Hello New People!

[intrigueing]

jadelennox is hosting a dreamwidth friending meme here, and since there's a whole bunch of new people who've subscribed I thought I'd say hello. Hello! Details about me are on my profile.

My current state of fandomness is largely unchanged since winter. I am fangirling a whole lot of fandom history and fandom culture and fandom meta for early (or, to my early twenties self, "ancient" as one friend will never let me forget) fandoms, mainly Star Trek TOS, Starsky & Hutch, and Star Wars. I am firmly not getting excited for Star Wars Episode VII, since I always enjoy this kind of thing a million times better when I'm not anticipating it, but my massive Star Wars love has been steadily rising for the past few months.

Some comms I subscribe to and/or visit semi-frequently (I am also very busy with work and real life, so I have less time for this than I used to), and recommend for people wanting to participate in fandom more on dreamwidth, are:

For discussion: fandomsecrets , fail_fandomanon 

For fandom events, challeges, etc: fandomcalendar , fandom_on_dw ,

For fanfic writing: onedeadplotbunny , fan_flashworks , fic_promptly 

And also, if you're a gen fan looking for fic recs, I highly recommend gensplosion which recs not just gen fic but usually very unique and creative gen fic.

I subscribe to, but have mixed feelings about metanews . It's an awesome posting of recent fandom meta from around the internet, but the links contain a mixture of both eyerolling are-you-fucking-serious pretentious bullshit and omg-that's-really-cool awesomeness in roughly equal measures.

I am currently immersed in writing -- or more like grappling with -- four or five separate fanfics. Why four or five instead of one? Because I'm a fucking idiot, that's why.

A wonderful fandom friend also graciously lent me a stack of ancient sorry, I mean, "older" Star Trek TOS zines from the '70s-'90s and I have been going over them with great glee and will probably post some reflections about them in my journal soon.

I keep telling myself I will post more fanfic recommendations, but I keep forgetting. I am taking this opportunity to remind myself to get on with it.

eta: I also just discovered the Anonymous Writing Feedback Meme anonconcrit , courtesy of moetushie !

Comments

[silverr]

I might - just might - have an issue of Pegasus somewhere, a fairly massive Star Wars fanzine that was published in the late 70s by Judi Hendricks and Paula Block.

[intrigueing]

That's really cool! I haven't dabbled in early Star Wars zines (the online fic is so good and prolific it's kept me busy) but I have been checking out pdfs of the letterzine Southern Enclave and it's been fascinating to see what fans' opinions were like back when ROTJ had just come out.

[silverr]

*nods* as I recall, Pegasus IV came out before ESB.

http://fanlore.org/wiki/Pegasus_%28Star_Trek:_TOS_and_Star_Wars_zine%29

[darjeeling]

I like metanews, and I really appreciate the time and effort they must spend compiling all the weekly links, but like any site, the stuff that goes on there needs to be taken with a hefty grain of salt.

THANK YOU for the genplosion comm rec, I had no idea that existed. As someone who writes primarily genfic, and is constantly frustrated by the LACK of genfic on AO3/FFnet, talk about a hidden gem.

[intrigueing]

You're welcome! My favorite type of fanfic is gen too. I like my shippy fic too, but gen is my favorite and combined with the fact that gen is often buried within loads of shippiness, I have a constant unfulfilled hankering for it. gensplosion is a fantastic comm, however, most of the recs are submitted by a handful of members, and while they have amazing taste, I think it could really use more submissions!

[darjeeling]

/genfic highfive

Honestly I feel like genfic is almost becoming something of a lost art when it comes to fanfiction. It's kind of sad too, because when AO3 first started, it was actually really gen-heavy, because all the crap shipping stuff was on FFnet, and the writers didn't want their stuff to get lost in 13-year olds trying to write what went in what hole.

Now AO3 is very, very ship heavy (although thankfully, still much better in overall quality).

[intrigueing]

That's true. I wonder if this partly happened because people started crossposting all their kinkmeme fills to AO3 since it's so easily categorizable and sortable.

[darjeeling]

You know, that's a good point that I hadn't considered! Especially with LJ's implosion a few years back, it makes sense that AO3 became the go-to archive instead of the kink comms.

[silverr]

Speaking of genfic, the mcugen comm has had some very good stories.

[darjeeling]

... it's like you read my mind :O thank you!

[silverr]

I was especially impressed by Domenika Marzione's Inherited Characteristics, which has a middle-aged Peggy Carter interrogating a teenaged Tony Stark.

It's 1986, the Sox are going to the World Series, and sixteen-year-old Tony Stark has just gotten himself arrested for trying to sell nukes to the bad guys.

[darjeeling]

NICE, that was a good read! I can tell I'm gonna have lots of pages of fic to go through in the next while :)

[silverr]

I'm happy to hear that you enjoyed it!

Happy grazing. <3

[lightbird]

Yeah, I need to start reccing stuff at gensplosion. I've mostly been posting recs to fancake -- also a great rec comm, and I love that each round focuses on a specific theme or trope. But gensplosion is great and several terrific stories were brought to my attention via that comm, so I should give back. I do read fics with all kinds of 'ships too, but I definitely lean more toward gen in fanfic. I'm more interested in reading for plot and exploration of all dimensions of the characters, rather than for the 'ships.

[intrigueing]

Wow, thanks so much for directing me to fancake! That looks fantastic. <3