MWC29: Wrap Up

[mrwubbles]

-cringe- I know, I know. I meant to post daily all the wonderfulness of MWC. In typical MWC, I got sucked into conversations, vids, fic ideas, zines, panels and--what do you mean it's Monday, already?! I'll do my best to do a few followup reports. I wanted to post questions here that popped up during Mediawest because conversation, fanfic and

Comments

[superbadgirl]

I've been going to Mediawest long enough to know our fanzine offerings this year was nowhere near what there was out there ten years ago. I'm not sure why: we're not short of writers, definitely not short of readers, yet the traditional fanzine--the origin of fanfic for you youngings who thought fanfic was borne out of the loins of the internet (no joke, some had thought fanfic was internet created, lol)--is slowly becoming extinct. Especially gen ones.I know I'm going to sound like such an old fogey for saying this, but I think the younger the fan, the more likely they are seeking the instant gratification online ficcing gives them. I do not get a ton of feedback either way, but with zines? I DANCE A HAPPY LITTLE CHAIR DANCE when I get an LOC for a zine-submitted story. That's how few I get. I can't see young fanlings accepting that - not with all the shenanigans that go on at The Pit to blackmail, whinge, beg and flounce for reviews. As if a story truly is great if it's got 749 reviews that have been browbeaten/guilted out of people

[cleothemuse]

*headdesk* This year was my very very first ever zine submission, and I WILL be doing it again. No, I haven't received any feedback from the zine, but the reward was seeing my art and writing in glorious print.

As for the "feedback whores" (as I call them) at the Pit: the more they gripe and whine about wanting reviews, the less likely I am to review them... and even if I do, it's likely to be constructive criticism (which the poor little dears DON'T seem to want) instead of the squeeing, flailing, rambling gush they want.

I HAVE a story on the Pit with some 1500 reviews... of those, only about 50 are actually quality commentary... and most of those are from the same person. WTF?!

Oh yeah... that's why I've switched mostly to LJ :)

[superbadgirl]

Hey, I meant it generally. It's awesome that you'll continue to write and do art for zines - I'm just not entirely sure many new-to-fandom artists will.

And The Pit is so named for a reason. Still, it's hard not to be frustrated when you see crap being reviewed as if it were the best story in the world, horrendous grammar flubs and all.

I'm cool with LJ, but it's really a pain for me. I'm lazy, so going back and adding links to a multi-part story seriously taxes me. And don't get me started on the people who don't do that. Hehe.

[mrwubbles]

First off...squee for the AJ icon! LOL

Still, it's hard not to be frustrated when you see crap being reviewed as if it were the best story in the world, horrendous grammar flubs and all.

Very. I often wondered about the shift from receiving con crit to the gratification of number of reviews. Mind you, I would get excited about getting a gazillion reviews but I get even more excited when I get a long comment that points out their favorite bits or even what they didn't think work. I appreciate the effort but I think these days, if someone tried that, one of the newer generation writers takes it as a personal attack.

I'm cool with LJ, but it's really a pain for me. I'm lazy, so going back and adding links to a multi-part story seriously taxes me.

Oh yeah, LJ at times gives me a headache. Takes me a while to post my fics because I gotta code and prep the darn file first. Nothing like the good ole listgroups when you can just post and review at the drop of an email...

Geez, that makes me sound old. LOL

[b7_kerravon]

I really, really wish mediawest was longer - there's never enough time to do everything you want to, or see/spend time with everyone you want too, either.

[mrwubbles]

Oh! Iso agree! I went to bed every night at 4 but it still felt like there was so much I wanted to do!

[b7_kerravon]

Brotherhood 7 rocks!!!

[mrwubbles]

LOL. Thank you!

[geminigrl11]

Welcome home!! And sorry for all that's in your inbox--we were chatty last night.

I am still so new to fandom, so I have no memories of the mailing-fic-to-each-other days or even the Yahoo Groups days, but it does seem like things are on their way toward a permanent change, from print to ezines and podcasts and basically anything electronic. It's cool in many ways, since it broadens the reach, but there's something that's lost, too...kind of like the switch from handwritten letters to emails. No one will be printing off and saving courting emails to wrap with ribbon and keep in a hope chest to share with their grandkids someday...

*is a little sad*

[mrwubbles]

No one will be printing off and saving courting emails to wrap with ribbon and keep in a hope chest to share with their grandkids someday...

It is a little sad. I used to love writing letters, find pretty stationary...

[geminigrl11]

Me, too. :(

[mrwubbles]

Know what I really miss? Buying pretty notebooks, clean blank pages smelling of ink, the scratch of a pen scribbling across.

[superbadgirl]

I've noticed that online as well to be honest, and I'm getting genuinely exasperated as more and more slash stories keep popping up in my favourite fandoms. It's not that I have anything against slash, or gay couples, but it irritates me when writers make characters that AREN'T a romantic couple and thus ruin/disregard a heartwarming friendship (in most cases). There also seem to be far more stories these days that just have OTT hurt/comfort at the expense of a decent storyline, or even the characters being 'in' character.

Butting in to say "here, here!" I'll admit to sometimes reacting with a humph of dismay when the spnewsletter comes out and again the slash (incest, RPF, all of it) outweighs the gen stories by a great deal. I've nothing against slash at all but my true love will always be a well-plotted gen piece that could fit into the TV schedule without too much squinting

[superbadgirl]

Heh. I do slash, but it's definitely a "what-if" and I have to actually see something could be there beyond the friendship. I don't slash for slashing's sake (I can't pair up two hot guys or two hot girls just because they're hot. Homey don't play that.), and I don't think fanon has much to do with canon (unless people somehow impact TPTB about what they want to see).

Overall I wouldn't say that slashing a couple demeans the canonical friendship, but in the case of incest? Yeah, I sorta feel that way - like authors seem to believe that the only true love is one that involves sex and, well, NO.

It's hard not to get into really sticky, possibly-offensive tones in this kind of talk, so I'm gonna stop. ;)