General Fandom Meta

jennyo - Late Night Femslash Thinking - Well, I got bored and started looking at femslash06 data, like in depth, because that's what I do when I'm bored, I catalog data [...] and looking at this data, I can kind of see patterns in femslash fandoms that are interesting? Even if I don't know/do the fandom, I can make guesses. // So here, out of boredom, is the beginning of analyzing femslash fandom data patterns and what I think it says.

jennyo - Oh, Eliza, You So Queer: Femslash Thoughts Part 2 - I also included Law and Order: SVU in the last batch and I suspect that was a mistake, as SVU sounds more and more like a fandom with OTP-ness, yes, but one that is character-driven, which seems to be a definite second type of femslash fandom.

jennyo - Girlslash Trends Part Three: Mo' Characters, Mo' Problems - A third, and I think v.v. interesting dynamic is when the fandom is evenly split over female characters in a fandom where female characters are plentiful, and when the female characters themselves are somewhat polarizing.

jennyo - Girlslash Trends IV: Buffyverse and Stargateverse

penknife - On writing angst - I like angst. (You knew that, right?) I like stories where the angst is a result of a plot twist in a romantic or dramatic plot, but I also like stories that are essentially tragedies or examinations of how people deal with emotional pain. // What I like, though, is good angst. While I do not claim to have entirely mastered the art of angst, I do have some suggestions for how to make yours as effective and heart-skewering as you want it to be.

castaliae - Hungry, I am so hungry, I have no dinner all my own - One particular event in the story stuck out for me, though. The angsting protagonist refused to eat. This is something that happens often in stories. In fact, it seems to happen much more than it would in reality. // [...] How much of this is a result of the fact that the vast majority of fanfic writers are women?

lunacy - [...boldly proving that I've never taken a gender-theory course in my life] - I'm struck by the connection between queerness/gender (gender-queerness?) and theatricality, especially with this quote from the genders.org article: For Q gender is clearly a matter of performance. In fact, for Q just about everything he does in his interactions with humans is a matter of performance; de Lancie, an experienced stage performer, infuses his character with a hyperbolic theatricality.

glossing - [unfic] give me your answers! - Who writes girlslash? With tkp, I'm having a conversation about gender-typing in both kinds of slash, and I got wondering. There have been *tons* of posts over the years about why women write [boy]slash and all of that; this is not a variation on that topic. Nor is this related, except conceptually I suppose, to questions about liking/loathing female characters. // Basically, I'm just wondering if straight women write girlslash. I know queer people of both many genders do and straight men, too. Enlighten me?

zortified - Longfic McGraw - When I started in fandom, I was used to finding just as much fanfic of the novel-length variety, as short stories. The zines I was reading were stand alone novels, just as often as they were short story anthologies. (Pros, Muncle fandoms, all paper zines.) My brain just assumed that fanfic came in both types, but the last few years I've seen maybe two fanfic novels, and tons of short stuff.

painless_j - Fandom love - But then a fic appears. Fresh, powerful, fearless. A new writer comes. Oh right, maybe this writer has been known and lauded in other fandoms for years, or maybe it's not a new writer at all but a reincarnation of a writer you knew for ages who's making a fresh start. Or maybe they write professionally in RL. Or maybe... But it doesn't matter one bit. // You read this new fic and -- what crowds? what millions of worn-out words? what cliches? The fic shines in all its glory, and you forget all your woes. You take a shaken breath. And you remember only the clear and bright line of brilliant, wonderful fics you were blessed to read. And you think in quiet awe, "Oh my, I love fandom!"

ithiliana - [untitled] - A post on metafandom raising among many other issues (and the thread is well worth reading, I found, before I jumped in to comment!) about whether or not "women" writing slash are somehow "speaking for/about" gay men since by some people's definition (not mine), slash is about gay men. // I'll gladly accept that some slash stories are about gay male characters or are intended to be so by the writers and/or read by many to be gay literature—but many are not. Mine are not, and never have been


On Writing/Creating

thomasina75 - Some questions for the writers out there... - 1. How do you start a fic? Do you let the idea develop in your mind for some time before doing anything with it? Or do you just start writing and see what comes up? Something else?

romanticalgirl - On writing, on fandoms, on language and, quite unsurprising, on Ioan Gruffudd - I have a vast admiration for those who write long epics with plots and such. I commend those who write outlines and have structure and plans and know where they're going before they get there. // I'm not that writer.

Fandom-Specific Meta ( cut for possible spoilers for The Office [UK], Star Trek DS9 )