: Wednesday, December 17, 2008
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ciderpress: what we talk about when we talk about - During our early Christmas dinner this weekend, the oldest of the nephews, who is 13, brought up the subject of the incredibly white child actors that had been picked for the film version. The three of them were confused and disappointed but unable to articulate exactly why. Then the youngest, all of 7 years old, asked me whether this meant that he couldn't be Aang when he played Avatar with his friends from now on.//That, my friends, was when I felt the flames on the side of my face. -- cereta: Lucy's feeling good about fandom today - But let me tell you: once I found myself secure in the knowledge that I didn't have to choose between having friends and being, well, a fan (which is a handy shortcut for a variety of activities, preferences, and just ways of viewing the world I've had as long as I can remember), it made at least the social side of my life a whole lot more confident. -
- pir8fancier: Like what in the hell is an editor supposed to do? - There really is a direct correlation between what your characters do physically and how the novel moves figuratively. By having your characters sit, then your readers "sit" as well. As her editor, I would have mounted an unholy war to exorcise that camping business from the novel. There are many things wrong with it (the fact that they don't use magic to get food is one of them; they are reduced to gathering mushrooms!!!!!!! Please.), but the most salient argument for jettisoning that business is the fact that if your characters are physically moribund, then the novel becomes emotionally moribund. It stops. -
- qthelights: theoretical question of the day - lurkers, fanfic and online community - I've seen a few people argue about research not examining the *readers* of fanfic, only the writers. What is a reading trend as opposed to a writing trend, for example. I think this is intriguing. Because how do you gather data on that? Similarly, how do you know if lurkers contribute to community when their definition is about not existing "properly" in the community. How does one go about that question. Do lurkers get support and feel part of community online, or not? Does it invalidate the reality of online community, or prove that only a few really make friends online, not the majority? -
- gwailowrite: [in thisthingwedo] What's in a word? - This ties in with the concern I have voiced from time to time about m/m erotica and m/m fiction. There are a lot of non-gay males who are writing in this genre. I applaud that. I am not amongst who who believe only gay men should write gay fiction. Straight women, gay men and even straight men have proven to be equally adept at writing gay fiction. However, as I have been reading more and more of this, I see many, many things in the genre which teeter on perpetuating stereotypes of gay men. I've read countless novellas where the gay men are only interested in sticking it into the other guy's hole. -