astridv

My to-rec folder is once more overflooding so it's time for another link dump. Fic recs will probably be next. Or vids. Or both.

fanfic and copyright
jimhines: Marion Zimmer Bradley vs. Fanfiction - If we’re going to toss this story around every time we talk about fanfiction, it would be nice to have a few facts to go with the fourth-hand accounts, guesswork, and rumors.

fandom and female characters
rawles: A Quick Note

The erasure of female characters from a narrative is never feminist. Period. The end.

If you're only interested in writing about dudes, go ahead, and work out how you feel about that with yourself. But please stop pretending you're doing this all for the ladies.

impertinence: impertinence: linkin' some links

White men are cultural blank slates, of course. Buddy cops, the anti-hero, the odd couple...they're all white guys. All of those dynamics fandom likes, and turns into fandom-specific tropes, can be traced back to wider cultural tropes. And they're coded as being for white men. Obviously, I think that's part of it. But I think the other part requires being critical of fandom itself.

Here's the thing: what we do isn't just transformative. It's really heavily derivative, both of the source material (obviously) and of other fanworks. [...]

Stepping out of that mold takes EFFORT.

ar: way too much rambling on mozart and mary sues

For him to write that 40th symphony, though, he first had to write his 4th. And just there's no shame in young Mozart writing some derivative stuff that sounds cool while he's working his way to writing really original stuff that also sounds cool, there's no shame in writing female characters (or any characters, for that matter, but the discussion hasn't been about writing Gary Stus) who might not be entirely plausible. You should totally write stuff that sounds cool to you, and you should write a lot of it--and the more you write (and the more you read!), the more you'll figure out how to make your characters plausible even as they're awesome. Same with your descriptions, your plots, your everything.

I had to go all the way back to skip=400, and I'm caught up with the flist... though now my to-read folder is overflowing.

Writercon was excellent, I'm very glad I went. I finally met friendshipper. And sgatazmy and greyias. And pukajen, whom I just had dinner with a few days before at Comic Con. missmurchison and revdorothyl who graciously offered me a place to stay when the Minneapolis hostel turned out to be a no-go (seriously, don't go there). Also monanotlisa, who lives, like, next door (well, 90 minutes away) so we have to go to Minnesota to see each other, deepad, former co-mod from the days of bbf. And I met argosy in my downtime between conventions and we did touristy things at SeaWorld. :) michelel72, who offered her room as a hang-out. Okay, I met a whole lot more fun people at WriterCon but it's impossible to list them all, and I'd likely forget half the names.

The panels were really good overall, very interesting, with a high level of audience involvement - I didn't really expect such lively discussion. The details are becoming quite blurry, so I won't attempt to write proper panel reports. lunabee34 has detailed write ups for some: part 1, part 2.

I would like to write more on Kristina Busse's talk 'Affect and the individual fan' which ended up being about tropes... at the very least I'll have to look up the vids she showed there... ah well, I'll link them with my next recs post.

The 'Evil in our midst' panel was quite interesting though I agree with whoever said that those topics would have been better served if they had been split into three separate sessions - racism, sexism/internalized misogyny, and homophobia/fetishization of gay people - instead of lumping them all together.

friendshipper, greyias, tazmy and I were quite encouraged by the 'SGA as closed canon' panel... like someone, I think friendshipper said: There we were, fans from all corners with very different opinions, having a productive talk about the future of the fandom and no one has left the room in angry tears (and someone shouted, We still have ten minutes. *g*). No, really, we were glad we went to that one in spite of being wiped after a day of con.

Many thanks to the con committee for getting everything organized and running so smoothly. And three cheers to shaddyr, who ran what must be the best hospitality suite ever. I haven't been to many other cons but no way that can be beat... it was cozy and inviting, a good place to hang out and chat anytime one felt like it, and the food was great, with a wide selection ranging from snack food to freshly cut veggies and a delicious homemade chili. You guys rock hard!

Okay, I actually came here to post fic recs but this got so long, I'll put those in a separate post...
[x-posted to DW and LJ]

There is a rather interesting post in life_wo_fanlib linking back to a FFR post that pimps a new multifandom fic / original fiction archive, fictionaire.com. It's a bit of a conundrum. I do like conundrums. ;)
( Ficionaire reminds of Fanlib in certain ways )

eta: text of a previous, cached version of the site.: [eta again: ah, now it's been replaced by a later version]

Fan Fiction and Original Stories at Fictionaire.com
* Write fan fiction with flair in rich text or HTML and easily update your stories.
* Track your popularity with comprehensive fan fiction statistics.
* Leave wall messages and chat up other fictionaires
* Benefit from a powerful feedback system for fan fiction stories.
* Pose custom questions to readers - what should happen next, perhaps?
* Network with fan fiction authors on the Fictionaire social network.
* Share your stories, gain notoriety, and meet new friends
* Join the craze! Includes special Harry Potter fan fiction abilities!

Will your fiction be here?
Fictionaire launches in the coming weeks. Don't miss out on launch giveaways for fan fiction enthusiasts!

Marketing speak, how I hate thee.

(This is gonna be just a brief drive-by post with linkeage. The whole thing cost me so much time these past few days just following various threads... I shouldn't even be here, let alone post. It's like I can't avert my eyes.)

So, the FanLib debut went down smoothly as a load of gravel, unsurprisingly. It has finally made fandom_wank, and Making Light chimed in, too.

Henry Jenkins (whos 'Convergence Culture' I'm just reading, coincidentally) has a concise and insightful summary/analysis in his blog, and he invites Chris Williams (CEO of FanLib aka the guy who left the unfortunate comment of doom in my journal and many others) for an interview. That actually makes sense... have that dialog on neutral territory, with Jenkins as intermediary. Williams accepted the offer; if you'd like to submit questions you'd like to see addressed, Jenkins suggests you email them to him or leave them in the comment section of his post.

(Not that I think consensus is really possible, mind... I believe that even if FanLib hadn't done pretty much everything wrong one could possibly do wrong when approaching fandom, the main problems would still remain because their basic idea - community outsiders profiting from fanfic - is fatally flawed... YMMV.

Teresa Nielsen Hayden brings it to the point (first comment in the Making Light thread): If fanfic writers are living in and fixing up buildings that theoretically belong to other people, FanLib's the guy who shows up to try to collect the rent, even though he doesn't own the buildings and hasn't done any of the fix-up work.)

Interesting aside... if you google 'fanlib' the first few pages reflect nothing of the current argument but rather link to gushing posts about their revolutionary enterprise. If you want the real story, check technorati, where you can see the fanlib-critical posts pop up faster than you can read them.

This thread on fandom_lawyers discusses the possible legal implications.

Oh, oh, and have you seen the ad campaign? Guys, the ads! One picture says more than thousand words, and those ads are a fine illustration how those people don't *get* us. Now we got slash about it, too... ♥ fandom

Finally one of my many favourite quotes that came out of the whole mess, from telesilla to Chris:...you were dead certain you had this vast, untouched pile of gold to skim off whenever you liked and then suddenly, you realized that it has round-the-clock dragon protection and hey, those dragons breathe fire!

I must say, I don't remember ever seeing fandom in so much agreement on anything. The same people who were arguing and squabbling only few weeks ago, now united in their dislike of one website. Gives me a warm, fuzzy feeling. :o)

[eta: dug up by riba_rambles: how they're pitching fanlib to *industry*]

( Aaah, yes. Nothing like a little kerfuffle to clear the air. )
No more meta for at least a week; I haven't even read fanfic in days.
***Oh, oh, also... I don't remember if I linked to this already. I found it in the comments of lim's fantastic meta vid Us: Also a meta vid, but a totally different approach. *g* Check it out: I put you there. It's BtVS but since it's very, very meta it's probably fun even if you're not in the fandom. (By the way, can someone tell me how I get an imeem vid to display in full screen?)

Fannish dream: yesterday night I dreamed that Stephen Fry was visiting my grandma and me (my grandma's been dead for a decade, but there we were, back in our old house), and we were... having tea. Which is not a British cliché in that case, we drink tea a lot here as well. Anyway, he was very nice and pleasant company, and I woke up in a really good mood. Huh.

Figures, I dream about 'Bones' for once and it's a perfectly G-rated, gen dream. :P
***I've been having a productive week, work-wise, even though I was goofing off plenty. The book I'm working on has so far been taking only about half the time I calculated (which is good because I lost a lot of time when I was sick with the evil virus). And the thing is, I look at the drawings and... they're good. I mean, I think those are some of the best illus I've done. And I think I owe it largely to the fan comics. Because doing those has freed me to try new techniques, time-saving techniques at that. Get a more confident line. At the end of the day, even if drawing those fan comics may take dozens or hundreds of hours, you end up with more time, ironically. And those that say that fanfic is a waste of time are completely and utterly clueless.
***I went through the Betterbuffyfics yahoo message archives and picked out all my recs over the years, because I want them archived in one place. Easier than to search every time I want to rec an old fic to someone. And maybe some of you would like to read some older recs. There're something over a hundred recs altogether. I'll post them separately... people who come for recs don't need to hear about my weird dreams about Stephen Fry. *g*

Happy Easter to all of you who're celebrating!

I'm only one page away from finishing my current project and I think it can be done by tonight. Emphasis on 'night' but anyway, the thought fills me with glee. Also, for the past week I have managed to fight off the roommate's evil killer virus; don't want to jinx it but maybe I won't catch it this time around. *fingers crossed*

Interesting links:
selenak posts on the famous Battle of the Teutoburg Forest.

(via metafandom) matociquala aka Elizabeth Bear on why fanfic doesn't bother her. After the ongoing insanity in Lee Goldberg's blog* it's refreshing to hear a more reasonable perspective.

*(current round still not over... o.O But the wankiest parts have been deleted.)

I'm still following the fic debate on Goldberg's blog (rerun #2047). No, I won't get into the usual conflating of legalities/ethics/morals and the invocation of Godwin's law - I've come to expect nothing less from that blog. No... I'm stumped on what a fundamental level the anti-fic crowd don't get us.

( It's like two races of aliens trying to communicate. )

I'm in procrastination overdrive, therefore the recent flood of posts in this journal. I hope I'll get into working mode soon so y'all should be saved overly excessive future posting.

John Scalzi apparently received several emails regarding the Cassie Claire debacle (for what purpose exactly is beyond me). He counters rather provocatively with: "I recognize this attitude probably won't sit well with fanficcers, but this is really an "honor among thieves" sort of issue, isn't it? If you've already morally justified intellectual theft so you can play with Harry and Hermione and Draco and whomever else you want to play with, I'm not entirely sure how one couldn't also quite easily justify taking juicy chunks of other people's text to play with as well. "

I find the discussion that's going on in the comments right now interesting even though, yeah, it's a rehash of the old Fanfic - Harmless Fun or Ultimate Evil? argument.

Because of the provocative nature of Scalzi's question, the liberal use of words like 'theft', and the usual bold-but-nonetheless-unfounded statements regarding fanfic's legal status, I had to sit on my hands to keep from commenting... the only thing more time-consuming than reading these discussions is getting involved yourself. Luckily, by now several very eloquent folks (like Patrick Nielsen Hayden and kate_nepveu) have said it all much better than I could ever hope to.

And, argh, if I hear this tired old argument once more (by a Sean Fodera): "[...] fanfic hurts fanfic writers, who are spending their valuable writing time on unsaleable material in other people's universes, when they should be working on their own original fiction. If you have a way with words, and a drive to write, then every minute you spend working with someone else's creations, without permission, you are wasting your talent and time."

Considerate as it is to think of the poor fanfic writers, I think we can decide for ourselves how we spend our spare time, thank you very much. I could write the whole long list of reasons why this argument is bullshit... but since my friends list doesn't need convincing, and the other side never seems interested in listening, I shall instead save the time and get back to my desk to bang my head against it.

Teresa Nielsen Hayden: “Fanfic”: force of nature
Good fiction gets under our skin. It can change the way we see the world. But whatever its effect, it’s a significant experience. It would be a bizarre thing—unnatural, even—for writers to not engage with that experience. They always have. I could show you stuff centuries old—heck, some of it’s millennia old—that’s fanfic by any modern definition.

Of course, it would have to be a modern definition. In a purely literary sense, fanfic doesn’t exist. There is only fiction. Fanfic is a legal category created by the modern system of trademarks and copyrights. Putting that label on a work of fiction says nothing about its quality, its creativity, or the intent of the writer who created it.

Interesting discussion in the comments on fanfic and profic, and the relationship between the two. It's good to see this topic discussed in a hospitable environment, free of ad hominems.

Also, I noted that John M. Ford commented in this thread. I'm this close to writing him an embarassing mail full of fangirlish squee about his Star Trek Novel How Much For Just The Planet?... which, if you're unfamiliar with, is the ultimate proof that tie-ins don't have to be boring, that they can even be brilliant, and crazy, and feature captains going down laundry chutes, and contain hidden jabs at Paramount. It's farce and Ford has done a great job to make it work. Go, read, laugh your ass off.
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John Scalzi: 10 Things Teenage Writers Should Know About Writing
Good advice, not just for the teenage writer.
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Today I read rahirah's What Happens In Vegas. Like I said on bbf (for lazyness's sake): ... A witty, plotty, clever ghost story with a very quotable Buffy. Not to be missed, particularly if you like your fic with a generous dash of humour.

Beware that this story comes with a spoiler warning for Parliament Of Monsters. I'm no longer unspoiled for POM. But I regret nothing ;)
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Whew, two posts in one day. This won't become a habit, I'm just waiting for feedback on two projects, which is not gonna happen before tuesday.