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

Cont.

[carolyn-claire.livejournal.com]

So, there's frustration, which is, you know, part of life. There'll be unfairness, or perceived unfairness, in fandom as there is everywhere else, and people's motives for doing what they do will always be pretty much unknowable. But is this damaging to fandom, in any way? Is there a problem here beyond people feeling miffed, dissed or underappreciated? Is there any kind of chilling or repressive effect happening because of perceived favoritism? Hard to say. I think it matters where you hang out, for one thing; I see recs for lesser-known stories and writers on my flist. Maybe people need to expand their reading list to find similar posts. Maybe people need to make more of this kind of rec, themselves. Does anyone stop writing because they don't get the volume of feedback and number of recs bigger names do? Maybe, but, you gotta remember, even the biggest names were unknown, once. They became known because enough people liked what they did that word about them got around, and that's still happening. Are the big names putting out so much recced work that no one has time to click on the lesser-knowns? Obviously not, since new names are getting recced and recognized, though maybe not as much on some of the recs pages (if that's true, and I don't know that it is, over-all.) Is it possible that unknown writers have to fight their way upstream against the tide of better-known writers and their fans for readership and recognition? Yeah, maybe, but that's the case in profic, too. Why should we expect it to be different, here?

-- Which leads me to ask, is this really more of a problem in SGA than in other fandoms? I don't think so. I've heard this same frustration being voiced in every fandom I've been in, over years of reading and writing, and I don't think it's much different in SGA fandom. Maybe your expectation that it would be colors your reactions. I've never been in a fandom where people didn't bemoan the fact that the big names garner more of the attention, even when some don't feel it's warranted. I've also never been in a fandom that grew this quickly, that pulled in so many good, recognized writers from other fandoms so fast or that offered me so many new faces, along with the older favorites, that I've been this spoiled for choice.

Solutions? If there is a problem, I think it could be addressed by encouraging readers to rec promising new writers, maybe in a collected, public way--I could make a "rec a hidden gem" post, here, for example; readers could create a list or a recs page or a community centered around reccing/reviewing new names and then publicize it highly, and such like. People are interested in new names and stories, as commenters here have said. So, don't just sit there, rec something. :)

Re: Cont.

[cupidsbow.livejournal.com]

Solutions? If there is a problem, I think it could be addressed by encouraging readers to rec promising new writers, maybe in a collected, public way--I could make a "rec a hidden gem" post, here, for example; readers could create a list or a recs page or a community centered around reccing/reviewing new names and then publicize it highly, and such like. People are interested in new names and stories, as commenters here have said. So, don't just sit there, rec something. :)

I think this is a brilliant idea. Also, I'm not volunteering :)

Seriously, though. I'd put my hand up as a reccer if someone else took on the thankless tasks of creating, moderating, etc.

Re: Cont.

[carolyn-claire.livejournal.com]

D'oh! Just when I was going to nominate you. *g* I'd pull my weight in recs, too, if someone did it, but one comm is enough for me at this point in my life. I might make that 'hidden gem' post, though.

Re: Cont.

[paradise-city.livejournal.com]

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.

This is something I wouldn't have been able to articulate before reading the discussions in this post, and I'm glad I'm able to now. What's frustrated me is that I had unrealistic expectations for what the SGA fandom would be like and, of course, being unrealistic they weren't met. I'd heard all the buzz about SGA, how it had become the little black dress and was drawing in many writers from many other fandoms. I was anticipating a shift in fandom trends: I was anticipating SGA would become one of the first megafandoms and that a megafandom would function differently from a regular sized fandom, particularly in terms of reader and writer variety. However, as others pointed out, there seems to be a tipping point in variety availability past which the chance inherent in reading someone new is deemed too risky for any number of reasons. That's why, as other commenters have pointed out, smaller fandoms are more embracing of reader and writer variety. That's perfectly logical, but somewhat counterintuitive.

And having read through others' comments, it's clear that the issues I have with the SGA fandom are, in large part, a result of my unrealistic expectations.

Finally, thanks for allowing this discussion, and particularly for your polite admin reminders. And, of course, for the hidden gem post. I haven't gotten a chance to take a look at it, but I think it's a great idea, regardless of any issues I or others may have with fandom readership. :)