(no subject)
okay, so: i'm at writercon. which--well, i know this is like a theme of my life, but i expected to get more of the things i need to get done over the last 36 hours (in airports, on planes, yesterday afternoon, late last night) completed. or at least started.
had my first panel, this morning at 10, after too little sleep (up most of the night, slumber-party style, talking with
cathexys) and a hurried (but very pleasant) breakfast with
nwhepcat and
gwynnega and a lovely woman who we invited over from another table but it was before noon and i've already managed to totally space out on her name. sorry!
anyway, i was on a panel about adjectives (value, use, and overuse). which was fun, though i had a disproportionate attack of nerves ahead of time. am on a gen fic panel this afternoon, and i feel far more secure about what i have to say on that topic, so.
anyway, this post is one of the things i meant to get done yesterday. the dvd_commentary challenge is about to start! tomorrow! i am co-modding again this year with seperis, and she brings the details here. it's a long interactive discussion with a favorite story--ridiculously rewarding to do.
and, of course, just like when i posted last year (did i post about this last year? was it the year before? i can't find it. where does the freaking time go? (whoops, found it. last year i mostly just referred to the previous year, when i was wordy)), i would really like to take the opportunity to talk about secondary fanworks, fanworks about fanworks! and that post STILL isn't ready. seriously, it is not going to be another year before that sees the light of day--hopefully it won't even be another week.
but one thing i want to make sure i get out right now is: transformation policies on fanworks. every time i gear up for one of these things, anything to do particularly with secondary fanworks, i take a moment (or many moments) to bemoan the cold-call situation of approaching authors to ask permission to podfic, or write a commentary. and i know from experience that there are a lot of authors who would *love* to be podficced (or whatever), but aren't, because the potential reader is too nervous to email them out of the blue. lots of authors have open transformation policies on their websites, and hey! funnily enough, if you've ever wondered why
astolat or
resonant or
auburn (or many other writers) are often podficced/commented on/remixed/etc? well, that's why. stating you are open to further transformative use of your work removes a huge barrier to that use--it's scary to approach someone out of the blue to ask permission, and it also creates a commitment that may be too much for people who are (a) overcommitted, or (b) new to the form.
so the idea comes up, every time i get into this situation/have these discussions, that it would be awesome if there was such a thing as a central list of the people who are pro-further-transformation--but. no. this is a logistical impossibility. people have tried! there are lists. many, many short lists that are in no way trackable or particularly findable.
usually, transformation policies are statements on fan lj profiles or on their personal websites. i don't have a transformation policy on my lj profile because (for the most part) this isn't actually where i post my work. and unless you are already familiar with an author's work, you aren't going to know her website, if she has one--and if you already know her website, then you probably already know her transformative policy. this is backward, the opposite of a list. i don't have a solution to this, or rather, i have ideas, but the infrastructure isn't there yet, so.
my current semi-solution? more places where we are going anyway where we can put our blanket transformation permissions if that's how we roll--making it it easier for potential podficcers/commenters/artists/remixers to find you as an attractive source to honor that way. so i'm proposing two additional places, one for now, one for later: fanlore user pages, and aooo author profiles. anyone can create a fanlore account, and it's a great place to search for this kind of information, and only the user can edit their user page. mine's here, with my transformation statement now included. the archive of our own is still in closed beta, but, as a stable non-commercial multifandom archive, when it does go into open beta (in october! (probably!)) it brings together both the place where the fic is (if you choose to use it) and that statement. my profile is here, also now with statement included.
what i'm really saying here: if you like being podficced, remixed, commentaried, whatever, or you *want* to be podficced or whatever, then here's a way to not have to raise your hand every time, and to take a proactive step to encourage it.
please pardon my inability to write with logic or continuity. sigh. this is why i can't get that damn secondary fanworks post out--it's crammed with stuff like this. :/
had my first panel, this morning at 10, after too little sleep (up most of the night, slumber-party style, talking with
cathexys) and a hurried (but very pleasant) breakfast with
nwhepcat and
gwynnega and a lovely woman who we invited over from another table but it was before noon and i've already managed to totally space out on her name. sorry!
anyway, i was on a panel about adjectives (value, use, and overuse). which was fun, though i had a disproportionate attack of nerves ahead of time. am on a gen fic panel this afternoon, and i feel far more secure about what i have to say on that topic, so.
anyway, this post is one of the things i meant to get done yesterday. the dvd_commentary challenge is about to start! tomorrow! i am co-modding again this year with seperis, and she brings the details here. it's a long interactive discussion with a favorite story--ridiculously rewarding to do.
and, of course, just like when i posted last year (did i post about this last year? was it the year before? i can't find it. where does the freaking time go? (whoops, found it. last year i mostly just referred to the previous year, when i was wordy)), i would really like to take the opportunity to talk about secondary fanworks, fanworks about fanworks! and that post STILL isn't ready. seriously, it is not going to be another year before that sees the light of day--hopefully it won't even be another week.
but one thing i want to make sure i get out right now is: transformation policies on fanworks. every time i gear up for one of these things, anything to do particularly with secondary fanworks, i take a moment (or many moments) to bemoan the cold-call situation of approaching authors to ask permission to podfic, or write a commentary. and i know from experience that there are a lot of authors who would *love* to be podficced (or whatever), but aren't, because the potential reader is too nervous to email them out of the blue. lots of authors have open transformation policies on their websites, and hey! funnily enough, if you've ever wondered why
astolat or
resonant or
auburn (or many other writers) are often podficced/commented on/remixed/etc? well, that's why. stating you are open to further transformative use of your work removes a huge barrier to that use--it's scary to approach someone out of the blue to ask permission, and it also creates a commitment that may be too much for people who are (a) overcommitted, or (b) new to the form.
so the idea comes up, every time i get into this situation/have these discussions, that it would be awesome if there was such a thing as a central list of the people who are pro-further-transformation--but. no. this is a logistical impossibility. people have tried! there are lists. many, many short lists that are in no way trackable or particularly findable.
usually, transformation policies are statements on fan lj profiles or on their personal websites. i don't have a transformation policy on my lj profile because (for the most part) this isn't actually where i post my work. and unless you are already familiar with an author's work, you aren't going to know her website, if she has one--and if you already know her website, then you probably already know her transformative policy. this is backward, the opposite of a list. i don't have a solution to this, or rather, i have ideas, but the infrastructure isn't there yet, so.
my current semi-solution? more places where we are going anyway where we can put our blanket transformation permissions if that's how we roll--making it it easier for potential podficcers/commenters/artists/remixers to find you as an attractive source to honor that way. so i'm proposing two additional places, one for now, one for later: fanlore user pages, and aooo author profiles. anyone can create a fanlore account, and it's a great place to search for this kind of information, and only the user can edit their user page. mine's here, with my transformation statement now included. the archive of our own is still in closed beta, but, as a stable non-commercial multifandom archive, when it does go into open beta (in october! (probably!)) it brings together both the place where the fic is (if you choose to use it) and that statement. my profile is here, also now with statement included.
what i'm really saying here: if you like being podficced, remixed, commentaried, whatever, or you *want* to be podficced or whatever, then here's a way to not have to raise your hand every time, and to take a proactive step to encourage it.
please pardon my inability to write with logic or continuity. sigh. this is why i can't get that damn secondary fanworks post out--it's crammed with stuff like this. :/