wah wah fandom diaspora wah
(see also: Aja's article series)
Jinah: I'm listening to the slash report on elementary
I agree on some things
but disagree so bad on some others
I guess that is the way of life
me: I am so behind on slash report, I enjoy it but I have so few spare hours in which I am not Reading or Writing, and I can't do that and listen to people talk
Jinah: It's the first time in a long time
that I have used it
me: it also makes me sad in a way that I think of myself as someone for whom fandom community has been very important, but I seem to have lost the knack of ENGAGING in it
I don't read fic, I don't seek out new fandom friends, I don't watch many new shows and I don't take part in meta discussions
which is usually fine! except then I am reminded that there is this huge fandom party going on and i am too tired to do much more than wave through the window
Jinah:yes, I feel like I don't know how to make new Internet friends through fandom/don't have the desire to
but fandom is so great to me still... in theory...
I thought I might make some friends via tumblr but that doesn't really seem to be a thing
(for grownups)
me: no
I really miss how exciting and fun it was being In A Fandom in a big way. BSG! my heyday!
Jinah: YES bsg *___*
me: I tried, with Inception, but it was WAY TOO BIG
Jinah: it's weird because I feel like even if you get really into a new fandom, and you probably know better than me because you do write fics for most new fandoms people are into
it doesn't really lead to anything
other than a lot of kudos (pause to hate kudos)
me: yeah
nobody comments and starts DISCUSSION with you
Jinah: yes. I also feel like the things people post are less material a lot of the time
me: it's just, oh, you produced a thing, I read and approved of your thing
Jinah: but before even if you posted about cereal
your bros would be like, cereal, I dig it
me: yep
and I think it's a bit disheartening because I knew that writing long fics used to be a way to connect with people, they would read them and think about them and comment with character opinions and it was glorious!
and now I'm like, I am spending months of my life on half a novel about a fictional character. and because I am not a BNF it will not garner comments (in a way that, say, gyzym's work does) but just...You've Got Kudos!
which is why I am sending bits of it to a lot of people as I write, because I am becoming demoralised at the projected effort:appreciation ratio
Jinah: we're old, Fahye. Imagine how old people feel.
I just read David Foster Wallace's essay on TV and he pointed out that the main way people he knows in real life have conversations is to sit and stare in the same direction, and discuss what they've seen for commercial-length intervals, which the generation before him didn't know/accept
and I was like man, imagine having to argue that TV's place in culture can't just be ignored out of contemporary fiction
with people who were old enough when TV came around that they mostly lived and had their minds formed without it
me: I think on the one hand having grown up With The Internet we're probably more flexible, on the whole, to the introduction of new ways of being and talking and producing. but on the other hand, it's hard not to get stuck at what we perceive were the ideal ways of doing things
society! media! you are progressing in the WRONG DIRECTION!
Jinah: Yes, it is. And I feel like I am just old enough to remember attention span Before Internet and compare it to attention span After Internet, though not old enough to remember how grown up relationships worked.
me: Yeah, true. We will be the ones standing with our walking sticks and saying, in my day there was LJ for fandom and Facebook for real life, and that was IT!
none of this splintering nonsense
Jinah: :( :(
pretty much
me: I have been telling myself that the lack of positive feedback for a long project is good training for writing a novel one day
it is...sort of helping
Jinah: that is true
I guess that is also what people did Before D:
me: we are spoilt
Jinah: nnnnn
I don't want to be the type of writer/artist who lives in a cave
painting on the walls
me: it is nice having intermittent feedback during the writing process from people I trust, though. my reward for finishing a scene is to email it to you and Del
pff, no, no caves
Jinah: Del is a good cheerleader actually
I might want a cave for minibreaks
but not to live in
~
(and then we started talking about minibreaks)
SIGH. I realise at least half of the problem here is me not walking the walk, ie. not seeking out interesting fics and leaving hopeful thinky comments on them, but man have I ever lost the knack of sifting through the sheer volume to find the gems. I rely on recs, and tumblr does not seem to be rec-heavy in the same way that LJ/DW are.
There's also the issue of TIMEZONES; it seems a lot of the interpersonal discussion aspect of fandom is moving back to realtime chat.
~
tl;dr - I MISS RP, I MISS FANDOM COMMUNITY, I MISS COMMENT THREADS
/pouting session
This entry was originally posted at http://fahye.dreamwidth.org/762584.html (
comments). Comment wherever you wish!
Jinah: I'm listening to the slash report on elementary
I agree on some things
but disagree so bad on some others
I guess that is the way of life
me: I am so behind on slash report, I enjoy it but I have so few spare hours in which I am not Reading or Writing, and I can't do that and listen to people talk
Jinah: It's the first time in a long time
that I have used it
me: it also makes me sad in a way that I think of myself as someone for whom fandom community has been very important, but I seem to have lost the knack of ENGAGING in it
I don't read fic, I don't seek out new fandom friends, I don't watch many new shows and I don't take part in meta discussions
which is usually fine! except then I am reminded that there is this huge fandom party going on and i am too tired to do much more than wave through the window
Jinah:yes, I feel like I don't know how to make new Internet friends through fandom/don't have the desire to
but fandom is so great to me still... in theory...
I thought I might make some friends via tumblr but that doesn't really seem to be a thing
(for grownups)
me: no
I really miss how exciting and fun it was being In A Fandom in a big way. BSG! my heyday!
Jinah: YES bsg *___*
me: I tried, with Inception, but it was WAY TOO BIG
Jinah: it's weird because I feel like even if you get really into a new fandom, and you probably know better than me because you do write fics for most new fandoms people are into
it doesn't really lead to anything
other than a lot of kudos (pause to hate kudos)
me: yeah
nobody comments and starts DISCUSSION with you
Jinah: yes. I also feel like the things people post are less material a lot of the time
me: it's just, oh, you produced a thing, I read and approved of your thing
Jinah: but before even if you posted about cereal
your bros would be like, cereal, I dig it
me: yep
and I think it's a bit disheartening because I knew that writing long fics used to be a way to connect with people, they would read them and think about them and comment with character opinions and it was glorious!
and now I'm like, I am spending months of my life on half a novel about a fictional character. and because I am not a BNF it will not garner comments (in a way that, say, gyzym's work does) but just...You've Got Kudos!
which is why I am sending bits of it to a lot of people as I write, because I am becoming demoralised at the projected effort:appreciation ratio
Jinah: we're old, Fahye. Imagine how old people feel.
I just read David Foster Wallace's essay on TV and he pointed out that the main way people he knows in real life have conversations is to sit and stare in the same direction, and discuss what they've seen for commercial-length intervals, which the generation before him didn't know/accept
and I was like man, imagine having to argue that TV's place in culture can't just be ignored out of contemporary fiction
with people who were old enough when TV came around that they mostly lived and had their minds formed without it
me: I think on the one hand having grown up With The Internet we're probably more flexible, on the whole, to the introduction of new ways of being and talking and producing. but on the other hand, it's hard not to get stuck at what we perceive were the ideal ways of doing things
society! media! you are progressing in the WRONG DIRECTION!
Jinah: Yes, it is. And I feel like I am just old enough to remember attention span Before Internet and compare it to attention span After Internet, though not old enough to remember how grown up relationships worked.
me: Yeah, true. We will be the ones standing with our walking sticks and saying, in my day there was LJ for fandom and Facebook for real life, and that was IT!
none of this splintering nonsense
Jinah: :( :(
pretty much
me: I have been telling myself that the lack of positive feedback for a long project is good training for writing a novel one day
it is...sort of helping
Jinah: that is true
I guess that is also what people did Before D:
me: we are spoilt
Jinah: nnnnn
I don't want to be the type of writer/artist who lives in a cave
painting on the walls
me: it is nice having intermittent feedback during the writing process from people I trust, though. my reward for finishing a scene is to email it to you and Del
pff, no, no caves
Jinah: Del is a good cheerleader actually
I might want a cave for minibreaks
but not to live in
~
(and then we started talking about minibreaks)
SIGH. I realise at least half of the problem here is me not walking the walk, ie. not seeking out interesting fics and leaving hopeful thinky comments on them, but man have I ever lost the knack of sifting through the sheer volume to find the gems. I rely on recs, and tumblr does not seem to be rec-heavy in the same way that LJ/DW are.
There's also the issue of TIMEZONES; it seems a lot of the interpersonal discussion aspect of fandom is moving back to realtime chat.
~
tl;dr - I MISS RP, I MISS FANDOM COMMUNITY, I MISS COMMENT THREADS
/pouting session
This entry was originally posted at http://fahye.dreamwidth.org/762584.html (
comments). Comment wherever you wish!