General Fandom Meta

imadra_blue - In which I have an Opinion about Believability and Anakin/Obi-Wan - So by all means, look at it however you want, and believability will be subjective to each person. The person next door may find a fic believable that I didn't. However, when you start to ignore canon and things that happened in canon? You're not running into interpretation anymore. Believability is what makes those non-canon ships and character interpretations work, and when you pretend things didn't happen or just don't take them into account, that's not interpretation. That's perplexing.

pauraque - AUs aren't bad, they're just written that way. - So, what makes a good AU an AU I will probably like? What I like is when you're altering canon events in order to comment on them, to explore and shed light on the characters and what they did. That's it. It's much more a matter of intent (and success of intent) than content. I'm sure you could make some really interesting points about Remus and Sirius by writing a fic where James and Peter had never existed, but in order for that to happen you have to actually think about what you're doing, and not just exclude them because they're inconvenient.

sioniann - fandom discussion: AU - What elements does a fic need to earn it the distinction of an "Alternate Universe" piece of fanfiction? I've seen the label applied to everything from a different POV on a canon scene, or a slash relationship written within the canon framework, to stories set in different time periods, and locations where the characters are virtually unrecognizable (and are often lacking magical abilities, or have no previous relations with individuals they are in relationships with in canon). // Where do you draw the line between a different take on a canon character, and something that you would consider "AU"? How far is too far?

rabidfangurl - Ranty goodness. - First of all, I would like fandom to acknowledge the law that says 90% of everything is crap. Yes, that means your precious little story. Hell, it means my story, too, but eh. Can't please all of the people all of the time. Just because someone has the balls to say that 90% of the stories written about a particular pairing are crap does not mean they are out to hurt your OTP. It means that 90% of everything is crap, including the stories about your OTP.

elessil - Things you do, and things you don't. - I may be wrong in my assumption, but I am fairly certain that the manipper of the pic in question never asked the Theban Band for permission. There definitely was no link back to the Theban Band, no acknowledgement of them as artists (except the anonymous "manip of a manip"). // Now this makes my hair stand up. I can't help but imagine that the used picture in question might be mine. I think that is quite similar to plagiarism in fanfiction, none of us (or at least very few) want our work to be the 'stolen' one. // I know that the position of a manipper is a bit touchy, as a manipper, too, uses another person's work: photos. Usually without permission, without link. Is it hypocritical to do that, but demand credit from another manipper? // I say no.

nardasarmy - Blogging Safety - The internet provides the illusion of safety, you remain locked away in the privacy of your own home, alone in your room. But that facelessness is just that, an illusion. The common sense guidelines we should be using to ensure our safety are not so commonly used. Children who have grown up using the computer and surfing the web feel as if they understand it better than their parents, and therefore are safer because that knowledge provides a false sense of protection. But while they may understand the technology better, that sense of safety knowledge brings is false if not practiced. We must remember that when we reach out, this technology touches us back.

oulangi - [untitled] - After reading [info]nardasarmy’s excellent post on blogging safely, I started thinking about how this applies to fandom. [...] Personally I’ve met what I would characterize as some damned crazy people online. People whose self identity is so deeply entrenched with their online persona that they cannot seem to separate what is written, from who they are. Online relationships being what they are I ignored warning signs and behaviors that I certainly would have heeded in real life:

brandil - [untitled] - And I started to wonder, really wonder, who this blushing, inexperienced, near-virginal girl in bed with Spike. Do we really think she’s embarrassed to have her pussy eaten? As the season got darker and I became a more discriminate reader Buffy lost her Sexual Sainthood and then people began hating her. Did they hate her because she was having sex? Or was the hatred an off-shoot of people’s feelings about S6 in general? [...] I scratched my head over it, we’re mainly women here, right? Don’t these stereotypes hurt us? Isn’t it bad enough that popular romantic fiction perpetuates these myths but we do it in our fandom too? // Queer as Folk doesn’t have these issues. Yes, there is promiscuity and real consequences for unsafe sex but no one is praised for remaining virginal. They’re not derided for being promiscuous; in fact they feel bad for each other if they’re not getting any. Is it because they’re men? Is it perhaps because they’re older?

On Reading/Writing

linaerys = Porn Poll! - Below is a poll about writing and reading graphic sex scenes.

icarusancalion - On reviews. - Here's where I grow a little uncomfortable with the "respond to reviews or else" camp, people who feel not replying is the height of rudeness and deserving of punitive action up to ten years suspension of review privileges with internment in little cages where the author is required to produce fic on bread and water. // The division of labor between writer and reviewer is a tad disproportionate.

pearl_o - and scat doesn't count - For every kink, there is an anti-kink, right? ///[...] What's interesting, though, is that writing porn for Other People's Kinks Which You Do Not Share often seems to be some of the best writing you get. Fraser and Kowalski doing it in an alley is way, way, way down on my list of porn for them, but the story I wrote brooklinegirl that has that exact plot is one of my very favorites of my own // So, then. What are some of your anti-kinks? And what do I have to dare you to make you try writing drabbles or ficlets about them?

commodorified - [untitled] - Reviews are nice, recs are very very sweet, considered critical analysis is a fabulous thing, intelligent concrit is better than a kick in the ass with a frozen boot, you know, say whatever you like, just spell my name right, but for sheer bolt-of-refined-sugar-to-the-brain satisfaction, give me a reader whose response to something I've written is a temporary but complete inability to put one syllable in front of another, and who is kind enough to tell me so. // Because then I know I got you. I got you good. And the storyteller in me does a little dance of glee, because I have overthrown your inner critic. // It's like getting a telegram from Northrop Frye that says "bugger the underlying metaphor, AM DEAD FROM GUH. WHAT HAPPENED NEXT?"