start to glorious end - I ache for this show. Russell T Davies' pitch for the show is so shippy I want to waltz him round the room. I love especially his apologetic note that the original document doesn't quite convey how electric the Rose/Doctor dynamic would prove to be, "but imagine if the pitch had tried to predict that. 'These two will sizzle!' Yeah, right..." [Dr. Who]

entrenous88 - letter regarding message on JM's site - Let me say to start with that I for one am thrilled that James Marsters will be appearing on Smallville in the show's upcoming fifth season. In my circles of friends, acquaintances, and fans, I haven't encountered one person who has expressed dissatisfaction with this development. Rather, the reactions to this announcement have ranged from excited to pleased to congratulatory. It was, then, not just surprising but disconcerting to read a statement from from you in your capacity as a public relations representative on James' site saying "screw the nay sayers." [Smallville/Buffy&Angel]

elynross - Another bit of Hanging Work from cereta - Lucy and I have discussed how it's a weakness of the medium, as with soap operas, that things can never stay improved -- that insights made by characters so often have to be revisited ad nauseum. So Dick, who knows Batman, knows his difficulty, nay, near inability, to open himself up, make himself vulnerable, express his feelings, continually fails to remember the attempts Bats has made, and while when Bats makes those attempts, in the short-term Dick accepts them and feels better, in the long-term, he keeps falling into his insecurities. [Comics/DCU]

m_butterfly - A House Rant, As Promised - I am so inexpressibly sick, tired, and disgusted by the way House fandom seems to think it gets to pick and choose what consequences of House's leg they want to deal with, and just utterly ignore the rest. You want to write in a fandom where the main character has a disability, rather than flittering off to the easier fields of full mobility? Good on you. Unfortunately, that means you have to write in a fandom where the main character has a disability. Not a 'leg problem,' not a 'pain condition,' not a 'he limps and has a cane and it's cool but he's still totally up for missionary-style sex with him on top, because it's an issue but not that big of an issue.' [House]

meyerlemon - I don't like Billy/Lee because I hate the gays. I wanted to clarify that - I'm skeered! Our little teensy fandom was so sedate and fun. Now it's attracting terrifying elements, the kind of people who think that it's important to navel-gaze and rant at length, and repeatedly, with great anger and, like... spittle, about BSG fandom itself, rather than about what Lee would look like with a 'stache. [BSG]

k_julia - that meta thing, oh dear - From where I'm standing, BSG often seems a very cranky fandom. There's a level of crankiness, or maybe even defensiveness, I've seen in discussions that I found completely unexpected.[...] It's particularly mind-boggling when this defensiveness comes from the biggest and most-written ship in the entire fandom. If there were a few lonely people who thought that the general trend of the fandom was really detrimental to, say, their love for Roslin/Baltar, I suppose I'd find it more understandable; I'd still ask you how your love for your pairing and your interpretation of the show is damaged by other fans having different preferences, but I think at least I'd get where the frustration comes from. [BSG]

rashaka - BSG, Starbuck/Kara/that blond character - Last night, while watching the recorded episode [of Battlestar Galactica] from the previous Friday, I got to talking with my dad about the show. He mentioned two main things he found detracted from the series. One of them was too many plot threads happening at once that made it difficult to follow and gave it weird pacing. The second thing he mentioned was the blond pilot woman's character, Starbuck or Kara (I'm still getting used to the names on this show.) [BSG]

inkpuddle - My aggravated opinion on the H/Hr wank - DUDE. This batshit crazy Harry/Hermione wank has got to STOP. Are they even listening to themselves? To be perfectly blunt, who gives a damn if your ship gets sunk, whether by canon or straight from JKR's mouth in an interview? That's what you're in fandom for. Sure, we're a mildly cohesive fandom because we all love Harry Potter and the world he lives in. But we write fic, we create mini-worlds and "AU" is not a term unknown to us--nay, it's widely loved and accepted. [HP]

mamadeb - Thoughts on Hufflepuff - While I've always thought I'd go to Ravenclaw, I'm neither surprised nor disappointed about being Sorted into Hufflepuff.. I'm thinking about that because Hufflepuff has gotten a bad rap. [HP]

anna_maria - On romance in the Harry Potter series - Now, I loved the Harry/Ginny as much as the next 12-year-old girl, but the two pages or so that were spent establishing it and the two weeks or so that they actually spent together certainly seemed less significant, to me, than Harry's six years of deep, devoted friendship with Ron and Hermione. But Andrew was suggesting that relationships between lovers are always a greater risk than relationships between friends, no matter what, which had never occurred to me before, but now I think that's one of the keys to the HP series. [HP]

donnaimmaculata - Smash the heterosexual orthodoxy - I would like to ask a question that's always interested me: What makes Remus gay? I am asking this, because there are many readers who read the character Remus Lupin as gay. And I don't mean the character's being coded as representing the idea of homosexuality on an allegorical level, which is quite a different thing. (A worrying one as well if people assume that making someone a vicious man-eating monster means that they stand for homosexuality, but this is neither here nor there.) What I am interested to know is what, exactly, about Lupin's characterisation makes readers think he's as gay as a tree full of monkey. [HP]

violet_quill - het, smut, and hetsmut - I've noticed a bit of a trend in the past couple of weeks. Het. There's lots of it. More than usual. [...] Not complaining, of course, it's a nice fad. I'm all for more het, just as long as the slash doesn't slow down either. ;) But I'm wondering - do you think it has to do with the new book? Are people suddenly more attracted to het because there is more het in canon now? [HP]

lottelita - A Moment Like a Fulcrum: a Harry Potter Newbie Reflects on the books and the fandom - No need to wonder, then, why fandom-members are so inscrutably rabid at times. They wouldn't be in the fandom in the first place if they didn't feel deeply, personally invested in the work they love. And if they develop this investment before the work is complete, and then, as the work progresses, it begins to defy their expectations and disappoint them … well, we know what happens then. It's not just disappointment; it's bigger than that. It's betrayal. [HP]

maeglinyedi - Killers in the HP universe - Since I was internetless last night, I spent some time doing my second favorite thing in the world: watching Discovery Channel and National Geographic Channel. And NGC had this most interesting 2 hour documentary: The Truth About Killing. [...] Now, me being me, I immediately tried to translate this to the HP universe, of course. [HP]


On Reading/Writing/Creating

guede_mazaka - Dammit, there will be fic tomorrow - Do I have to rewrite all my PotC headers to say written before the second movie? Because after all, I have a lot of backstory in my head that depends solely on the first movie [...] And not to mention that a hell of a lot of what's right now canonical PotC fic is going to end up AU. How do you people who fic for ongoing TV shows deal with this?

fairestcat - Musings on open vs. closed canons - guede_mazaka asked what writers for ongoing TV shows do about their fic being rendered AU by canon and it reminded me that I had some thoughts bouncing around my head about this before I got distracted by about half a dozen other things. I've actually never really been in a fandom with an open canon before [...] BSG is the first fandom for a current TV show I've ever really actively participated in and it got me thinking about the difference between writing in open and closed canon fandoms.

beccaelizabeth - Collaboration - I think from reading comics and fanfic and a bit from TV I just have this default setting that people collaborate to be creative. I mean how many comics have one person doing everything down to the letters? None I have read, afaik. People do the bits they are best at, and the result is shinier.

myfeetshowit in porch_talk - Narrative Distance - Anybody interested? - I've been thinking about Narrative Distance quite a bit lately. I would like to know what you think it is. Any books or columns on the subject that you would recommend? What kind of distance do you use in your writing? Why? Desire to publish? It's what you know? You think it is the best form of communication? You didn't know there was any other way?

minisinoo - The (not necessarily pretty) Confessions of an Artist - This ability to shift focus across time is essential, I think, for writers and other artists. We're migratory by nature, we just don't migrate that quickly. Still, in 5 years, 10 years ... we can seem like completely different people in our hobbies, interests, fascinations. We can reinvent ourselves. I realize that many people are like that, not just artists. But it seems to be a very prominent characteristic in artists of all kinds.

oracne - Big Gay Fantasy - mroctober just asked, in comments, why only women seemed to write Great Queer Fantasy. [...] Is this true? And if so, any theories as to why? [...] And as a side question, do fans of slash like Queer Fantasy? (I know that in some cases they do, but in some they don't--I'm looking for specific authors that seem to be popular in both directions. So to speak.)

cordelia_v - The Art of Fanfiction Reviewing - After I read something I enjoyed, I think: how could I make this author feel as good as she just made me feel? What will please her, in turn? When it’s really been good for me, I want to return the favor so strongly, so powerfully, that the writer will feel pleasure and gratification. That’s what I hope to achieve, anyway. I don’t expect that this will lead to any further dialogue, beyond a “thanks for the feedback” comment. The author already gave me her gift, which was the story. And now, I’d like to complete the circle, by giving something back to her.

alyse - If fanfic be the food of love, write on - If fanfiction is the food of love, we must accept not only that people's tastes are different, but that their needs are different too. For example, Sturgeon's Law states that 90% of everything is crap, only slightly more elegantly. That's certainly true of fanfiction and I know that many people, myself included, bemoan the fact that so much of it is formulaic, repetitive, out of character and yet greeted with glees, whereas it always seems as though carefully crafted and exquisite pieces are pretty much either received gratefully by the few or sink, unremarked, into the ether. If fanfiction really is the food of love, then these stories are the equivalent of McDonalds.

ithiliana - What kind of "reader" are you? - I am a rabid (yes, probably at the level of batshit plus 100) obsessive about reading in order and a completist (there are only a few authors whom I start out liking and then stop because I get so pissed at them--though I must admit the list is growing these days, sigh). But usually, I want it all, and I want to read in order. [...] I have the feeling (how new is this) that I am somehow not representative of most readers. So am interested in completely unscientific and totally fannish sort of way about how you all read.


Miscellany

isiscolo - reading, commenting, lurking - poll results - [Results and conclusions drawn from her recent poll on livejournal reading habits.]

no_remorse - Fandom's Free (To Friends-Lock) - If I could offer you only one tip for the future, friends-lock would be it. The long term benefits of the friends-lock have been scientifically proven by Fandom Wank; whereas the rest of my advice has no basis more reliable than my own meandering fannish experience. I will dispense this advice: ["Wear Sunscreen": livejournal edition]