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neadodsAn alternate rant and humor link.
First, the funny.![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
elainemc found this: the hilarious (and blasphemous) The Book of Fanfic (Chapters 1 & 2 in comments). "21: And, lo, too late did He start to regret that He had not used a beta during the Creation."
Put down any drinkables and swallow before reading Chapter 2, verse 17. You have been warned.
Second, the rant. This all came about when someone got their knickers in a knot that people picked on fanfic. Which is the way of the world, as far as I'm concerned - most of my favorite humor is sarcastic and/or editorial and all humor like that is picking on something.
However, the original ranterabundantlyqueer hit many of my hot buttons in the original rant. Snipped from the original (which is linked in the wank rebuttal):
creativity, sexuality, sensuality, and the urge to tell stories are some the best, most precious, most awe-inspiring features of the human spirit. every human spirit. even if that human spirit doesn't know how to construct a friggin' sentence to your satisfaction. don't you dare step on that. this is almost entirely a community of women, and y'know what? we have enough of the friggin' world shitting on us and stepping on us and telling us we're not good enough. we don't need to hear it from each other.
laughing at someone else's fic does nothing to convince me of your intelligence, education, or ability as a writer. [snip]
I love this fandom, and I love the people who contribute, every single one of them, and so help me god if I ever see you shitting on that, don't bother asking if you can come stay in my house and eat my food. and you better believe, I'll minimize the shit out of the level of interaction I have with you.
I literally have PMS right now, so it's putting an edge on an already not-always-sweet temper.
Abundantly? Hon?
Get the fuck over it.
You're right on one part. Creativity and the urge to tell stories ARE some of the most precious features of the human spirit. Truely. I love creativity, I adore a good story. Finding one, however, is like panning for gold in the Pacific with a thimble.
I do not love any random set of words vomited out by someone's keyboard. Between my years in fandom and my months reviewing, I have read some shit that would make you want to bleach your brain, and it was NOT creative, it was NOT sexual, sensitive, precious, or awe-inspiring. In a few cases, it wasn't even recognizably a story. To quote an old humor routine, "That's not writing, that's just typing."
And I am not going to keep silent for the sisterhood, sweetie. Because we demean ourselves and our talents when we equate any awfulness with Austen, blather with Bronte, crap with Chaucer, dreck with Dickens, execrable with Elliot or shit with Shakespeare. To do so suggests that we are too stupid to know the difference. To accept it from ourselves is to suggest that we are not capable of doing better. There are a whole bunch of female authors who would beg to differ, my dear. If saying "anything you type is wonderful and anyone who disagrees should STFU" is your notion of feminism, then turn in your vote, slap on your lipstick, and climb back up on that pedestal so the rest of us can get ON with our lives.
I don't care what this makes you think of my intelligence, education, or writing ability. Tangle with the first two, it's going to be graduate degrees at 20 paces. Tangle with the last and... well, which one of us is familiar enough with the keyboard that we understand the concept of the "shift key" anyway?
As for the final threat, after I stop not shaking in my shoes at the idea of being ignored by the ignoble, I'm going to turn your anger right around. It's MY fandom too. You and your wanky little l33t-speakers flooding it with your masterbation-as-writing-exercise stories are serving the exact same purpose as the pokeweed in my garden - crowding out the good and the beautiful by out-multiplying and strangling it.
Don't expect me to play nice. And don't worry, I don't need to eat your food. I have my own food and my own house. I pay for them by writing.
First, the funny.
elainemc found this: the hilarious (and blasphemous) The Book of Fanfic (Chapters 1 & 2 in comments). "21: And, lo, too late did He start to regret that He had not used a beta during the Creation."Put down any drinkables and swallow before reading Chapter 2, verse 17. You have been warned.
Second, the rant. This all came about when someone got their knickers in a knot that people picked on fanfic. Which is the way of the world, as far as I'm concerned - most of my favorite humor is sarcastic and/or editorial and all humor like that is picking on something.
However, the original ranter
abundantlyqueer hit many of my hot buttons in the original rant. Snipped from the original (which is linked in the wank rebuttal):creativity, sexuality, sensuality, and the urge to tell stories are some the best, most precious, most awe-inspiring features of the human spirit. every human spirit. even if that human spirit doesn't know how to construct a friggin' sentence to your satisfaction. don't you dare step on that. this is almost entirely a community of women, and y'know what? we have enough of the friggin' world shitting on us and stepping on us and telling us we're not good enough. we don't need to hear it from each other.
laughing at someone else's fic does nothing to convince me of your intelligence, education, or ability as a writer. [snip]
I love this fandom, and I love the people who contribute, every single one of them, and so help me god if I ever see you shitting on that, don't bother asking if you can come stay in my house and eat my food. and you better believe, I'll minimize the shit out of the level of interaction I have with you.
I literally have PMS right now, so it's putting an edge on an already not-always-sweet temper.
Abundantly? Hon?
Get the fuck over it.
You're right on one part. Creativity and the urge to tell stories ARE some of the most precious features of the human spirit. Truely. I love creativity, I adore a good story. Finding one, however, is like panning for gold in the Pacific with a thimble.
I do not love any random set of words vomited out by someone's keyboard. Between my years in fandom and my months reviewing, I have read some shit that would make you want to bleach your brain, and it was NOT creative, it was NOT sexual, sensitive, precious, or awe-inspiring. In a few cases, it wasn't even recognizably a story. To quote an old humor routine, "That's not writing, that's just typing."
And I am not going to keep silent for the sisterhood, sweetie. Because we demean ourselves and our talents when we equate any awfulness with Austen, blather with Bronte, crap with Chaucer, dreck with Dickens, execrable with Elliot or shit with Shakespeare. To do so suggests that we are too stupid to know the difference. To accept it from ourselves is to suggest that we are not capable of doing better. There are a whole bunch of female authors who would beg to differ, my dear. If saying "anything you type is wonderful and anyone who disagrees should STFU" is your notion of feminism, then turn in your vote, slap on your lipstick, and climb back up on that pedestal so the rest of us can get ON with our lives.
I don't care what this makes you think of my intelligence, education, or writing ability. Tangle with the first two, it's going to be graduate degrees at 20 paces. Tangle with the last and... well, which one of us is familiar enough with the keyboard that we understand the concept of the "shift key" anyway?
As for the final threat, after I stop not shaking in my shoes at the idea of being ignored by the ignoble, I'm going to turn your anger right around. It's MY fandom too. You and your wanky little l33t-speakers flooding it with your masterbation-as-writing-exercise stories are serving the exact same purpose as the pokeweed in my garden - crowding out the good and the beautiful by out-multiplying and strangling it.
Don't expect me to play nice. And don't worry, I don't need to eat your food. I have my own food and my own house. I pay for them by writing.
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no subject
Date: 2005-01-20 01:20 am (UTC)I can only assume then that Fandom Wank either ripped this fandom and the protester responded to that; or that the protestor went off and then Fandom Wank ripped her a new one, and she went off again. Was the story found by someone and posted to be torn apart on Fandom Wank (who I'm coming to think is full of nothing but trolls who like to hurt kittens (most kittens need some schooling but being bludgeoned?) Hey, everyone likes to see an occasional hanging, right?)
Uh, no, the anon reviews were NOT kind most of the time; most of them were payback whether to fawn over the Big Name Fans/Writers or to take down others, and were power plays. It's not like today where there are so many avenues, you have a chance of going somewhere else.
no subject
Date: 2005-01-20 02:42 am (UTC)As for nothing but trolls who like to hurt kittens - eh. There's an awful lot of crap out there, and the temptation to bash it is irresistable. That's how wank got started - they built a playpen for it and made it a rule *not* to grind the original author's face in it. So it's not like they're out there skeet-shooting tender young things for the joy of saying "pull! *blam*"
I've got a different perspective for a bunch of reasons. I don't have a history I'm bringing to the table. I don't see fandom wank as being a powerplay of any kind... they're setting themselves up as arbitrars, yes, but only amongst themselves, not trying to make powerplays within a fandom for their own greater glory/power trip. I see the hazing of substandard writing as a hazing that all we authors went through and survived, so I have little sympathy with someone else trying to get out from a ritual that we have all shared. And I see the puncturing of egos and/or pretention as a public service... which is why I did it myself.
Heck, the original post was classic fandom wank, although I don't hang out on that community. I saw something that I thought merited a boot in the butt, I gave it the kick, I let my friends see said butt-kicking, and I didn't go smack the original author across the chops. (Which is fairly two-faced of me, admittedly...) It's the same thing they do. So I'm hardly going to see it as wrong if I'm equally guilty...
no subject
Date: 2005-01-20 03:18 am (UTC)I just went over and checked the Fandom Wank link (thanks for pointing it out) and.... shrug. Well, everyone there is very clever and snide. Reminds me a lot of Wonkette -- fluffy & insider cruel. Whatever. I still think that dragging someone's fic in to make fun of it so you look "clever", is being nasty.
Hazing is cruelty (that's why many college ban it.) I sure didn't enjoy being the target of the skeet-shooting and you didn't either. (By the way, readers, she and I have been good friends for a couple of decades so we know where the bodies are buried.)
But, yeah, it is occasionally fun to be intentionally cruel because so often (pompous) people deserve it. One has to pull up the better angels of your nature and suggest (if you want to take the time) how something might be made better rather than just mocking the kittens. And who has the time? If I can't go throught the pokeweed to find the roses, I sure am not going to waste energy being kind.
Someday there HAS to be a panel at MWC on how to give comments/feedback w/o giving offense -- how to turn down a story -- how to write a LoC (the lost art.)
I'm not trying to make you feel guilty, or retreat. I rather liked your rant -- you said it was PMS-related but I thought it was just classic and intelligently written. I just thought I'd put in a different POV.
no subject
Date: 2005-01-20 01:13 pm (UTC)Which is absolutely fair. I'm listening, I'm just not entirely agreeing. While the hazing hurt like hell, like many learning experiences, in hindsight I see the purpose even while at the time I curled up in a corner reeling, writhing, and fainting in coils. And it does serve a purpose - being determined not to get razzed again was equal to the egoboo of praise that molded me into an author who could write well.
But I'm also honest enough to admit that were the shoe on the other foot - were she being ripped for a rant I agreed with - I'd be right with you!
Someday there HAS to be a panel at MWC on how to give comments/feedback w/o giving offense
THAT is an excellent idea, and I'll suggest it when they throw the topics open. Wanna be on it?