Can I just say, Fleshflutter is my fandom idol.
Of Monsters and Men.
LOVE.
I don't talk about this much in the LJ, but I have some experience in the pro fiction world, and there are some writers in fandom who sweep the floor with professional fiction writers. I say some - my research into cult media, discourse and convergence, involves reading a wide breadth of fan fiction, and yep, that includes the ungrammatical, the creepily misogynistic, and the just plain eye-bleedingly bad. But it also includes the mind-blowingly brilliant. One of the most life-forming things I've ever read was in fandom (Star Trek TOS AU. Years ago). Honestly, when people dismiss fanfiction as a form I just smile sweetly and remind them that the novel was once dismissed in exactly the same terms, and would they like to read my MA thesis on the very recent and tenuous invention of intellectual copyright? Fandom is love. The end.
LOVE.
I don't talk about this much in the LJ, but I have some experience in the pro fiction world, and there are some writers in fandom who sweep the floor with professional fiction writers. I say some - my research into cult media, discourse and convergence, involves reading a wide breadth of fan fiction, and yep, that includes the ungrammatical, the creepily misogynistic, and the just plain eye-bleedingly bad. But it also includes the mind-blowingly brilliant. One of the most life-forming things I've ever read was in fandom (Star Trek TOS AU. Years ago). Honestly, when people dismiss fanfiction as a form I just smile sweetly and remind them that the novel was once dismissed in exactly the same terms, and would they like to read my MA thesis on the very recent and tenuous invention of intellectual copyright? Fandom is love. The end.