Ticky boxes

[shapinglight]

I had this meta post in my head, inspired by shadowkat67's recent trip down fandom memory lane, but first I went for a walk and it went completely out of my head, then I wrote a sort of post about it and managed to delete it by accident, so suffice it to say that I'm bowing out of reading Mark Watches BtVS because I'm 99% certain that when he gets to season 6 and Seeing Red he's going to turn into a rabid Spike-hater, and I've seen enough of that in the last eleven years to last me a lifetime - plus even in these more enlightened days, I still don't think that Spike is a racist misogynist because he refused to give back Nikki Wood's coat, or that the AR uniquely disqualifies him as a romantic partner for Buffy given the behaviour of the competition etc, and I doubt I ever will. I'm a lost cause, in fact. :shrug:

So anyway, I should try and do some writing. Before I start, though, here's a poll, which I'm putting up because I feel a bit grumpy about my writing these days, despite the fact that a bunch of new people have friended my other LJ.

Poll behind cut



[Poll #1813249]

ETA: Since I seem (as usual) to have posted my poll without thinking it through, should say that if you care to expand upon your answer in comments, I'd be very grateful. Also, I'm grumpy about my writing not because I feel unappreciated as a fic writer or anything but because I'm still finding writing so bloody difficult. Sorry if that doesn't come across well.

Comments

[ruuger]

Does it count if I have bunch of your fic bookmarked for reading when I'm in the mood for Buffyverse fic (which is unfortunately not that often anymore)?

And if it makes you feel any less grumpy, you are without a doubt in the top 5 favourite fanfic writers for me in any fandom. Whenever anyone is looking for Buffyverse recs, your name is usually the first one I give them

[shapinglight]

That's very kind of you. As usual, I think I posted the poll too quickly without thinking through all the options I should have given people. It's a pity you can't edit them.

My grumpiness isn't really based on feeling unappreciated, but more on the fact that I'm still struggling so much with writing. It's all hard and stuff.

[empresspatti.livejournal.com]

I came for the fiction and stayed for you!

[bogwitch.livejournal.com]

Your fic problem with me, as you know, is the lack of Damon Salvatore in your work. That and the slash. :)

[kathyh]

I'm the same as ruuger in that there is fic of yours I want to read, but I'm just not in a Buffyverse mood at the moment. I love your fic when I do read it.

I'm a lost cause

So am I :)

[ningloreth.livejournal.com]

I read it, first and foremost, because I met you at writerconuk.

As far as your fic's concerned, I read your PWP story (plus a related story, I think) and I really enjoyed it, and would read other het & gen stories of yours, but I don't like slash*. (Hardly anyone on my f-list reads my stories, and I assume that's because they're het and in the 'wrong' fandom. I tell myself it's not because they're crap ;-)

* When a character is het in canon, and I like him, part of why I like him is because he likes women!

[shipperx.livejournal.com]

Given his reaction to a couple of things in the Game of Thrones series, I honestly don't know how he'll react.

[hello-spikey.livejournal.com]

I think when writing is difficult, it's a sign that you're taking it seriously.

I confess I save the difficulty for my non-fic writing and just let myself be BAD in fanfic. It makes the whole thing a lot more fun. "Is this a rushed ending? Bad characterization? A plot hole? Oh well. Fanfic! yay!"

[shapinglight]

:) Thank you.

[shapinglight]

Heh! Well, the problem with including Damon is firstly that I've never watched a single ep of TVD and secondly that I hate his eyebrows and have done ever since Lost. As for the slash, maybe you're just reading it wrong. In most slash fiction the characters are basically a heterosexual couple who happen to be the same sex. So really it's the same as het fic.

That's my opinion anyway. ;)

[shapinglight]

:)

I still rarely venture outside the Buffyverse. I've read a couple of short The Hour fics I liked, but that's about it.

[shapinglight]

(Hardly anyone on my f-list reads my stories, and I assume that's because they're het and in the 'wrong' fandom. I tell myself it's not because they're crap ;-)

In my case, it's definitely the middle of those. Your stories are definitely not crap, and I read/write plenty of het so I've no objections to that. I'm afraid it's just that neither LotR nor HP do anything for me.

However, that's not surprising. I can't even read fic in the fandoms of other shows I enjoy, or rarely. I tried reading some Dany/Jorah fics in GoT and couldn't get past the first few paragraphs, not because they were really badly written or anything, but somehow it just didn't work for me.

As for slash, I've long ago concluded that most slash, which is written by women, is really het fic where the two main characters happen to be the same sex. They still behave like a heterosexual couple for the most part.

[shapinglight]

Really? I suppose you can't elaborate on that without spoiling?

[(Anonymous)]

Something weird happened to me during last 2 yrs of comics: I don't seem to be able to read long fics, only short Spuffy ones (less than two page scrolls) that don't mention Angel.

*I've managed to fix my DVD (unlock the region thing) so I can watch from time to time my Buffy disks (i'm on the middle of S4 now)

[shapinglight]

I think when writing is difficult, it's a sign that you're taking it seriously.

Yes, I do. But then, unlike yourself I don't write anything that isn't fanfiction. :(

I do get bothered if people say the ending of something is bad or whatever (not so much that it didn't work for them, because that's a personal thing, but if they think it's technically bad) because it's all I write. Maybe that'll change one day. I don't know.

Incidentally, have you ever tried self-publishing? There was a very interesting article in our paper about it the other week.

[ningloreth.livejournal.com]

neither LotR nor HP do anything for me

It always amazes me how specific one's tastes are in fanfic. For example, I like Buffy as a TV series, but have never had any desire to write it and have only read it to support people on my f-list.

They still behave like a heterosexual couple

That actually makes me nauseous. (You can imagine what they'll do to someone who looks like Orlando Bloom!Legolas). But I also dislike it when a character's canon raison d'etre is his love for a woman, and they slash him with someone -- it's like they've disembowelled him. (I'm thinking here of Eternal Law, if you've seen that). And I dislike it when people argue that slash is the way to explore equality between sexual partners, because part of the wish-fulfillment aspect of my stories is that my male and female characters are bloody-well equals. (Can you tell I've had some maulings in fandom discussions, LOL?)

[flake-sake.livejournal.com]

Fanfic is what brought me here first and I still like to read it, but mostly I just like to read what you are thinking.

[flake-sake.livejournal.com]

I did not read his GoT reviews in detail but from what I gathered he did like the redemption arks there quite well.

[shapinglight]

It always amazes me how specific one's tastes are in fanfic. For example, I like Buffy as a TV series, but have never had any desire to write it and have only read it to support people on my f-list.

Heh! I'm even worse than that. Not only do I only read non-Buffyverse fanfic once in a blue moon (read some The Hour fics I liked while that show was on air), but I'm even fussy about what I will read within the fandom. I don't read Buffy/Angel fics, for instance, or only very rarely (read one recently because the author was someone who had more or less disappeared from fandom and I was hoping to encourage her to stay. It was good, but if she had been around all the time I probably wouldn't have read it) and I almost never read fics that don't feature Spike in a prominent role, or fics that do feature Xander in one, etc, etc).

That actually makes me nauseous. (You can imagine what they'll do to someone who looks like Orlando Bloom!Legolas)

Eh dear. I think we're going to have to agree to disagree on this one. I can perfectly well imagine what slash writers would do to Orlando Bloom and it doesn't make me nauseous at all. However, I don't want to argue the point, especially since I have no axe to grind re the sexual politics of the whole thing. I don't think slash fic has any particular moral superiority any more than het fic does, and I don't understand people's urge to justify what they write by claiming it either way any more than I understand the urge to character bash.

I'm sorry for the maulings. I'm all for live and let live, personally.

[shapinglight]

Ah. Well, maybe Mark will conclude that after the AR Spike can be redeemed, but he can't be with Buffy. Lots of people have come to that conclusion, including (IMO) Joss.

I don't agree with it, of course, but then I am a lost cause, as I said.

[shapinglight]

Well, I'm not sure I'd call it thinking. :(

[sueworld2003.livejournal.com]

Well obviously your wonderful fanfic is what drew me here first, especially as we both seemed to have shared fic interests (ie bending poor Spike over a table and having a damn good rummage *g*) but then we became rl friends and the rest is history.

[hello-spikey.livejournal.com]

I will never self-publish. Not unless it truly becomes the only way it is done. The mainstream publication houses still consider self-publication the sign that you wish to voluntarily opt out of fame, fortune, and critical acclaim. Or at least ever being published by them.

[next_to_normal]

I picked "once maybe, not any more" but that's more a reflection of my fannish habits than your fic. I rarely read any BtVS fic anymore. I've stuck around in fandom and on your LJ in particular because you're interesting and I like seeing what you think about various things. :)

(Just curious, what about Mark's posts makes you think he'll be a Spike-hater in S6? I wouldn't say I've agreed with everything he says, but I don't know that he's seen enough for me to judge what he'll think of S6.)

[shapinglight]

Really? That's not what this article seemed to be saying. Do you want me to link you?