December Daily: to all the fandoms I've loved before

[resonant]

I came home and found the kitchen window just lying on the floor. I live on the second floor and the screen is fine, so I guess it must have been a windy weekend? (Also, the new tenants are smoking, dammit. It's a lease violation. And I'm allergic.)

anitac588 asked: "How do you relate to different fandoms? Do you revisit them? Sometimes I find it difficult to go back to reading stories in 'old' fandoms after discovering new OTP."

I'm the same way!

I have a crush on Venom fandom right now, so in Venom I'll do things like do an AO3 fandom search and open everything I find. I'll finish Venom stories and take pleasure in them even if they're deeply flawed, as long as the characterization is good.

Then I have a long list of fandoms where I'm ... interested, but picky. Before I open a story, it has to be either written or recced by someone I trust, or else have a very interesting description. And I'm not pre-committed, so I won't keep reading if I hit a major flaw. (This would be anything from old favorites like Harry Potter to small-but-reliable fandoms like Discworld to oddballs like if somebody's writing fanfic on Muppet Christmas Carol or something.)

And then there are fandoms that I actually don't even like ... with tiny exceptions. I mean, I pretty much won't be reading a story in Merlin fandom unless the kidlet writes it.

And then there's Yuletide, the exception to everything, where if two people I barely know both say, "You have got to read this story whose fandom is "Octopus Steals My Video Camera And Swims Off With It" I'll be like, "Sure thing!"



1 -- goss, "VENOM! Why do you think it's been such an instant hit with Fandom, and what are some of your favourite fanworks so far?" and nestra, "Any Venom recs?"
2 -- anitac588, "How do you relate to different fandoms? Do you revisit them? Sometimes I find it difficult to go back to reading stories in 'old' fandoms after discovering new OTP."
3 -- marginaliana, "what is your favorite physical non-living thing? Not a person or a pet, but it could be something you own or a piece of art, etc."
4 -- cesperanza, "I'll ask an HP question, actually, because I wasn't really ever in it and I'm interested in the reactions of people who were. It seems to me from the outside so spectacularly meh now; like, it was the fictional equiv of Lost (which I also didn't watch) where it was fascinating as a piece of serialized fiction but where the execution simply couldn't live up to the collective imagination. Am I wrong?"
5 -- teigh_corvus, "Your thoughts on James Joyce and Ulysses."
6 -- kass, "If the you of 10 years ago could see you now, what would surprise her most?"
7 --
8 -- mific, "Sounds like you commute to and fro still. How do you pass the time traveling? Music? Audiobooks? Something else? Any reccs? :)"
9 -- torch, "favorite advent songs!"
10 -- princessofgeeks, "How did you go about changing fandoms? Was it, historically, something you did or something that just happened? Did friends lure you? Did you find new shows to watch?"
11 -- reginagiraffe, "(It's MrGiraffe's birthday so...) Have you ever written a birthday themed story? If not, what couple would have the best/funnest/easiest birthday story to write and why?"
12 -- laurenthemself, "What are your thoughts on Thor: Ragnarok? I know ya boy Steve wasn't in it but did you have any shippy feelings?"
13 --
14 --
15 -- china_shop, "What hooks you into a fanfic? Is it banter, characterisation, tropes, or...? Is it different from what hooks you into original fic?"
16 -- muccamukk, "Describe a long fic you always wanted to write, but never have and likely never will."
17 --
18 -- kass, "What have you read recently that you've enjoyed?
19 --
20 --
21 --
22 -- mekare, What would Ben Fraser do in 2018?
23 -- marina, "What was the last book you read that wasn't fanfic and that you intensely loved, and why."
24 -- wychwood, "Something about SGA! What's the one fic you're sorry you never wrote? What was your favourite episode? Do you still love John/Rodney? How gay WAS John Sheppard? Where in Atlantis would you live if you could pick any room you liked? Pick one or a topic of your choice."
25 --
26 --
27 --
28 -- kass, "What do you like best about where you live?"
29 --
30 -- china_shop, "Your favourite book you read this year."
31 -- wolfshark, "what is your favorite story to reread of your own stuff? what was your favorite story to write?"

Comments

[destina]

I have a question! I think. For the 27th - how has your relationship to fandom changed over the years? By which I mean not just participation in it, but your level of tolerance/interest for the cyclical things about it, the way old arguments never really stop or die, etc, but also the ways fandom changes and new ways of doing fandom evolve. (And old ways evolve out, and terms evolve, etc.)

[anitac588]

Same, very much the same, particularly re tolerance of flawed fic and trusting the reccers. :)

And then there's Yuletide, the exception to everything, where if two people I barely know both say, "You have got to read this story whose fandom is "Octopus Steals My Video Camera And Swims Off With It" I'll be like, "Sure thing!" LOLOL, yes, this is something I do, too, and I think it's thanks to fandom that I learned to appreciate such crack fics/vids/artwork.

I am so appreciative that there are fandoms, in spite of all their occasional drawbacks.
Thank you for your answer. Happy December! :)

[lemonsharks]

I am so, so happy I nominated Octopus Steals My Video Camera And Swims Off With It that year. I consider it my gift to fandom.

[resonant]

That was you? Fandom owes you a great debt, my friend.

[jesse_the_k]

Your icon has been added to the "Heroes of Fandom" macaroni sculpture in my studio.

[mekare]

Then I have a long list of fandoms where I'm ... interested, but picky. Before I open a story, it has to be either written or recced by someone I trust, or else have a very interesting description. And I'm not pre-committed, so I won't keep reading if I hit a major flaw.

I di this too and I also think it just has something to do with the refinement of fannish tastes over the years, as well as personal growth and development.For me some things just aren’t as interesting anymore after being 10 years older or having read them in 10 different versions before.

[anitac588]

refinement of fannish tastes yes, that comes, but more in terms of quality, characterisation, good language/grammar (in spite of me not being a native speaker)
however, I wish or me some things just aren’t as interesting anymore after being 10 years older or having read them in 10 different versions before this were true for me, lol, I am a sucker for recycling my fave tropes with a current OTP zillion times, can't get enough

[mekare]

but more in terms of quality, characterisation, good language/grammar (in spite of me not being a native speaker)

Yes absolutely, but for me at least, I used to read college/high school AUs when I was younger that simply don‘t interest me anymore. BUT, I still have my favourite tropes and kinks of course and actively seek them out for my OTPs. Give the one-millionth hurt comfort fic and I am happy.
And then again, a good writer can make me read anything if it includes one of my OtPs.

[schneefink]

Dec 17, how about your field of study/work/specialization/hobby and how a book/movie/series/canon got it terribly/hilariously wrong?

[resonant]

Oh, I'm looking forward to this one. Venom fan and former journalist!