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selenakFive Fannish Lines in the Sand (i.e., things in fandom you are inflexible about.)
1.) When following a fannish source (books, tv show, films) becomes more a chore than a source of joy, then quit. As opposed to stay and endlessly complain. I don't mean "get out at the first sign of trouble/boredom", but at some point it has to become obvious that the fannish source won't provide you anymore with whatever made you watch/read in the first place, and then staying around and posting complaint after complaint is just making everyone unhappy - you and the other people in the fandom, some of whom presumably still enjoy the fannish source. Thankfully, I only reached that point with two ongoing fandoms (Earth: Final Conflict and Heroes), but reach it I did, so I was forced to practice what I preach on those two occasions.
2.) Fictional bashing is of the devil. I get character dislike. *eyes Bill Adama* And the need to express it. But while I do have a few characters - not many, but they do exist - whom I heartily dislike beyond the "eh" level of shrugging - I wouldn't waste my time writing entire stories devoted to inflicting various deadful things on them, or rants by the other characters about their flaws (as opposed to my own rants *g*). Nor would I read these stories. Much more fun to read and write stories focused on characters I'm at least interested in or at best like/love. In fact, if it has to be a story about a character I dislike and I have to read it for some reason, I'd rather read one written by someone who is a fan of said character than bashing fic. They usually are both better written and occasionally make me think.
3.) Beware of Shipping Wars (and demonization of third parties during same). Nothing good ever comes of them. They happen in most fandoms, and I've yet to witness one which didn't produce bad feelings for the participants, the characters in question, or the original fannish source and its writer(s) or all of the above. One of the most annoying traits of them is everyone's insistence that they and their 'ship are the persecuted oppressed (even if their 'ship happens to be one of the largest in the fandom in question), and they behave in a perfectly reasonable manner, whereas the opposition is vile, everywhere and only ever behaves childishly and maliciously. And that's before they start to compare whichever character they see as an obstacle to their 'ship (usually, but not always female) to real life objectionable people and claim oppressed minority status for their own pairing of choice. Staying away from shipping wars, on the other hand, is a life line to sanity and saves me from starting to dislike characters due to their romantically inclined fans.
4.) Beware Fannish Entitlement. I think fans are owed precisely one thing by the writers/actors/composers/whichever type of artists who produce their fannish source, and one thing only. Professional excellence. I.e. writers trying to write as good a book/script as they can, actors delivering as good a performance as they can, etc. Nothing else. They're not owed actors supporting their 'ship of choice, seeing the characters like they do, or actors showing up at conventions at all. They're not owed producers sharing their own story priorities. They're not owed writers approving of fanfiction. Now, obviously, since I write fanfiction, I'm on the pro fanfic side myself. But to act as if it's the duty of any author to be grateful to inspire fanfiction and any other reaction is a horrible betrayal of their fans' devotion is guaranteed to immediately make me roll my eyes and think "oh, please" instead of sympathizing with the indignant fan in question.
5.) Know Your Fannish Material. By which I mean: I have this pet peeve about people writing fanfiction (and to lesser degree, about people making absolute characterisation declarations in debates) based on other people's fanfiction instead of the primary source. Or doing this with extremely limited knowledge of the source. (To use my standard Highlander example: people basing their knowledge of HL and the characters in same other than Methos on having watched only the Methos episodes.) Yes, there are fandoms like Doctor Who, where it's virtually impossible to be familiar with the entirety of canon (thanks, BBC, for burning those Second Doctor episodes!), not least due to the sheer size of canon. (No, I still haven't watched every yet available DW episode, either. Though I am working on it.) And it's entirely possible to write, say, with River Song, or Rose Tyler for that matter as a central focus without any Old Who knowledge. But if you want to write a story about River meeting Sarah Jane Smith or Rose running into the Brigadier, then it really isn't good enough to have read another story featuring SJS or the Brig. (Or, to go back to HL: if a central issue in your post Horseman Methos and Duncan story is that someone lectures Duncan on how he's too inflexible to accept one can be a bloodthirsty warlord in one lifetime and a good guy in another you just prove you haven't watched the Methos-less Blind Faith which makes a rather important point about Duncan in this regard.) In that case, there is no excuse for you not having watched at least some of the episodes featuring them yourself. In other words, do yourself a favour and do your homework. And yes, I always try to do mine, even if it includes rewatching one of the most unpopular DS9 episodes ever. :)
1.) When following a fannish source (books, tv show, films) becomes more a chore than a source of joy, then quit. As opposed to stay and endlessly complain. I don't mean "get out at the first sign of trouble/boredom", but at some point it has to become obvious that the fannish source won't provide you anymore with whatever made you watch/read in the first place, and then staying around and posting complaint after complaint is just making everyone unhappy - you and the other people in the fandom, some of whom presumably still enjoy the fannish source. Thankfully, I only reached that point with two ongoing fandoms (Earth: Final Conflict and Heroes), but reach it I did, so I was forced to practice what I preach on those two occasions.
2.) Fictional bashing is of the devil. I get character dislike. *eyes Bill Adama* And the need to express it. But while I do have a few characters - not many, but they do exist - whom I heartily dislike beyond the "eh" level of shrugging - I wouldn't waste my time writing entire stories devoted to inflicting various deadful things on them, or rants by the other characters about their flaws (as opposed to my own rants *g*). Nor would I read these stories. Much more fun to read and write stories focused on characters I'm at least interested in or at best like/love. In fact, if it has to be a story about a character I dislike and I have to read it for some reason, I'd rather read one written by someone who is a fan of said character than bashing fic. They usually are both better written and occasionally make me think.
3.) Beware of Shipping Wars (and demonization of third parties during same). Nothing good ever comes of them. They happen in most fandoms, and I've yet to witness one which didn't produce bad feelings for the participants, the characters in question, or the original fannish source and its writer(s) or all of the above. One of the most annoying traits of them is everyone's insistence that they and their 'ship are the persecuted oppressed (even if their 'ship happens to be one of the largest in the fandom in question), and they behave in a perfectly reasonable manner, whereas the opposition is vile, everywhere and only ever behaves childishly and maliciously. And that's before they start to compare whichever character they see as an obstacle to their 'ship (usually, but not always female) to real life objectionable people and claim oppressed minority status for their own pairing of choice. Staying away from shipping wars, on the other hand, is a life line to sanity and saves me from starting to dislike characters due to their romantically inclined fans.
4.) Beware Fannish Entitlement. I think fans are owed precisely one thing by the writers/actors/composers/whichever type of artists who produce their fannish source, and one thing only. Professional excellence. I.e. writers trying to write as good a book/script as they can, actors delivering as good a performance as they can, etc. Nothing else. They're not owed actors supporting their 'ship of choice, seeing the characters like they do, or actors showing up at conventions at all. They're not owed producers sharing their own story priorities. They're not owed writers approving of fanfiction. Now, obviously, since I write fanfiction, I'm on the pro fanfic side myself. But to act as if it's the duty of any author to be grateful to inspire fanfiction and any other reaction is a horrible betrayal of their fans' devotion is guaranteed to immediately make me roll my eyes and think "oh, please" instead of sympathizing with the indignant fan in question.
5.) Know Your Fannish Material. By which I mean: I have this pet peeve about people writing fanfiction (and to lesser degree, about people making absolute characterisation declarations in debates) based on other people's fanfiction instead of the primary source. Or doing this with extremely limited knowledge of the source. (To use my standard Highlander example: people basing their knowledge of HL and the characters in same other than Methos on having watched only the Methos episodes.) Yes, there are fandoms like Doctor Who, where it's virtually impossible to be familiar with the entirety of canon (thanks, BBC, for burning those Second Doctor episodes!), not least due to the sheer size of canon. (No, I still haven't watched every yet available DW episode, either. Though I am working on it.) And it's entirely possible to write, say, with River Song, or Rose Tyler for that matter as a central focus without any Old Who knowledge. But if you want to write a story about River meeting Sarah Jane Smith or Rose running into the Brigadier, then it really isn't good enough to have read another story featuring SJS or the Brig. (Or, to go back to HL: if a central issue in your post Horseman Methos and Duncan story is that someone lectures Duncan on how he's too inflexible to accept one can be a bloodthirsty warlord in one lifetime and a good guy in another you just prove you haven't watched the Methos-less Blind Faith which makes a rather important point about Duncan in this regard.) In that case, there is no excuse for you not having watched at least some of the episodes featuring them yourself. In other words, do yourself a favour and do your homework. And yes, I always try to do mine, even if it includes rewatching one of the most unpopular DS9 episodes ever. :)
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Date: 2011-07-24 10:29 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-07-24 11:41 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-07-24 12:31 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-07-24 12:35 pm (UTC)Completely off topic, your CoE post got linked to in the comments at Mark Watches. I don't know if you track page hits, but if you do they might have gone up some.
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Date: 2011-07-24 03:28 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-07-24 03:31 pm (UTC)