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I can haz script \o/ I got a preview of the next script, so I finally have something useful to do whenever I'm waiting for new pages for the other project. My time management is in my own hands again.

Also, my sinuses seem to have cleared up. Throat infections's getting better, too. Still can't talk (well I could, but it'll heal faster if I don't) but I'm no longer doped up on Ibuprufen, so, yay. Definite progress. I miss working out though. My energy level is mostly back but the outside air feels almost painfully cold in my airways, so I shy away from running or even bike rides. I went rollerblading today, but just for like 10 minutes, to get my body used to being active again. Guess I'll get out the yoga mat and do some indoor training.

Agents of SHIELD is coming back this week, whoot! I'm all for delayed gratification but really, no more of those long hiatuses please!
(I'm so pleased to see that SHIELD has almost 1700 stories on AO3 as of now. And another 1.2K on ffn. Not bad for a fandom that, according to several internet critics, doesn't exist. :P)

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I'm so pleased to see that SHIELD has almost 1700 stories on AO3 as of now. And another 1.2K on ffn.

*seething with envy*

Seriously, though, that would be a HUGE, HUGE fandom for me. I'm not sure I've ever been in (or even around) any fandom that large, even West Wing.

-J

Wow, yeah, then you're really particularly unlucky when it comes to fic output.

AoS is really decent-sized considering it's only been around for a few months, and it's still just barely enough to scratch the itch for me. I remember when I was in Leverage (which has 2500 on AO3 now, after 5 seasons... I was constantly twitchy because I never had enough to read. It didn't help that most Leverage fic chooses to focus on the one character I find least interesting instead of my favorites. It's like Tantalus, man.)

When I got into the Americans, I knew right away it wasn't gonna become a fic fandom. Certain kinds of shows just don't lend themselves to fanfic. I'm always surprised that there's relatively much fic for The Wire. (Plus most of that is high quality.)

Okay, I was totally on my way out the door to the gym when this arrived in my inbox, and it made me so !!!!! that I'm stopping what I'm doing to answer it now. :)

"Not a fic fandom," that I'll give you--but that's NOT NOT NOT because the show "doesn't lend itself to fanfic!" There are so many unexplained/unexplored things in that show, both about the characters' pasts and about their possible futures, and even if you keep things in the present there are all sorts of things that the show just leaves deliberately unstated for fans to fill in. And that's just talking about the canon-compliant possibilities--reach beyond that and you have fodder for thousands upon thousands of possible stories. It's ONLY not a fic fandom because there are no fantasy or science fiction elements to it and no obvious slash pairing of two pretty boys that pushes the buttons of that large and vocal contingent of fandom. It's too realistic, and it's too much of a Quality Drama to have dangling issues that people feel moved to fix. But that just means your Jane Average Fan isn't going to be interested in the stories that people like me create, not that those stories don't beg to be told.

Seriously, if I didn't know that you actually did like the stories I've written, I'd be really offended right now! I could live a hundred years and not write all of the stories I've thought to write about that show. There's A LOT of story left to tell there, trust me.

-J

Edited 2014-03-02 19:32 (UTC)

It's too realistic, and it's too much of a Quality Drama to have dangling issues that people feel moved to fix.

Actually that's what I meant by 'doesn't lend itself to fic'. Writing for these kinds of realistic shows (and shows with no plot holes to fix) is daunting, I imagine. Of course there are all these exciting possibilities, but to actually do it takes a kind of effort that fic for genre shows doesn't necessarily need. And it's not the kind of show that'll attract a lot of quickly whipped-up cracky comment fic, either, which makes up a large amount of the number in other fandoms.

I *love* to read the kind of well researched, in-depth story you wrote! But I don't expect a lot of them.

Ah, okay, you're not selling the show short, you're selling fic short. That doesn't make me as !!!!! as what I thought you were saying, but I still disagree with it. :) Because The Americans may not be a show that lends itself to quickly whipped-up cracky commentfic, but that doesn't mean it doesn't lend itself to fic! Fic isn't just id-satisfying and cracky and easily whipped together by definition, and there have been many sustained fandoms that have never thrived on that sort of thing at all.

For that matter, even if The Americans fandom isn't ever going to produce fic of the cracky-commentfic type doesn't mean it all has to be long and plotty and researchy like mine, either--there are already lots of short pieces that fill in gaps in the show's storyline or imagine what it would be like for Philip and Elizabeth to, say, have guests over or celebrate American holidays or whatever. There are even a couple of bizarro crossovers and some slashy original character stuff. And that's just the stuff that already exists now. I don't personally care for it all (I don't personally care for most of it, to be honest), but I'm still very, very glad it's there for the people who do like it, and I firmly expect there's a lot more to come.

To be honest, I've never had any contact with quickly-whipped-up cracky comment fic or anything at all like it. I vaguely know of its existence, but I've never written any, never read any, and have seen some posted maybe...once, ever? So writing for realistic shows and shows with no plot holes to fix doesn't feel daunting--it feels like the only thing I've ever encountered. That's what fandom is to me, and it's managed to keep me around for well over a decade, so it must have something to offer even without all the cracky stuff. You know?

-J

P.S. I just read this and it seemed relevant:

Overall, I'm finding the show tremendously compelling, not only for the stories it is telling and how it's telling them, but also for the possibilities left unexplored. There's something about the way it's poised, rather in medias res, where both backstories and 30 years of future stories are just begging to be explored. That, perhaps, is the X factor for me when I think about why I'm feeling fannish about this and not about so many of the other shows I've enjoyed in recent years. Those other shows have given me everything I wanted onscreen. I loved them, but I didn't need to do anything more after stepping away from the screen. Whereas with The Americans, what's on the screen just feels like the starting point.