In which I type about fandom.

[impulsereader]

This week I bumped directly into two radically different aspects of fandom, and that made me want to type about it.[Poll #1878866]

Comments

[221b-hound.livejournal.com]

My experience with writing Stay and the response to it has been very positive, especially when I wondered if I should post it at all. But it really has given me a handle on talking to my friend, who is still in hospital. It also seems that my words have been meaningful for others, which makes me both humble and very, very moved. It is, as you say,an example of the best fandom has to offer as a supportive community.

I agree with your analysis thoroughly. I may admire the talents/looks of certain actors in my fandoms, but it's always the ideas that got me involved in the first place. When I write fanfic, I'm exploring those ideas and expanding them, as well as exploring and expanding my own writing with scenarios and ideas I haven't necessarily written before. In fact, two RL writing projects have evolved from all my Sherlock fic, so it's been very good for my writing in general. :)

I'm amused when I find out the creators are engaging with the fandom, but I have reservations too. I know that when I'm reading, or writing, fic or admiring art (whether gen or slash) I'm not really seeing the *actors*. In my head, they are the *characters* and while they look like the actors (to greater or lesser degrees) that's not who I see. It's one of the reasons I've never been into Real Person fic. But I'm not sure the performers can see that separation - and of course, in some cases, that separation doesn't exist for the fan creator or fan consumer of a story or piece of art. It must feel very confronting for the actors, sometimes, and that's a shame. (FOr me, they've so absolutely created an entirely new person, it's only the new person I see, as it were.)

I think I'm babbling now.

Anyway, I'm supposed to be doing my Day Job now, so off I go. Dayjobbing away. :)

[impulsereader.livejournal.com]

Yes, that's what worries me sometimes. I feel that the actors don't get that we're not secretly talking/writing about them. Or, at least, most of us aren't. It's a tribute to the work they've done embodying someone else entirely that we're inspired to spin tales around these characters. I don't want them to be scared of their fans, basically, and I wish fandom in general could try to keep it classy around the actual actors. Let's face it, there isn't much direct interaction, so if we could just try to keep it together for the short time during which it is happening then we can go off and squee into our pillows as much as we like.

I hope your friend is well on the mend and you'll be able to visit soon if you haven't already.

[221b-hound.livejournal.com]

Hubby is visiting him tonight - we thought it best that he not be overwhelmed by visitors, and he and hubby are close friends. We'll probably both go to see him when he goes home on the weekend.

And, yes, fans need to keep some of their kinks to themselves. Most of them probably wouldn't appreciate it if some random person from work/school came up and said 'all my friends and I talk about you as an AU version of yourself wearing red knickers or getting all sweaty with your best friend, and then we put the art and stories on line, cool huh?'. SEriously, no. I know it's not precisely the same situation. But really, if the actors go *looking* for this stuff in their free time, having heard about it, they've only themselves to blame. Fans offering it up like rare and refreshing fruit? Not classy, folks.

[impulsereader.livejournal.com]

It's not precisely the same situation, no, but it is pretty darn close; it's also hilarious to imagine.

[f-m-r-l.livejournal.com]

*shudder* Reminds me of the time a creep we thought was a friend told my girlfriend-at-the-time and I that he'd like to watch. Fantasies are one thing; confronting people with specific fantasies involving them (and I think that's how a lot of actors take it) when there isn't an ongoing relationship is intrusive, to put it mildly.

[quarryquest.livejournal.com]

I love your Gladstone's Collar series. I also hear what you are saying about using fanfiction in a therapeutic manner, which is pretty much solely what I use it for.

When I lecture to students on Fandom I often point out, more seriously than humourously, that if you can tell me who your favourite character and what appeals to you about them I can tell you what you present preoccupation is.

[221b-hound.livejournal.com]

You probably already know my occupation, but I admit I usually like characters not simply on their own but because of their dynamics with at least one other significant character. I've always been a huge fan of Holmes and Watson, from ACD onwards, and a lot of it is to do with their dynamic, and how their gifts and defects balance out. I like characters who are intelligent, quick with a quip, perhaps a little dark, or at least flawed, especially if they have unexpected friendships. I always liked the Avon/Vila dynamic in Blake's 7 for that.

[quarryquest.livejournal.com]

When I was first writing Sherlock fic, and I had a problem with their voices, I realised that Avon and Vila were very similar. It's no coincidence that Martin Freeman got the role in Blake's Junction Seven for that reason I think.

[221b-hound.livejournal.com]

And isn't that a ridiculous short film? Without being at all like SF, it still manages to be actually pretty much exactly like the show! Freeman was very well cast in that.

[quarryquest.livejournal.com]

My heart warmed when I saw Martin carrying their Orac across the bridge. I was so glad Tudders managed to still be alive to be him again. The reaction of Paul Darrow at a convention when he saw the bit with Avon and Blake in the loos was priceless. A friend and I had a very hard time keeping our faces straight.

[221b-hound.livejournal.com]

That was fabulous! And 'Are we there yet?'. And Mark Heap, and Johnny Vegas, and, oh, EVERYONE. *chortle*