Quality vs. popularity in fiction by summerfling

[paradise-city.livejournal.com]

Quality and popularity are two separate concepts that, in theory, are complementary. In practice, however, they are often intimately entwined and certainly play an important role in what gets read, watched, listened to, etc. That the same mechanism is at work in fandom and fan fiction is not surprising, though perhaps, with the independent community nature of fandom as opposed to professional published fiction, it should be.

What follows is a discussion on quality vs. popularity in SGA fan fiction, with the purpose of exploring the structural dynamics of fandom and the social norms and mores that contribute to those dynamics.

Fiction and its attendant trappings in the SGA fandom can be very frustrating, in that I've noticed the same authors get recced and acclaimed repeatedly, regardless of the quality of their work. There have been multiple instances where I've read a fic whose quality struck me as notably out of proportion to the amount of glowing feedback it received and I needed only to double check the author's name for the proportions to make sense. Perhaps belatedly, I've come to realize that being a well-known author in other fandoms takes one far in this fandom.

Of course, this isn't unique to the SGA fandom, but it is happening more often here than I've seen in other fandoms. This could be a function of the little black dress nature of the fandom as a whole: perhaps, as SGA is drawing many popular authors from other fandoms together, these effects are being multiplied to noticeable levels.

I find this problematic because (a) it implies a lack of objectivity on the part of readers and reccers, which likely means (b) less well-known authors with high quality work are left undiscovered (or at least unpublicized). Many rec pages look incredibly similar, with the same authors and the same works. That's to be expected, to an extent, but I've noticed many authors who have nearly all their SGA pieces recced. Now, there are many professional authors, musicians, etc. I enjoy, but I wouldn't rec 80% of their back catalog nearly as often as happens with SGA authors. Are all these authors' works really that good? Is it the quality that's driving the rec, the recognizability of the author's name, or some other factor?

Related to this is the proliferation of crack fic in the fandom (which, arguably, could be a different issue entirely). There are several crack fics I've enjoyed, but there are many more that left me scratching my head and wondering about authorial intent. Previous discussions have looked at authorial distance and the merit of the crack fic label, but I've been feeling a shift from considering crack fic to be good in terms of silly enjoyment to good in terms of characterization and quality, most often when a well-known name is associated with the piece. It was this phenomenon that led to me to question the depth of the relationship between popularity and quality.

I suppose the questions I'm trying to raise are those of perspective: this has been my experience with SGA, having come late to the fandom party (post-S1) and having been largely unfamiliar with the staple authors. However, from discussions I've had with others, it seems as though this has become a trend. If that is indeed true, it then becomes a question of extent and, relatedly, fandom norms and mores and how they create fandom homeostasis.

Of course, this is the same lament seen in many other fandoms likely since the dawn of fandom. I had, however, anticipated SGA being different because of the aforementioned little black dress nature of the fandom as a whole. With many authors being brought in from many other fandoms, I had expected there to be more open and experimental air in terms of reading new authors. That doesn't seem to have happened and I'm not entirely sure why that is.

I feel the need to disclaim this this is (a) nothing personal and (b) certainly isn't intended as wank against more popular authors in favor of less popular authors, but rather as an exploration of fandom dynamics and, perhaps, a comparison of fandom's social norms and mores to the norms and mores of professional published fiction. As such, I'd love to see any discussion this may prompt.

ETA 1: For any newcomers to the discussion, the issues I originally posted about are related to public crit and easily segue into a discussion on that topic. However, as per the admin's kind reminder, please keep your responses away from the topic of public crit and on topic with what was said in the original post. Thanks!

ETA 2: Thanks to everyone who's participated in this discussion. I benefited quite a bit from reading others' opinions and I hope some of y'all did, too. Kudos also for keeping the discussion friendly and polite; perhaps it was naive of me, but I hadn't realized how incendiary a topic this could be. Thanks for sharing your ideas and opinions. :)

Comments

[thelana.livejournal.com]

But shouldn't that be the point of recs? That the reccer wades through the stories and recs any hidden gems.

If the reccer only recs the pieces that everybody will read anyway, what's the point really?

[sweetvalleyslut.livejournal.com]

Well, the purpose of *my* recs page is generally for people who are just entering the fandom, because I think those stories are worth being read by everybody who's interested in the same pairings/styles that I am. I certainly do rec stories that aren't as well-known, because they're ones that I like, but for me, a recs page is less a service to others and more a chance for me to compile a list of *my* favorites, and write down why I like them, because I enjoy that sort of thing--just ask anyone who's been pimped into a fandom by me.

I think you're mistaken in assuming that all reccers have the same agenda, or that all of us really want to spend our days reading every story posted on mckay_sheppard so that others don't have to do the same. Some people do that, and they're awesome, but I can just as easily pick up news of a story from one of several reccers I trust as from going looking for it myself.

[thelana.livejournal.com]

But, if people only read the "name" stories, recommend the best of them, again breed a group of people who read only the name stories and therefore of course rec only that, isn't there a danger that the whole thing gets too incestuous?

Don't get me wrong, I don't fault people for doing it, but the idea is kind of, I don't know, diversity? Like have some reccers of the first style and some reccers of the second style?

I realize that fandom, especially once it reaches a certain size is more like a buffet where everybody takes what they want rather than any sort of nuturing environment, still, the fear of always the same rears its head. Grin, but I guess the solution for that would be more reccers with a specific eye for new stuff and diversity ;D

For the record, I'm not even in the SGA fandom, so I'm mostly speaking from past experience.

[sweetvalleyslut.livejournal.com]

I think there are places--like Danvers' recs page, mentioned above, and many others--where people can go if they want to see what's out there besides the old standbys. So yes, there are reccers of both types.

And I'm not really feeling the lack of love for new authors. Usually, what I find is that if a story is good, it will be recced, and certainly in places where people will find out about it. If it's not that good, or if it is just the same old thing, then it won't be, or maybe it will, but if I'm not impressed, I'm certainly not going to rec it.

Sorry that was so rambly. I guess I'm just don't really percieve any real problem in this fandom, which has always seemed to me incredibly welcoming of new authors of all varieties. Much more so than most fandoms I've been in, anyway, the folks here tend to leave lots of feedback, rec heavily when they feel something isn't getting enough attention, and generally be pretty nice to each other. I agree that it's a problem in some fandoms and with some particular reccers, but I just don't see it here.

Flowers in the Reccer's Attic

[paradise-city.livejournal.com]

But, if people only read the "name" stories, recommend the best of them, again breed a group of people who read only the name stories and therefore of course rec only that, isn't there a danger that the whole thing gets too incestuous?

That's the assumption I was operating on: if a story has already been recced many times, what's the point of reccing it yet again? And that's not to say the story isn't good or that it doesn't deserve the rec, but rather that repetitious recs aren't of any help to anyone in anything but establishing popularity (which in and of itself isn't bad, either; that's the theory behind the Best Seller list and SoundScan). What I hear other posters saying, however, is that the point of their recs is to rec stories they like. I've come to see, though, that a reccer's goals are as important as what they rec.

Thanks for the comment. It was nice to know I wasn't the only one thinking along these lines.

Re: Flowers in the Reccer's Attic

[thelana.livejournal.com]

*shruggs*

I'm really no expert.

It does seem that many reccers seem to rec stories for their friendslist, and mostly for people outside the fandom. Which is of course a very different position than reccing for people who actually care about the fandom.

I admit I have never been a rec heavy person, but I'm very allergic to repetitiveness. I nagged indefinitely on a general fandom rec place where people would rec every new chapter of several WIP stories because it annoyed me badly. One would think that reccing something once or twice would be enough to notify people of the stories existance.

Then again, the only time I do some reccing in my (indefinitely smaller fandom) I don't really do recommendations based on like or quality, but more along the lines of "Oh, something like that got posted as well", since there are a bunch of specialized lists that post fic and I'm mostly trying to compile it for people who don't want to subscribe to all the spealized places.

[sheron]

Not for everyone. Sometimes when a story brings me that glowy 'wow' feeling I just want everyone to read it, regardless of how many people have done so before to state my appreciation. A person who recs does not necessarily wade -- they are independent sets of people that sometimes intersect.