Oh my gosh I'm going to cry. I wrote a response, was happy with it, then hit post comment right when LJ decided to be a butt! So I had no idea if you got my reply or not. apparently, you didn't. Now I'm sad :(
Anyway, most of the gist of it was that you'd think that Fandom was an unimportant tid-bit of life to be capable to creating any experiences. And, yet, the fascinating thing is that fandom does create experiences. It may not be physically getting up, going to new places and meeting new people, but it is mentally going places and meeting people. There's the good, there's the bad and there's a lot of coming to realize a ton about the self.
I never even knew, never considered, that there were others out there as into H/C/whump as I am, nor that there were even terms for it. I never thought that I would ever touch AUS or crossovers with a ten foot pole, and lately the majority of my fic ideas have been nothing but AUs, and I've been pondering crossover ideas. I never realized until writing for SGA that it wasn't so much hurt I was a fan of, but comfort, and that H/C is only appealing when it's a plot device, not the plot.
And yes to fanfiction building writing skills! It's so interesting to compare older fic with newer and see what has changed.
"The more fanfic I read, though, and the more that I see people around me being unconcerned (or seemingly unconcerned) about writing self-indulgent stories with no redeeming literary value whatsoever, the more I'm engaging with the idea of writing just to poke at the happy buttons in my brain -- and, paradoxically, the better I seem to write."
Oh, gosh, how I wish I could get back to that! Fanfiction did the opposite to me. I became less intent on writing for myself and more intent on writing deep, thinky fic that I thought others would like. I let what others thought and my own self-conscious nature dictate what I write, and it's a habit I'm having a hard time getting out of. It's made writing less enjoyable and it's driving me nuts.
On the other hand, it's not necessarily a bad thing. I could, and have gone, nuts with indulgence fic and wrote things that today make me cringe (mostly because I whumped Sheppard so bad that he really shouldn't be alive ;)) I was psycho when it came to whumping and needed to learn to put a few restrictions of myself (in other words, realize when I wasn't being realistic) and writing fanfic has helped with that.
no subject
Anyway, most of the gist of it was that you'd think that Fandom was an unimportant tid-bit of life to be capable to creating any experiences. And, yet, the fascinating thing is that fandom does create experiences. It may not be physically getting up, going to new places and meeting new people, but it is mentally going places and meeting people. There's the good, there's the bad and there's a lot of coming to realize a ton about the self.
I never even knew, never considered, that there were others out there as into H/C/whump as I am, nor that there were even terms for it. I never thought that I would ever touch AUS or crossovers with a ten foot pole, and lately the majority of my fic ideas have been nothing but AUs, and I've been pondering crossover ideas. I never realized until writing for SGA that it wasn't so much hurt I was a fan of, but comfort, and that H/C is only appealing when it's a plot device, not the plot.
And yes to fanfiction building writing skills! It's so interesting to compare older fic with newer and see what has changed.
"The more fanfic I read, though, and the more that I see people around me being unconcerned (or seemingly unconcerned) about writing self-indulgent stories with no redeeming literary value whatsoever, the more I'm engaging with the idea of writing just to poke at the happy buttons in my brain -- and, paradoxically, the better I seem to write."
Oh, gosh, how I wish I could get back to that! Fanfiction did the opposite to me. I became less intent on writing for myself and more intent on writing deep, thinky fic that I thought others would like. I let what others thought and my own self-conscious nature dictate what I write, and it's a habit I'm having a hard time getting out of. It's made writing less enjoyable and it's driving me nuts.
On the other hand, it's not necessarily a bad thing. I could, and have gone, nuts with indulgence fic and wrote things that today make me cringe (mostly because I whumped Sheppard so bad that he really shouldn't be alive ;)) I was psycho when it came to whumping and needed to learn to put a few restrictions of myself (in other words, realize when I wasn't being realistic) and writing fanfic has helped with that.
The good and the bad :D