astridv

Okay, here's what I gathered from certain corners of the fandom: before the Hydra reveal, shipping Ward with Simmons instead of Skye was racist. However now, shipping him with Skye is racist. I shipped him with Skye and Simmons before and I ship him with Skye and Simmons now, so that means... what? Do they cancel each other out or what? These people are so confusing. (And by confusing I mean moronic.)

So, kradical, a pro writer who also writes tie-ins, wrote a post pointing out differences between fanfic and tie-ins. Personally I found the post perfectly unoffensive, reasonable and interesting, but as it happens when a pro writer as much as mentions the word 'fanfic', people are kneejerking in response all over LJ.

I mean, I disagree with at least a dozen points of his, but I don't see why that should be reason to feel offended. But hey, everyone's entitled to their frothing... it just kinda makes me think something along the lines of, "Get off my side, you make my side look really insecure and defensive." Seriously, I'm wondering if that many people actually read the post they're getting worked up about in its entirety - because I just don't see it.

Well anyway, now the inevitable Lee Goldberg chimed in, in a post titled 'Inferior' that links to the OP's. And I can't help getting an image of Lee, with a stick in his hand, poking a huge anthill just for shits and giggles.

But, wank aside, in the comments to kradical's post there's actually a lot of interesting discussion to be had regarding the differences between the two genres.
...
However, I have to stay away from all that for now because I'm only two pages away from finishing my book, and I think it can be done today. yay
[eta: only one more scene to color. And it's only 01:34. I can totally do this!]

I got quite a bit of pencilling done on the comic. Unfortunately it's mainly the final scene so I can't post it because it would make very little sense. Um. I hope yesterday's creative rush will last long enough to finish all of the remaining 3 1/2 pages.

In other news, I barely got to read my flist because I lost myself in the Smallville fandom of all places... not that I have the least bit of interest in the show but their latest case of pseucide is good Sockpuppet Theatre. Not quite MsScribe calibre, but then what is.

I just came from a party where I met the friend of a friend... we’d met at the movies a couple weeks ago, she’s in fandom (not Buffy, I forget which), I gave her the link to the Smile Time comic. Then today I ask her how she liked it, and she says, yeah, she like, and by the way, three of her friends were all, "What, you know her?"

Which poses two questions.
1. How frikkin' awesome is this?
2. How many people have read this thing, if at least three people in my own town know about it? I really wish I’d installed a counter or something, now I’ll never know. Or is there actually a LJ tool that gives you a hit status of a certain post? Do they collect that sort of info?

And now, since I’m already friends locked, for a spot of bitching. I’m not in the habit of doing that... don’t think I’ve ever done that before... but this guy is just too much, and I don’t want to risk attracting an obvious troll: Mark "I'm not a misogynist but I play one on Lee Goldberg's blog" York replies to the fic defenders, once more confirming that he has the IQ of a watermelon.
( I'm sorry, I know y'all must be getting bored by this but I have to get this out of my system. )

Also, to get back to the productive side of things, page six is almost completely coloured and page seven more than halfway inked. Maybe I’ll finish even both of that tonight.

[eta: unlocked]

Fresh in from clairvoyantwank: A reporter for the Guardian Observer attended Lumos and has since written a not exactly flattering article about HP fans, Harry Potter and the mystery of an academic obsession ( Read more... )
[eta: upstart_crow pretty much nails it.]
---Speaking of Harry Potter and fandom... just in case you haven't heard, there's a twin piece of sorts to the MsScribe disclosure on Bad Penny, The Cassandra Claire Plagiarism Debacle. Not quite as tightly written as Charlottelennox's report, but equally well-documented. The WTF-factor doesn't reach that of the MsScribe story - but then it's hard to rival that level of batshit insane. Still, the extent of plagiarism in the Draco Trilogy exposed here is staggering. As is the argument of CC's defenders, that copying from other sources without citing is okay because 'it's fanfic and everybody does it'. Um, no.

(We're not talking occasional quotes and allusions to pop-culture, by the way, but the copying of several lines up to whole paragraphs and scenes, woven into the story in such a way that they appear to be the author's creation.)

Also, fun to count all the different, creative ways of spelling 'plagiarism' and 'copyright'.

Argh. It's getting light out already. I just heard a bird sing its first tune. And I'm still not tired. But on the positive side, I got a whole page of artwork coloured tonight, whohoo. You can't stop when you're on a roll like this. So I think it's worth feeling like a zombie tomorrow (today).

Before I go to bed, here's a quick mini-wank from fan-favourite Lee Goldberg. leegoldberg.typepad.com/a_writers_life/2006/05/i_can_steal_fro.html#comments

As usual Lee just links to a fanfic writer doing something stupid and leaves the actual wanking to his minions. Nothing spectacular, just the usual sweeping generalizations. I like this comment:
These 'disclaimers' always give me a laugh. It's honestly hard to really believe that some people are so pathetic. And how come they are all such awful 'writers'? I'm still pressuring my one writer friend who does write fan fiction to stop doing so. She's got a 3 book contract, but it's hard to wean her off contributing to the crapfest that is fan fiction.

I mean, is that friendship or what?


Good night, y'all.

This morning I was riding my bike, unaware that the road was still covered by a treacherous icy glaze. So I slipped and landed on my side - which wasn't so bad. Then my bike landed on top of me - which wasn't so good. I just scraped my knee, though; it's a ridiculously tiny scrape, but it hurts like a bitch, so I skipped the gym today. But I want to go running again tomorrow. Shoulder hurts too, but I don't need that for running. And at least it's the left one, always preferable.
***
There's some mildly entertaining wank or other going on, about the Spuffy shippers being responsible for the season six storyline and the evils of television in general. Check rahirah's journal for the shocking details.

(Why is no one ever blaming the C/A shippers for season three of Angel? Are we not important? Do we not matter?)

By the way, am I the only one who loved the Spike/Buffy storyline in season six? It seems to be equally disliked by all factions, from reading the comment threads. I mean, I'm not a shipper in that I very rarely read S/B fic, but I thought that storyline was great; dark, and convincing, and sexy. It's what pulled me into BtVS while I'd previously only been interested in AtS.
***
In fanfic: hannasus wrote a sequel to her story 'Curses'. AtS gen. Post-NFA With Angel in a main role. *purrs*
Goodbye, Cruel World

I watched the 'Bones' pilot and liked it. A lot. I wonder when we can expect the first fanfic.

Lots of interesting discussion going on lately regarding fanfic as a literary genre. I have thoughts on the issue myself - who hasn't - but it's only two weeks until San Diego Con... and there's an actual chance I'll be able to finish most of my work before I board the plane. So, not much time for either fanfic or meta.

But in short: No, I don't think fanfic is evil. :oP

And, for example, Robin Hobb's saying, "don't do it," while Joss himself endorses it... let's just say I'm not losing sleep over that moral dilemma. I found Hobb's rant poorly argued and hard to agree with even in parts. (conversant has written a rather brilliant deconstruction of her argument. When I grow up I want to have a mind as sharp as hers.)

That said, I'd never want to write or read any fic set in Hobb's worlds, knowing that it makes her so obviously miserable. But given her condescending attitude towards fan writers, I doubt I'll ever read any of her books either. It's one thing for an author to make their wishes known - I do understand that other people playing with one's characters can make an author uncomfortable (though, to be honest, I'm of the 'suck it up and deal' school of thought. I think there's very little to be done against fanfic legally.) So, yes, what a writer can do is ask the reader to respect their wishes... reasonably, not categorically slamming a whole genre just because they happen to not like it.

'Cause, you know, having my comic compared to a pornographic manipulation of someone's family photo... I kinda resent that.

As to Lee Goldberg and his friends, who're trying ever so hard to draw a line between themselves (the 'real writers') and the 'soulless' writer-wannabees (aka fan writers): guys, off the top of my head I can list a dozen fanfic writers who're writing profic. Not counting your's truly, who's more of a storyteller than a writer. I could also list dozens, no, hundreds of fanfics that beat the hell out of your average tie-in novel, take its lunch money and leave it bedrazzled in the corner, wondering what the hell just happened.

Well, this got longer than intended. I'll leave it at that.