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The Meme of Ten
Nov. 20th, 2003 12:56 pmTen opinions that I hold or have held which may not be held by many others in the fandom?
1. You shouldn't write fanfic if you haven't read the books. (I held this opinion circa 2001)
I used to be very very irked by people who wrote Harry Potter fanfic without having read any of the books; I would see a fic that placed James Potter and Tom Riddle in the same year, and I would say, "Meh!" Now, it doesn't bother me as much, but it still is a bit of a pet peeve. You don't have to love all the characters or even all the books, and I do understand why some people read the fanfic without having read all the books or listened to the audio versions, but I don't really understand why someone would want to write fanfic or read copious amounts of it, without having enjoyed at least one of the HP books.
2. It's fine to write posts and/or fanfic in Netspeak.
While I'm not bothered by using "0" as a replacement for "o", or things in netspeak or l33t when they're (a) on LJ, (b) brief in nature and (c) clearly meant in good fun and bereft of seriousness, I despair when I see such things in actual discussion threads or (even worse) in a fic. Put it in your sigfile; don't make me translate your post to see the point you're trying to make.
3. If you want to discuss the books, discuss the books.
Book discussion written in role-play style is another thing that I have to more or less translate before I can see the point someone is trying to make. Yes, I think it is possible to make a point or an argument about canon using narrative (fanfics do it all the time) or in a role-play, but it sets up one additional level that I have to parse through to reach the argument, and I really don't see the point of it. At least if I'm reading a good fanfic or an RPG that admits to being an RPG, I can enjoy it for the story contained therein, even if I'm not interested in the argument being made.
And speaking of things where I don't really care about the arguments...
4. The R/Hr vs H/Hr thread on FA, and the "I Hate H/Hr" and "I Hate R/Hr" threads? I. Hate. Them.
Yes, FA hosts them. No, I don't enjoy reading them at all. Look, I didn't even see Ron's interest in Hermione in GoF before I started reading posts on HPfGU professing that he was crushing on her, so clearly, my initial reads of the books were pretty much devoid of focus on the romance-stuff. And I still think that ship debates are the cause of more angst, agiata and animosity than any subject that doesn't even have an answer yet deserves to have.
5. FFN and the Evil That Lurks There
Why do people post their fics on FFN? WHY? WHY? WHY? Apart from all the reasons that I think FFN is a bad place (their nonresponsiveness to their users is a big buggaboo for me, as are their seemingly capricious rule changes) I know that it's completely self-centered of me to want people to not post their fics there - and the reason is because I cannot read fics on FFN on my Sidekick at all. Post to FA. And if you hate FA, then post to Skyhawke, LJ, Pumpkin Pie, SQ, UR.net - put it in the FILES for the HP_Fanfiction Yahoogroup. Just not on FFN. And if you want to put it on FFN for a public beta or something, fine, but make sure that when you hand the URLs around, you don't only give the FFN one. Because if you do, I, and I'm sure others, will *never ever read it*.
6. We ARE All Reading The Same Book.
We are. Really.
7. Gacked from![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
viola_dreamwalk, "I don't believe that slash, het and gen are or should be separate 'genres.' I'm not too fond of classifying fics by ship, either. If a story is entirely determined by who's sleeping with whom, you're doing something wrong."
8. People who delete their FA activation emails, which requires us to send them new ones, sometimes 5, 6, 7 times in a week, are utter t00bs.
9. There were some great fanfics written before you joined the fandom; go read some of the oldies and see what the cliches looked like when they were shiny, new and not overdone.
10. I'm upset with myself, because I haven't had time this year to reinvigorate The Unexpected Task. Perhaps it would work better as an LJ community?
And speaking of LJ communities, look for some news from FA about communities and codes. Also, is anyone interested in being inspired by![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-community.gif)
50bookchallenge and doing a 50 Film Challenge in 2004? I'll create a community if I know it'll have interest and posters...
Also, when I was installing WINXP earlier this week, I found the Very First Trailer from PS/SS, from back in Spring, 2001. I remember wondering along with everyone else who Draco was turning his head to, and who was slamming the door down and why Dudley had dark hair and just how joyous Harry looked, leaping on the table to get one of those ruddy letters. Has everyone seen it? Those of you who came into the fandom after PS/SS was released, did you ever get a chance to see the early trailers?
1. You shouldn't write fanfic if you haven't read the books. (I held this opinion circa 2001)
I used to be very very irked by people who wrote Harry Potter fanfic without having read any of the books; I would see a fic that placed James Potter and Tom Riddle in the same year, and I would say, "Meh!" Now, it doesn't bother me as much, but it still is a bit of a pet peeve. You don't have to love all the characters or even all the books, and I do understand why some people read the fanfic without having read all the books or listened to the audio versions, but I don't really understand why someone would want to write fanfic or read copious amounts of it, without having enjoyed at least one of the HP books.
2. It's fine to write posts and/or fanfic in Netspeak.
While I'm not bothered by using "0" as a replacement for "o", or things in netspeak or l33t when they're (a) on LJ, (b) brief in nature and (c) clearly meant in good fun and bereft of seriousness, I despair when I see such things in actual discussion threads or (even worse) in a fic. Put it in your sigfile; don't make me translate your post to see the point you're trying to make.
3. If you want to discuss the books, discuss the books.
Book discussion written in role-play style is another thing that I have to more or less translate before I can see the point someone is trying to make. Yes, I think it is possible to make a point or an argument about canon using narrative (fanfics do it all the time) or in a role-play, but it sets up one additional level that I have to parse through to reach the argument, and I really don't see the point of it. At least if I'm reading a good fanfic or an RPG that admits to being an RPG, I can enjoy it for the story contained therein, even if I'm not interested in the argument being made.
And speaking of things where I don't really care about the arguments...
4. The R/Hr vs H/Hr thread on FA, and the "I Hate H/Hr" and "I Hate R/Hr" threads? I. Hate. Them.
Yes, FA hosts them. No, I don't enjoy reading them at all. Look, I didn't even see Ron's interest in Hermione in GoF before I started reading posts on HPfGU professing that he was crushing on her, so clearly, my initial reads of the books were pretty much devoid of focus on the romance-stuff. And I still think that ship debates are the cause of more angst, agiata and animosity than any subject that doesn't even have an answer yet deserves to have.
5. FFN and the Evil That Lurks There
Why do people post their fics on FFN? WHY? WHY? WHY? Apart from all the reasons that I think FFN is a bad place (their nonresponsiveness to their users is a big buggaboo for me, as are their seemingly capricious rule changes) I know that it's completely self-centered of me to want people to not post their fics there - and the reason is because I cannot read fics on FFN on my Sidekick at all. Post to FA. And if you hate FA, then post to Skyhawke, LJ, Pumpkin Pie, SQ, UR.net - put it in the FILES for the HP_Fanfiction Yahoogroup. Just not on FFN. And if you want to put it on FFN for a public beta or something, fine, but make sure that when you hand the URLs around, you don't only give the FFN one. Because if you do, I, and I'm sure others, will *never ever read it*.
6. We ARE All Reading The Same Book.
We are. Really.
7. Gacked from
viola_dreamwalk, "I don't believe that slash, het and gen are or should be separate 'genres.' I'm not too fond of classifying fics by ship, either. If a story is entirely determined by who's sleeping with whom, you're doing something wrong."8. People who delete their FA activation emails, which requires us to send them new ones, sometimes 5, 6, 7 times in a week, are utter t00bs.
9. There were some great fanfics written before you joined the fandom; go read some of the oldies and see what the cliches looked like when they were shiny, new and not overdone.
10. I'm upset with myself, because I haven't had time this year to reinvigorate The Unexpected Task. Perhaps it would work better as an LJ community?
And speaking of LJ communities, look for some news from FA about communities and codes. Also, is anyone interested in being inspired by
50bookchallenge and doing a 50 Film Challenge in 2004? I'll create a community if I know it'll have interest and posters...Also, when I was installing WINXP earlier this week, I found the Very First Trailer from PS/SS, from back in Spring, 2001. I remember wondering along with everyone else who Draco was turning his head to, and who was slamming the door down and why Dudley had dark hair and just how joyous Harry looked, leaping on the table to get one of those ruddy letters. Has everyone seen it? Those of you who came into the fandom after PS/SS was released, did you ever get a chance to see the early trailers?
