Made Up a Fic-Meme
Aug. 5th, 2003 03:28 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
ciroccojWell, it had to happen sometime. I've gone and made up a meme. After doing a few for fanfic writing, this one is (mostly) about fanfic reading.
1. Why do you read fanfic? What do you get out of it?
It adds another dimension to shows I like to watch on TV. It's also cheap and easy to access - cheaper than buying books, anyway. The downside is that you have to shovel through a lot of manure to find nuggets of gold.
2. What got you into fanfic?
I got into reading Star Trek novels, so I was familiar with the concept of "alternate realities" and "stories that didn't actually happen." I got into The X-Files around its 3rd season, and while wandering around the Web devouring everything I could about eps, plotlines, quotes, etc. I ran across fanfic. A lot of it.
3. How many fandoms are you part of?
Right now, just L&O Classique and HLOTS. In the past I've read a lot of X-Files, Star Treks of all kinds, and a (very) few Queer As Folk.
I also found an absolutely mesmerizingly horrific slashfic starring Joey, Chandler and Ross from Friends. Don't ask me details - I had the memory surgically removed.
4. Where do you find most of your fic? (eg fanfiction.net, Gossamer Archives, etc)
Unfortunately, ff.n is the source of the bulk of my fanfic. See above re. manure.
I've also gone most of apocrypha's archives, and The Complete Kingdom of Slash. I've also run across some very good individual sites - Prosecutorial Discretion, for All Jack, All The Time, and Gwen McNabb's site. And once a month I get to read what jael and Kyllikki recommend at Recs Judicata.
5. (Assuming this has happened to you) When you stop reading a fandom, why do you stop?
I stopped reading X-Files around when I started to lose interest in the show. I just couldn't follow the plotlines any more, and although I liked them, I just wasn't as emotionally invested in Doggett and Reyes as I was in Mulder and Scully. Stopped reading ST-Voyager a few years after the show stopped, because I kept coming across the same plots, same themes.
I still go back every so often and see if there's anything new, and indulge in nostalgia.
6. Do people in your RL know you read/write fanfic? If not, why don't they? If they do, what do they think about it?
Yeah, my mom, partner, and best friend all know, and they've all read some of my stuff. My partner actually betas a lot of it, and he has read a few pieces by other authors.
I think they all to varying degrees are somewhat indulgent about this bizarre hobby of mine. My mom really liked Aftershock, but was too whacked out to really get most of it, and didn't like Pretty Picture as much because she has an aversion to anything having to do with poverty. Go figure.
7. Have you ever written non-fanfic, or thought about writing it?
I started to write one non-fanfic short story, which is still sitting in embryonic form on my laptop. We'll see.
8. Have you ever thought of publishing "for real"?
Not until I started to write that non-fanfic. If I was into writing Star Trek, I might consider trying to get something published, because Star Trek has a well-established fanfic book base. But since pretty much all I write is L&O... no.
9. What's your favourite fanfic genre: post-ep, alternate endings, scenes we never saw, original plot, songfic, AU? Or something else?
I love all the above, except for songfic and AU. I don't mind AU so much, but often wonder, when it's a far, far out AU, why? Like, OK, I understand writing an AU where Krychec and Mulder were brought up as brothers. But an AU where instead of working in the X-Files, Mulder, Scully, and Skinner live in Victorian England? Why?
That said, I've read some very, very good AU's. Where the characters are very true to themselves and you sorta see why the author put them in this unfamiliar setting.
I may be wrong on this, but I don't believe I've ever read a good songfic.
10. What kinds of stories do you like? Angst, humour, romance, PWP, plot-driven? Or something else?
I like angst. A lot. Humour comes a close second, and I hardly ever read straight romances. They get a little too predictable, IMHO, and many seem to treat the characters as love-besotted preadolescents, no matter what their actual age. Same with PWP's. With the addition that PWP's also often get icky.
I like plot-driven stories if I can get into the plot. But I often find that for me, the plot is secondary to the character development. Particularly for L&O, where the show itself is entirely plot-driven and the plots on the show are (with some glaring exceptions - ie seasons 12-13) far better than anything most of us fanfic writers can come up with.
11. How important is grammar and spelling? Will you read a story that has poor grammar and spelling?
I will read something with a few grammar and spelling errors, particularly if it's humourous, or otherwise excellent in terms of plot. But if everything else about the story isn't top-top-top notch, the mistakes will eventually turn me off.
If there's a lot of glaring grammar and spelling mistakes, I won't even make it past the first chapter.
12. How important is canon?
Depends on what kind of canon we're talking about. If it's something that's been mentioned countless times on the show (ie Lennie Briscoe is an alcoholic, Rey Curtis is Catholic, Chakotay was the commander of the Macquis) and the author gets that wrong, I'll turn right off. If it's relatively smaller (eg Lennie's living daughter's name is Julia - it was mentioned once, in passing) I'll forgive it.
13. When deciding whether to read a new story or not, what influences your decision? Why?
Often, the author is the biggest influence. I'll readily read anything by a new author, and give them two or three tries before deciding whether I want to keep reading their stuff or not. After that, I avoid anything by proven bad writers and open up anything by proven mediocre-to-good writers.
Other than that, I look at the description and see if it looks interesting. I'm not character-loyal, although I would probably give a Lennie story by a mediocre author more of a chance than an Arthur Branch story by a relatively good author.
14. Do you read fanfic with the following elements? Why or why not?
a) Slash
Yup. Not as much as I used to. I find the issues dealing with sexuality, (often) masculinity, secrecy, self-image, barriers, etc etc interesting. Notsomuch with the PWP though, not any more. That's all just body parts and not terribly interesting to me.
b) Explicit sex
I don't mind it, but don't seek it out. If the story is very good and just has sort of "sex breaks" the way shows have commercial breaks, I've been known to skim through the explicit stuff to get back to the plot. If the sex is well-written and contributes to the plot or characterization, I'm all for it.
c) Alternate Universes
As above... notsomuch. I don't really see the point, although I've read some very good ones.
d) Character death
No problem. I don't even mind when they don't have a warning and they kill off the main character. I understand this royally pisses off a lot of people. Not me.
1. Why do you read fanfic? What do you get out of it?
It adds another dimension to shows I like to watch on TV. It's also cheap and easy to access - cheaper than buying books, anyway. The downside is that you have to shovel through a lot of manure to find nuggets of gold.
2. What got you into fanfic?
I got into reading Star Trek novels, so I was familiar with the concept of "alternate realities" and "stories that didn't actually happen." I got into The X-Files around its 3rd season, and while wandering around the Web devouring everything I could about eps, plotlines, quotes, etc. I ran across fanfic. A lot of it.
3. How many fandoms are you part of?
Right now, just L&O Classique and HLOTS. In the past I've read a lot of X-Files, Star Treks of all kinds, and a (very) few Queer As Folk.
I also found an absolutely mesmerizingly horrific slashfic starring Joey, Chandler and Ross from Friends. Don't ask me details - I had the memory surgically removed.
4. Where do you find most of your fic? (eg fanfiction.net, Gossamer Archives, etc)
Unfortunately, ff.n is the source of the bulk of my fanfic. See above re. manure.
I've also gone most of apocrypha's archives, and The Complete Kingdom of Slash. I've also run across some very good individual sites - Prosecutorial Discretion, for All Jack, All The Time, and Gwen McNabb's site. And once a month I get to read what jael and Kyllikki recommend at Recs Judicata.
5. (Assuming this has happened to you) When you stop reading a fandom, why do you stop?
I stopped reading X-Files around when I started to lose interest in the show. I just couldn't follow the plotlines any more, and although I liked them, I just wasn't as emotionally invested in Doggett and Reyes as I was in Mulder and Scully. Stopped reading ST-Voyager a few years after the show stopped, because I kept coming across the same plots, same themes.
I still go back every so often and see if there's anything new, and indulge in nostalgia.
6. Do people in your RL know you read/write fanfic? If not, why don't they? If they do, what do they think about it?
Yeah, my mom, partner, and best friend all know, and they've all read some of my stuff. My partner actually betas a lot of it, and he has read a few pieces by other authors.
I think they all to varying degrees are somewhat indulgent about this bizarre hobby of mine. My mom really liked Aftershock, but was too whacked out to really get most of it, and didn't like Pretty Picture as much because she has an aversion to anything having to do with poverty. Go figure.
7. Have you ever written non-fanfic, or thought about writing it?
I started to write one non-fanfic short story, which is still sitting in embryonic form on my laptop. We'll see.
8. Have you ever thought of publishing "for real"?
Not until I started to write that non-fanfic. If I was into writing Star Trek, I might consider trying to get something published, because Star Trek has a well-established fanfic book base. But since pretty much all I write is L&O... no.
9. What's your favourite fanfic genre: post-ep, alternate endings, scenes we never saw, original plot, songfic, AU? Or something else?
I love all the above, except for songfic and AU. I don't mind AU so much, but often wonder, when it's a far, far out AU, why? Like, OK, I understand writing an AU where Krychec and Mulder were brought up as brothers. But an AU where instead of working in the X-Files, Mulder, Scully, and Skinner live in Victorian England? Why?
That said, I've read some very, very good AU's. Where the characters are very true to themselves and you sorta see why the author put them in this unfamiliar setting.
I may be wrong on this, but I don't believe I've ever read a good songfic.
10. What kinds of stories do you like? Angst, humour, romance, PWP, plot-driven? Or something else?
I like angst. A lot. Humour comes a close second, and I hardly ever read straight romances. They get a little too predictable, IMHO, and many seem to treat the characters as love-besotted preadolescents, no matter what their actual age. Same with PWP's. With the addition that PWP's also often get icky.
I like plot-driven stories if I can get into the plot. But I often find that for me, the plot is secondary to the character development. Particularly for L&O, where the show itself is entirely plot-driven and the plots on the show are (with some glaring exceptions - ie seasons 12-13) far better than anything most of us fanfic writers can come up with.
11. How important is grammar and spelling? Will you read a story that has poor grammar and spelling?
I will read something with a few grammar and spelling errors, particularly if it's humourous, or otherwise excellent in terms of plot. But if everything else about the story isn't top-top-top notch, the mistakes will eventually turn me off.
If there's a lot of glaring grammar and spelling mistakes, I won't even make it past the first chapter.
12. How important is canon?
Depends on what kind of canon we're talking about. If it's something that's been mentioned countless times on the show (ie Lennie Briscoe is an alcoholic, Rey Curtis is Catholic, Chakotay was the commander of the Macquis) and the author gets that wrong, I'll turn right off. If it's relatively smaller (eg Lennie's living daughter's name is Julia - it was mentioned once, in passing) I'll forgive it.
13. When deciding whether to read a new story or not, what influences your decision? Why?
Often, the author is the biggest influence. I'll readily read anything by a new author, and give them two or three tries before deciding whether I want to keep reading their stuff or not. After that, I avoid anything by proven bad writers and open up anything by proven mediocre-to-good writers.
Other than that, I look at the description and see if it looks interesting. I'm not character-loyal, although I would probably give a Lennie story by a mediocre author more of a chance than an Arthur Branch story by a relatively good author.
14. Do you read fanfic with the following elements? Why or why not?
a) Slash
Yup. Not as much as I used to. I find the issues dealing with sexuality, (often) masculinity, secrecy, self-image, barriers, etc etc interesting. Notsomuch with the PWP though, not any more. That's all just body parts and not terribly interesting to me.
b) Explicit sex
I don't mind it, but don't seek it out. If the story is very good and just has sort of "sex breaks" the way shows have commercial breaks, I've been known to skim through the explicit stuff to get back to the plot. If the sex is well-written and contributes to the plot or characterization, I'm all for it.
c) Alternate Universes
As above... notsomuch. I don't really see the point, although I've read some very good ones.
d) Character death
No problem. I don't even mind when they don't have a warning and they kill off the main character. I understand this royally pisses off a lot of people. Not me.
