Fandom Meta

niannah - Separate or Together? Separate or Together? // Moving Towards the Canonicity of Slash in Modern Television

mip_fic - Monday Meta - Why Meta? What is the value of meta? What do we gain from it, apart from a lot of words on a screen? Is it community spirit? A common purpose? A sense of belonging, or a work ethic? Is it just a way for fandom followers to touch base with like minded individuals? Or is it a form of comparison shopping - by sharing views, it can help each community member become aware of and come to terms with the boundaries they are comfortable with? What are the positives and negatives of meta in fandom?

r_becca - An unpopular opinion I don't like friends-locked fanfic posts. I think they're bad for newbies, bad for fandom, and bad for the author herself. And also I find them personally irritating.

lunacy - [.....this may or may not sound bitter. *cough*] Btw, I really liked this post on purposeful misidentification in stories by fictualities, 'cause that's pretty much what makes me feel most uncomfortable while reading (and alienates me in some more critical meta fandom circles). Fighting the narrative is hard work with little reward, and ohhh, I like my rewards, precious. :> Though I'd never feel I'd 'have' to fight the narrative just to identify with the 'missing' main girl-- I mean, um, having that degree of an agenda is hard work too :>

the_antichris - preaching to the choir Second, I don't know why I insist on following links to pro authors talking about fanfic. I don't. I know well enough that it'll only annoy me, and, lo, it has. Fanfic is derivative! Fanfic is unoriginal! Fanfic is mean and wrong because characters belong to their creators always and forever omg! (I'll give Tammy her propers here - she doesn't like the idea of certain kinds of fanfic, but she recognises that there's nothing wrong with it per se and that she shouldn't try to stop people. A lot of what is getting my goat comes from her commenters.)

narahttbbs - "You know I wouldn't want it any other way..." Let me start by reiterating my first comment from the thread: Personally I've always thought of "bitch" as a term that male viewers used for female characters (or female people, for that matter) who somehow got 'out of line' or in other ways failed to live up to their views of what femininity actually is. In general I doubt that a similar term would be used for males who were written with the same characterisation.

carmarthen - Authorial intent, derivative fiction, and literary criticism Whee, this'll be fun. So, professional author Tamora Pierce ([tammy212) posted about a book I haven't read, which apparently takes characters from children's lit and puts them in porn. It sounds pretentious, but I really can't comment on that. Pierce is seriously bothered by this, and goes on to say she thinks it's morally wrong to write "adult" derivative fiction about children's lit characters. She also suggests several times (as she has in the past), that fanfiction writers do so to improve their writing skills.

strongplacebo - Implied Gay Man's Gaze Which inevitably led on to the old question of how much slash affects our everyday lives. I don't even mean thinking about my boys while I'm walking down the street (which I do) but actually seeing slash where there isn't any. Slashers are used to picking out the smallest things to make shippy, and that's fine with characters, but it's different when you start doing it with a nice, perfectly normal boy who has very kindly allowed you into his house to look around and is just accommodating you to pass in a narrow kitchen. (This isn't normal for me, this slashing non-celebrities. I have a lot of gay friends (a LOT of gay friends) but the thought of them having sex creeps me out as much as the next person).

emmagrant01 - Hard gen? In the last episode of slashcast, mijan's Fandom Opinion segment was about the need for more of what she calls "genfic slash". Let me quote her to explain what she means: // So, where are the genfics with the occasional slash pairing? Where are the epics with thick, non-ship related plots, that just happen to have slash in them? Where's the Harry/Draco novel that spends most of its attention on Harry's fight with Voldemort, the destruction of the Horcruxes, and the history of the Voldemort's first rise to power, with the sub-plot of the ship being completely secondary yet delightfully blended with the rest of the fic?

Specific Fandom Meta

( Cut for possible Spoilers for the Fandoms: SGA [incl. unaired US episodes] )

On Reading and Writing

fabu - Results from the 4th annual feedback poll

pir8fancier - On the subject of beginnings... Okay, what intrigues you about that sentence? First of all the style is familiar (as pir8fancier in blow hard mode), it's a little funny (pirfancier again), and it poses a hidden question because you don't know what I've written that will fly in the face of the advice I am about to give you.

morgandawn - Where Have All The Fans Gone? This may be a self-limiting audience, but if you wanted to get the word out to fans (slash or gen) about an art show, a vid show or a convention in general, where would you go?

ximeria - Musings on feedback (in general) and fanfiction.net and a POLL
I've always been annoyed with the r&r thing that I used to only see on fanfiction.net -- no, it's not rest and relaxation, it's read and review. Furthermore, people tend to go: If you don't review my story, I won't post more parts. I mean, hello, you're threatening people to not keep updating a WIP unless they give you FEEDBACK?!

dmitchell1985 in hp_essays - Fandom (and General) Icons Usage
Anyway, I have to ask what does one do when you find your personally made icon supporting your favorite character or whatever being used by someone else? Sure you could ask them not to use said icon, but there's really no way for you force them not to use your work. Let alone make them credit you for it. Or, even make them stop claiming credit for themselves.

penknife - Interview Your Character's Values A while back, I was looking at "Interview Your Character" questionnaires online, the kind you fill out for roleplaying characters to help you get into their heads. They're interesting to fill out for existing characters I want to write about in fanfic, but I found myself wanting something that would get at not so much a character's personality but a character's beliefs and values and what his or her cultural assumptions are.

Links, Polls, etc

shimere277 - Story element poll remix, part [POLL]