Sleepy and incoherent

[swatkat]

Today's metafandom is full of discussions on March- whether or not it is fanfic, and why; whether it is somehow 'better' than what we understand as fanfic; what makes it 'better', if we assume it to be so, etc etc. My first instinct, of course, is to call March fanfic. And while I shouldn't comment on something I haven't actually read, I don't think it's even particularly interesting fanfic. Because in re-telling Mr. March's story, Brooke is telling us the story of an ordinary, sensitive man in times of war (who also happens to be Mr. March, the father of Jo March) – and how many times have we heard that story again? Little Women OTOH is about those left behind, about the *women* left behind, and that, to me, is a more interesting story than the same old Man vs. War story.

This is not to say I'm *against* re-telling stories. No, of course not. Would I be in fandom if I were? It's just that unless Brooke has managed to give us some new and interesting perspective on the old Man vs. War story, or on the Little Women universe (which I love dearly. someday I shall write a post on how this book changed my life. no, really – it did.) in her fic, I don't really care much about it.

*

And because I'm slightly (*cough*) obsessed with Wicked these days, I naturally started thinking whether you could call Wicked fanfiction. And I was quite astonished by my own answer to the question – I actually hesitated to call it fanfic, though it very clearly is a derivative work (a brilliant AU, if you like). Or 'just' fanfic. Which has a horribly derogatory ring to it, and that is so not what I meant to say. I think what I wanted to say is that fanfic – or to be more specific, shipfic, with its hyperfocus on romance and sex - often does not consider any other issue than romance (not that there's anything wrong with it), which maybe alright for the *fans* of that particular universe, but probably not so for everyone else. Does that at all make sense? *is hopelessly muddled*

P.S - GIP. Okay, so this is not a scene from the book. But Glinda sobbing over Elphaba's hat? There is no bad there. *sigh*

Comments

[swatkat24.livejournal.com]

Well, there was gen_fen, but I don't know how active that community is. I've never really seen the 'gen movement' take off the way the f/f thing has.

Which leaves me feeling very ambivalent about fandom and my future in it. "Reveling in romance fic," while fun in moderation, just isn't enough for me. I want to try other things, too, but I want the community of fandom to do it in, because writing and playing with a universe in isolation isn't a conversation, is it? And for me, the fannish conversation is at least half (if not more) of the appeal in the first place.

We're here with you! I will read your grocery list if you post it!

What other things do you want to try? I know the LFN fandom these days only has interest in Michael/Nikita happily ever after romances, but what about elsewhere? If you do other things instead of falling into the fandom template, a large section of fandom *will* ignore you - but think about it this way, do you really want to interact with them? Who is your target audience? Maybe you'll have to build up your own readership? Because I *have* come across authors who walk off the beaten path - some of them even manage to be quite famous.

while fun in moderation, just isn't enough for me

*coughProficough*

[jaybee65.livejournal.com]

We're here with you! I will read your grocery list if you post it!

Aw, shucks. *Blushes*

What other things do you want to try? I know the LFN fandom these days only has interest in Michael/Nikita happily ever after romances, but what about elsewhere? If you do other things instead of falling into the fandom template, a large section of fandom *will* ignore you - but think about it this way, do you really want to interact with them? Who is your target audience? Maybe you'll have to build up your own readership? Because I *have* come across authors who walk off the beaten path - some of them even manage to be quite famous.

I'm trying to figure out my answers to these questions. I guess I should just go for whatever interests me, and worry about whether it fits in anywhere (or not) later.

The other part of it is, though, that it's not just about *writing*. I'd like to *read* a wider variety of stuff, too, but it's very labor-intensive finding good gen. Kind of like finding decent f/f used to be, because there just isn't a central source of recs. I *have* managed to find some very excellent gen BSG fic in the past few days -- and much of it is by authors who usually write shippy stuff -- so I'm afraid I'm just going to have to be very widely read in my chosen fandoms. LOL.

Maybe I should start listing my *own* recs, eh? If I'm going to do the work of finding them, I might as well share the fruits of my labor.

[swatkat24.livejournal.com]

I guess I should just go for whatever interests me, and worry about whether it fits in anywhere (or not) later.

Yes, you should. Ignore the idiots.

I'd like to *read* a wider variety of stuff, too, but it's very labor-intensive finding good gen.

Heh. I'm pretty much used to that. Look obsessively for recs pages, follow authors, search other people's memories, google... In fact, right now I'm in ff.net looking for Cuddyfic. Because I need Cuddyfic, and if LJ won't give me that I'll go to places that will. Even if it is ff.net.

Kind of like finding decent f/f used to be, because there just isn't a central source of recs.

Thank god for femslash_today. *g*

Maybe I should start listing my *own* recs, eh? If I'm going to do the work of finding them, I might as well share the fruits of my labor.


Yes, please! I'm actually thinking of getting another LJ where I can list fics I've enjoyed - for myself and for anyone else who might care to read. I tried del.icio.us for a while, but I keep forgetting to use it to bookmark things.

[jaybee65.livejournal.com]

I added del.icio.us buttons to my Firefox toolbar, and that's been really handy because now it doesn't take any effort at all to bookmark things. When I come across fics but don't have time to read them, I can just tag them as "unread" and come back later to see what's in my "unread" list. If they're decent, then I edit the tags and keep it on del.icio.us, and if not, I just delete it.

But reccing things for others on LJ might be a good idea. For both of us to do!