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author_by_nightI had trouble thinking of five things for the Snowflake prompt, and I've settled on Five Fannish Things I saw online to respond to. I basically just punched "fanfic" and "fandom" into AskReddit.
I tried to balance negative/positive discussion points. Fandom has a lot of ugly. It also has a lot of good.
*Blushes* The Baby-Sitter's Club. It was a small forum, and IIRC we were all preteens who'd outgrown the series, but still wanted to talk about the books and write fic for them. Claudia/Stacey was pretty popular.
But I was always playing games and telling stories based on things I loved. BSC was just the first time I realized there was a name for it.
What was a fandom you missed out on?
This is actually my own question, because I thought of it while scrolling. I really wish I hadn't seen Firefly so late in the game. I loved Firefly when I finally watched it, but by the time I did, most of my LJ flist was into SuperWhoLock or not into any fandoms at all anymore. The only active forum for Firefly I found was very critical of the show, they basically hated everyone except for Mal. I settled for userpics after a while. Part of the problem is that I was boycotting fanfiction.net because censorship, and I had trouble finding fic on LJ, even though I'm sure there was still fanfic being written.
Ao3 was probably a better bet, but I used LJ for most of my fandom needs at that point. Which is another regret; in the case of Firefly, I think Ao3 was still new, so there might not have been much there anyway. But I kind of just left fanfiction.net and stuck with fic archives on fan websites and LJ, so once those stopped being a thing, that was that. :/
Going back to Firefly, I will say I now like OFMD better, even if it has also been unceremoniously canceled. Also, I think I feel the same way about season 2 that I feel about Serenity.
Really interested in hearing your thoughts!
I tried to balance negative/positive discussion points. Fandom has a lot of ugly. It also has a lot of good.
What book looks like a fanfic?
I think they mean "reads as a fanfic", and I would say Red, White and Royal Blue. There are even rumors that it's based ON a fanfic. This is a compliment, by the way. I love that book. The characters are great, the romance is great, and I wish I lived in an America where Ellen Claremont was President.
I think they mean "reads as a fanfic", and I would say Red, White and Royal Blue. There are even rumors that it's based ON a fanfic. This is a compliment, by the way. I love that book. The characters are great, the romance is great, and I wish I lived in an America where Ellen Claremont was President.
What's the worst fandom experience that you've had personally?
I found out a bunch of fandom "friends" hated me once While a lot of not nice things were said by people, one of the things that stung the most was a friend saying that he dreaded talking to me on MSN. I never made him message me. He could have taken me off his contacts, could have said he was busy, could have done... anything but have long conversations with me that he apparently hated.
I found out a bunch of fandom "friends" hated me once While a lot of not nice things were said by people, one of the things that stung the most was a friend saying that he dreaded talking to me on MSN. I never made him message me. He could have taken me off his contacts, could have said he was busy, could have done... anything but have long conversations with me that he apparently hated.
What fandom do you regret being a part of?
I regret being in the Twilight hatedom. I still have my criticisms of the books, but I think the hatedom took it way too far at times, and while I pulled away when it did, I still think I was a little too biting at times. I remember making a snarky comment about Twilight fans to a librarian, and she looked hurt. I felt pretty bad. I also had a friend who was a little offended by my remarks.
Something else that bugs, and I realize this is an extreme example, is that a woman defended the books on YouTube and got meme'd bad online for it. Her tantrums were meme'd, and she was fat shamed. Videos were made about her. This was mostly YouTube, being what it was at the time, but she got made fun of outside of YouTube too.
Again, I know most Twilight critics weren't fat shaming YouTubers, I'm just saying this was the worst of it that I saw.
I regret being in the Twilight hatedom. I still have my criticisms of the books, but I think the hatedom took it way too far at times, and while I pulled away when it did, I still think I was a little too biting at times. I remember making a snarky comment about Twilight fans to a librarian, and she looked hurt. I felt pretty bad. I also had a friend who was a little offended by my remarks.
Something else that bugs, and I realize this is an extreme example, is that a woman defended the books on YouTube and got meme'd bad online for it. Her tantrums were meme'd, and she was fat shamed. Videos were made about her. This was mostly YouTube, being what it was at the time, but she got made fun of outside of YouTube too.
Again, I know most Twilight critics weren't fat shaming YouTubers, I'm just saying this was the worst of it that I saw.
What was one of your earliest fandoms you were a part of?
*Blushes* The Baby-Sitter's Club. It was a small forum, and IIRC we were all preteens who'd outgrown the series, but still wanted to talk about the books and write fic for them. Claudia/Stacey was pretty popular.
But I was always playing games and telling stories based on things I loved. BSC was just the first time I realized there was a name for it.
What was a fandom you missed out on?
This is actually my own question, because I thought of it while scrolling. I really wish I hadn't seen Firefly so late in the game. I loved Firefly when I finally watched it, but by the time I did, most of my LJ flist was into SuperWhoLock or not into any fandoms at all anymore. The only active forum for Firefly I found was very critical of the show, they basically hated everyone except for Mal. I settled for userpics after a while. Part of the problem is that I was boycotting fanfiction.net because censorship, and I had trouble finding fic on LJ, even though I'm sure there was still fanfic being written.
Ao3 was probably a better bet, but I used LJ for most of my fandom needs at that point. Which is another regret; in the case of Firefly, I think Ao3 was still new, so there might not have been much there anyway. But I kind of just left fanfiction.net and stuck with fic archives on fan websites and LJ, so once those stopped being a thing, that was that. :/
Going back to Firefly, I will say I now like OFMD better, even if it has also been unceremoniously canceled. Also, I think I feel the same way about season 2 that I feel about Serenity.
Really interested in hearing your thoughts!
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Date: 2024-01-20 05:02 pm (UTC)But... I did read a lot of books last year that COMPLETELY read as fanfic reimagined. One, I know for a fact was--The Love Hypothesis--which is so Rey/Kylo A/U that the main characters name is Adam. :D Everything for You is Roy Kent/Jamie Tartt in America, and yes, You're a Mean One, Matthew Prince is a Hallmark Schitt's Creek fusion and I won't be convinced otherwise. ;)
2. OMG, that is awful! I am so sorry that happened to you! ♥
3. Hatedom haha. I've never heard that term before. But yes, I've regretted being in any hatedom. What a waste of time.
4. Harry Potter almost exclusively on LJ for a long time. *sob*
5. Firefly as well. I mean, mostly all fandoms? I tend to come to shows/movies/books late and take FOREVER to engage after falling, so I always feel a bit out of the loop. But, when I think of what I could have done with the Firefly fandom back in the day. *sigh* But I'd really like to hear more about your Season 2 of OFMD=Serenity thoughts. ♥
no subject
Date: 2024-01-20 08:39 pm (UTC)But... I did read a lot of books last year that COMPLETELY read as fanfic reimagined. One, I know for a fact was--The Love Hypothesis--which is so Rey/Kylo A/U that the main characters name is Adam. :D Everything for You is Roy Kent/Jamie Tartt in America, and yes, You're a Mean One, Matthew Prince is a Hallmark Schitt's Creek fusion and I won't be convinced otherwise. ;)
Yeah, the SC fandom has SO many fics like that, and you know David loves Hallmark movies. (I don't think it's officially canon, but he probably does.)
I also read a book that felt so much like a Harry Potter fanfic, it took me out of it. I need to try reading it again because a lot of people love it, and it was very well written, I was just... confused. That being said, the author has claimed to have been influenced by Terry Pratchett, who I believe has a similar cadence. I also think it felt Harry Potterish because it's very much our world, yet not our world, though unlike HP it never pretends to be our world. I'll have to try it again. (I forget the name, but the MC's name was Linus. I may just read it as a Harry Potter AU so I can get over the confusion, heh. What I read of the book itself was quite good, it was totally a me thing.)
But I'd really like to hear more about your Season 2 of OFMD=Serenity thoughts. ♥
Okay, so both S2 of OFMD and Serenity are a LOT darker than the first season/original show, even though both were pretty dark in their own right - I just think OFMD S1 and Firefly leaned more into the humor aspects, whereas S2/Serenity went straight for the jugular with grimdarkness. Mal and Ed are in a very dark place. Inara and Stede are AWOL (from the ship's perspectives). And both end with a character dying, though Wash and Izzy have zero in common.
(And I see a lot of Mal in Ed and Stede in Inara. Both Mal and Ed are good people who don't believe thmeselves to be, both lost wars in a sense, and Inara and Stede are both wealthy people on a pirate ship for unclear reasons.)