MWHAAAA! I laugh in the face of your measly 9 inches! Well, not really because that much snow in an urban environment is AWFUL because there is no where to put it. As I met all these other women through fandom (a lot of them entered it through big multi-chaptered fic I did in the mid-90s), it's not the shame of fandom. We're all "fans" and now real life friends and have moved together over the years through a number of fandoms. But most of them have never delved into fic writing as I have, not as long, not as in depth. And I guess that's really it - at my age, I should be doing something else, like retirement planning, than writing fic about characters much closer to my children's age than my own.
I think it's great that you're still doing this stuff despite your age. Because that means I can keep doing it and not feel bad. Someone must blaze the trails for the younger generation!
Well, mostly I recommend the Who Cares WTF approach, as you are venerable enough in RL what with all those PTA meetings to have it really not make a difference. However, maybe there is a compromise- send a message to the friend you bumped into online and say that you did start back to fandom but have wanted to keep it small and managable after all that happened the last time. That way there's no strangeness but you get to keep your identity right where you want it. And hopefully she's the sort that won't spread around anything you want to keep private.
But what do I know: I spent last weekend googling my last name in conjunction with my username to figure out if anything questionable might pop up before my interview. Not that I even do anything questionable like write porn or use Arabic flashcards. I'm just intrikate88 all over the internet and highly paranoid.
That doesn't strike me as paranoid at all!! This is where I was so glad to have been careful early in my online fandom days to keep my fic under different identities. I was so concerned that I or my husband would have to explain something embarrassing before a Senate confirmation panel -- certainly not a concern for me, any longer, but he's always been the respectable one in the family. Googling me in RL leads to some interesting results in fandom, but nothing in fan fic. RL folks tend to stop at the pedia entry and the speculation about just how many places my oldest moniker and RL name show up as Easter eggs in original content created by other people.
My god, seeing someone try, to make up an example, to explain their Pokemon/Supernatural crossover mature-rated slashfic to a Senate confirmation panel would be HILARIOUS. Not for the person involved, obviously, but... *snortgiggle* Anyway, that mental video aside, I did consider making numerous usernames for the same sort of reasons (though I think mine are more related to being EIC of a major magazine/respected university professor/editorial director of first lunar publishing house) but I wanted to have a slightly solid internet presence too... it's tricky. So I google obsessively sometimes to destroy any connection between the two identities and hope that's good enough. I'll probably have to swear everyone to secrecy when that True Blood book with my article comes out. You're an easter egg? That may be skirting dangerously close to celebrity status, m'dear, but still damn cool. :P
I understand the wanting to hide behind respectability mentality, because I have a bit of that too, and I'm not even thirty yet (though it is approaching with shocking rapidity). In the end, though, I say "who cares" to other people's opinions; if you take joy in it, that's all that matters.
And I like intrikate's suggestion: if you keep it casual, then chances are nobody else will make too big a deal of it, either.
I'd love to be the sort of woman who doesn't mind being interviewed in the papers for her fan fic, but ya know, there's that whole incongruity with what I do in real life too. pffbbbt
Ugh, Big Fat Lies. I'm still trying to get the nerve up to tell my mother, and I'm kind of getting mad that I feel such a need to. I should be able to go on a vacation without asking permission, darnit!
But, anyway, I totally vote for the 'who cares, wtf' response. Seriously. Because you + Narnia is clearly a glorious thing.
First of all: Congratulations on reaching the one year mark! Huge accomplishments have been... accomplished. Particularly for word count.
As for running away... PLEASE no deletion of current identity. I'm sure there are plenty other than me who would be absolutely devestated if you never reached Part 3 of the Stone Gryphon.
Quick question, and one you don't have to answer if it leads to identity issues, but was there any particular reason you chose the name Rthstewart? (I have a huge interest in names in general, and that has crossed over to an interest in the origins of pennames...).
Comments 34
Reply
As I met all these other women through fandom (a lot of them entered it through big multi-chaptered fic I did in the mid-90s), it's not the shame of fandom. We're all "fans" and now real life friends and have moved together over the years through a number of fandoms. But most of them have never delved into fic writing as I have, not as long, not as in depth. And I guess that's really it - at my age, I should be doing something else, like retirement planning, than writing fic about characters much closer to my children's age than my own.
Reply
Reply
Reply
But what do I know: I spent last weekend googling my last name in conjunction with my username to figure out if anything questionable might pop up before my interview. Not that I even do anything questionable like write porn or use Arabic flashcards. I'm just intrikate88 all over the internet and highly paranoid.
Reply
Googling me in RL leads to some interesting results in fandom, but nothing in fan fic. RL folks tend to stop at the pedia entry and the speculation about just how many places my oldest moniker and RL name show up as Easter eggs in original content created by other people.
Reply
You're an easter egg? That may be skirting dangerously close to celebrity status, m'dear, but still damn cool. :P
Reply
Reply
And I like intrikate's suggestion: if you keep it casual, then chances are nobody else will make too big a deal of it, either.
Reply
Reply
But, anyway, I totally vote for the 'who cares, wtf' response. Seriously. Because you + Narnia is clearly a glorious thing.
Reply
As for running away... PLEASE no deletion of current identity. I'm sure there are plenty other than me who would be absolutely devestated if you never reached Part 3 of the Stone Gryphon.
Quick question, and one you don't have to answer if it leads to identity issues, but was there any particular reason you chose the name Rthstewart? (I have a huge interest in names in general, and that has crossed over to an interest in the origins of pennames...).
Reply
Leave a comment