to the edge of what's known, where does the internet end?
A few weeks ago I went out for dinner with a friend that I’ve known for a few years, but have only recently gotten close to. At one point the conversation turned to TV, and somehow (and I still don’t really remember how) I brought up fanfiction. And she responded, “What’s that?”
And my first thought was, “really?” but I kind of explained it and the conversation moved on, and I thought that was it... until a few days later. She came up to me with a bewildered look on her face, and said, “How did I not know about fanfiction?”
She said it was like discovering a colour that she had never seen before, or suddenly learning how to read, or looking into a black hole that suddenly appeared in her living room and getting lost in it. She said there were no words to describe finding something for the first time that is so entrenched on the internet, and has so many conventions and so much history. She had absolutely no idea where to start.
I had no idea how she felt, but gave her some pointers and some websites to check out, and she went back to it. I didn’t really give it another thought.
That is, until this weekend. While high on pain killers* I thought it was a great idea to sign up for the yuletide exchange for the first time, and now I know exactly what she felt like. I was staring into the abyss. I had reached the edge of space and gone crazy.
There’s ways of writing prompts, letters to your author, communities, IRC chat rooms, yule goats and beta hippos, more spreadsheets than I know what to do with (and I LOVE spreadsheets!) and all kinds of crazy inside jokes that I feel like I can never begin to understand. Whoa.
But I’m happy I did it. Despite how little fanfic I post, I actually write ALL THE TIME, just never, ever finish what I start. (and actually have so few of my WIPs still saved after my laptop got stolen in June. Sad.) This year I signed up for both yuletide and the xover_exchange, and I’m excited to see what happens when I’m actually forced to finish what I start.
I’ve finally gotten the xover_exchange fic going in a way that I feel happy with, and I’m expecting to finish it well ahead of the deadline, which NEVER happens.
And I’ll be posting a dear yuletide author letter... probably by Wednesday. I really need to do some research on how it’s done. And read all those “how to...” posts on the comms.
So, you know, there’s that.
* I dislocated my kneecap on Saturday. This used to happen ALL THE TIME while I was growing, but hasn’t happened in about 2 years. It also happened to the opposite knee that it normally happens to, and instead of the kneecap sliding to the inside of the knee and then slipping right back into place, it went to the outside of the knee, and stayed there. I had to hit the side of my leg a few times before it popped back in. When I finally became aware of the 20 people around me again, they were all staring at me with looks of shock and awe. Apparently, it made such a loud popping / cracking sound, that they all thought I had broken my leg. I’ve never actually heard it pop (I’m pretty much in shock at that point) but it made one of the people there nauseous. And now I’m on crutches, and my knee has swollen to the size of a football. FUN.
And my first thought was, “really?” but I kind of explained it and the conversation moved on, and I thought that was it... until a few days later. She came up to me with a bewildered look on her face, and said, “How did I not know about fanfiction?”
She said it was like discovering a colour that she had never seen before, or suddenly learning how to read, or looking into a black hole that suddenly appeared in her living room and getting lost in it. She said there were no words to describe finding something for the first time that is so entrenched on the internet, and has so many conventions and so much history. She had absolutely no idea where to start.
I had no idea how she felt, but gave her some pointers and some websites to check out, and she went back to it. I didn’t really give it another thought.
That is, until this weekend. While high on pain killers* I thought it was a great idea to sign up for the yuletide exchange for the first time, and now I know exactly what she felt like. I was staring into the abyss. I had reached the edge of space and gone crazy.
There’s ways of writing prompts, letters to your author, communities, IRC chat rooms, yule goats and beta hippos, more spreadsheets than I know what to do with (and I LOVE spreadsheets!) and all kinds of crazy inside jokes that I feel like I can never begin to understand. Whoa.
But I’m happy I did it. Despite how little fanfic I post, I actually write ALL THE TIME, just never, ever finish what I start. (and actually have so few of my WIPs still saved after my laptop got stolen in June. Sad.) This year I signed up for both yuletide and the xover_exchange, and I’m excited to see what happens when I’m actually forced to finish what I start.
I’ve finally gotten the xover_exchange fic going in a way that I feel happy with, and I’m expecting to finish it well ahead of the deadline, which NEVER happens.
And I’ll be posting a dear yuletide author letter... probably by Wednesday. I really need to do some research on how it’s done. And read all those “how to...” posts on the comms.
So, you know, there’s that.
* I dislocated my kneecap on Saturday. This used to happen ALL THE TIME while I was growing, but hasn’t happened in about 2 years. It also happened to the opposite knee that it normally happens to, and instead of the kneecap sliding to the inside of the knee and then slipping right back into place, it went to the outside of the knee, and stayed there. I had to hit the side of my leg a few times before it popped back in. When I finally became aware of the 20 people around me again, they were all staring at me with looks of shock and awe. Apparently, it made such a loud popping / cracking sound, that they all thought I had broken my leg. I’ve never actually heard it pop (I’m pretty much in shock at that point) but it made one of the people there nauseous. And now I’m on crutches, and my knee has swollen to the size of a football. FUN.