Beta's Woes

The Russians are coming!

2007-12-04T13:40:00.000-08:00

So, fandom finds its home sold, again.

Six Apart, the previous craptastic owners of LiveJournal, have sold the site, and the name, to the Russian based company, Sup (pronounced Soup).

I know that I'm a little anxious for the change. 6A were a bunch of idiots-- They did not know how to talk to their users. I had fun sending the CEO some Free Pepsi Max gifts!!!!1!, to show him we didn’t want 6A’s commercialization.

The strikethrough/boldthrough was one hell of a debacle too. But at least we expected 6A's stupidity.

Sup's new. And of course, I'm a little leery. What does this mean for fandom? Well... All posts will go through the government controlled Russian lines now (as they are moving the servers) and we will now be working under Russian copyright law (*I'm scared....*).... But!

The means of the agreement made Sup responsible to keep up the reputation of Livejournal. Which means that a site previously known for it's openness to free speech (..sorta..) then perhaps the axe won't fall yet.

I guess we're all just going to have to keep our noses low and hope the Russian's like fanfic to...cause I really don't want to be arrested by the KGB for writing about copyrighted characters.......

Community

2007-11-19T22:57:00.000-08:00

The e-mail of a certain Miss “hufflepuff” popped up on my MSN list yesterday, and as I usually do (for the exact reasons here) I accepted and began chatting with this new person. Her name was Erica, and she lives in Toronto (this is the third fellow Canadian I’ve met) and apparently, she’s loved one of my oldest fics since the first day I posted it. She told me that her group of friends actually quote from “Wilderness” amongst themselves, and she had read all that I’ve posted on mediaminer. Apparently, she was fangirling with abandon in another window just at the sheer excitement of talking to me.

Yesterday wasn’t the first time this has happened to me-- I’ve met many people, my best friend in fact, though comments on my fics. I’ve had people ask to write a fanfic of my fanfic “Oxfords” with different characters as well as having been begged (and harassed) to give permission to allow Wilderness to be translated into Spanish (which I will not allow). Not to mention the one e-mail I got begging me to allow another writer to make a sequel to one of my fics. It’s enough to give someone a big head!

Except that I’ve done the same thing. Prysm reviewed one of my fics, and I was on cloud nine for days-- she wrote “Broken Warriors”, for God’s sakes!! And at Y-con, I met and bought a print signed by Ponderosa121 herself. These people are my celebrities; the names mean nothing to anyone else not in the fandom.

(To the Right, "Coming home" by Ponderosa. Not the one I bought...since it wasn't for sale *big emo tears*)

Fandom is based on being fans. I’m a fan of a series, I’m a fan of some people, and some people are a fan of me. Fandom is a network where we all interact and communicate based on our similar tastes.

Recommendations and gifts and comments build your reputation. And on the internet, all you have is reputation. Because fandom in cross-platform (it exists on LJ, ff.net, mediaminer, deviantart and a wealth of personal websites and archives) the only way to navigate this ‘place’ I call fandom is by making connections with other fans. The amount of people on my messenger list who I’ve met through fandom outweighs the Real Life names 3 to 1. My Christmas card list includes a whopping total of three people who I’ve met at such odd places like school and out in public; the rest are fandom friends-- One card’s going to France this year!

Community is why fandom exists years after the airing of the actual series-- We become our own canon (fanon), our own authorities, and our own audience. Some people call fandom exclusionary because of the jargon and cliques. But these exist for a reason-- We need each other to keep making, reading, and commenting. Fandom is interactive and ever changing.

Fandom is community, and that community keeps growing.

RE- Dumbledore

2007-11-17T00:25:00.000-08:00

WARNING for Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows SPOILERS.

This is a repost of the first post, fixed up a little. I think that the idea here is worth making understandable.

After the announcement by Harry Potter Author, JK Rowling, that Dumbledore was gay, I was applauding like the people in the audience. A main character, gay? “Think of the fan fiction now!” JK said.

But really? I’ve let the information sink in and brew, and I’ve decided that I’m not happy. Not at all.

The ‘Dumbledore as gay’ fics have been around since book one when some crazy person wrote Dumbledore as a perverted old man in Harry’s pants. This is not new. We don’t need you to tell us what was made half-obvious by the seventh book.

What the HELL, JK? How ~brave~ of you to out a major character some three years after you KILLED him off, and a few months after the last book had been released. What was the point in that? Making sure book sales wouldn't be affected, perhaps? It wasn’t hard for a skilled fanficer to make that jump in logic to figure Dumbledore’s sexuality after the ideas that Grindewald and Dumbledore were so ‘close’ as teenagers. Hell, Grindy/Dumbly fic was popular from the second day the book was released-- we didn’t need you to tell us this a few months later.

JK said “If I’d had known you’d all take it like this, I’d have said it years ago”, but you know what? I doubt she would have.

Harry Potter, one of the most beloved children’s classics produced in this decade, had a lot of faults. There was inherent racism, classism, and not to mention religious prosecution. Also, for a book that supposedly touted equality, there was QUITE a bit of stark vilification.

Snape-- Was he EVER redeemed? Not in my mind. He was still a self-satisfying man. He never saved Harry’s life out of an inherent goodness, he did it because he loved Harry’s mother with a sick, obsession-style love. We were given so many glimpses into Snape’s world and life that I really expected him to be redeemed. I expected to see his goodness shine through. Perhaps in his explanation for killing Dumbledore we see something like goodness but I am hard-pressed to find canon proof that Snape did ANYTHING without it benefiting him. And the fact that Snape NEVER left the Death Eaters? I do not see loyalty to Dumbledore in that; I see a convenient way to have the best of both worlds.

Voldemort-- JK gives us real glimpses into his childhood at the orphanage and growing up which could have been used to demonstrate how he was conditioned to the man he became, but instead she makes it quite clear that from day one Tom Riddle was an evil child. Tom was a very evil adolescent who preyed on those weaker then him. And Tom became a killer and tyrant of epic proportions later on in life, despite many opportunities to reform. But sheer evil is supposed to be expected of ‘the enemy’ isn’t it?

And Draco-- How can anyone forget the vast disappointment from Draco’s lack of development? Few characters won over as many hearts as Draco. In the 6th book we see Draco torturing himself over his mission to kill the figurehead of ‘good’, Dumbledore. He can not kill Dumbledore, and we all waited with baited breath for the 7th book for the inner goodness we’ve all hoped was there to shine through. Yet? Nothing.

Draco has the opportunity many times to do the right thing. Draco knew and experienced the sheer evil that was Voldemort. Draco is in the room where Hermione is being tortured; Hermione and Draco hated each other, yes, but they did grow up together, and for every scheme the trio had concocted, Draco was there trying to bring it down. Their lives had been interwoven front the first book, yet when Hermione is faced with torture and rape, Draco does NOTHING even though he has the means and the opportunity to help. He doesn’t even step-up to being a true villain and partake. He is allowed to fade into the background after 6 books of being a main player with no change, no development, and no redemption.

Even the character portrayed the darkest next to Voldemort, Belatrix Lestrange, who tortured and killed Nevile’s parents, is given more of my sympathy then the characters who were center stage from the beginning because she was driven crazy by her love for Voldy, who manipulated, used, and threatened her.

Apparently, there is only good and evil in the ‘tolerant’ world of Harry Potter.

All the ‘evil’ characters? Remain Evil.
All the characters who didn’t ‘fit’ into Wizarding society (Re: Reamus Lupin, the werewolf and Dolby, the free house elf)? Killed off. Why?

To avoid the messy details of how life after this epic war was NEVER CHANGED.

We ficcers exist and multiply in a canon without a neat ending, sure, but there were certain expectations that were not met with this narrative. You don’t need me to tell you, JK, that ficcers fill in plot holes with our imaginations, but the seventhbook left far more to be desired as the ‘ending’ to the series. Usually I would say “good on you, giving ficcers more cannon fodder” (note the pun) but in this case, there was nothing but drastic let down by the characters.

The disclaimer of “The seventh book never happened” has already become almost staple-- no one likes what you did, and we like OUR endings better-- And I think that us ficcers actually pay more attention to the needs of the reading public then the actual book did, in this instance. I was terribly let down, and I’m not the only one.

And as for Dumbledore’s sexuality? Like, REALLY, JK!!! WTF. What better way to show tolerance and equality by keeping them as they should be, right? Silent and dead. Most of your readers won’t ever know you said it. Good one, Jk. My Respect-O-Meter just changed a few notches, but it wasn't in your favor.

Life online: Finding a comunity

2007-11-15T21:44:00.000-08:00

“Blogging generates some of its confused responses precisely because US imaginary about media culture is dominated by broadcast media, from one point to a multitude. TV journalism, PBS documentaries, conservative talk radio, FOX News diatribes, newspaper commentaries—though a presumed public is addressed and thus created, broadcast by definition lacks the interactive mechanisms that would construct those important relations not just to the creators of the shows or the writers of the articles but among strangers, those that read and consume the cultural products.” From Promiscuous Fiction

Reading this, I think I had an epiphany.

I stopped and looked around my area-- Lappy in front of me, my coffee, salad, water bottle, pens and MP3 charging happily. Then there’s my lip-gloss and make-up all within reach (so I can get ready to leave without having to leave the computer) and my jewelry from yesterday (because I didn’t want to leave the computer to put it away) as well as my calendar in front of me and my cork board to the side filled, not with notes, but with letters and post-cards from my internet friends, key chains, pop labels and phone numbers.

My life is all within my reach, without having to leave the computer. And yet, in the distance, I can hear the TV, my mother watching quietly and either napping or knitting. Yet I’m in here and have been for hours.

My father constantly complains that I don’t spend any time with him, that my internet friends are more important. I used to watch at least one movie a day, but now the the last one I watched (Harry Potter and the Goblet of fire) was 4 nights ago. And that’s a rather recent one! Why is it them this mainstream media doesn’t engage me anymore?

I haven’t watched TV in forever. I haven’t walked through blockbuster’s doors in months, I haven’t bought any movies, and I think I was at a theater once in the last 6 months.

Why IS that?

The mainstream media is just that, a stream of colors and sounds that go straight by you without ever stopping. If you are there or not, Bruce Willis will say “Yipee Kaiya”, and whether it’s the fists or the hundredth time, Jack dies and the Titanic sinks. We have no control over it. We have no say in it. We are just automatons watching it unfold. What television lacks is a sense of community.

You can argue that there is community because many people are watching the same show, but that community doesn’t come alive until you find that other watcher and begin to talk about it.

I’m getting sick of being talked TO and I want to talk WITH people.

That is where the internet comes alive. Online, there is nothing but talk. There is another person at the other end, replying to your comments, posting their own fic, telling you about their day. The community on the internet is what makes it so grand.

What made this version of ‘the internet’ work so well was that DARPA created all their work open-source and distributed their work free so that anybody could look at what they did and make programs compatible with it. The internet is based on sharing, free-access, and community.

What is blogging except putting myself out on this crazy web of URLs and knowing in the back of my mind that someone is reading and nodding vigorously. The hours I spend on my LJ are not in adding to my journal, but in reading others. My Friends page (populated almost exclusively of people whom I’ve never met) is so extensive that If I don’t read it for more then 24 hours, I have to go back at least 40 entries just to get to the post I stopped off at the day before. And I do go back, because I care about what they had to say.

The internet, fandom, blogging, it’s all about community. From my experience, it’s nothing but community.

And the mainstream media is no competition to the community of the internet.

“A blog creates from the intractable cultural-archival space of the net a story about its readers, a shared cultural-discursive space, and its relationship to them. Friendships and relationships develop across words and images by people who have never met face to face, and a story emerges about a public, created from links and commentaries, thoughts, reactions, and words. It is a potent fiction with real consequences for desire and affect and learning among and from strangers. This is to say, it is a promiscuous fiction that binds us each to each, each to other; a fiction tethered to a desire to be read; a fiction that circulates among us because it gives each of us pleasure, that story that we have so many readers on such and such a day; that our hits mean we’re hit on, and that we have a technology to quantify, to calculate, to graph the very measure of our desire. Queer blogging both creates and is created by a public; and its knowledges challenge those stories about what we think we know about the sublimity of the Blogosphere.”

Anime Christmas

2007-11-11T20:15:00.000-08:00

Here’s a little AnimeMusicVideo to get the spirit going. (Warning. Not necessary for the post really, but you might enjoy seeing a decent AMV. It's meant to be funny).

Ahhh Christmas is in the air! I’ve been downloading holiday music for a week now and enjoying seeing the first lights put up in my area.

And we all know what Christmas means! ... Huh? Santa? Who CARES?!?!

I mean the beginning of Lemon_Advent 2007!

We fanficcer’s are a little old (physically, at least) to look foreword to a crappy chocolate each day until Christmas, so we’ve devised a system of our own.

Lemon advent is open for fics by any author, from any fandom, and any pairing (or not) of choice. The only rule is that the fic must be ‘fluffy’ meaning it must have a significantly happy ending; no one wants to read a depressing fic on their lemon_advent list! Any author can submit as many or as few fics as they choose on which ever day they choose. A few prominent fic authors commit to once a day, while I personally will aim to contribute once a week.

These challenges are important because they get people to write. A lot of fandom authors take real pride in their work and strive to make it the best. And you need practice to be the best. Many took up the challenge of Nation Novel Writing Month (Nov) and committed to 500 words a day, but I know that I couldn’t. Many of my fandom friends are making me jealous with their NaNoWrMo works that I just couldn’t do. But for lemon_advent I am ready and willing!

There's nothing like the community to get you excited and involved in a writing tradition! So, I'm doing my part in pimping this year's lemon_advent.

Commercialization of Fandom

2007-11-07T20:10:00.000-08:00

I know that I’m a crazy fangirl and that I see fandom in everything-- I will snicker if the clock is at 3:43 (3x4x3? Yeah, that’s a short term for the yaoi pairing of Trowa and Quatre... Who me? Batshit-crazy? I’d rather “devoted fan”). But lately I’ve been noticing fandom intentionally sneaking into real daily life.

In the time magazine post, I was surprised to think that there had been fanfic about the Canterbury Tales--I imagined some notary or something scribbling how he would have ended the story in the dead of night by a dying candle, hiding his manuscript in the fire-pit until it was unearthed some decades later-- but now I’m seeing fandom in a whole different, popular, light.

Ophelia is a painting done by Millais decades after Hamlet was made, yet the painting is a celebrated work of art and hangs in the Tate gallery--

It’s also the most purchased post card.

Not only have I seen fanarts, but many books, especially targeted to teens, are so influenced by fandom that it’s scary. I own ”Snow” by Tracy Lynn from the “once upon a time” series published by Simon & Shuster under the teen friendly name “SimonPulse”. It’s a retelling of Snow White-- completely re-vamped. It follows fanfic norms in form and language, even going so far as to replace the role of the ‘dwarfs’ with city-dwelling half-animal half-humans (which is obviously working off the thriving furries community). Not to mention the classic tropes of a young girl in a big-city adventure, which reminded me more of Hillary Duff movies then it did Snow White. The fact is, though, that I bought this book because it was a retelling of a fairy tale that I love.

Big business isn’t creeping in--it’s here, and had been for a long time without me realizing it. Just at the bus stop today I’ve seen an add for “Storm Hawks” and I can’t seem to shake the obvious stereotypes just in the picture that I’m sure have kick-started a new fandom community--Yep.

It’s not just the idiocy that is Fanlib.com trying to have fans do the creating while they turn a profit, the market for fanwork has been around and is making big bucks.

This is a reminder that you are never under the radar, no matter how much you want to be.

Since you Asked, Cary Tennis

2007-11-02T22:29:00.000-07:00

I decided to copy this article in its entirety. The explanations and recommendations are simply fantastic.

I have to say that Ardent R/H shipper and Cary hit upon my own personal sentiment about why I write and enjoy fanfic. I am not surprised that the demographics of fanfic readers/writers are the same demographics of readers of romance novels (According to Radway in Reading the Romance).

I personally write as a form of escapism. I seldom watch television, and I don’t have any other hobbies (besides shopping) to really speak of. I work 2 highly demanding jobs and manage to get good marks in fourth year university classes-- Fanfic is my only real outlet, I suppose, and I think that R/H shipper here seems to have expressed my sentiment perfectly (I have to say that I think she ought to start writing, since she’s so good at expressing through words!).

I'm addicted to Harry Potter fan fiction!

Every moment I'm alone, I'm secretly reading the stories, the forums, the recommendations. I can't stop!
By Cary Tennis

Nov. 2, 2007 Dear Cary,
I am in my 30s, finished my Ph.D. dissertation recently, teaching classes at universities, applying for jobs, and have two kids under 10 years old with my husband. In fact, I should be too busy to be writing to you.

The problem is that I'm addicted to fan fiction. Especially a small fraction of online fan fiction, with which you may or may not be familiar, but has a fanatical group of followers. Yes, I'm an HP fan-fiction groupie. I know that there are various fan-fiction communities online, but I've been addicted with the Harry Potter fandom ever since I couldn't wait for Book 5 to come out and started searching for any news about it on the Internet.

Now this has become a serious habit -- on good days, I simply check out a few of my favorite fan-fiction sites and skim the updated stories (you know, some of them run for 50 to 60 chapters); on bad days, I go through the forums and read the comments and recommendations until I find something that piques my interest, and will not stop until I'm done with that story. If I don't find anything I like, I search until I do, or get mad, or end up clicking through dozens of sites, which will inevitably leave me frustrated. (Salon is one of them, sorry -- what do you expect, in the current political atmosphere?)

How did I manage to survive so far? My husband does not know of my habit, nor do my kids; although with my elder one, we read the books together and sometimes discuss Harry Potter; I sometimes try to explain some concepts to my child using Harry or Ron as an example -- nothing extraordinary. But once I'm alone at home, I'll start clicking, and I can't stop. Only when I'm out of the house, working where someone else is present, have I been able to do my other work, and that's how I've been able to manage my workload so far.

I've tried to understand my fascination with this; I think partly it's the "magic," a wonderful concept for the imagination. Also I'm a Ron/Hermione shipper (a term that means I'm happy with their relationship), and the stories surrounding the Ron/Hermione dynamics are sometimes so poignant, I tend to fall in love all over with the characters and become so envious of their (imagined) relationship. There are a lot of good stories, mind you, quite a few geared toward the over-19 group, but I'm not really picky about what I read, as long as it's well structured and well written and not OOC (that's Out Of Character). I've never participated in the forums or written fan fiction myself, but I sometimes dream about it -- I feel like I know the writers better than some of my friends.

I've tried cutting off the Internet, not staying home when I'm alone, limiting myself to a certain amount of time, but they haven't worked. Do I need psychological help or therapy? Am I secretly harboring some type of dissent with my current life and expressing it through this destructive pattern of Web surfing? Or am I just procrastinating and not motivated enough to get my arse back to work?
Ardent R/H Shipper

Dear Ardent R/H Shipper,
Is it not starkly emblematic of our barren, frigid Puritanism, hostile to dreamers, that you must hide from your husband, your co-workers and even your children in order to indulge your imagination? Is it you, I'm saying, or is it the world you're living in? Addicted? Full of shame? Shame about what? You say it hasn't killed you yet? No, it's keeping you alive, I dare say. This isn't some heroin full of impurities that is going to jam up your lungs and give you abscesses on your injection spots; this isn't some shameful, basement vodka-drinking, passed-out-mom situation, your blouse fouled with vomit and your limbs askew near the drain at the damp, low spot in the concrete floor. This isn't some manic-depressive speed-freak hell where you find the formerly distinguished chair of language studies at Eminent Ivy Inc. quaking on the bare pine floorboards of an SRO in the Bowery.

This is more the secret reading-and-scribbling indulgence of a Jane Austen or Emily Dickinson, it seems to me, in an age both more crass and more straitlaced than theirs, if such a thing is even possible.

Maybe you are secretly harboring some type of dissent. If so, good for you! Some frowning, malnourished psychiatrist in itchy wool tweed, summoned by the concerned, might drive out in his Buick LeSabre and pronounce you maladjusted. Hallelujah if he does, I'd say. Hallelujah if he does! Let the world diagnose you as seriously maladjusted. To me you stand as a testament to the survival of a fragile innocence in a world that has grown ever more barbaric, and that even now is feeding its young to fascistic engines of domination solely so that future generations, if they survive the heat, can be even more barbaric, domineering and philistine than we are. Yes, if your imagination survives the clitorectomy of the Ph.D., if you run the academic gantlet of hungry Pilgrim hands and survive their tearing nails, more power to you. They may leave you out in the snow to freeze, or brand you as a heretic, but some feeble survivors of the purge will be applauding, albeit silently, not daring even to show our faces in the window.

I mean what, exactly, is the problem? That you pursue this in secret? That it feels out of control? And why do you pursue it in secret? Is it shamefully lowbrow and secular? Is it not the high, striving, virtuous text approved by the academy? Is it not the wifely, dutiful rack you are supposed to be stretched out on, the Pilgrim's wheel of commerce and progress where you are supposed to be laboring when you are not cleaning house and suckling the young? I suggest you examine the setting here, and look for the character's motivation. Why is this your problem and not the world's?

If you yourself were a character in one of these plots, would your pursuit of secret pleasure in words brand you as evil and wrong? Or rather would there not be intense identification with you across the land, as people just like you are seeking the same thing, something ancient and bright, some artifact of a true, untrammeled soul with its innocent need for narrative, something mythlike and linear in a world of exploded stories. And who could blame you for crossing the line, when the fences between reader and text and writer have rotted and fallen anyway, when we are all enmeshed like strangers on a train in the same humming engine of creation and retelling?

Are they going to put you in stocks on the village square if they catch you? Maybe they will. I wouldn't put it past them. But do us all a favor: Don't blame yourself. Blame this awful Horatio Alger cartoon we seem to be stuck in.

Dumbledore

2007-10-22T18:26:00.000-07:00

WARNING for Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows SPOILERS.

After the announcement by Harry Potter Author, JK Rowling, that Dumbledore was gay, I was applauding like the people in the audience. A main character, gay? “Think of the fan fiction now!” JK said.

But really? I’ve let the information sink in and brew, and I’ve decided that I’m not happy. Not at all.

What the HELL, JK? How ~brave~ of you to out a major character some three years after you KILLED him off, and a few months after the last book has been released. What was the point in that? Making sure book sales wouldn't be affected, perhaps? It was never even alluded to in the book.

JK said “If I’d had known you’d all take it like this, I’d have said it years ago”, but you know what? I doubt she would have.

Harry Potter, one of the most beloved children’s classics produced in this decade, had a lot of faults. There was inherent racism, classism, and not to mention religious prosecution. Also, for a book that supposedly touted equality, there was QUITE a bit of stark vilification.

Snape-- Was he EVER redeemed? Not in my mind. He was still a self-satisfying man. He never saved Harry’s life out of an inherent goodness, he did it because he loved Harry’s mother with a sick, obsession-style love. We were given so many glimpses into Snape’s world and life that I really expected him to be redeemed. I expected to see his goodness shine through. Perhaps in his explanation for killing Dumbledore we see something like goodness but I am hard-pressed to find canon proof that Snape did ANYTHING without it benefiting him. And the fact that Snape NEVER left the Death Eaters? I do not see loyalty to Dumbledore in that; I see a convenient way to have the best of both worlds.

Voldemort-- JK gives us real glimpses into his childhood at the orphanage and growing up which could have been used to demonstrate how he was conditioned to the man he became, but instead she makes it quite clear that from day one Tom Riddle was an evil child. Tom was a very evil adolescent who preyed on those weaker then him. And Tom became a killer and tyrant of epic proportions later on in life, despite many opportunities to reform. But sheer evil is supposed to be expected of ‘the enemy’ isn’t it?

And Draco-- How can anyone forget the vast disappointment from Draco’s lack of development? Few characters won over as many hearts as Draco. In the 6th book we see Draco torturing himself over his mission to kill the figurehead of ‘good’, Dumbledore. He can not kill Dumbledore, and we all waited with baited breath for the 7th book for the inner goodness we’ve all hoped was there to shine through. Yet? Nothing.

Draco has the opportunity many times to do the right thing. Draco knew and experienced the sheer evil that was Voldemort. Draco is in the room where Hermione is being tortured; Hermione and Draco hated each other, yes, but they did grow up together, and for every scheme the trio had concocted, Draco was there trying to bring it down. Their lives had been interwoven front the first book, yet when Hermione is faced with torture and rape, Draco does NOTHING even though he has the means and the opportunity to help. He doesn’t even step-up to being a true villain and partake. He is allowed to fade into the background after 6 books of being a main player with no change, no development, and no redemption.

Even the character portrayed the darkest next to Voldemort, Belatrix Lestrange, who tortured and killed Nevile’s parents, is given more of my sympathy then the characters who were center stage from the beginning because she was driven crazy by her love for Voldy, who manipulated, used, and threatened her.

Apparently, there is only good and evil in the ‘tolerant’ world of Harry Potter.

All the ‘evil’ characters? Remain Evil.
All the characters who didn’t ‘fit’ into Wizarding society (Re: Reamus Lupin, the werewolf and Dolby, the free house elf)? Killed off. Why?

To avoid the messy details of how life after this epic war was NEVER CHANGED.

And as for Dumbledore’s sexuality? Like, REALLY, JK!!! WTF. What better way to show tolerance and equality by keeping them as they should be, right? Silent and dead. Most of your readers won’t ever know you said it. Good one, Jk. My Respect-O-Meter just changed a few notches, but it wasn't in your favor.

Mock Your Fandom

2007-10-19T19:03:00.000-07:00

Icon by wonderland__

I’ve spent a lot of time trying to show that fandom can be serious and well crafted, because I’m sick of hearing ignorant remarks from people who’ve read one terrible fic and assumed that was all there was.

But you have to laugh at yourself before you can laugh at others.

So I bring you a little bit of fun. It’s the serious ficcer’s bain, the newbie’s first, and the most ridiculed of all fics, but STILL written in such abundance that it has earned its own genre: The Mary Sue.

Still into that Crap?

2007-10-13T17:30:00.000-07:00

So by chance I happened to run into my high school English/ Writer’s Craft teacher, Ms. Carol Morga. She taught me everything I know about writing. No joke. Everything I know now and everything I have forgotten began with her. I think you can all understand the respect I have for this woman?

So we get to chatting, how are you, where are you working, etc. I told her that I am going to San Francisco on the 25th for a holiday, but also for this really huge anime con....

And this is when I get: “You aren’t still into that crap?”

Usually we (anime fans, that is) hear the “that Pokemon stuff?!” exclamation, but this time I was pleasantly surprised to find out that Morga’s critique was NOT over the westerner ‘all things animated must be cartoons’ attitude so often heard.

She showed how well informed she was by critiquing 'the creepy shit'. And I have to agree. Anime is a medium that has been used to bring to life educational shows, cartoons, and major blockbusting movie hits, but it has also hosted truly disturbing content. Anime has been the medium of rape scenes, mental illness, suicides, and more gore then would be allowed on American television for the same age-rating. Shows brought over to the western watchers are regularly ‘cleaned up’ to cut off the cursing and over-abundance of blood so they can market it to younger Americanized audiences.

Many parents look at a drawn-picture, and don't even bother to ask about content. I have to wonder how else Ninja Scroll, an anime with a GRAPHIC rape scene, made it onto the shelves (or onto the 'seen' list) of nearly every anime hobbyist I've ever spoken to.

She has a valid reason to discredit Anime-- and I respect her for that. I respect informed opinions and people willing to debate their ideas openly and honestly. She has asked to be linked to this blog and for me to send her some of the fics that I’m writing now. I am writing these posts, not as an exclusionary ‘if you aren’t one of us, you can go somewhere hot sometime soon’ manifesto, but because I want people to understand that there is a real tightly woven culture underneath the big-eyed people and the ten-story Mobile Suits.

Most people who come to me with the "not THAT crap!" line, though, usually do not see past the popularized stereotype. I have to stand there and smile while some idiot who's only seen Sailor Moon on American television tries to tell ME what Anime is about and what age group it’s targeted to. Why don't I "grow up"?

Now is usually about the time that I offer some validation. ‘I like Anime because of X, Y, and Z.’ Maturity of plot? The quality of Art? Fan community? The Culture of Anime? Should I post about 'what anime means to me' and beg for validation?

Not on your life.

I am an anime fan.
I am a ficcer.
I am a beta.
I am a writer.
I am an RP addict.
I am a friend.
I am one of many, and I am my own entity within the group.

I have no apologies and no excuses. And I won’t give any.

Fanfic as ART? I think so.

2007-10-08T08:51:00.000-07:00

So dragonscholar, recently proposed that fandom is the link between Art and Entertainment here. There are problems with the definitions of art (Requires effort, focused on uplifting and educates, is experienced intimately by individuals, about individual interpretation, not aimed at general groups) and the definition of Entertainment (Does not require effort, is totally or largely for fun only, is experienced more passively by individuals, aimed at general demographics, "open" to anyone) but there is enough of an idea to open the idea up.

To me, Art has a certain timeless quality that supersedes the era of its creation. Entertainment has a very immediate purpose. Now, of course, Entertainment can become art. We all know of a movie or novel that is so well crafted and timeless that it stays with you for years to come and can shape the way you view your world. What more can a masterpeice of art ask of me then to profoundly affect?

Fanfic can be Art too. There’s always that one great fic that will blow your mind and bring you to tears. Fanfic is just writing with someone else’s characters, but a good writer still deals with issues of acceptance, love, family, and finding your place (just to name a few) and these can be dealt with in highly engaging ways. Fanfic can wiggle its way into your heart and stay with you for years to come. Bedroom Window by Fablespinner (no longer hosted except on my hard drive) has been with me for nearly a decade. I remember it. I internalized it. It meant much more to me than a hundred books or movies on the same topic. My friend Cobalt_27, says Link_Worshiper’s Smells Like Teen Spirit rocked her world.

The fact is, fanfic is just a different media to write what can come to mean the world to its readers. Fanfic can be art.

The Age Debate

2007-10-02T21:19:00.000-07:00

Jupiter_star posted the long awaited (and I mean it’s been MONTHS since it’s been updated) epilogue to one of my favorite Prince of Tennis (PoT) Fanfics, “The Other Half” and it pulled me back elbow-deep into PoT fanfic. PoT is not my primary fandom (I tend to stick to Gundam Wing and just foray into other fandoms from time to time), but whenever I think of PoT fic, I remember the best damn disclaimer I’ve EVER read regarding age, by Arigatomina: “I’m taking them to be as old as they look”.

Why is this groundbreaking? Well, let’s play a little game called “Guess my age!”

Tezuka.

Captain of Seigaku’s tennis team. He goes off to Germany for a good season+ to nurse his wrist injury. He is one of the top ranked tennis players in his league.

Age?

What is 14, Alex.
Surprised? You aren’t if you are familiar with anime. The style of drawing changes depending on the ...art...right?

Well, here’s two characters from the same anime called Ouran Host club-- Honey and Mori.

Honey is the blonde. He likes cake. Strawberries. Cake. Playing games with Tamaki. Cake. And he always carries his pink bunny named “Usa-chan”...who also likes cake.

Mori is the 6’4” brunette. He is the Japanese Kendo champion and is known to split a log with one swing. He seldom speaks, but when he does he is usually being indulgent to his constant companion, Honey, and carrying him on his shoulders.

Same anime, related to each other, so this eliminates the animation-style theory. So let's play again.

Their ages?

Honey is actually the eldest of the Host Club, and he is in the same class as his cousin, bringing both of them to the just-legal age of 18.

One of the strengths of animation is the ability to use physiognomy to show character, and anime is no different. Strong, tough characters look older and cutsey love-me characters look young. Since most fanfic happens after cannon (or after the end of the show/ series/book/ season) then most writers take liberty with aging the characters to fit their needs. The most popular genre in fanfiction, is, unsurprisingly, Romance! Why is this a problem?

Is this child porn?

Honey looks 12. And Mori looks 20. But you and I know that in canon they are 18. And in the fic they’re 25!

What is the right age? Do we take age under the original authorial authority (Honey and Mori are 18 because Bisco Hatori said they were)? Or fanfic authority (I’m writing them as 25, so that’s what they are, DUH!)? Or is the visual authority more important (when I see that he LOOKS like a child, so I think that’s WRONG)?

This age-problem pops up everywhere, and most people do not want to deal with it! A fic revolving around Honey and Mori won’t necessarily be a problem, because the fic may explicitly say the characters are both of age of consent (most do, because, let’s face it, we’re NOT pedos, and I do not support those that are). Now, what if someone made a fan art of that fic? Fan-illustration? And they were good enough artists to really capture the style of the original anime. You have a picture of Honey and Mori, say, kissing? How about an NC-17 pic of them screwing?

To the casual observer, or someone just stumbling upon the series, looks are the most important. And that was why not less then 2 months ago, 2 prominent fan-artists were banned from Live Journal, loosing YEARS worth of work and data, because someone flagged their journal as soliciting kiddy-porn (WTF, I lie, right? nope. Start here.)

The age questing is a huge problem in fanfiction with no easy answer. But my belief?

If the fan-product is visual, visual age should be heeded.

If the depiction is in writing, whatever the fic writer says should be heeded.

And authorial authority? NAH! They just give us the spring-board, and we do the rest! ^.^ ]

That’s fandom, baby!

Veiw Comments Here

Writers block, meet your worst NIGHTMARE!

2007-09-24T18:46:00.000-07:00

Drabble Writing

This is a VERY handy genre I’m bringing over from fandom. The drabble is a VERY short fic. The original drabbles were supposed to be 100 words, but their popularity has outgrown the rigorous of rules (making it under 500, then growing to an even broader meaning); any fic that is very short and focuses mainly on one micro scene has been termed a drabble.

Now, why are the drabbles useful?

I have NEVER found a better way to break out of writers block!! When I am blocked, trying to come up with an idea, my favorite thing to do is ask someone for a prompt, or get one from a prompt community ( there are HUNDREDS where you can find some useful quotes, or even images as well to prompt you into a drabble).

Sometimes writing something completely different than what I’m agonizing over works for me. Other times, I like to write a little scene that will happen later on in the fic. The point is, it doesn’t really matter what I write, just as long as I write.

The trick is to just get your hands typing again, and you don’t ever have to show anyone the product. You haven't wasted more then a few minutes, so who cares! Just hit delete and no one will ever know you just re-wrote a scene from that movie you saw way back when....

But it WILL get your writing motor running again, and that is the beauty of the drabble!

Fandom and You, OR: Why do you care?

2007-09-20T07:48:00.000-07:00

Now that I’ve established what a beta is, and also that this fanfic thing is rapidly becoming more mainstream, you are probably asking yourself: “Why should I care?”

The answer is pretty simple: I am a beta. I beta read the fics of at least 3 prominent fandom writers and 5 or 6 other writers I take on a case to case basis. I am also a teaching assistant for the Foundations of Academic Writing course here at the ‘ol U of W. So what’s this mean?

I see writing once the author thinks it’s perfect, and then I work to make it better. I work to make the piece of writing that I LOVE become more polished, more effective, more readable, and more understandable. And I want to share what I’ve learned.

So, what’s the first things I tell my writers to improve on?

Vocabulary.

Many writers (especially in fandom!) get hooked on the same cliché phrases and descriptions over and over again. Heero’s eyes are “cobalt”? I can NOT count how many people use that same descriptor over and over again. Problem is that many people, in a frantic desire to change this cliché, turn to words no one has EVER heard of. “Perse”? What is Perse? (Apparently it’s a colour. And I’ve had one author use it to describe those pesky cobalt eyes of Heero’s). So this is going to lead me to start a little text box at the side of the blog with some of my favorite words that might add a little OPA! into the same tired old descriptions we’ve come to rely on.

Today’s Word will be:

Acerbic. Adj. It can mean sour or bitter tasting but it can also mean a sharp or biting personality or retort. See full definition.

“He might have tried to smooth over the ruffled feathers, but it was obvious Ryoma was just an acerbic little brat with too much talent and too little manners.”

Wufei smothered the urge to give an acerbic reply (that would be unprofessional, of course), and instead settled on a dangerous glare.

“No. Go screw yourself, and take that stupid grin with you!” Jefferson spat acerbically. But the venom was severely diminished as said grinning man slapped a pair of cuffs on him and ushered him into the patrol car.

Time magazine reports on Fanfic.

2007-09-11T15:30:00.000-07:00

Fandom is becoming more mainstream (even though many of us would prefer it didn't) and before my eyes, I'm watching REAL publications spring up around the 'fan phenomenon'

This article in Time magazine is discussing this 'fanfic' thing! Thanks to online fandom for pointing it out! I was FLABBERGASTED to see them trace it back to Canterbury tales! Many people seem to think that it's only 'those crazy Trekkies" (or Trekers, as they prefer to be called) or 'those freaky anime fans' who would write such things! But if I've learned anything from years of dedication, then it is that fanfic is much broader then my little niche.

Fanfiction, it seems then, can attribute the increase of reader base and increase of authors to the internet’s widened scope, but we can proudly say that it existed long before computers were even dreamt about. If there’s a series, a book, a movie, or a web comic you like, I can guarantee you’ll find fanfiction about it (although I do NOT guarantee the quality of it!) This ‘phenomenon’ is only gaining speed, but many don’t realize that, like Indiana Jones, our ever-growing world could bowl us over at any minute.

Fan publishing is becoming known to companies. Anne Rice has specifiaclly said that fanfic is unlawful use of her trademark (go here for a more complete look), yet the fics continue. WHY do fans feel the need to write? Apparently it's been happening for hundreds of years, so will a trademark really stop us?

What IS a "beta" : Not Just for software anymore!

2007-09-11T08:21:00.000-07:00

I've decided to title this blog "Beta’s woes".

Now a simple dictionary can tell you what a woe is, but you’d be hard-pressed to find out what a “beta” is unless you knew where to look. The term beta is closely linked to software development (a ‘beta’ version of a program is the tester program) so it’s no wonder that fanficcers adopted a new term for this new position in fandom.

If you just raised both brows and sought a dictionary, you aren’t alone. Because betas are highly specialized in their happy little niche, it’s almost impossible to define them without a little background on the ‘fandom’ community. Let’s get down to basics, then, shall we?

A beta is a shortened title from “beta reader”. In the offline world, we’d call these people proof readers or editors, yet the online sphere utilizes these people differently and as such these people are given a different name! So why is a beta different then a proof-reader?

Because betas are also readers of the material. A beta is first and foremost a fan of the work they are proofing. A beta does not simply proof the work, but discus, and take part in the development of the writing. Therefore, not quite a proof-reader, a beta is actually more like a ‘test reader’ who the author has learned to count on for good, thought-out feedback so the term “beta reader” was coined, then shortened to simply “beta”.

So why the special name? And who ARE these authors I’m speaking of?
Well, a beta exists primarily in online fanfiction communities. For a basic definition, fanfiction is fan produced writing about a pre-existing show/book/movie/etc. This fan-writing also has its own terms to distinguish types of writing within fanfic (like length-based terms such as “drabble”, “one-shot”, and “multi-part” or genre/style terms such as “waff”, “Mary sue/Gary Stew”, “canon”, “AU”/ “Alternate Universe” or “Alternate timeline”, and MANY more) which can make fanfiction beginners feel like they are being excluded by the sheer incomprehensibility. Are we fanfic-types just elitist snobs with no dictionary and too much time?

I don’t think so. Fanficcers, like any sub-group, have developed their own jargon to describe themes and problems only experienced in fanfiction (where ELSE would you need a term to describe a fic in which the lead character is unrealistic perfection in all things who steals the show away from the canon characters you want to read about? We call them Mary Sues, and they are the hallmark of a fanfic beginner). These terms are just what we fans have learned to use to make it quicker and easier for other fanficcers to catalogue, discuss, and recognize specific writing.

So what is a beta? Well, we’re the proof readers and the testers for authors!

This page itself? I edited 4 or 5 times with the help of MY beta, bless her soul. Because I trust her to know when I’m being incomprehensible, and I trust her to give it to me straight-- that’s why all authors need a beta.

** Edit** I found a great Fanfic term site here for the basics, which is easier to digest then the above linked glossery with EVERYTHING.