Trying to jump into the fandom? Veji, I've been around this fandom for at least 10 years now. I'm not exactly a newbie or so ignorant as to how the trends work around here. I'm fully aware of the influx coming in primarily because of ships and pairings and what have you, and of the older folks slowly dropping out. Believe me, I've seen a lot come and go.
However, as I stated at the beginning of my entry, I'm not telling people what to write. People can write whatever makes them happy - I'm not approaching this as a writer.
Yes. I'm perfectly aware every fandom has its ships/pairings. Fandom in general had it's start thanks to a ship. All this I know. Ships are everywhere. I'm even on a few of them. My observation, again, is not with people writing their choice of ships. I'm not saying "OMG PEOPLE SHOULDN'T WRITE ROMANCE!"
And honestly... while I do like other fandoms too, I don't care about them as much as this one. Call me a sucker for punishment but TF was and always will be my first fandom priority whatever else comes along. I care for this franchise. Love it as much as I want to strangle it sometimes.
So no, I've not approached this as a writer. I'm looking at this as a reader. From a reader POV, personally, I feel there really isn't much for me to read anymore (and as I've found on twitter, I'm not alone in this, but hey, I'm speaking for myself). Yeah, everything goes through phases, fic included. Again, I'm not unaware of this. So what I'm stating here and have talked about in my post, is my observation of the current phase.
Put simply, it's like- say your town has only one library. One day, you feel in the mood to read about, I dunno, say dragons. And you've already read all of your own books of dragon stories. You want some thing new. So you head to the library to find some.
Only, when you get to the library and start browsing the shelves, you find that just about every single shelf is filled with stories about, let's say, vampire romances. Sure, maybe there's some really good vampire romance books on those shelves, but you really want to read about dragons. So you ask the librarian and she just says, "oh, we threw everything else out and brought in just this one type of story cos no one really wants anything else now."
Would you be sad? I would. This is the only library! Where else am I supposed to find books about dragons or unicorns or mummies? No, I can't control what other people write. I can't tell these vampire romance authors not to write what works for them, but as someone who wants to read, yeah, I'm sad. I really want to read a dragon story. I could write my own, sure, but it's not fun because I'm writing it; I already know what's going to happen.
There'll always be slash/romance/ships. I'm not so foolish to think there'll ever come a time when this won't exist. I'm not against this. Like I said, I enjoy writing ships too. I'm just asking, as a reader: where is everything else?
You took a break, were focused on something else for a while, fandom went deeper into porn town in that time, so you are jumping back into the fandom that is different from what you were used to.
I do understand you are saying this as a reader, I too would like to read something x or z or d, but I long decided it's not gonna happen if I don't do it myself. Sure, your rant has stirred a response but how long will it last or how much will amount to?
You said it, your time was before movies brought in different fans and fandom experienced a focus on certain things, those fans have come and go, fans from your time have also come and go, most of them have moved on with life because real life gets in the way of everything. The new fans are young, focused on something different. How many comms that were active on your older days are dead now? Have you seen the last time someone posted to mecha_erotica? even the sticky comm is dead.
I do understand what you mean, I'm just saying that even as a reader you have two big problems: authors you used to follow are growing older and focus their attentions on the growing demands of real life (or other fandoms), and the fandom is so full right now of young and volatile people that we have more drama and unpleasantness and people arguing forever about sticky and shipping and fast gratification, than on wishing to write something else.
And if you are looking for something specific (like say, cassette fic?) that makes things even harder for you to find it. As a reader sucks, but that is why I suggested to to make an alternative to kink meme. Precisely because everyone wants to have someone else write what they want to see, the kink meme is so popular and hardly ever short of prompts.
I took a break. Didn't mean I completely broke off from watching what was being produced in the fandom/franchise.
Thing is, what I found out from people who spoke up after this post... a lot of the old gang, yes they've gotten on with RL, but they're also still around. Some have come back with new stuff. Some are still writing.
They're just not posting anything because, from what I've heard, they feel there's no point in it since the general vibe going around is that people now only want to read porn, so why bother posting anything else only to have it buried?
and I get what they're saying. It's hard to come up with new stuff to write when there's very little to read that's going to motivate you.
well, if a kick in the aft is what it takes to get something moving... sigh... why is it always me?
It's always you because I have to manage your inheritance and I have limited time and mobility when it comes to LJ, It hates Blackberries. :P
Have you checked the input on AO3? I know many people just post there now.
See, I don't bother posting much not because I care or not if it gets buried under porn, but because in general what I am writing these days is so AU, and because I'm mostly invested on drawing than on writing lately. But now and again I do write something, I just admit i get more enjoyment out of drawing because it's always been my main passion.
I write little p0rn and what I write is for myself or for friends, really. XD but you know that's always been the way I've been with my fics, nods to friends or write my crack.
However, as I stated at the beginning of my entry, I'm not telling people what to write. People can write whatever makes them happy - I'm not approaching this as a writer.
Yes. I'm perfectly aware every fandom has its ships/pairings. Fandom in general had it's start thanks to a ship. All this I know. Ships are everywhere. I'm even on a few of them. My observation, again, is not with people writing their choice of ships. I'm not saying "OMG PEOPLE SHOULDN'T WRITE ROMANCE!"
And honestly... while I do like other fandoms too, I don't care about them as much as this one. Call me a sucker for punishment but TF was and always will be my first fandom priority whatever else comes along. I care for this franchise. Love it as much as I want to strangle it sometimes.
So no, I've not approached this as a writer. I'm looking at this as a reader. From a reader POV, personally, I feel there really isn't much for me to read anymore (and as I've found on twitter, I'm not alone in this, but hey, I'm speaking for myself). Yeah, everything goes through phases, fic included. Again, I'm not unaware of this. So what I'm stating here and have talked about in my post, is my observation of the current phase.
Put simply, it's like- say your town has only one library. One day, you feel in the mood to read about, I dunno, say dragons. And you've already read all of your own books of dragon stories. You want some thing new. So you head to the library to find some.
Only, when you get to the library and start browsing the shelves, you find that just about every single shelf is filled with stories about, let's say, vampire romances. Sure, maybe there's some really good vampire romance books on those shelves, but you really want to read about dragons. So you ask the librarian and she just says, "oh, we threw everything else out and brought in just this one type of story cos no one really wants anything else now."
Would you be sad? I would. This is the only library! Where else am I supposed to find books about dragons or unicorns or mummies? No, I can't control what other people write. I can't tell these vampire romance authors not to write what works for them, but as someone who wants to read, yeah, I'm sad. I really want to read a dragon story. I could write my own, sure, but it's not fun because I'm writing it; I already know what's going to happen.
There'll always be slash/romance/ships. I'm not so foolish to think there'll ever come a time when this won't exist. I'm not against this. Like I said, I enjoy writing ships too. I'm just asking, as a reader: where is everything else?
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I do understand you are saying this as a reader, I too would like to read something x or z or d, but I long decided it's not gonna happen if I don't do it myself. Sure, your rant has stirred a response but how long will it last or how much will amount to?
You said it, your time was before movies brought in different fans and fandom experienced a focus on certain things, those fans have come and go, fans from your time have also come and go, most of them have moved on with life because real life gets in the way of everything. The new fans are young, focused on something different. How many comms that were active on your older days are dead now? Have you seen the last time someone posted to mecha_erotica? even the sticky comm is dead.
I do understand what you mean, I'm just saying that even as a reader you have two big problems: authors you used to follow are growing older and focus their attentions on the growing demands of real life (or other fandoms), and the fandom is so full right now of young and volatile people that we have more drama and unpleasantness and people arguing forever about sticky and shipping and fast gratification, than on wishing to write something else.
And if you are looking for something specific (like say, cassette fic?) that makes things even harder for you to find it. As a reader sucks, but that is why I suggested to to make an alternative to kink meme. Precisely because everyone wants to have someone else write what they want to see, the kink meme is so popular and hardly ever short of prompts.
Reply
Thing is, what I found out from people who spoke up after this post... a lot of the old gang, yes they've gotten on with RL, but they're also still around. Some have come back with new stuff. Some are still writing.
They're just not posting anything because, from what I've heard, they feel there's no point in it since the general vibe going around is that people now only want to read porn, so why bother posting anything else only to have it buried?
and I get what they're saying. It's hard to come up with new stuff to write when there's very little to read that's going to motivate you.
well, if a kick in the aft is what it takes to get something moving... sigh... why is it always me?
Reply
Have you checked the input on AO3? I know many people just post there now.
See, I don't bother posting much not because I care or not if it gets buried under porn, but because in general what I am writing these days is so AU, and because I'm mostly invested on drawing than on writing lately. But now and again I do write something, I just admit i get more enjoyment out of drawing because it's always been my main passion.
I write little p0rn and what I write is for myself or for friends, really. XD but you know that's always been the way I've been with my fics, nods to friends or write my crack.
Reply
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