[insert wittiness here]

[lunabee34]

Lots of great fun on my last post about fic bunnies. So far we've got some pretty interesting Dawn and Glory meta going on, not to mention the long lost connection between BtVS and The Golden Girls. Also, pretty much everybody seems to be lamenting the lack of awesome Trek fic.

20 Things You Didn't Know About Saffron by hopefulnebula Written in list form, this is a very engaging look at what has formed the inimitable YoSaffBridge.

Little Red Riding Simon and the Big Bad Jayne by lyrstzha This is so wonderfully silly. Read! Read!

Detente, janissa11's followup to the wonderful "Tussle." Last time it hurt. This time it doesn’t, but he hurts anyway, wishes Jayne would thump him a couple of times just to make the overcoat match the underdrawers.


Also, I have questions prompted by mosca's recent post on the Firefly fandom and what she perceives as her place in it.

How do you guys feel about the fandoms you are currently involved with? Is fandom just one never-ending love affair for you? Are you really dissatisfied? Stuff you really wish was different? Happy as a lark? In other words, how do you read the litmus test on the current state of your fandoms?

I think I am in a rather unique position in that my fannish experience has been pretty much wholeheartedly positive. I've been met with kindness and overwhelming generosity at every turn. I've managed to avoid wank and kerfluffleage, although Lord knows I'm surprised as hell at that given club_joss. I wish I was able to turn out more fic as I write like a turtle if at all, and I wish my Buffy/Faith piece had gotten more feedback, but that's it (almost forgot more participation in club_joss; that might even be my primary wish). Other than that, I am utterly happy in fandom. I feel like I've been accepted and that I have a contribution to make. What about you guys?

Comments

[hermionesviolin.livejournal.com]

One thing I find interesting is that I often feel like *no one* really feels like they're a part of "fandom" -- that we all find clusters of people who make sense to us and just sort of stare at the rest of "fandom," sometimes wandering by when fic or meta is recommended to us.

Anyway. Um. I don't particularly feel all that involved in fandom as of late because my job has meant I don't have the time/energy to even fully engage with my flist nevermind anything outside of that. I've always felt more like I'm watching my fandoms than really being a part of them, though, 'cause I've never been all that prolific producing fic or meta or anything, so I'm not all that widely read.

Stuff I wish were different? With fandom as with everything else I wish people were more thoughtful. I, as mentioned previously, wish there was some storage system of all the good conversations on episodes/themes/etc. so newbies could be easily hooked up. I also wish it were easier to hook people up with the stuff they wanna read (and vice versa), and as a corollary to that I wish there were more good stuff out there (even though I don't have time to read the stuff I've already found, plus obviously mileages vary as I've been underwhelmed by plenty of stuff I've seen recced).

[lunabee34.livejournal.com]

One thing I find interesting is that I often feel like *no one* really feels like they're a part of "fandom" -- that we all find clusters of people who make sense to us and just sort of stare at the rest of "fandom," sometimes wandering by when fic or meta is recommended to us.

See, that kinda thinking never occured to me until I read mosca's post. I mean, I have the sense that fandom is big and lots of it is passing me by or just not accessible to me because of time constraints or not knowing where to go, etc; in other words, the notion that I am only involved in one corner of it. But I feel like I belong where I am. Most of the people who are on my flist I feel like they are friends in the RL sense of the word, or on the way to becoming friends. I can see, though, how that might change if I was really high profile and didn't know many of the people that friended my journal; that might make me feel less cosy.

Lately, I'm starting to feel like you say you are now, watching fandom go by. If I'm actually going to work on my dissertation, I truly don't have time to write fanfic. And that makes me sad. I really enjoy participating in fandom in that way, and I hate that it's been so long since I've written anything and that I don't really forsee myself writing anything new for some time.

[hermionesviolin.livejournal.com]

I mean, I have the sense that fandom is big and lots of it is passing me by or just not accessible to me because of time constraints or not knowing where to go, etc; in other words, the notion that I am only involved in one corner of it.

Well that's sort of what I meant.

But I feel like I belong where I am.

That, too. I mean, I think a lot of people don't really feel at home in what they see as the dominant culture in a particular fandom, but I think a lot of us have found clusters of people with whom we feel at home, even if it frustrates us that the ways of our niche do not seem to be the prevailing ways of the fandom at large.

I can see, though, how that might change if I was really high profile and didn't know many of the people that friended my journal; that might make me feel less cosy.

Oh, see I would have no problem with that. There are a number of people I don't know who have my journal friended and I'm not bothered by that, and I'm always flattered when people friend me though I feel a touch bad when I don't friend them back. I sometimes feel like I should be producing more stuff worth reading, but that's as much a function of my own self as it is a function of having an audience.

[executrix.livejournal.com]

Mosca really brought out the whole "I'm nobody! Who are you? Are you nobody too?" feeling about fandom. But it doesn't matter how many Cordettes a BNF has, she's still allowed to be lonely (sometimes even lonely by herself) and have Layers.

[lunabee34.livejournal.com]

I know, I know. And she can be and does. I just had this knee jerk reaction of surprise. And then sadness, because I want all the people I admire to be happy. :)