Mon221B

What's up with people reading the latest installment of a nice, long fic and commenting along the lines of "oh, please don't have Sherlock top! John should be all big and growly, not Sherlock!" and "you should tag for switching if it's going to happen."

Like...who's out there so set on John topping that Sherlock topping would ruin it for them? And requesting tagging for it like it needs a trigger warning? I confess I just don't understand that. I mean, for me, part of the glory of fanfic is exploring all the possibilities. All of them. Like, I'm not necessarily going to rush over to read Molly/Mycroft zombiefic, but why in the world would I discourage someone from writing it?

You do you, fic writer. Write all the things. Fandom will be better for it.

Here's why I would never be able to post a WIP fic.

I have an idea that I'm pleased with, and I'm going along writing, chuffed and frankly kind of amazed that the words are actually transferring to the doc for a change, four or five thousand words into some emotional hurt/comfort, when suddenly --

What if it's an a/b/o AU? Because then it could be emotional hurt/comfort complicated by the inherent consent issues of a/b/o and maybe a vehicle to explore gender roles. I could look at what an omega!John would look like, how he would be different from canon!John. What would his upbringing have been like? What if medical school and the military would never have been options for him? What would he have done with his intelligence and talents if they couldn't have been developed in that way? What if he was 'trained up' to believe his purpose was to raise children, make a home and support his spouse? Would he have to quash an inexplicable anger because he's never able to be what he's meant to be? Would that somehow explode, one day? And how in the world would Sherlock fit into that au? Would he be an alpha? A beta? What if they were both omegas? Could they ever work in that world?

And I'm going with that, kind of disappointed about some of the things that will have to change in my original fic but excited about the new ideas, when suddenly --

What if it's a more dystopian a/b/o AU? What if it's a sort of Handmaid's Tale crossover? Then I could examine the power dynamics of that world and --

Oh. Power dynamics. Maybe it's not a/b/o after all, but an AU where everybody is a dom or a sub, but subs are a tiny minority and the alphas of the world all want one but only the most rich and powerful can ever get one, so maybe the government decides it needs to take custody of unpaired subs 'for their own protection.' And then, of course, there's a seedy underworld black market where subs are bought and sold...

And then I'm more or less equally in love with all of these ideas and unsure of which way to go -- and will anyone want to read any of this? And does it matter if no one else but me ever reads it? And, well, yeah, it does matter, because omg I want someone to fall in love with these ideas along with me, but people who are far better writers than I am have done all of this before and far better than I can ever hope to do it. And wow, maybe all of this is way too complicated and I need to just pare things down a helluva lot and aim for something simpler that I can realistically make happen --

And that's why I can never, ever post a WIP.

Me writing out ideas for a new fic



Me actually starting to write said fanfic

I have a bad feeling about this. /han solo

First of all, just.../why/? It's fanfic. It's not nearly as interesting to them as it is to us. And if they /did/ want to read it, well, it's pretty easily accessible all over the place. Also, appointing yourself the judge of what's the best fanfic = recipe for disaster.

And, you know, I get not wanting to send TPTB Wincest and slash, but if you're going to exclude those because you want to keep it as close to canon as possible, I'd say you'd better exclude all AUs and anything rated above PG13 (since the show itself is rated TV-14.)

But in general, just...gah, no. Fanfic is for the fans, full stop.

I am, weirdly enough, still getting comments on the Jared/Jensen parody fanfic I wrote back in April. Seriously, where are all these people coming from? I mean, I know it was linked from the fandom_wank post, and that probably is the source of a lot of the post traffic, but still. I love the feedback, but WHO ARE YOU PEOPLE?!

Anyway, because it bugs me that the intentional bad grammar in the fic might be mistaken for just plain bad grammar, I went back and edited it a bit. It's got a proper header format now, too. I've decided it's fanfic in its own right and I should treat it as such. :)

Title: The Day Fanfic Turned Jared and Jensen Gay and Totally Ruined Their Lives Forever
Author: hanncoll
Rating: PG13
Pairing: Jared/Jensen
Warnings: RPS, tongue firmly in cheek.
Disclaimer: Fiction. Made it all up. None of it is true. Well, except that Jared and Jensen are indeed from Texas; that part is true. Everything else is NOT REAL.
Comments: Humor, spoof regarding wank about fanfic. It's keepaofthecheez's fault.
Summary: Jared and Jensen find out about fanfic, and tragedy ensues.

The Day Fanfic Turned Jared & Jensen Gay and Totally Ruined Their Lives Forever

Question for the flist. When I first posted the fic, someone encouraged me to post it to a fanfic comm as well. I was hesitant at the time, but man, this feedback thing is addictive. *g* Would I be ill-advised to post it to a comm at this point? Has the moment passed? Please tell me what you think; I don't want to look pathetic if that's at all avoidable.

Also, half my flist has been doing wordles, so naturally, I did one for "TDFTJ&JGaTRTLF":



( Larger behind the cut: )

Title: The Day Fanfic Turned Jared and Jensen Gay and Totally Ruined Their Lives Forever
Author: hanncoll
Rating: PG13
Pairing: Jared/Jensen
Warnings: RPS, tongue firmly in cheek.
Disclaimer: Fiction. Made it all up. None of it is true. Well, except that Jared and Jensen are indeed from Texas; that part is true. Everything else is NOT REAL.
Comments: Humor. Crack. Spoof regarding wank about fanfic. It's keepaofthecheez's fault.
Summary: Jared and Jensen find out about fanfic, and tragedy ensues.

( J2 parody/commentary/...thing, inspired by recent wank. )

Updated 6/20/08: Now with Wordle!



Larger:

Um. hossgal (she of the 'your use of an unaltered, textless screencap icon is offensive to me because YOU think it's wincesty' opinion) has rec'd my fic (http://hossgal.livejournal.com/134563.html#cutid1) Which, omg yays, happy day! And also, omgwtfbbq? And also also, I doubt she even remembers me trying to discuss the matter with her, but also also also, she sort of gives my fic a backhanded compliment: "This one's a bit weaker than several others that I'm listing, but there's a line in there about green tea. And I'm a sucker for stuff like that."

Which, um...thank you? I guess? For liking the fact that I mentioned green tea? Even though you thought the other 838 words of it were weak?

I'll just be over here, reminding myself that a rec is a /good/ thing. *g*

Edit: I /swear/ I'm gonna learn how to do the coding properly someday!