I just saw novembermond 's entry on the topic and it looked too tempting not to try it myself, so here's my ranked list of prefered fanfic tropes (among a preselected set). I'm pretty sure Praise Kink should be on the list).
Looking at my list, I'm actually surprised P&P AUs are so high on it, because I love the idea of a P&P AU fic, but I have yet to read one that feels satisfying to me... Iam, in case, you didn't know, a picky reader in many respect (while at the same time being a complete and indiscriminate glutton in others, I don't even know). Overall I think some tropes here are lower than they would have been in a different set, but it's still pretty accurate in terms of general order, so it's fun xD
Besides, it's also amusing to see how different rankings can be for some items between people, like A/B/O verses for example (fairly high on Mond's list and, well...quite close to the bottom in mine xD)
I have some more thoughts re: fandom communities. Specifically, there were a lot of comments wishing they were more active, but not sure a) how to get them to be active, b) what purpose a community serves in modern fannish times, and c) not sure how to run/start a community successfully. And that led to this collection of thoughts about fandom communities!
So astolat recced this post the other day and while I have yet to comment (which I need to correct but that will wait until I'm not procrastinating on work anymore) I still find the topic (what's an active community, how to make/mod a comm, when, why and how to revive a comm, etc.) really interesting, especially in the context of a site like Dreamwidth whose popular days are kind of behind (I mean. I know there's a revival from the whole Tumblr deblacle at the moment, and possibly more people will join in the future but it still doesn't seem that active compared to other fandom homes? Might be wrong though xD)
It's particularly interesting because I've recently joined cowboyandperil, which is about the movie version of The Man From U.N.C.L.E and, more specifically, the Napollya pairing. It's a neat thought, one I'd be happy to see more off in my reading page (and by the way, dooooo join us!) but it's also a fairly specific part of an already fairly small fandom, and now I'm wondering if maybe it would be a good idea to make the com a little wider (i.e. TMFU in general, not just the one pairing or, heck, not even just the movie) if we want to get it off the ground x) This is not bashing by any mean--I'm super happy this comme exists and I'd like to see it flourish, and it's not like I was the one banging at the door to make it! It's just that now that it exists, I'm interested in seeing more people there and that means I have ~thoughts. That I will need to bring up to the comm founder :P
On a different but related note, I know a bunch of people who subscribe to this journal as also relatively new at this whole DW thing (I'm not that much more ancient myself) so I figure a little bit of communities rec can't hurt!
So I’ve been meaning to write this post for a while now, in the wake of my return to and subsequent regain of activity on Dreamwidth which was a surprise. I mean, I liked tumblr for a long time and now that it’s slowing down there’s Pillowfort which has all its best features coupled with DW/Livejournal’s best features and on paper that should be the perfect community right?
So apparently, there are people out there who put adFly links on teir fic recs and I would like to say, from the bottom of my heart: fuck these people.
You wanna make money off fic? Do it with your own fucking stories.
Okay you know what guys, the note-taking isn’t doing it for me right now as a preparation for tomorrow’s presentation, so what I’m gonna do is just type it out here and then I can take notes from that instead. If nothing else, it won’t hurt anyway.
It’s going to be a litle long, but if you’re interested in what I did for the thesis, this is the post to read. Otherwise, it’ll probably just be boring :P
Thing I discovered about myself today: I am super suspicious of people who say they only came to respect/appreciate Kara Thrace in the last BSG season
I understand why one would have problems with early seasons!Kara and I respect that but if you’re telling me her shitty “abuse and break the cutie so she can follow a creeper’s instruction on how to sacrifice herself” storyline is when you started liking her I’m gonna squint reaaaaally hard at you tbh
(Can't believe I didn't think of using that as a generic post title up until now. ahem.)
Blog surfing can lead you to the strangest things tbh
For example, I have just discovered that one of the members of 1Direction had a baby recently and a significant portion* of the fandom thinks it’s a conspiracy because the other members didn’t offer public congratulations on social media
I have also seen a post implying that this baby (as well as, presumably, the family life of said band member) is a cover for ‘Larry Stylinson’ aka the main ship of the 1Dom
Reading the balkanization article over at Fanlore for the thesis makes me want to hear what people have to say about Tumblr in that regard tbh
I mean with LJ and mailing list it’s super easy to keep stuff separate and to have a place where you’re reasonnably sure that, say won’t have you see Dramione when you’re a strict Harmony fan, that kind of things–and tbh I get why those communities were formed. I mean, the article lists several comments of people who (presumably) have been fanning since before internet fandom and who were sad/peeved that the various factions of fandoms were getting more separate.
However, not only do I doubt that there ever was such thing as a “whole fandome experience” (as one of the comments put it), because even with small fandoms you can never be sure that everyone is doing a thing (be it use a website, write to a fanzine, attend a con, etc.), there’s also the matter of the sheer size fandom has reached on the web.
I have to say though, I don’t get this general insistance that people keep ploughing through series or books before they’re “allowed” to decide whether they like it or not.
Like, you stuck with something until it got good, good for you! I’m currently sticking with a show/franchise I have negative hope of seeing amelioration in so I’m certainly not blaming people for that!
But I don’t understand why whenever someone says ‘X doesn’t do it for me so far’ there’s invariably someone to say ‘stick until Y and then decide if you don’t like it’. It’s well meant, but also kind of dismissive of how the person feels about X in the first place, imo
I’ll never not be apalled by the number of time I hear of and from people trying to to get into old, household-names fandoms and be greeted by the worst fucking kind of gatekeeping and douchnozzles acting like you have to read all four millions books ever produced in canon (plus the three billion of essays, fanworks etc) or your opinion doesn’t count like
I’m just flabbergasted that anyone could be that rude, for one, and also i’m really, really grateful that I’ve rarely (if at all) had to deal with rude people in my time in fandom tbh I’m just what the hell -_-
I’ll never not be apalled by the number of time I hear of and from people trying to to get into old, household-names fandoms and be greeted by the worst fucking kind of gatekeeping and douchnozzles acting like you have to read all four millions books ever produced in canon (plus the three billion of essays, fanworks etc) or your opinion doesn’t count like
I’m just flabbergasted that anyone could be that rude, for one, and also i’m really, really grateful that I’ve rarely (if at all) had to deal with rude people in my time in fandom tbh I’m just what the hell -_-
Okay but the thing about me is I don’t want my fandoms to be too perfect
I love awesome books and stories and when I get them I’m so happy about it it’s ridiculous–but on the other hand things that really are everything i want don’t give me room to settle in
it’s not a bad thing! i love reading stuff that satisfy me as they are. It’s just that when I finish with them i don’t want to write fic or read fic because fic is all about adding stuff to canon and well
there’s nothing to ad if canon is perfect(ly suited to your taste) is there?
Okay but the thing about me is I don’t want my fandoms to be too perfect
I love awesome books and stories and when I get them I’m so happy about it it’s ridiculous–but on the other hand things that really are everything i want don’t give me room to settle in
it’s not a bad thing! i love reading stuff that satisfy me as they are. It’s just that when I finish with them i don’t want to write fic or read fic because fic is all about adding stuff to canon and well
there’s nothing to ad if canon is perfect(ly suited to your taste) is there?
(In reference to a more or less throwaway comment I made about how I've never seen a fandom repost art as much as the TMI fandom, and how I thought Clare's attitude didn't help with that at all.)
Well, I guess I agree the situation between them is different from what it would be between two regular fans, if only because CJean knows about it and all, and tbh it would be between them except for the fact that CC has a huge influence if only because she has a lot of followers?
People learn Tumblr (and general) etiquette from the people they follow and look up to, and if those people repost, their fandoms are more likely to repost too. It’s not even like CJ didn’t post her drawings –CC could very well reblog from her, but she reposts instead and doesn’t even link to CJ’s blog (although to be fair, she does give credit where credit is due).
Beside, a lot of reposters think what they’re doing is the same as what CClare is doing –have you noticed how much CJean art gets reposted in the tag? It’s enormous, the biggest case I’ve ever seen, and tbh whether C.Clare meant for it to happen or not, I think her attitude is instrumental to the reposting problem in the TSC fandom.
I doesn’t help that, from what I’ve seen, many fans seem to be young fans, who may not have learned better than to repost yet, and if the author does it, why would it be wrong? I’ve seen reposts of Cassandra Jean artwork on Tumblr with commentaries tellin ‘OPs’ not to repost and to source, and it’s great! But considering Cassandra Clare herself does it, it’s difficult for those comments not to come off as pointless, at best.
So, Cassandra Jean may be okay with Cassandra Clare’s use of her artwork, and that’s good for her, even if I personally don’t approve of the practice, but I don’t think Cassandra Clare’s attitude exist in a vacuum, nor do I believe it has no effect on how her fans behave on Tumblr, even if that effect is unintended.
I really, really enjoyed this book because, while it doesn’t cover all questions of fandom everywhere (anime fandoms, for example, are absent, but then what book covers the entirety of a society at a time?) it gives a good an accurate overview of its topic, aka. western fandoms.
I’ve seen some complaints about this book not going into what Anime (and/or? Eastern) Fandoms brought to the western fandoms and I’d be interested to read anything getting into that but Fic remains an accessible and understandabl introduction to the works of fandom scholars and, for that, it’s definitely worth a read.
(That, and because reading it caused Goodreads to suggest I went on with “How to pray the Gay away” which is ridiculous enouh to make me want to rec Fic to anyone on sheer principle.)
… I’m actually more pissed at the holier-than-thou portion of tumblr going “tumblr/mcu fandom is the scum of the earth” than I am at Whedon’s departure from twitter at that point. I just wish some of them would heed their own advice and leave the fandom/website if they don’t like it tbh.
Like. I’m so ridiculously pissed at the last post I read on the topic it’s ridiculous I mean
Congratulations tumblr/twitter users you have managed in one day to do what fifty plus years of retconning/events/rotating writers and illustrators have never managed to accomplished. Today you managed to extinguish the flame of a fandom.
I’m… pretty sure the MCU fandom is still going? Possibly not as strong as it was, and quite possibly not as well as it should go (let’s face it, there are problems with the fadom, as with any large group of people) but it’s still going. also, in case some people forget it: the MCU started before Whedon and it’ll go on after whedon. Whedon isn’t the fucking light of anything, except, I guess, the Whedon fandom. And even then I’m pretty sure it’s arguable.
So I noticed a friend complaining about how much incest there was in Big Hero 6 fic and, craving some Tadashi anyway, I decided to go check the BH6 tag. For those who can’t see/read the picture, the proposed relationships in that fandom (with no particular character or language setting) are these:
Honestly i wish it could be more of a surprise for me too :/
I think I’m reaching a point in my fandom life where I want to make my fic witing a little more critical and… idk, political, so to speak.
I’m not going to start writing fic that tells people how to deal wit stuff, of course, but I want to pick my fic subjects in a more socially aware way, if the term applies.
Because like, I used to think all I had to do was read stuff and be aware of existing prejudice to do my job, but the more time passes the more I realize just being aware of things isn’t enough, at least not for me.
So I noticed a friend complaining about how much incest there was in Big Hero 6 fic and, craving some of Tadashi anyway, I decided to go check the BH6 tag. For those who can’t see/read the picture, the proposed relationships in that fandom (with not particular character or language setting) are these:
And frankly I have to admit I’m a little disturbed.
It’s not even the incest in itself tbh–hello, former Wincester here– it’s more the things it reveals? Because like, fandom has a tendency to go for male slash pairings first, and the way those pairings works, a lot of the time, is that the two most attractive males are paired up together and boom, you have a ship.
So what does it say about fandom that there are more stories about Tadashi sexing up his twelve years old little brother than there are stories about him being with Fred, who is Tadashi’s age and, yes, ridiculous and probably really stinky but, you know… he’s not Tadashi’s brother and he’s not a child.
Also what does it say about (western?) fandom that there are zero stories listed for Tadashi/Wasabi? (Which, let’s face it, would probably be a really cute and fun thing to write).
Idk guys, sometimes I see posts about rampant racism, sexism and general prejudice in fandom, and part of me really wants to think it’s exaggerated… but then I look at these stats and I can’t really deny it anymore tbh.
Like, okay, there’s always the argument that ‘if you give us well developped characters, we’ll go for them, too’. And arguably, neither Tadashi nor Wasabi got a lot of screentime, though I’d argue there are things to work with already. But then today I also saw this post on writingwithcolor about Orange is the New Black, and I can’t argue against it in good faith (mainly because I, too, was part of the Alex squad until meta posts made me realize what was wrong with her). So let’s take a look at the OITNB stats.
It’s a predominantly female-populated show, with a lot of diverse characters who are really fleshed out, right?
Piper Champan/Alex Vause (202 Fics)
Lorna Morello/Nicky Nichols (35 Fics)
Larry Bloom/Piper Chapman (11 Fics)
John Bennett/Dayanara “Daya” Diaz (7 Fics)
Nicky Nichols/Alex Vause (7 Fics)
Tasha “Taystee” Jefferson/Poussey Washington (6 Fics)
Marisol “Flaca” Gonzales & Poussey Washington (1 Fic)
Again, the cis white middle class women come first by a large count. Sure, okay, some ships are more supported by canon than others, and that has an influence on what we write but honestly, we’re basically a deconstruction industry. Our entire activity is rooted in a sentiment of ‘this doesn’t please me (enough) so here, let me do my thing/add things’. If we really wanted to go for the POCs characters, we would.
Look at Teen Wolf! When I got into this show, I thought Derek and Stiles were the main protags, not Scott (the latino actual protag). How come the main slash ship isn’t Scott/Stiles (who, objectively, have more moments and a healthier relationship than Stiles & Derek do)? How come a lot of the shippers simply skipped over the main character (who is, quite frankly, an amazing person) to ship two side characters as the main pairing–one of whom, on surface reading, really fits the brooding protagonist archetype.
And tbh I don’t exclude myself from that. Getting into Scott/Stiles is a conscious effort–I like them, but I’d be lying if I said I went for them spontaneously. But I guess tonight is the night where I fully realize and accept that there is a problem with how we deal with shipping sometimes (a lot of the time?)
Because okay, Big Hero 6 isn’t the biggest fandom out there (tho it’s Disney so I don’t think it’s a niche fandom either) but I do think the prevalence of the Hiro/Tadashi ship is a symptom of how we deal with slash tbh.
Like I stated at the beginning, it’s not the incest itself (although I do squint at the fact that Hiro is a kid) and there are some canons/showrunners that enable/encourage that (I’m thinking about ASOIAF, for example, and early-years Supernatural, who may have bashed wincest but still ship-teased it to the death) but when nothing in canon supports incest (with vaguely pedophile vibes) and we still prefer it to adding a black man in the shipping… that’s when things start to smell bad.
And that’s when we need to start really asking ourselves questions.
I like to write about insecure gay idiots falling in love with other insecure gay idiots, and I've published over fifteen novels worth of fanfiction as of May 2019 :P
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novembermond 's entry on the topic and it looked too tempting not to try it myself, so here's my ranked list of prefered fanfic tropes (among a preselected set). I'm pretty sure Praise Kink should be on the list).
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