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leethetOK, I'll do a "my biggest pet peeve" about the world of fanfic. Not about fanfic itself, the actual stories, but the world surrounding them...
It's this: Lighten up, people! It's fanfic! It'll never make you rich or famous, the groundwork was done by someone else, and you're supposed to be having fun! Don't get so damned worked up when people say slash sucks, gen sucks, smarm sucks, your fic sucks, your friend's fic sucks, your reading taste sucks, zines suck, online fic sucks...I've heard ALL of these and the best reaction to have (I'm really not telling people what to do -- don't believe in that, really -- just voicing a viewpoint) is "Hey, you're entitled to your opinion" and then FORGET about them. Do not let yourself become upset over what strangers think about fanfic! It's supposed to be FUN! Whee! Write it, read it, wallow in it, avoid the negative folks -- or mock them! Mocking them is fun and you don't spend a lot of time in a bad emotional place over people you'll NEVER meet, regarding a subject that is lightness and fluff personified.
There. That was an adequate first rant, eh? :)
There's even a contradiction in terms for people to rip me apart over! "Er...you're RANTING that people RANT too much???" Helloooo...
It's this: Lighten up, people! It's fanfic! It'll never make you rich or famous, the groundwork was done by someone else, and you're supposed to be having fun! Don't get so damned worked up when people say slash sucks, gen sucks, smarm sucks, your fic sucks, your friend's fic sucks, your reading taste sucks, zines suck, online fic sucks...I've heard ALL of these and the best reaction to have (I'm really not telling people what to do -- don't believe in that, really -- just voicing a viewpoint) is "Hey, you're entitled to your opinion" and then FORGET about them. Do not let yourself become upset over what strangers think about fanfic! It's supposed to be FUN! Whee! Write it, read it, wallow in it, avoid the negative folks -- or mock them! Mocking them is fun and you don't spend a lot of time in a bad emotional place over people you'll NEVER meet, regarding a subject that is lightness and fluff personified.
There. That was an adequate first rant, eh? :)
There's even a contradiction in terms for people to rip me apart over! "Er...you're RANTING that people RANT too much???" Helloooo...
no subject
Date: 27 November 2003 11:54 pm (UTC)The wording of the opinion affects how I will react. A straight out statement is really impossible to argue with. In that case I agree with you: there is no point in discussing it further.
But if someone implies, for example, that writing slash doesn't use any intelligence, then I am going to reply. I cannot just sit and let a stupid statement like that slide by. It's just plain wrong. And I think it needs to be addressed.
As for being worked up...being rich or famous has *nothing* to do with it. It's about emotional investment. Some people are hardcore fans and are very passionate about what they do. It goes beyond 'fun'. It becomes a passion, an obsession. For some it's about sharing of fantasies, and connecting with others. For others it may just be about squeeing over pretty boys. Each group may snark about the seriousness/frivolity of the other, but surely we all should be allowed to experience fandom as we see fit?
I guess my experiences in fandom have coloured my perceptions. I can't really lighten up, not after being publicly flamed and privately threatened as I was when I was listmod for an old MfU list. It was no fun at all then. And putting a zine together...formatting in Word is not my idea of fun either.
I do this because I'm insane. "Fun" is too inadequate a word to describe it.
Rant redirect...
Date: 28 November 2003 01:47 pm (UTC)Oh dear. I just bought Word. Now I'm a little worried.
I genuinely do agree that people should be allowed (allowed, as if one could stop people from feeling what they feel!) to take fandom as lightly/seriously as they choose. I would never expect or ask anyone to change their beliefs or to alter their emotions to suit my beliefs. I was only rantin'. :)
But my opinion when I see people getting upset about online comments from someone you'll never have anything to do with in RL is "you'd be happier if you cared less what strangers think and do." I know that's just me and that others are different -- and if someone was rude to me online it would irk me for a bit, for sure, before I said to myself "fuck 'em" and went back to enjoying myself -- I see so much online upset and I find myself thinking "They're STRANGERS! It's fanfic! Get with your pals and enjoy yourself. Life's short. Take your emotional investment OUT of the stocks that are dropping and reinvest in something good."
Please understand that this is not a way of denigrating what someone else feels. If anything, I take other people's feelings seriously enough that I don't like to see people feel genuine hurt over strangers' careless or outright cruel remarks.
Mind you, no one has yet said anything really shitty or mean about me or my fic. Still, I imagine I can practice what I preach. :)
Re: Rant redirect...
Date: 30 November 2003 03:07 am (UTC)Word is usually well behaved for small documents. It's just that with big documents, the AutoFormat insists on changing the font you've chosen to the standard preset ones in the odd paragraph. Seriously sucky. I found myself religiously using Print Preview to make sure everything looked as I intended!
Word on big documents?
Date: 3 December 2003 11:45 am (UTC)Word is going to make me cry, isn't it? I only just loaded it last night and it's already made me curse and want to kick it across the room a couple of times.
Then again, it has some pretty nice features...
Re: Word on big documents?
Date: 5 December 2003 05:51 pm (UTC)Oh dear. Anything over 50 pages, beware. You have my sympathies.
I think it's more obvious if you change the font type and size from Word's original settings. If you stick with the default Normal and Headings used by Word, it shouldn't be so much of a problem.
I know that it was really a problem when I was compiling stories together for zines. I'd format them all in separate files, and they all looked fine. But when I put them together using Paste, indents would shift and fonts would change...and it was all happening without my knowledge.
But maybe if you are just dealing with a single file, it won't be so bad. Good luck!
Re: Word on big documents?
Date: 6 December 2003 07:28 pm (UTC)Agh! I paid large moneys for this. Don't TELL me this. WHat the fuck kind of word processing program freaks out with documents the length of a STANDARD NOVEL??????? "Oh, it never occured to us anyone would, like, process words with our word processor."
ARGHGHGHGHGGHGHGHGGHGHGHGHGHGHGHGH
no subject
Date: 28 November 2003 12:15 am (UTC)Yes, fanfic is fun to play with but for some people it is more serious than that. But I'm with you. My feet are firmly in the fun camp and I'd like to keep it that way.
no subject
Date: 28 November 2003 08:38 am (UTC)