[Meme] Dreamwidth 21 questions meme
That 21 questions Dreamwidth meme that's been going around, ganked from 
krait and
the_rck:
1. Why did you sign up for Dreamwidth?
Because I didn't trust LJ very much after Strikethrough and Boldthrough (though those incidents didn't affect me personally), and because I like the ethos of a site that supports itself through subscriptions to paid accounts rather than advertising. I also really like the split into a reading circle and an access list instead of automatically jamming both together into a 'friend' list. (I mean, I don't actually give access to anyone because all my posts are either completely public or locked to my eyes only, and I don't want to look like I'm playing favorites, but I appreciate the conceptual de-linking.)
2. Why did you choose your journal name?
When I got an LJ invite code in late 2003, I needed a name quickly and my fannish pen name (Elizabeth Culmer) was too long for the character limit. So I grabbed something thematically related to a little 15-minute ficlet I'd just written (and which had gotten me the notice of
isis, the person handing out invite codes). I only realized much later that 'edenfalling' makes me sound like an evangelical Christian, which is a hilarious misrepresentation of my religious views. But I have worn the rough edges off my pseud over the years and by now would feel weird using anything else as a screen name.
3. Do you crosspost? Why or why not?
Yeah, I have an automatic crosspost to LJ set up, because I still have readers (and people I read) over there, though I think fewer than on DW by now. I also made sure that the posts on each site reciprocally auto-link to each other, because there are few things I find more frustrating than not being able to get 'there' from 'here'.
4. What do you do online when you're not on DW?
Read fic on AO3, read my Tumblr dash, check various other sites (fannish and/or news), occasionally listen to music, job searching, etc. I also write stories, which is something I do on my computer but not something I do online; the two states are not synonymous.
5. How about when you're not on the computer?
Read books, household chores, take walks, nap. Wish I had a job.
6. What do you wish people who read your journal knew about you?
I... don't think there's much that I keep secret? I mean, there's stuff I don't talk about often because it's boring and/or personal -- like, I am not going to open every post by saying, "Yep, still depressed and unemployed!" because who needs that? -- but I feel I am a what-you-see-is-what-you-get kind of person.
Hmm. Maybe that I do enjoy talking to people online? I worry sometimes that I come off kind of aloof, which is not true. It is true that I burn out on human contact relatively quickly -- I am an introvert -- but that doesn't mean I don't enjoy interaction when I have the energy.
7. What is your favorite community on Dreamwidth?
Most of them seem to be writing challenges of some sort, which is pretty accurate. I guess of those my favorite is
15_minute_fic.
8. What community do you wish was more active?
I dunno.
9. Are there two people on your reading list that you think should meet?
To quote
the_rck, "I am not so very good at this sort of thing. My mind simply goes blank, and I start thinking that I don't know very many of you well enough to have an opinion in that direction."
10. Tell me about your default icon.
It's a computer-drawn version of a pen-and-ink sketch I used to doodle in school notebooks. It shows a highly stylized and simplified image of a sunset over the ocean, with two clouds and three birds in the sky.
11. What features do you think Dreamwidth should have that it doesn't currently?
I would like a 'saved messages' folder so I can declutter my inbox without deleting various messages and notifications entirely!
12. What do you consider the five most "telling" interests from the list on your profile?
Hmm. Probably 'fanfiction,' 'reading,' 'writing,' 'unitarian universalism,' and 'ithaca ny'.
13. Do you have any unique interests on your user profile? What are they? How'd they get there?
'cass lake' - this is a lake in northern Minnesota where my family has leased a summer cabin from the Forest Service since just after WWII. I grew up spending a couple weeks there every summer, and though I have not been able to travel that way for a couple years now, it is and always will be my heart's other home.
'ithaca ny' - I live here, duh.
'madison nj' - I grew up here, duh.
'religious education' - if you don't know I teach RE at my local UU congregation, and have done so off and on since I was in high school myself, you have not known me very long. :)
14. Did you have a gateway fandom? Still in it? Why or why not? Is there a community for it on DW?
Harry Potter. I don't ever leave-leave fandoms. I just drift gently away as I find new shiny things and/or feel I've said what I wanted to say as a writer. So I still read HP fic on occasion, and write it now and then (mostly if someone hands me a prompt), but it's not what I'd call a very active interest.
I am sure there are dozens of HP communities here on DW. I would frankly be astonished if anyone claimed otherwise.
15. What is your current obsession? What about it captures your imagination?
I'm between obsessions at the moment. That is, there are a handful of things I'm reading a lot of (Miraculous Ladybug, Daredevil, various individual stories in other fandoms), but nothing has really grabbed me by the throat for a while. I am also feeling unpleasantly blah about writing, which has been happening all year and is obviously a symptom of depression. :(
16. What are you glad you did but haven't really had a chance to post about?
It's less 'haven't really had a chance' and more 'I was tired and forgot and then saying anything more than two weeks after the fact just feels silly,' you know?
17. How many people on your reading list do you know IRL?
As in, have met them offline? None. One of my meatspace friends was very briefly on my LJ flist years ago, but she quit using the site and since I never go to any fannish gatherings, there's no way for me to meet online friends offline.
18. What don't you talk about here, either because it's too personal or because you don't have the energy?
There are approximately ten thousand things I don't have the energy to post about. Have I mentioned that unemployment has been exacerbating my depression for a couple years now?
19. Any questions from the audience?
???
20. Yes, but what are your thoughts on yaoi?
Ahaha, now I feel old! But what the hell, I will answer this seriously.
So basically, I am not a slasher. This doesn't mean I'm in any way against slash. It just means that the sex/gender of characters falling in love and/or getting it on is not a metric I find particularly relevant when looking for things to read, and on the occasions when I do use that as a parameter, I'm more inclined to look for women because YAY WOMEN.
What I am looking for in my reading is interesting interpersonal character dynamics and an interesting plot. In my ideal universe, fics centered around friendship and family would vastly outnumber fics centered around sex and romance, but humans being humans, sex and romance tend to get into everything. I am okay with that, because done right, sex and romance are still about interpersonal connections and those relationships tie into people's webs of other social relationships, so I still get my delicious character dynamics, albeit not in my very most favorite flavors. *wry*
(Oh hey! On reflection, this focus on interpersonal connections may be one reason I dislike pining as a trope, particularly silent, stoic pining: it tends to be relentlessly inward-focused and involves an active refusal to communicate with other people. When a pining character actually talks about their crush with another character -- preferably on a regular basis -- I am much less annoyed. Hmm...)
Anyway, I end up reading a lot of slash, because dudeslash is the relationship lens through which people most often write the character-development-heavy action/adventure stories I like to read in the fandoms I tend to lurk in. I would be thrilled if people wrote that kind of story more often with female characters as the focus (gen, het, and femslash all welcome!), but I don't care enough to wade through approximately seventy billion stories in search of the 10% that's worth dying for. I'm thus at the mercy of other people's rec lists, which often lean toward slash -- either because they're compiled by people who seek out slash, or just because male characters are often the focus of their canons and therefore have a lot of potential for interesting interpersonal character dynamics. *shrug*
As for writing, I have a moderate preference for female-centric stories because that is one area where I am determined to be the change I wish to see in the world (MORE WOMEN MORE WOMEN MORE WOMEN), and the only porn I've written so far has been from a female POV because that's the body type I am personally familiar with. I have written dudeslash, either in response to prompts or because I think the characters involved have, sing it with me, interesting interpersonal dynamics. I just don't see how it's different from het or femslash except for the obvious lack of women. People are people are people, after all. So there are lots of slash ships I enjoy a lot, but I enjoy them for those specific characters in each specific configuration, not because they happen to be two (or more) dudes. There are also a bunch of slash ships I'll read perfectly happily but which I would find awkward to write, because that involves writing out canonical female love interests and I dislike sidelining women when I could develop them instead.
I skim the porn in plotty stories, regardless of pairing type, because I am there for the plot and conversations, so why are you interrupting them for irrelevancies? ;)
If I'm hunting for pure PWP, I slightly prefer het or femslash because female arousal matches my own better, and also boobs and pussies are awesome. (Penises are just silly.) But dudeslash works too because it's usually female-gazey enough to hit the right buttons in my brain, and the brain's the most important sexual organ anyway.
And those are my thoughts on yaoi. :D
21. What's your favorite thing about DreamWidth?
Keeping a record of my life! I have actually told my mother several times, "I don't remember the details of [thing], but if you let me check my journal I'm sure I wrote something down."
You can also read this entry on Dreamwidth, where there are currently (
comments)
krait and
the_rck:
1. Why did you sign up for Dreamwidth?
Because I didn't trust LJ very much after Strikethrough and Boldthrough (though those incidents didn't affect me personally), and because I like the ethos of a site that supports itself through subscriptions to paid accounts rather than advertising. I also really like the split into a reading circle and an access list instead of automatically jamming both together into a 'friend' list. (I mean, I don't actually give access to anyone because all my posts are either completely public or locked to my eyes only, and I don't want to look like I'm playing favorites, but I appreciate the conceptual de-linking.)
2. Why did you choose your journal name?
When I got an LJ invite code in late 2003, I needed a name quickly and my fannish pen name (Elizabeth Culmer) was too long for the character limit. So I grabbed something thematically related to a little 15-minute ficlet I'd just written (and which had gotten me the notice of
isis, the person handing out invite codes). I only realized much later that 'edenfalling' makes me sound like an evangelical Christian, which is a hilarious misrepresentation of my religious views. But I have worn the rough edges off my pseud over the years and by now would feel weird using anything else as a screen name.
3. Do you crosspost? Why or why not?
Yeah, I have an automatic crosspost to LJ set up, because I still have readers (and people I read) over there, though I think fewer than on DW by now. I also made sure that the posts on each site reciprocally auto-link to each other, because there are few things I find more frustrating than not being able to get 'there' from 'here'.
4. What do you do online when you're not on DW?
Read fic on AO3, read my Tumblr dash, check various other sites (fannish and/or news), occasionally listen to music, job searching, etc. I also write stories, which is something I do on my computer but not something I do online; the two states are not synonymous.
5. How about when you're not on the computer?
Read books, household chores, take walks, nap. Wish I had a job.
6. What do you wish people who read your journal knew about you?
I... don't think there's much that I keep secret? I mean, there's stuff I don't talk about often because it's boring and/or personal -- like, I am not going to open every post by saying, "Yep, still depressed and unemployed!" because who needs that? -- but I feel I am a what-you-see-is-what-you-get kind of person.
Hmm. Maybe that I do enjoy talking to people online? I worry sometimes that I come off kind of aloof, which is not true. It is true that I burn out on human contact relatively quickly -- I am an introvert -- but that doesn't mean I don't enjoy interaction when I have the energy.
7. What is your favorite community on Dreamwidth?
Most of them seem to be writing challenges of some sort, which is pretty accurate. I guess of those my favorite is
15_minute_fic.
8. What community do you wish was more active?
I dunno.
9. Are there two people on your reading list that you think should meet?
To quote
the_rck, "I am not so very good at this sort of thing. My mind simply goes blank, and I start thinking that I don't know very many of you well enough to have an opinion in that direction."
10. Tell me about your default icon.
It's a computer-drawn version of a pen-and-ink sketch I used to doodle in school notebooks. It shows a highly stylized and simplified image of a sunset over the ocean, with two clouds and three birds in the sky.
11. What features do you think Dreamwidth should have that it doesn't currently?
I would like a 'saved messages' folder so I can declutter my inbox without deleting various messages and notifications entirely!
12. What do you consider the five most "telling" interests from the list on your profile?
Hmm. Probably 'fanfiction,' 'reading,' 'writing,' 'unitarian universalism,' and 'ithaca ny'.
13. Do you have any unique interests on your user profile? What are they? How'd they get there?
'cass lake' - this is a lake in northern Minnesota where my family has leased a summer cabin from the Forest Service since just after WWII. I grew up spending a couple weeks there every summer, and though I have not been able to travel that way for a couple years now, it is and always will be my heart's other home.
'ithaca ny' - I live here, duh.
'madison nj' - I grew up here, duh.
'religious education' - if you don't know I teach RE at my local UU congregation, and have done so off and on since I was in high school myself, you have not known me very long. :)
14. Did you have a gateway fandom? Still in it? Why or why not? Is there a community for it on DW?
Harry Potter. I don't ever leave-leave fandoms. I just drift gently away as I find new shiny things and/or feel I've said what I wanted to say as a writer. So I still read HP fic on occasion, and write it now and then (mostly if someone hands me a prompt), but it's not what I'd call a very active interest.
I am sure there are dozens of HP communities here on DW. I would frankly be astonished if anyone claimed otherwise.
15. What is your current obsession? What about it captures your imagination?
I'm between obsessions at the moment. That is, there are a handful of things I'm reading a lot of (Miraculous Ladybug, Daredevil, various individual stories in other fandoms), but nothing has really grabbed me by the throat for a while. I am also feeling unpleasantly blah about writing, which has been happening all year and is obviously a symptom of depression. :(
16. What are you glad you did but haven't really had a chance to post about?
It's less 'haven't really had a chance' and more 'I was tired and forgot and then saying anything more than two weeks after the fact just feels silly,' you know?
17. How many people on your reading list do you know IRL?
As in, have met them offline? None. One of my meatspace friends was very briefly on my LJ flist years ago, but she quit using the site and since I never go to any fannish gatherings, there's no way for me to meet online friends offline.
18. What don't you talk about here, either because it's too personal or because you don't have the energy?
There are approximately ten thousand things I don't have the energy to post about. Have I mentioned that unemployment has been exacerbating my depression for a couple years now?
19. Any questions from the audience?
???
20. Yes, but what are your thoughts on yaoi?
Ahaha, now I feel old! But what the hell, I will answer this seriously.
So basically, I am not a slasher. This doesn't mean I'm in any way against slash. It just means that the sex/gender of characters falling in love and/or getting it on is not a metric I find particularly relevant when looking for things to read, and on the occasions when I do use that as a parameter, I'm more inclined to look for women because YAY WOMEN.
What I am looking for in my reading is interesting interpersonal character dynamics and an interesting plot. In my ideal universe, fics centered around friendship and family would vastly outnumber fics centered around sex and romance, but humans being humans, sex and romance tend to get into everything. I am okay with that, because done right, sex and romance are still about interpersonal connections and those relationships tie into people's webs of other social relationships, so I still get my delicious character dynamics, albeit not in my very most favorite flavors. *wry*
(Oh hey! On reflection, this focus on interpersonal connections may be one reason I dislike pining as a trope, particularly silent, stoic pining: it tends to be relentlessly inward-focused and involves an active refusal to communicate with other people. When a pining character actually talks about their crush with another character -- preferably on a regular basis -- I am much less annoyed. Hmm...)
Anyway, I end up reading a lot of slash, because dudeslash is the relationship lens through which people most often write the character-development-heavy action/adventure stories I like to read in the fandoms I tend to lurk in. I would be thrilled if people wrote that kind of story more often with female characters as the focus (gen, het, and femslash all welcome!), but I don't care enough to wade through approximately seventy billion stories in search of the 10% that's worth dying for. I'm thus at the mercy of other people's rec lists, which often lean toward slash -- either because they're compiled by people who seek out slash, or just because male characters are often the focus of their canons and therefore have a lot of potential for interesting interpersonal character dynamics. *shrug*
As for writing, I have a moderate preference for female-centric stories because that is one area where I am determined to be the change I wish to see in the world (MORE WOMEN MORE WOMEN MORE WOMEN), and the only porn I've written so far has been from a female POV because that's the body type I am personally familiar with. I have written dudeslash, either in response to prompts or because I think the characters involved have, sing it with me, interesting interpersonal dynamics. I just don't see how it's different from het or femslash except for the obvious lack of women. People are people are people, after all. So there are lots of slash ships I enjoy a lot, but I enjoy them for those specific characters in each specific configuration, not because they happen to be two (or more) dudes. There are also a bunch of slash ships I'll read perfectly happily but which I would find awkward to write, because that involves writing out canonical female love interests and I dislike sidelining women when I could develop them instead.
I skim the porn in plotty stories, regardless of pairing type, because I am there for the plot and conversations, so why are you interrupting them for irrelevancies? ;)
If I'm hunting for pure PWP, I slightly prefer het or femslash because female arousal matches my own better, and also boobs and pussies are awesome. (Penises are just silly.) But dudeslash works too because it's usually female-gazey enough to hit the right buttons in my brain, and the brain's the most important sexual organ anyway.
And those are my thoughts on yaoi. :D
21. What's your favorite thing about DreamWidth?
Keeping a record of my life! I have actually told my mother several times, "I don't remember the details of [thing], but if you let me check my journal I'm sure I wrote something down."
You can also read this entry on Dreamwidth, where there are currently (
comments)