goseaward - Mary Sues and Monty Python I was thinking the other day about what characteristic I thought all Mary Sues have. It's hard, because at first glance you say "characters without flaws," but in fact there are any number of characters with flaws who I would still classify immediately as Mary Sues. There seemed to be something...intangible, something weird but common to all Mary Sues...and then I realized: for me, Mary Sues are characters you can't laugh at.

lesbiassparrow - Badfic. The Curse of Fandoms. But the point of this post is, well, do you think that there are fandoms that are likely to produce more terrible fiction than others? Better fiction? I'm guessing The My Little Pony fandom probably is not going to attract the good writers, but beyond that I don't know.

cherusha - Of course you know... My fandom is best. It is better than yours because it is popular and people are naturally drawn to its engaging storytelling and fascinating characters. You're a loser not to be interested. It is better than yours because it is underappreciated as most cannot hope to comprehend the nuances and subtle allegory in this thinking man's plot. Go back to American Idol, you philistine.

juleskicks - metaish ramling (no, no, you completely missed the point; that's not what I was saying at all) So, while she was here, fox1013 and I got into a really interesting discussion about creator intent, and I've just been thinking about it a lot. Because we were talking about Grey's vs. House and fannish preferences in both, and she mentioned that her liking of Meredith increased so much after a line in the finale ..., because that just completely changed how she thought she was 'supposed' to be reading Meredith.

rahirah - On posting When I post something, it's because I want to talk about something. Sometimes it's frivolous, sometimes it's serious. Most times, it's nothing that someone else hasn't already said somewhere else, and oftentimes said far better. But nonetheless, I want to talk about it.

truepenny - The Moss-Troll Problem mrissa was talking yesterday about the thing that I have dubbed, in consequence of her post, the Moss-Troll Problem, which is that moment in your writing when you reach for a description, only to have the horrible realization that you can't use it. You can't say the sea-serpent's eyes are the color of NyQuil in a world that doesn't have NyQuil in it. You have to come up with something that's in your narrative's frame of reference, and that often involves, yes, inventing moss-trolls. With all that that leads to.

ciaan - more on RPF I've decided that it makes total sense to me that people treat celebrities like fictional characters. That's basically what they are.

khohen1 - ya know what's a pet peeve? When fanfic writers feel the need to introduce main characters that are already extremely well established within canon by both their names.

slytherincess - Het vs. Slash and the Mistreatment of Romance in Fanfic I find myself respectfully disagreeing with the premise that slashers are older and are thereby more selective and cerebral readers.

monkeycrackmary - The one where Mary, rather surprisingly, likes the womenfolk I recently read a book about how some oppressed groups will wear the marks of that oppression like a badge ("gay gathering spots aren't in the dodgy part of town because Nice People complain otherwise, they're there because the patrons are fearless and tough", things like that), and the Ginny-is-a-slut list linked above reminds me of when I was sixteen. [HP]

mofic - Jumping into Harry Potter Meta I’m no longer surprised that some readers view her negatively for her presumed sexual adventurism. After all, in canon her own brothers feel similarly, and the canon itself presents such a negative view of sex that it’s not mentioned at all. So, it can certainly be a comfortable fantasy world for those who have a negative view of female sexuality. It makes sense that those with that kind of Weltanschauung would judge her negatively for presumed sexual activity. [HP]

maggiesox - Ranty McRanterson I am rendered speechless by the stupid in this article. [LINK, HP]

fernwithy - An interesting writing question Using "riffs" from other writers is... [POLL]

stoney321 - Very Important Survey and a Pimp Humor in Fanfiction: A multifandom poll [POLL]