General Fandom

nakeisha: One True Pairing (OTP) Poll - Results — "It is safe to say, albeit based purely on the results of this poll, which obviously only constituted a tiny proportion of fandom (however, that's usually the case with polls) that the meaning of the term OTP has indeed changed. And not only has it changed, but there is no longer one meaning for it, it means different things to different people."

cereta: When in doubt, go for a food metaphor — "And is there anyone out there who feels a burning desire for me to explain why I'm not wild about pumpkin pie? To insist that there must be a reason, and perhaps even subtly imply that something is wrong with me for not liking it? I mean seriously, not, "dude, you don't like pumpkin pie? Freak." Do you seriously think there has to be a reason deep in my psyche for not finding pumpkin pie all that appealing?"

ausmac: fiction posting methods — "Consider this - you write a 45,000 word story, which takes you weeks to do, then goes to the editors for their input, requiring further editing on your part...a considerable investment of time and effort and sweat. // If you then post it in one blow, that big, yummy fic hits and vanishes within a period of hours. It can be overlooked in the rush of events, because LJ and the internet is a fast-moving river of posts and comments and communities and one mention can fly by without being seen."

fairestcat: Fandom as very rambling conversation — "All these stories, had one thing in common, a particular One True Love view of romance that I have never enjoyed. Think Romeo and Juliet. Or all those popular romances where the two characters were "destined" to be together. Because that's the thing, this is not a concept that is limited to fandom, it's an articulation of a very popular and long lived trope in western popular culture."

isiscolo: lies, damn lies, and website statistics (4) — "It's really hard to make comparisons, because the same stories that are recced tend to be the ones that are sought-after in ficfinder communities, but in general? It doesn't matter if a story is recced or merely mentioned: people click the linkies they find in their lj reading, and when your story URL is posted in lj, in any context, it will get read. I suspect that even if it's mentioned in a negative context, it will get read; remember, there's no such thing as bad publicity."

janissa11: Um. Now it's back. — "On the whole, I prefer a lot of the fiction these days over fiction from ten or twelve years ago. But that essay got me to thinking about WHY I tend to prefer it, and I kinda realized something. The tendency to leaner, "meaner" prose and subject matter sorta mirrors what I'm doing, myself, or attempting to do, as a writer."

ficbitca_bear: Ewww het? — "The question posed assumes, though, as the majority of relationships shown in books and films, etc are heterosexual that I, as a slasher, would choose to read or watch these. I feel that this assumption of an actual choice made is an erroneous assumption."

rockfic: RPF in the morning (or...it's morning here at least) — "I don't actually care which type of RPF you prefer to read or write; I just find it interesting that the thing that makes you more "acceptable" in "fandom" is the thing that would get you in the most trouble, legal-wise, if, say, you decided to put Google ads on your website's "real person fiction" section."

minim_calibre: [Meta] Writing for self vs. writing to share — "And it winds up being a multi-part question to myself: not just, why am I spending all my writing time writing this, but why am I unwilling to share it with the class? What about it makes me hesitate? I mean, I've written and posted about Henry Kissinger having phone sex with Satan, for fuck's sake (the writing of which included me saying, "Honey, you've had to stick things in the man's ear. Do you think he's boxers or briefs? Do you happen to remember what he smelled like?"). I've written Angelus/The Beast *songfic*. // I am, generally speaking, not known for my overdeveloped sense of shame."

khohen1: i'm feelin' the non-fandom love vibe... — "Now, if you have the dialogue wrong, or maybe an American being Very British, speaking in an overtly British way, or vice versa (like Captain Jack saying "dude"). But I consider that more of a wrong characterization problem than a writing problem. Well, kind of both. But then again, I watch a lot of British shows, and then I start thinking in a British way, so maybe it just comes easier to me and that's why I don't see much of a problem? I don't know."

fabu: I'm easy. . . — "I think I'm a relatively intelligent and analytical person, but when something captures my interest, I'm far more like to be willing to suspend my disbelief than many viewers. If I liked something overall, I may not even notice the holes that drive other people crazy, and if someone else points them out, I tend to focus on fanwanking an explanation for the holes (or, to put a more neutral spin on it, to articulate my internal thought process for why I bought the hole/flaw/confusing point)."

Polls, Questions, Etc.

yourlibrarian in fanthropology: Fans of a story or of a medium? — "I think comics fans have often encountered this in reverse (film or television versions of the comics) but there have been cases with LotR and HP where the medium tends to be more important than the story being told. For example, how much of a fan would you be of your current fandom(s) if the medium were suddenly to change?"

rushin_doll: Writing in obscure fandoms? — "...can a fic be just as awesomeness-packed if you don't know the canon, or don't know it well? I find that I can still really enjoy some fics this way, and sometimes I can get sucked into a fandom because of it. Maybe other people are like that too?"

alchemia: Why do you slash (for everyone else) — "Why do you read or write or draw or view slash? Yeah, I know it’s an old question that’s been asked thousands of times, everyone knows the answers to it, and has bonded over it, lets move on. Except, that for some of us, despite having read meta after meta on the subject, it hasn’t been answered. // I’m asking though, because I want others coming into this part of fandom to have that opportunity I didn’t have- to see a whole group of people who have something in common with you, to be able to say “Wow, me too!”, and to be able to explore the issue by discussing it with others you can better relate to."

executrix: Multiple Singular Sensations — "What would you do if you couldn't slash anymore?"

roh_wyn: Musings on Writing and Fandoms — "So does this sort of line-blurring between writers and readers contribute to "plagiarism" (I use the word loosely)? Is it only plagiarism if words have been copied verbatim, or should a general theme be considered plagiarism as well? To what extent is this motivated by whether a particular writer's fics are seen as the "authoritative" works in a fandom? // Is the "mainstreaming" of a particular fandom less likely to make fanfic writers continue writing? That is, to what extent is the interest in writing or reading fanfiction driven by its novelty and its limited acceptance in the real world? If writing fanfic stops being the X-Games version of writing, will you still want to do it?"

viciouswishes: Snow Day and Impressionable Numbers — "So I was wondering just how much feedback you need to get on the average, well-written story for you to feel like your fanfic was a success?"

smidgy06: Feedback — "Re: Receving feedback - What sort is more preferable? [poll]"