April 2016 round-up (brought to us by grad school burnout)
Reflections below the cut on writing in a fandom in which a) tumblr is the main platform and how that's fascinating but something I'm possibly too damn old for, and b) the giddiness of playing with source material that is grassroots of a sort and not created/written by white males. Includes some spoilers for the webcomic Check Please!
It’s strange to be in a fandom for which the source material is hosted entirely on tumblr, and also strange to be in a fandom that essentially exists on tumblr. I am used to feeling at least mildly out of the loop of any fandom, but it’s especially pronounced here. Fortunately I don’t mind doing massive amounts of lurking, and there’s enough linking to AO3 that I at least get enough exposure to my fics that there’s an audience, in spite of my own limited tumblr usage.
The use of tumblr in fanwork creation is fascinating to watch. Headcanons will spawn works, and entire stories are told in bulleted lists, at least some of which go on to become full-fledged stories. Frankly, it’s intoxicating, and might at least partly explain why I’ve produced this many stories in my first month of being exposed to the source material and the fandom.
Frankly, it makes me feel my age, which might sound ridiculous coming from a 34-year-old, but in a digital age, it’s simply reality that things are changing so fast that it’s increasingly difficult to keep up. But tumblr is a platform that I am not entirely comfortable using. Most of this is the design of tumblr and the way you usually can’t comment on posts, but you have to reblog and add comments to the reblog, but no one sees your additions unless you have a lot of followers. This makes tumblr part of the social media world that requires one to essentially sell one’s self (unless my understanding is even more limited and I’m even more inept at using this platform than I think I am). And I’ve never been very good at selling myself. It’s the blessing and the curse of my introverted nature: I’m happy to be alone, or to receive less attention anyway, until I’m not.
The nature of the source material itself makes this a strange fandom for me to become involved in. Hockey and baking are the main focuses, except really those are just the top layers; anxiety/mental health issues, non-heteronormativity, stereotype-busting, and interesting, relatable characters really make up the storyline. Ngozi Ukazu is great at telling a story, even with limited words (I am not a visual person and so the fact that I’m into a comic is surprising), and she has a particular talent with dialogue. She herself has admitted that our characters are in a bit of a wish-fulfillment type of setting, but she tempers the story with enough realism that it still rings true.
There are a number of refreshing things about this particular source material. Ukazu is a student (at least until recently), a woman, and a POC, instead of the white males who have previously written my fandoms’ source material and who have been established “in the biz.” Basically, Ukazu is one of us, and I have no reservations about financially supporting her work. The only drawback is that, as the storyline unfolds, I won’t feel comfortable shaking my fist at her if the material goes off the rails (though somehow, I suspect she won’t resort to stuffing women in refrigerators or engaging in similarly cringe-worthy moves). Ukazu has the freedom to create what she wants, and it’s delightful to watch it unfold. I am also both delighted and a bit melancholy at the fact that the fandom’s main OTP is canon; the two male protagonists don’t have to be slashed at this point because they are canonically non-heterosexual and canonically have gotten together halfway through the webcomic’s run. This leaves me delighted, and I am also delighted at the fact that, upon reaching that point in the story, there was no surprise at seeing two male characters kiss on-screen. But as I am unable to simply be happy, I feel a bit melancholy that it’s taken this long for society to get to this place. Again, not exactly a coincidence that the creator of Check Please! is a WOC who is entirely independent of film studios, television networks, and publishing companies.
this month's fics:
Check Please!
Lost Time (Coach Bittle centric, mentions off-page suicide of an OC, coming out, angst with a happy ending)
Away From Here (John Johnson, explains the fourth-wall breaking character of Johson the metaphysical goalie in a dark, depressing way)
To the Victor (Eric Bittle/Kent Parson/Jack Zimmerman, porn with a bit of fluff)
Barriers Aside (Snowy/Tator, fluff and character speculation of a sort, because I already agree with Justin "Ransom" Oluransi that Alexei Mashkov is next level swawesome)
Passive Aggression 101 (Jack/Bitty, a "what if they break up at some point?" + "How can I deal with my unresolved sorrow over that particular line from season one" fic)
Five Things That Never Happened to Eric Bittle (Jack/Bitty, in which I show the fandom the depths of my noncon kink but give it this title in a weakass attempt at an apology for making one half of the fandom's OTP a sociopath)
Please Hear What I'm Not Saying (Tator-centric, with Jack Bitty and coming out, I have so many feels about Alexei Mashkov)
...well you just might find... (Eric Bittle/Kent Parson/Jack Zimmerman, porn)
Starsky and Hutch
The Long Road Home (A breakdown, both figuratively and literally, of S4 Hutch)
Out of Reach (Starsky, post "Starsky's Lady", in my genderswapped 'verse)
It’s strange to be in a fandom for which the source material is hosted entirely on tumblr, and also strange to be in a fandom that essentially exists on tumblr. I am used to feeling at least mildly out of the loop of any fandom, but it’s especially pronounced here. Fortunately I don’t mind doing massive amounts of lurking, and there’s enough linking to AO3 that I at least get enough exposure to my fics that there’s an audience, in spite of my own limited tumblr usage.
The use of tumblr in fanwork creation is fascinating to watch. Headcanons will spawn works, and entire stories are told in bulleted lists, at least some of which go on to become full-fledged stories. Frankly, it’s intoxicating, and might at least partly explain why I’ve produced this many stories in my first month of being exposed to the source material and the fandom.
Frankly, it makes me feel my age, which might sound ridiculous coming from a 34-year-old, but in a digital age, it’s simply reality that things are changing so fast that it’s increasingly difficult to keep up. But tumblr is a platform that I am not entirely comfortable using. Most of this is the design of tumblr and the way you usually can’t comment on posts, but you have to reblog and add comments to the reblog, but no one sees your additions unless you have a lot of followers. This makes tumblr part of the social media world that requires one to essentially sell one’s self (unless my understanding is even more limited and I’m even more inept at using this platform than I think I am). And I’ve never been very good at selling myself. It’s the blessing and the curse of my introverted nature: I’m happy to be alone, or to receive less attention anyway, until I’m not.
The nature of the source material itself makes this a strange fandom for me to become involved in. Hockey and baking are the main focuses, except really those are just the top layers; anxiety/mental health issues, non-heteronormativity, stereotype-busting, and interesting, relatable characters really make up the storyline. Ngozi Ukazu is great at telling a story, even with limited words (I am not a visual person and so the fact that I’m into a comic is surprising), and she has a particular talent with dialogue. She herself has admitted that our characters are in a bit of a wish-fulfillment type of setting, but she tempers the story with enough realism that it still rings true.
There are a number of refreshing things about this particular source material. Ukazu is a student (at least until recently), a woman, and a POC, instead of the white males who have previously written my fandoms’ source material and who have been established “in the biz.” Basically, Ukazu is one of us, and I have no reservations about financially supporting her work. The only drawback is that, as the storyline unfolds, I won’t feel comfortable shaking my fist at her if the material goes off the rails (though somehow, I suspect she won’t resort to stuffing women in refrigerators or engaging in similarly cringe-worthy moves). Ukazu has the freedom to create what she wants, and it’s delightful to watch it unfold. I am also both delighted and a bit melancholy at the fact that the fandom’s main OTP is canon; the two male protagonists don’t have to be slashed at this point because they are canonically non-heterosexual and canonically have gotten together halfway through the webcomic’s run. This leaves me delighted, and I am also delighted at the fact that, upon reaching that point in the story, there was no surprise at seeing two male characters kiss on-screen. But as I am unable to simply be happy, I feel a bit melancholy that it’s taken this long for society to get to this place. Again, not exactly a coincidence that the creator of Check Please! is a WOC who is entirely independent of film studios, television networks, and publishing companies.
this month's fics:
Check Please!
Lost Time (Coach Bittle centric, mentions off-page suicide of an OC, coming out, angst with a happy ending)
Away From Here (John Johnson, explains the fourth-wall breaking character of Johson the metaphysical goalie in a dark, depressing way)
To the Victor (Eric Bittle/Kent Parson/Jack Zimmerman, porn with a bit of fluff)
Barriers Aside (Snowy/Tator, fluff and character speculation of a sort, because I already agree with Justin "Ransom" Oluransi that Alexei Mashkov is next level swawesome)
Passive Aggression 101 (Jack/Bitty, a "what if they break up at some point?" + "How can I deal with my unresolved sorrow over that particular line from season one" fic)
Five Things That Never Happened to Eric Bittle (Jack/Bitty, in which I show the fandom the depths of my noncon kink but give it this title in a weakass attempt at an apology for making one half of the fandom's OTP a sociopath)
Please Hear What I'm Not Saying (Tator-centric, with Jack Bitty and coming out, I have so many feels about Alexei Mashkov)
...well you just might find... (Eric Bittle/Kent Parson/Jack Zimmerman, porn)
Starsky and Hutch
The Long Road Home (A breakdown, both figuratively and literally, of S4 Hutch)
Out of Reach (Starsky, post "Starsky's Lady", in my genderswapped 'verse)