General Fandom

mip_fic: Monday Meta - The Nationality of Fanfic — "I am an Australian. I write fanfic in shows that are predominantly set in America. Does that mean I have less right to write fanfic in that fandom than a native? Of course not. Does it mean that my fandom will be different for not having been written by a native American? Absolutely. Will my fanfic be better/worse for my different cultural context? This is what I am exploring."

chicklet_girl: My thinking cap is blue with silver sequins — "Possible Reasons Your Fic Isn't Getting a Lot of Comments."

fabu: What kind of fan are you? — "In the recent round of fannish meta, several people have pointed out that what one person means by fandom is not what someone else means by fandom. I've been thinking about the ways we see ourselves in relation to fandom, and how this can lead to misunderstandings."

sciencegeek in torch_wood: Meta: Betas — "I strongly urge that, if you get a beta to talk about what you would like them to do for you, because I'd hate for someone to send a fic off to a beta just to have it checked for grammar or something, and have it covered in suggested revisions you don’t want."

lunacy: [further chronicles of my ongoing discontent...] — "So okay, a character is introduced, and of course we have to know everything about his background as soon as possible in little asides (how many sisters and brothers, their occupations and personalities, all in nice little sound-bytes). Or the character receives a new 'mysterious object' that he doesn't know the use of, so he just randomly 'decides' to call it something like 'the Key' out of nowhere, wtf (and you can tell this is just another attempt to information-dump 'subtly')."

mmmchelle: It's All About Character, Baby — "It's easy to say sex should be all about character, but harder to write it that way. It's easy to fall back on the same words and phrases we've all read countless times when writing sex, so I put together some general guidelines of the stuff I've learned about writing in character sex."

executrix: Meta Sextual Poaching: I'll Be a Post-Slasher in the Post-Patriarchy — "Nowadays, however, the argument could be made that a male couple or female couple *could* be portrayed in canon as lovers, so it's evidence of some sort if they aren't. (Personally, I'm skeptical about the evidentiary value of absence-of-evidence.) So, if your kink is subtext, then one place where they're still whispering and casting lingering looks instead of just making them a couple--is sibcest."

sprat in ds_workshop: The Art of Smut Writing (or How Ray Kowalski Turned Me Into an Internet Pornographer) — "I usually start writing because there's one small, particular thing I want to see some character doing or saying--Ray K wrapping Ray Vecchio's fingers around a crossbar in their headboard, for example, then giving him a look that dares him to keep them there."

On BNFs, Cliques, and/or the Lack Thereof

ethrosdemon: SPN, the fandom that really really brings the wank on itself! — "In the very, very beginning, there was a whole helluva lot of support going on with people who were interested in the fandom scouting out other people and commenting and reccing and hand holding. A LOT OF THIS. The most supportive/batshit people got to know one another. THIS IS THE BNF CABAL. What is the dastardly secret behind this shadowy group? They liked each other’s fic!"

merryish: A Practical Guide to Not Oppressing People, for BNFs of All Ages — "Seriously, it's like War Games. The only way to win is not to play. You leave it alone, pretend you don't notice, and it dies out. You get mad, you show you're upset, and not only do they know they got to you - which was the entire point, by the way, so they've already won - but you're also proving their points for them."

saeva: I'll Take a Cup Of Human Nature, With a Side of Popularity, Please — "See, the inherent problem, even flaw, of svilleficrecs's argument and premise is that she's comparing X Big Name Fan with X New Fan. She even goes as far as to call the little fan SuzieNewbie. This is a problem because most fans who are not BNF are also not newbies; a great deal of these little, or no, name fans have been around as long as a number of the Big Name Fans."

st_crispins: The BNF Thing — "Because of a kerfluffle in another fandom, there's lots of talk about BNFness, its nature and its value. // Look: being a BNF simply means a lot of people in fandom know you."

skuf: Almost done talking about cliques, promise! — "So, do you have many group-based friendships in fandom? Meaning a finite group, where all the members are mutual friends? Am I the odd one out?"