fanfiction.net: oh
It's been so long since I've spent more than, say, fifty seconds looking at ff.net, that I had no idea what was there anymore. There's Turks!fiction in there, by actual writers.
I feel kind of dorky now.
I feel kind of dorky now.
However, unrelated to quality of content, one huge reason that I spite FF.net is its formatting process. It makes want to die. Their user interface is so bad. But...it can't be denied that you get more readers, some really decent C&C and can find some amazing fics. I'll be the first to admit that--for real, one of my favorite, favorite, favorite Reno/Rude plate drop fics I've ever read was found on there. It shocked me so much after sifting through crap for hours that my heart nearly stopped.
Re: FFVII having older writers. Okay, so back somewhere between 2006-2008, right after Advent Children came out, all of a sudden all of this interest was generated and comms started popping up left and right. The frenzy seemed to last for a few years, but since then most of them have gotten really quiet (the Reno/Rude comm has been silent for forever and a day, unfortunately). I think that the Compilation attracted an entire new generation of fans, writing fic based on Advent Children, and then playing the OG, or any combination of the various canonical things in the Compilation that exist. More choices, more canonical characterization, etc. (It's interesting to compare Reno fics written before 2000, when the game wasn't super old yet, with current ones based on Advent Children.) Some of these new writers were awesome... and some of them were teenage girls writing Mary Sue self-insert fics and roleplaying dialog on AIM between Kedeje and Clowd. If you get my drift.
But in a nutshell: there's like, this whole other set of people writing FFVII fic (I think I was talking about this with licoriceallsorts at some point), but there's all of this canon that's only been established in the last few years, so they're writing within different parameters (if they choose to stick with canon). When I first started reading/writing FFVII fic, specifically Turk fic, only the OG was around...so some of the fics that I loved were ones that totally made up whole characterizations and back stories. Some of the tropes that exist now, and certain popular pairings, weren't quite on the radar back then. I mean, honestly, it was sort of hard to find tons of Turk fic. It was certainly out there, but obviously Cloud and co. got most of the love, what with being the protagonists.
So, I think that because FFVII is an older game (and also because it has a complex plot), it either attracts people who used to write it and come back to it (as happens a lot with fandom, I've noticed), new people who are good writers that readers are lucky enough to have writing their fandom/pairing/etc., ... and then, the giggling teenagers who watched Advent Children and think Reno is super kawai. Yeah.
There's my take. Wow, that got long!
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I totally agree with your assessment of the variety/quality/age of writers, but it's not just specific to FFVII. I see that same smattering of different types of writers in a lot (though not all) of the fandoms I write/illustrate/wallow in. The BBC SHerlock fandom tends to have a lot more mature folks writing in it. But the RDJ/Jude Law Sherlock movie seems full of squee madness. And let's not talk about the insane things I've had to drag my poor bleeding eyeballs away from on FF.net in the Saiyuki section. But as you said, amidst the dreck is a selection of gems always, always worth wading through to find the great fics. Currently I am sorting through FF.net for a solid set of Rude/Reno fics. (My personal OTP other than Vincent/Cloud. Yeah... I know. *blushes*)
What intrigues me about the FFVII fandom is that it seems to be hanging in there without much journal community action--Unless I'm missing out on said activity--in which case, Mea Culpa. The face of many fandoms have switched from the yahoo groups and other forum setups of the 90's and early 00's, to journal communities, (which I am very glad about) but this particular fandom doesn't seem to generate a lot of comm activity. Which I find interesting.
And, uhm... I don't supposed you could link me to that plate drop fic you mentioned having really enjoyed. Pretty please?
I've done some Reno art, and am working on some Rude/Reno art as we speak. But I've yet to try writing anything for the FFVII fandom, though I've been reading in it for years. I usually visually explore a pairing before I dip my feet because, frankly, I suck at expressing myself in written form. Really I do--It's embarrassing. I situate myself in a fandom with other writers based upon my art so they forgive me when I actually write something. LOL! Well, it lessens the tomato throwing anyway...
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What do you think of AO3? There's a bit of a Sherlock boom over there; I think the demographics match what you describe above pretty much to a T. I don't know if AO3 will develop a similarly robust archive of FFVII stuff yet; it seems to be growing much more slowly than other things. FF.net really does seem to be FFVII Central.
Do people have any feeling about the virtues or lack thereof of LJ comms for FFVII fiction-sharing?
I have looked at your stuff - booyah, PLEASE link me to some Reno pieces. And please do not hesitate to post whatever writing you produced. I'd love to read it.
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Here's the link to the Reno digital sketch I did. http://elfkin.deviantart.com/art/Reno-209197694 I was looking to get a feel for his slouchy, laid back "don't mind me" sort of deadly. I didn't get him looking the way I wanted. His eyes avoided me and his hair hates me. It does. And frankly, I hate it right back. LOL!
But my future postings over the next couple of days will be better.
As for LJ comms... I love them, I really do. The format is perfect for organic feedback--which just flat out drives writers, imo. That is, if the bloody tag system is employed by the comm mods. It's the only problem I have with LJ comms--inconsistent or even nonexistent tagging. You HAVE to tag or else you can't find anything. Tag for characters, tag for pairings, tag for any "versions" (such as DoG vs CC or AC in this fandom) and for goodness sakes, tag for ratings. Most every comm I belong to does this, but there are a couple of notable exceptions and those comms make my teeth itch! (I have a long time FFXII slash comm I love that does not use tags and I wanna screech sometimes...) But on the whole, I prefer LJ to anywhere else for my fic.
As for AO3, I kept sporadically visiting back in the day for Dresden Files fic, and then I'd forget it existed. Until recently when the Sherlock fandome drew me over there. Then I found out that several Sherlock writers were also FFVII authors or readers and sort of meandered over there for all manner of fic needs. I now like AO3 a lot, and for the most part, the fic seems to be of a higher calibre than the general dreck on FF.net. Much less "wading through crud" to be done there.
I'm considering posting over at AO3 when I get my writings more polished.
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As for quality at AO3...I've seen outstanding Sherlock fiction there. And a few really fine FFVII pieces, but then, I read Turkfic almost exclusively (no! I'm not in a rut!), so I can't speak for all the offerings for the fandom. My experience at ff.net is that the badfic is much, much worse than anything AO3 has produced.
It may be that I have a taste for OG work rather than Compilation-based fiction, and there are some rather antiquated pieces over at ff.net that I fell in love with a long time ago.
I love the treatment you gave Reno and look forward to more.
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Over at the Genesis Awards forum, which I've begun to frequent, there appear to be writers who work with different canon layers, and everyone seems to cohabitate without too much rage or angst.
How do you feel about the Compilation material? I was 27 when I first played FFVII, and to this day I haven't played Crisis Core. (To say nothing of Before Crisis. How I longed to play Before Crisis.) I dip (sparingly) into Dirge of Cerberus, primarily for the WRO and its relationship to Rufus, and have wiki'd around in order to get a little grasp of Veld and of Tseng's relationship with Zack. I guess I look for data in the Compilation, but I let the original game set the tone for me.
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