EXCHANGE INTERFACE

"If you build it, they will come."

We've all heard it at some point. Many of us have given this wisdom to someone who said "there's nothing in the bit of fandom that I want to see grow!" and thought nothing of it.

As someone who's pretty much made a name for herself in fandom by writing the less-popular characters and pairings, I can tell you that while the basic premise is true, the implicit ongoing implications are a lie.

( what we've been told vs. what actually happens )

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Also for my fannish50 posts

Well, I won't say that Bridgerton is dead to me, but I am going to have to watch this with some very large grains of salt. Quite possibly entire salt licks.

( I may be approaching this from Romancelandia not from Kardashiland )

Really, it's about pacing, and I feel that Bridgerton's sense of pacing is off - and my confidence for Season Three is certainly not boosted by the way Season Two played out.

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Again, maybe it's a Kardashiland vs Romancelandia thing? But I'd have played the beats out differently:

( Bridgerton: Virtual Seasons Three and Four )

Now if only I could find some authors willing and capable of writing this with me! I'd definitely do a Virtual Season Three and Virtual Season Four...

Today, I am not in the mood for humaning, let alone adulting. Just let me crawl back into bed and sleep until the thirty-third day of Never.

I offered answers for a fanfic meme back in June, and promptly forgot about it. (Sorry!)

answer post the first
answer post the second

Forthwith, the third post!

30 by senmut
30. Tooth-rotting fluff or merciless angst?

( Por qué no los dos? )


3 by pensnest
3. What do you think makes your writing stand out from other works?

I like to think it's that I write different characters to the mainstream, and I write them differently to the mainstream.

( beef, pork, chicken, mmm - but mostly beef )

Two more to go! #19 and #5.

If you want to ask one of the questions, drop the comment in the original meme post.

Answers to the fanfic meme I posted last week.

27. What’s the nicest comment you’ve ever received? requested by beatrice_otter

I've gotten a lot of comments over the decades, and I can't actually remember which one was "the nicest". But I can tell you the ones that I love receiving and often later re-reading when I come back to a story and read the comments weeks, months, even years later.

It's always delightful to hear from people who loved the story, but particularly delightful to hear what they loved: the phrasing, the characterisation, the situation/crisis and how I resolved it.

As an example, my recent fic 'Twelve Steps' is a canon-divergence from Endgame, and quite a few of the comments mentioned that they not only loved the changes I made and the reasons I gave, but also they loved that I'd followed the logical conclusion of the events of the movie, as well as how clear it was that the characters had changed in their time apart from each other.

Those are the comments that warm my heart: where people appreciate and pick out the details that struck them, particularly when those details are ones that I took pains to include in the story.

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2. Why do you write fanfiction? requested by rmc28

Thinking all the way back to my earliest days of fanfic conceptualisation, it was usually because I wanted to see a variation on a story that wasn't contemplated in canon.

I wanted to see Leia save the galaxy and her brother. I wanted to read more about Generation X (of the X-Men comic books)'s interactions with each other and the world around them as teenagers rather than as superheroes. I wanted Sam Carter to end up with Jack O'Neill without losing her sass and her delight in technology and her duty in the military. I wanted to explore the dynamics between the characters of the Justice League cartoons both when the world's fate rested on their shoulders and when it didn't...

A lot of times, I write fanfic because I want to see a scenario about a character that I like, but who isn't well-liked by most fans, or whose fans can't write them as the character in which I see them. And yes, I have a type when it comes to fanfic characters, and yes, they're a bit like me in character (which makes it considerably easier to write tem).

And, you know, the feedback is nice. :)

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Coming up: 17, 22, 30, 3, 19, and 5.

I was only going to give up alcohol for a month, but I wasn’t prepared for the impact it had
I drank to pretend my life was more interesting. Feeling slow or a little sad in the mornings was so normal I barely noticed it.

Frankly, I don’t think I could handle if my life got any more interesting. I do like a drink every now and then – a glass of wine or a cocktail with dinner.

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The Guardian : Jail if by sea, through the gaps in the system if by air.

When Trump says ‘infested’ we know he’s talking about people of colour: And again the burden of explanation falls disproportionately on non-whites.

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I Kissed Christianity Goodbye.

( more links and thinks )

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Male directors don’t really capture the intimacy of female friendships.

( they're not the only ones )

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Chinese Australian History predates the First Fleet

( erasure from Australian history )

And this is why I probably shouldn't go reading other people's reactions, because it sparks off all my own thoughts and feelings

( warnings for time travel brain breakage )

I really do miss when I could just enjoy these movies. I think I lost that later than most people – after Age of Ultron when the news for Civil War came out, tbh. Maybe that’s why I enjoyed Dr. Strange and GotG2: because they didn’t make my head hurt. (While Civil War made my heart hurt with the sheer lack of Maria in the storyline that introduced her in the comics, even as an antagonist over the Accords or something.)

I don't know if it will be the panacea for all ills, per se; you're probably wanting your favourite rather than mine, and the fixits will be coming thick and fast, but seriously, imma point you at the other side of infinity for something that yes, made my head hurt while writing, but which I'm pretty sure for which I closed all the really huge plotholes...

Oh, and ( spoiler for fic )

I'm going through the fic positivity thread, starting with people who haven't got any replies to their comment and seeing if there's anything I can add (if there's anything in their repertoire that I'll read).

In the meantime, I've discovered I'm actually pretty bad at telling people what they're good at in writing as a whole. I can focus in on specific stories, specific characters, specific concepts, but if you ask me for the big picture...? Nope. Can't do it.

It's a bit like my view on bands - I may like most music by a band, but I'm not about to commit to all of their music. There are bands and singers who have a better chance of getting my attention and keeping it and being put on my playlists, but that's still not a guarantee.

Ah well, I'll keep working my way through the list...

The original link is here: Basic Income Could Transform Society.

There's a discussion about it on FFA. The conversation threads go in all directions, although the ones that I enjoy reading about are the ones that examine not the economic success/failure of the concept, but the reactions to the concept - their own, the other anons', political groups/societies - and what it says about their own preconceptions, presumptions, and prejudices.

For me, I think, one of the key points is not "does it work?" but "why do so many people want it to fail/rejoice in the idea that it might fail/refuse to even contemplate tests to see if it works?"

Starting a local movement. I know at least one woman living in my area who has many FB people who don't like Australia's current stance on refugees.

Job prospects for 2017.

Working out how to minister more to people-who-are-not-like-me and people-who-don't-have-my-opportunities.

Spending more time in contact with my cousin's wife, who is just starting out writing.

George Michael. Carrie Fisher. Vera Rubin.

( epitaphs of heroism )

Maps of the World's Countries Rearranged By Population: take the largest geographical countries in the world, and move the countries with the largest population into those spaces.

It's quite fascinating: apparently Indonesia would get China, China would get Russia, the US would remain pretty much the same, while Canada would now occupy Pakistan. (India gets Canada. Man, the US racists would SHIT BRICKS; they've got Ethiopia on one side, and India on the other...)

Australia would end up in Spain (weather's not bad, but this whole 'land borders' business is a bit shoddy), while Pakistan gets our "shores guarded by oceans wide". That'll make a difference from the mountains they're used to...

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Thank You, Mr. Trump: A letter about the things that Trump has revealed in US society and the US mindset; while it's not nice to discover You're Actually Not All That After All, it'll be a good kick in the butt for some, even if others drag their feet.

As a middle-aged white woman, I thought we'd come further than we have. I'm grateful that you've shown that I'm wrong. That just means that I have to help the change that should happen.

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Unpacking Casual Sexism/Racism In The Classroom: or, how to start a discussion, not a defence.

Some thoughts on how to unpack the way we speak: 'you're such a girl', 'man up', 'that's gay'. I have no doubt it works better on those with a mindset to learn than those who think they know everything or that they're okay, but it's something that I think I'm going to have to try somehow, particularly when dealing with racial microaggressions.

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Speak The Truth To Trump: An article from Christianity today, pointing out the flaws in voting for Trump from a Christian (Evangelical?) perspective. I don't agree with all the points they make, but the ones they make about how all earthly political systems are going to be flawed and trying to coerce them into working our society into a theocracy can too easily become idolatry of human processes are very relevant, I feel, particularly for American Evangelicals I know for whom this idea of 'a Christian society governed by Christian laws' is something that they really want.