Fandom Meta

rageprufrock - Breaking the seal--fandom style. There's absolutely no mature way to put this, so I'm going to table this in terms that appealed to me between the ages of three and forever: Ow! Ow! I'm breaking my silence. // Nothing inspires a childish fit of rage faster than seeing something crafted over the period of weeks get torn to tiny, uninspired pieces, taken out of context, mauled by readers, and picked at--and have to gloss it over with a shiny, mature veneer. Outside, I'm holding my chin up high, smiling, and glowing in the Southern sun, and inside my head is a fucking ACDC concert: I'm busting eardrums and breaking expensive machinery.

elishavah - nrgh When one person posts a review on LJ -- a statement of like or dislike, with supporting examples -- the natural tendency is to jump on with comments along the lines of "Me too!" or "Are you nuts?" We do this with fic, with vids, with episodes, with movies, with books, etc. It's what happens. It's called interaction. Sometimes it's public, sometimes it's locked. Either way, there is no consulting of the creator, whether fan or not, since it's an expression of opinion by an individual on their journal. // So what's different about moving that review-and-jumping to a community?

violetsmiles - friday / thecuttingboard / birthdays And – and there’s the hurtful aspect to it. Some of us have thick skin and can take concrit without it ruining our day or making us lose interest in what we’re actually writing. Some people can’t.

koimistress - Let's talk story I wasn't sure how to react to Pru's post at first, but I think at heart it reflects a profound sense of ambiguity. I have some thoughts on fannish discussion which have roiled around in my head for a while, and since I empathize with Pru's mixed feelings, I'll share them tonight despite my time issues.

merryish - Everybody else is doing it, so... Anybody who's known me for more than five minutes, knows I'm all about the right to discuss fiction, critically or otherwise, in public, with or without permission of the writer; and that I think that kind of discussion is not about helping the writer be a better writer, or changing him or her in any way, but rather about fueling the fandom.

destina - Fan fiction and public critique (aka, deja vu) I was writing such things as 'discussion of stories is not feedback and isn't meant for the writer' and 'stop conflating story discussion with litcrit' and then I said to myself, self, didn't you already write this post? // The answer, of course, is yes. This is a cyclical discussion, as most discussions in fandom are, and the last time I posted about it in August 2003, the very same issues were being discussed. Same stuff, different day. So I'm going to post a somewhat revised version of my previous comments. It saves time


cathexys - argument and consensus I feel since I started interacting with people around LJ that I suddenly had become initiated in another form of discourse, that people we not thinking against but with me. My early posts were often used to think through ideas, to try to figure out my logical faults, and many people would disagree with things I said. But it usually seemed to me that they were doing so not to prove me wrong but to make my argument a better one.

caras_galadhon - Welcome to My House. C'mon In. (Commentary vs. Community: The Guest Blogger) Discussions about the difference between journaling systems like this one and weblogs are nothing new -- differing purposes, different communal structures, different mediums of presentation of self -- at least, I think they aren't, but there is the possibility that this quantification, compare-and-contrast has been going on in my brain without vocalization for so long it's leaking out my ears. I fit more comfortably here, in LJ-land, than I did in the blogging world, and perhaps that's related to not ever finding a niche on mailing lists or discussion boards either. There's a certain single-mindedness to those worlds, a push to stay on topic, stay on topic, never, ever stray, and that simply doesn't suit me.

pandarus - Let's talk about sex, baybee... What is it with us, though, that we are always so eager to perceive and depict relationships sexually? Same-sex or opposite-sex friendships. Sibling relationships. Parent-child relationships. Mentor-pupil relationships. Repeatedly, as consumers of these stories, of the source texts, we're interpreting and fetishizing love in terms of desire. Are we simplifying human impulses and motivations? Is slash, or het 'shipping, inherently reductive?

yayie - Our own needs and shipping. I have a theory; at least I think I have a theory. I have a theory that fans who ship characters into relationships, they are actually attempting to satisfy their own personal desires. What they feel is attractive in a person and what they desire out of a relationship is what gives them that passionate obsession with their ship.

inalasahl - Day 870: The only difference is he likes it that way. Most published fiction of the last few hundred years is about the human condition. What it's like to be in love or in pain, what it's like to be constrained by duty or class or education, what it's like to lose a job or go hungry and become fatally ill, etc. In contrast, fanfic is not. Fanfic is about what it's like for Jayne Cobb to be in love, for Archie Kennedy to be constrained by duty, for Xander Harris to become fatally ill.

kylielee1000 - Critical analysis and hackfic Discussion of an article by Fiona Carruthers

executrix - Thinking Inside the Box I'm always struck by how much meta discussion is about, what you might call, the containers or the boxes the stories come in, and so little about the contents.

Specific Fandom Meta

( cut to avoid potential spoilers [DS, VM, HL] )

On Reading and Writing

invisionary - Comparing yourself to other fanfic writers So I just read a post where the author was asking if being a fanfic writer can ruin the enjoyment one gets from reading fanfic because of competitive feelings that arise when one reads a really good story.

butterfly - As a Writer (on feedback/concrit/litcrit) Anyway, the thing in question is about whether or not public crit of fanfiction should be allowed, and if it should, whether the author's intentions should be taken into account.

cupiscent - I'm having a thought here There's been discussion in the SW fandom recently ... about topping and bottoming, and who should do which.

katie_m - I ought to post about... I've been doing this public-posting-of-fic thing for almost two years now, and do you know, I cannot remember ever having received unsolicited criticism? ... All that said, you know, I like my fic. I think my mechanics are good enough, if not brilliant, and I enjoy working on the margins and getting to feel like I'm saying things that maybe haven't been said eight million times before. Er, in the particular fandom, anyway. I even enjoy the default voice, despite feeling a little guilty about it.

Links, Polls, etc

nakeisha - Posting Fanfic to LJ