Interesting thoughts, and I think this line: Fiction and its attendant trappings in the SGA fandom can be very frustrating, and the points you bring up that seem to be connected to that assertion, have been the center of my ponderings over your ideas. Two questions occur to me to try to answer:
-- Is there a real problem, and why? What's happening in fandom that inspires these thoughts and feelings? Your mentioning 'frustration' is key, I think--some people do feel frustrated when they see certain writers/stories receive oodles of gushing praise, consistently, when they feel the praise may not be warranted, may be more inspired by the writer's name or certain buttons pushed rather than by the 'quality' of the work. They may also feel frustrated when stories they feel do merit that kind of attention aren't getting it, whether it's their own, a friend's or something by a writer they've never heard of. Name recognition is a big deal in fandom, but it's a big deal in the original fiction market, too. I have a friend who writes horror, and I think her stuff is great, but Steven King and Anne Rice sell a lot more than she does--that's understandable, because they have the name recognition. The fanfic and profic worlds do have some similarities; they get paid in sales, while we get 'paid' in hits and recs and feedback. Big pro names make lots of sales, as do big fandom names, while lesser known writers in both areas get less. Big names in both realms gather loyal readers who depend on those names for a good read and who'll pick those names over unknowns on a store display rack or a newsletter post. Profic writers can become 'in' to read ("I haven't read any Writer X, yet, but I really should...."), as can fanfic writers. Not a lot of differences, there.
Fanfic offers something most profic doesn't, though, and that's accessibility. That's changing, some, as profic writers are making themselves more available than in the past, but it's not the same as the opportunity to sit at the right hand of the BNF, to become her bud and bask in her reflected glory, to have one's social status elevated through association, to have one's stories noticed because the BNF recced or betaed them. I think that when people feel frustration over seeing the same people lauded and applauded while they feel others are overlooked, they're suspecting something of that sort, some toadying and ass-kissing. This is probably especially frustrating when EVERYTHING that writer writes seems to get that kind of attention, and the frolicking throng doesn't seem to be exercising any kind of objective standards, in the frustrated individual's opinion, but seems to be mindlessly and slavishly devoted more to the writer than to the stories.
That may well be what's going on, in some cases, but it also may not. I think I'm a pretty discriminating reader, but there are a few writers whose work never fails to please me and who I've followed into fandoms, just to be able to continue to read their work. Anna, for instance, is one of mine; I've loved everything she's written, for a lot of reasons. I've enjoyed her plotting and narrative voice and style and sense of humor and dialog and areas of 'interest' for a decade, and, on those rare occasions where I've been in a fandom before she arrived, I've definitely greeted her stories with an ecstatic, "Yay! Anna's here!" and much rejoicing. I've never said, "Yay, Anna's here! Now we'll get some GOOD stories!", which could be, yes, frustrating to those who've thought there were some damn fine stories in the fandom already, thank yew, but I've expressed similar delight at the collected works of a couple of writers who consistently please me, and I don't think there's anything potentially damaging about that, even if people don't agree with my assessment of her ability, nor do I think it indicates an inability on my part to appreciate other writers in the fandom. We just all have favorites.
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branchandroot
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Date: 2006-03-21 03:29 am (UTC)-- Is there a real problem, and why? What's happening in fandom that inspires these thoughts and feelings? Your mentioning 'frustration' is key, I think--some people do feel frustrated when they see certain writers/stories receive oodles of gushing praise, consistently, when they feel the praise may not be warranted, may be more inspired by the writer's name or certain buttons pushed rather than by the 'quality' of the work. They may also feel frustrated when stories they feel do merit that kind of attention aren't getting it, whether it's their own, a friend's or something by a writer they've never heard of. Name recognition is a big deal in fandom, but it's a big deal in the original fiction market, too. I have a friend who writes horror, and I think her stuff is great, but Steven King and Anne Rice sell a lot more than she does--that's understandable, because they have the name recognition. The fanfic and profic worlds do have some similarities; they get paid in sales, while we get 'paid' in hits and recs and feedback. Big pro names make lots of sales, as do big fandom names, while lesser known writers in both areas get less. Big names in both realms gather loyal readers who depend on those names for a good read and who'll pick those names over unknowns on a store display rack or a newsletter post. Profic writers can become 'in' to read ("I haven't read any Writer X, yet, but I really should...."), as can fanfic writers. Not a lot of differences, there.
Fanfic offers something most profic doesn't, though, and that's accessibility. That's changing, some, as profic writers are making themselves more available than in the past, but it's not the same as the opportunity to sit at the right hand of the BNF, to become her bud and bask in her reflected glory, to have one's social status elevated through association, to have one's stories noticed because the BNF recced or betaed them. I think that when people feel frustration over seeing the same people lauded and applauded while they feel others are overlooked, they're suspecting something of that sort, some toadying and ass-kissing. This is probably especially frustrating when EVERYTHING that writer writes seems to get that kind of attention, and the frolicking throng doesn't seem to be exercising any kind of objective standards, in the frustrated individual's opinion, but seems to be mindlessly and slavishly devoted more to the writer than to the stories.
That may well be what's going on, in some cases, but it also may not. I think I'm a pretty discriminating reader, but there are a few writers whose work never fails to please me and who I've followed into fandoms, just to be able to continue to read their work. Anna, for instance, is one of mine; I've loved everything she's written, for a lot of reasons. I've enjoyed her plotting and narrative voice and style and sense of humor and dialog and areas of 'interest' for a decade, and, on those rare occasions where I've been in a fandom before she arrived, I've definitely greeted her stories with an ecstatic, "Yay! Anna's here!" and much rejoicing. I've never said, "Yay, Anna's here! Now we'll get some GOOD stories!", which could be, yes, frustrating to those who've thought there were some damn fine stories in the fandom already, thank yew, but I've expressed similar delight at the collected works of a couple of writers who consistently please me, and I don't think there's anything potentially damaging about that, even if people don't agree with my assessment of her ability, nor do I think it indicates an inability on my part to appreciate other writers in the fandom. We just all have favorites.
(cont.)