General Fandom Meta

dragonscholar in fanthropology - The Uniqueness of Harry Potter - We explore Harry Potter, discuss Harry Potter, and yes, because it's a site of fandom arguments and wars that startle even us jaded old fans, we go WTF or have a laugh. But beneath that, as we discuss Harmonians, shipping wars, cultural impacts, and weird fanfic, something has made me wonder - does Harry Potter fandom often seem to be a unique beast among fandom?

entrenous88 - putting "BNF"to rest - The funny thing is that it's now so incredibly derogatory a term that everyone, even people who would certainly have qualified for the positive sense of the term, points to someone else when asked who the actual BNFs are. No one wants to be a BNF. No one is willing to admit to being considered one. And the employment of the term in a dismissive or angry fashion has become a knee-jerk reaction to gain support by dividing groups who all like the same thing -- "Oh, you're right, we're not like those unidentified, awful people" -- not our kind, dear.

ethrosdemon - [untitled] - It fucking *amazes* me how fandom thinks it's on the cutting edge of social change because they validate queer culture. How does this even follow? Supporting gay marriage is *great*, but do you even know there's a debate about it in the gay community? About marginalizing queer culture by aspiring to be "normal"? Hold up, I was using that gay thing as an example and got a little carried away in my anger. // If fandom wants to be on the cutting edge of social change, why don't we talk about things that actually matter in a fundamental way? Like the portrayal of women, the poor, non-whites, and immigrants in mainstream media? Why don't we cut the shit and just admit that we all just accept racism, sexism, and classism for the sake of hotass?

unholyglee - the revolution will be physical and raw - It's a part of life in a post-colonial western society, and we should accept that. "Race Relations: The Fabric of Our Lives. Fuck that cotton shit." Then, instead of this veneer of political correctness, get to the fucking heart of things and fucking talk about it. Because, when it all boils down and we stop spewing hate or hiding behind "Can't we all just get along?" as an excuse for not talking to each other? We're not that damned different. We just treat each other differently.

neery - Because I never get to go to cons, damn it. - But fandom, writing and reading slash in particular, is something that feels like a very important, integral, intimate part of me. It's what I spend a lot of my time doing, something I love, and it's important to me. And I can't stand the thought of exposing such an intimate part of me to someone who would think it's weird, ridiculous, or meaningless. The mere thought makes me cringe in humiliation.

zortified - Fanfic Research - what sort of weird things have you learnt, from doing research for fanfic, which you later got to unexpectedly use in other parts of life (i.e., non-fannish)?

rahirah - [untitled] - there’s this whole huge mythology about how difficult and awful it is to give and receive criticism, especially when the Dreaded BNF is part of the equation. And I wish I could demythologize it. Several people have started or end their discussions with some variant of “I’m not a BNF, but...” Few people will admit to being a BNF, either because they really don’t think the term applies to them, or because they feel it would be egotistical to claim that it does. And as there’s no agreed-upon litmus test for BNFness anyway, we’re left with this empty space, the Mythical BNF, who’s simultaneously a terrible figure wreathed in lighting and the harried target of the multitude’s seething dissatisfaction. // It’s like we’re all intimidated by a painted balloon. And I really wanna pop it.

emmagrant01 - A question about reccing. - Reccing flocked fic & art [Poll]

cereta - Notcapade: Why SGA? - Unless you've been living under a rock, fannishly speaking, for the last year or so, you've probably seen at least one (somewhat plaintive) comment on how SGA has eaten fandom. And while I'm not entirely convinced it's all that much more ubiquitous than, say, TPM was (more on that in a sec), there's no question that it's kind of exploded. // I've theorized here and there, mostly privately on why, so I thought as my Notcapade contribution, I'd offer up a couple of my theories and ask people for theirs.

On Reading/Writing

thelastgoodname - On Tags and Though Processes - It occurred to me, flipping through my tags and the tags of other people who recommend far and wide, that while I tag by vague genre or (not and) fandom, others tag by pairing and specific genre. This might have something to do with how we read.

cupidsbow - Essay: The Formula for Writing Sex Scenes by cupidsbow - When I sit down to write a sex scene, I conceptualise it as an action scene, because the techniques for writing sex effectively are exactly the same as those for writing gripping action. This is because the goal is the same: evoking a physical response in the reader.

eliade - The Search for a Metaphor for My Current Inability to Write - My writing is that pigeon I see at the 2nd Avenue bus stop that has only one foot and hops around kind of pathetically. And yet survives! Survives...despite its one pathetic little stub of a foot.

geoviki - Voice and detail - There are two things I want to mention that, when done well, turn me into a slobbering fangrrl: voice and detail.

vulgarweed - All brained up and nowhere to go! - But the pleasure of writing fiction has a lot to do with being other people. The things about the characters that I see as traits I share are a good handle to get into characterization with, but it's where they're unlike me that's actually interesting, and melding those elements is the crux of the craft.

chrileeoctaves - Hmmm... - I am sure we all have our own personal lists of the writers we admire, the writers who hit our kinks, the writers who make us cry or laugh, the writers who make us 'retire to our boudoires' for a few minutes...but it's subjective. All of it. Yes, of course, the mechanics are not subjective....but you can be damn sure that a good editor can save a talented writer with sloppy mechanics, but not a technically sound writer with no soul.

flurblewig - Pondering quality - What would you say was the best fic you've ever read? - In terms of sheer quality of writing, rather than enjoyability or kink-hitting or anything like that.


On Feedback and Criticism

stultiloquentia - On taking concrit to brain, not to heart. - A) Whether you're full of praise or bile, randomly emailing a BNF to offer opinions is probably intimidating for a lot of people, not because they're afraid of wounding, but because they fear sounding unintelligent themselves. I have no problem offering an anonymous suggestion box. B) Organized pushes such as last year's "Anonymous Love Meme" and "Nov. 7th is Fic Feedback Day" are fun and participatory and poke people into saying things they wouldn't ever otherwise get around to. I was glad to hear a couple people say, below my name, that they don't think short fic is stretching me enough. Who would ordinarily have bothered to think about that or tell me?

scoradh - Concrit (or, how Rachel got her mojo back) - Let me first point out what 'genuine appreciation' means to me. It means that someone has read my story, has seen any number of flaws in it, has seen things they liked in it, and when they came to the end the likeable things over-balanced the flaws. In this case they could be said to have liked the story 'overall.' In the other case, flaws will be top-heavy and that will make the person dislike the story 'overall.' In either case, it doesn't matter if you have the prose of Margaret Atwood or the jaw-dropping awfulness of Cecilia Ahern's syntax (to name the two published authors who are the most poles apart in my opinion). It's the 'overall' impression that rules the day.

rahirah - [untitled] - The thing is, if you're holding off on criticising someone because you don't want to hurt their feelings, that's pointless, because anonymous crit is just as ouchy as signed crit. And if you're afraid that if you criticise them a writer's going to defriend you and release the hounds, well, that writer is kind of a weenie, and you're probably better off shut of them. And if you're using the anonymity to attack the writer rather than critting the writing, as a couple of sad souls have been doing, then you're kind of a weenie.

thepouncer - On Criticism - For my own writing, I find those who point out flaws to be very valuable, even if I don't always agree with them, even beyond the beta process. If nothing else, I might have tried to gloss over something because I didn’t want to deal with it, and if someone's honest enough to tell me they noticed, it gives me strategies for the next time. // There will always be haters. Learning when to ignore them and when to listen to them teaches me something else, about my own sense of self-worth and my acknowledgement of my failings.

phantomas - Rant: A probably unpopular opinion - Is anonimity necessary to feel able to give feedback? All those that are leaving feedback - and yes, I browsed the entries and I saw some were in fact commenting with their own username, so not everyone is included in my observation, of course - where are they when a writer/vidder/icon-maker etc. etc. asks for non-anonymous feedback? // Is the mentality of 'taking' without any intention of at least saying 'thank you' so percolated, so indelebily imprinted in fandom, cross fandoms, to make anonimity something to look forward to, something to grant in order to have people expressing their own opinions?

sockkpuppett - Vidding Thoughts - I received some lovely comments and some interesting criticism. By "interesting," I mean that there were some good points raised, some things that I never considered, and some things that I, by definition, can't consider when I'm making a vid. I didn't agree with all of my critics, but that's okay, too. I still have been thinking about those comments as well, and who knows? I could have an epiphany and change my mind.