Fannish Drift

[jadesfire]

With Dreamwidth rapidly hurtling towards reality, I've been doing a lot of mulling (read: staring out of the window chewing a pencil) about the way I thought I'd use my LJ and the way I actually do.

Since that bit's of no interest to anyone but me, I've also been thinking about Fannish Drift as a phenomomonemon*. I came to LJ for House-fic, stayed for Torchwood/Doctor Who/Jack, got hooked, lined and sinkered by SGA and am now watching my flist diversify into Merlin, Leverage, Psych, Due South and all kinds of other shows. Fortunately, my flist is based not only on shared fandom interests, but actually getting on with people - if you've friended me and I haven't friended you back, it's not because I don't like you or find your journal offensive or not worth looking or anything, it's because I don't feel I know you yet. Well, at the moment it's more likely to be because I have enough flist-neglect-guilt as it is and can't take any more, but not knowing people is the other reason.

But it's at times like these that I'm relieved my flist is as much personal as it is fannish, because else I'd be left sort of standing in the corner, shuffling my feet and watching everyone else wander off. I've been trying to throw myself into Criminal Minds¹, and am partially succeeding, but it's a heavily slash-based fandom and I'm still a gen-ficcer at heart. Not that people are friendly or hostile or anything like that about gen. They're just not interested, which again, is fine, but leaves me without people to engage with fully in the fandom. I'm still trying to seek out the gen-coterie that I'm sure is out there somewhere², but that's going to take a while.

I'm going to have a look at Merlin at some point, but again, the fandom seems to be all-slash, all the time. I'm also toying with Numb3rs (2 seasons down, 2.5 to go), and Supernatural (6 episodes in - no detailed spoilers, please!), but I'm not used to being multi-fannish. That's probably why the writing's dried up; it's hard to focus on one show when you're watching 3 others. In a slight breaking of the meme rules, I can tell you that five of them are SGA, two are Criminal Minds, one is Torchwood and one is a CM/Numb3rs crossover. Juggling these, plus my own ficverse is just not possibly for my distracted little brain.

There may have been a point to this post at the beginning, but I think where I've ended up is actually where I started: gratitude that my flist sticks around despite fannish divergence. I'm going to add to that generalised frustration that I can't seem to focus on one thing at the moment, but maybe that's what I need right now. When things in Torchwood started getting drama-prone, I retreated to my flist, and I did the same in SGA. Criminal Minds seems too sensible for that, but I'm not ruling it out. But at the end of the day, this is where I come home to, and I love having a space where my whole fandom is at my disposal with one click

Judging by this report, I'm not the only one to view LJ this way. If you haven't seen it already, it makes fascinating reading, even if you do want to keep going "well, duh". I have to keep reminding myself that it's for people who don't necessarily use LJ!

¹On the off-chance that a bau_inbox mod clicked the cut, no linky thanks :)

²Hell, I can write Torchwood gen. I'm sure I can find it in Criminal Minds.

---

*Like Nanny Ogg, I know how to begin spelling things, I just have trouble knowing where to stop

Comments

[naye]

I just wanted to chime in with happy agreeing noises at the diversification I'm seeing now (I swear over 50% of my f'list I met through SGA - that's when I really got into non-lurking types of fannish activities), and that I am very very glad to have people around who are willing to share themselves and their lives with me. Because having all these awesome people around makes me happy, even if we don't share the exact same fandoms anymore.

[jadesfire2808.livejournal.com]

*nods* Most of my friends came through Torchwood/Doctor Who, but have stuck with me through SGA, and I still talk to the people I first met on LJ, which just feels nice somehow that I can't quite put words to.

I think sharing *themselves* is such a good way to put it - we meet through fandom, then find we have so much else to share. It's very cool :)

[caersmane.livejournal.com]

See, I came into LJ from XMen fanfic (non LJ based) and went to SG1, which I'm really no longer part of. I think, in the end, the slash gets tedious and you want a good fic that isn't just a few words between the porn. I'm not against the porn, I just, want the friendship bits as well. There isn't enough of that. And? Apart from a few pairings, I don't really slash or ship shows.
Which brings me to CM, a show I watched for the first couple of seasons, but not since. You write gen CM? I have to read this. I think some of the greatest characters are in it, but I seriously only want gen for this show. Um, same for Numbers. And SPN. I cannot get into the SPN fandom because oh, ew, incest, no thanks, but really, would like good genfic of it.
I've been following the progress of Dreamwidth, and it seems cool, but I love my LJ, I've had it for six years, and I probably won't ever give it up, not for anything.
I'm not done rambling, but I think we'll end this here :D

[blackmare-9.livejournal.com]

Know who writes some fantastic SPN gen? pwcorgigirl. I don't even watch the show and I love her fic for it.

She has a fic index on her LJ page; I strongly recommend checking it out if you're not familiar with her.

Corgigirl writes mostly House fic (also mostly gen, with some gorgeous, understated House/Cuddy on occasion), which is how I met her. She's amazing.

[aeshna_uk]

I seem to have a remarkably sturdy fannish anchor! I'm not a heavy TV/film viewer though there are a good number of shows that I enjoy watching. There are, however, damned few that I would call myself fannish over. In terms of "places where I feel the urge to be in any way creative", I think I've only ever had three in my life!

I have one lit fandom (shared universe, all-OC) that I've been in for over 16 years now and that has gone through a lot of changes in that time with things moving out of paper publications and onto the web. It's one where - let's be honest - the canon presents a nice concept and a universe as complex or simple as you want it to be, but the original author... well, let's just say that I'm one of the ones who got in on the basis of "jeez, I can do better than that!". ;) When said fandom first cropped up back in the mid-70s it was "semi-official" in that the copyright holder gave their blessing subject to a few basic rules, one of which was that folks didn't use the canon characters. I think that has actually contributed to its longevity, and if you can navigate your way through the numerous Mary-Sues (canonical and otherwise!), there's some interesting stuff out there.

To this day, I know folks who don't believe I'm in Pern fandom as it seems far too fluffy for my tastes. ;) But the world isn't all that bad if you deconstruct and look at the bits that the author hinted at and then ignored. Of course, it may help that I've not touched any new canon in the entirety of those 16 years as the cash cow influence got seriously bad after the 80s.... ;)

My first real media fandom was Star Wars (new trilogy!) and fell into pretty much the same category as above - lovely-looking universe that I knew from childhood, huge potential, but the story presented barely scratched the surface, and badly at that. That seems to be my default - I need to have a universe that I can explore beyond what is presented on the page/screen, be it with full canon characters, minor characters, or OCs; I'm crap at AUs as for me the characters are an integral part of that universe. I was in SW for a few years, but my interest faded somewhat over time and somehow vanished entirely after the last film.

TW (and I am much more TW than DW here) is interesting as it's the first fandom I've had where I've latched onto a character as well as the universe... although the two are rather intimately tied, these days! But Jack could pretty much have crawled out of my brain and the whole TW concept hits all of my buttons - British-based, rarely any easy answers, high mortality, complex morality, unafraid of killing characters off or of just having them act in a very human way. When the show was first announced, I was excited. Then we learned that the Institute was founded in 1879 and I was all up for writing all-OC Victorian steampunk adventures. ;) Then they threw in Jack's immortality and long history with the Institute....

So, yeah, I'm happy here. ;) No urge to drift, though I may end up lonely here in my little mostly-gen TW ghetto as everyone else buggers off to pastures new! :D

(my, that ended up longer than I expected!)

[caersmane.livejournal.com]

I completely agree with you about the cash cow influence with Pern. I've just had my daughter read the Harper Hall trilogy to start her off on the series, and she just loves it, as much as I did when I first read it. I'd love to read some good fic of the Pern world, if you have any recs.

[crystalshard.livejournal.com]

*nod* I agree with you. Fandom is why I came here, friends are why I stayed. If I hadn't made so many lovely friends, I'd probably have wandered off elsewhere long ago.

[jadesfire2808.livejournal.com]

That's a good (and much more concise :P) way of putting it. I've stuck around for the people when the fandom scared me, and that's definitely not something I regret :)

[avon-09.livejournal.com]

What is Leverage and where is it on? I keep seeing the name so it must be tied to SPN in some way because I keep seeing it on the J2 sites. I'm rambling, I'm sick, I'll go away.

[jadesfire2808.livejournal.com]

I've not seen Leverage, but this is the IMDB entry for it (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1103987/). As far as I understand it, it's kind of an American version of Hustle.

I think you might be seeing it as a result of fannish drift again - SGA folks are drifting to Merlin, maybe SPN folks are picking up Leverage.

[topaz-eyes.livejournal.com]

I find that you can take the girl out of a fandom but you can never take the fandom out of the girl. I started in Harry Potter fandom, made my home in House, and have dabbled in a few others. I still find myself reccing HP fics, and writing 24 fic every couple of years *g*, and yeah. This LJ started out about fandom, but really it is about the friends made over the years. (I'm on this journal more than my other LJ, for sure.)

[jadesfire2808.livejournal.com]

Heh, that's definitely true. It gets into your blood, or something like that :)

[rustydog.livejournal.com]

(ETA -
the way I thought I'd use my LJ and the way I actually do.

Meant to say also - I have thoughts like this too and would be interested in hearing yours!)

I have found the same to be true. I came to LJ with Buffy fandom, and until Buffy and Angel ended, I think all of my LJ friends were people I knew through that fandom - but many of whom I considered more as "regular" friends, as in our friendship didn't depend at all on fandom anymore. Afterwards, I actually met a few people through non-fannish routes (pretty unusual!).

When I started getting interested in Doctor Who fandom, I had almost no LJ friends who were interested in it to the level I was, so I stayed really quiet. I still have about 40 full-length analysis and reaction posts I wrote during that time and never posted, because I didn't know anyone who would read them, and I couldn't figure out how to get onto the who_daily watchlist (or whether I was brave enough to do it anyway). But eventually, through friends and friends of friends, I started meeting people in Whoniverse fandom.

What I've realized in comparing those two fandom/LJ experiences is that, to participate in fandom, I need people-friends, not just fan acquaintances. I'm not comfortable discussing fannish stuff except with people I know and like generally, and a result of that is that even without the fan stuff, we have a good chance of keeping in touch. Though it feels a bit odd saying "I need to know about your children and your life and your interests before I'm comfortable talking with you about fictional people in a TV show." *g*

So fandom drift isn't such a scary thing. What does trouble me a lot is *location* drift. What do you do if your internet friends leave LJ and disperse to five other places on the internet? How many sites is it practical, or possible, to monitor in order to keep up with your friends?

[jadesfire2808.livejournal.com]

I guess in a lot of ways, fandom is no different to any other way of meeting people. Either you've got stuff in common that outlasts the way you met, or you don't. The having to know people to talk fannishly to them doesn't sound odd to me - fandom can be a stressy, drama-filled place, and it can be hard to post things without trusting that people are going to take them as you meant them, which means you need to know them :)

The location thing bothers me a little too. Dreamwidth looks great, but I won't go unless everyone else does. I'll probably parallel post for a while, and see if I can settle into 2 places. That's probably my maximum!

[xwingace]

My flist gets me into quite a few fandoms here and there. It's just generally things that I'm not very active in. And on the other hand, there's also quite a few fandoms that I decide to check out (because of fanficrants or something like that, that I do want to make some comments about, but then I don't have anyone on my flist to discuss it with. But I don't really want to expand my flist that much anymore to compensate for that.

XWA

[jadesfire2808.livejournal.com]

*nods* I ended up in SGA because of miss_zedem, who promptly vanished into Due South!

That's a good point about expanding interests without expanding your flist. I lurk all over the place, but only friend when I want to really interact with a person. That also cuts down on flist guilt - I can barely get through things as it is!

[hab318princess.livejournal.com]

yeah, it's great that LJ is about more than just fic (I'm a one universe kinda girl - Torchwood) but have found support during a tough last week (that even led to an offer of a loan from somoeone I've never met!) and from people who's fandoms don't match mine but are still around and share!

[jadesfire2808.livejournal.com]

LJ can be so incredibly supportive that it surprises me. While Fandom is a big part of LJ, there's also hundreds of people who use it for personal interests, which I think I tend to forget.

It's a great place to be :)

[miss-zedem.livejournal.com]

Drive-by question from the due South portion of your fannish drift ;) - where did you get your wordcount widget from? I tried googling, but they're all either NaNoWriMo, or horrible boxy ones :( Found one!

Also, yes on flist diversity \o/ I like that my flist are into different shows, it means that sometimes I end up checking out something I wouldn't otherwise have bothered with.

[jadesfire2808.livejournal.com]

Like, say, SGA? ;) Yeah, the mixture of interests and fandoms on my flist is *good* for me, I think - stops me getting locked into fannish bubbles which so often lead to fannish dramas!

[karaokegal.livejournal.com]

I'm really happy to have found Life on Mars and a few others lately because House (the actual show) and Torchwood (the fandom) are making me miserable in different ways. I don't know what my breaking point would be to actually walk away from House all together, but I will have to eat a lot of crow when it happens because I've been pretty high-horsey about not walking away from a fandom, because even if the show sucks, I love the people etc etc. Then I discovered (cough cough Torchwood) how completely UN-COOL some of the people could be.

My whole f-list was incredibly supportive during the whole Motorcycle Accident ordeal and I got to meet great people during the Squeeeee Odyssey.

It's too bad I still run into traces of my LJ divorce around the f-list but luckily it's less and less, which makes me happy.

[aeshna_uk]

Ah, Torchwood... love the show, it's the only thing I want to write, but I must admit that I'm not actually all that involved in the fandom! Just not quite on the same wavelength as most of the folks out there, it seems.... :)

[donutsweeper.livejournal.com]

The lack of gen EVERYWHERE makes me sad. I've peeked in a few fandoms lately only to run away due to the completely slashville I've found there. (I found a grand total of ONE gen Leverage story for example)

I like how the SGA and SPN newsletters break the fics up by slash and gen and that the NCIS one labels it either way, but there seems to be less and less in the gen category each week.

I don't really know anything about Dreamwidth though

[friendshipper.livejournal.com]

SGA was actually the first fandom I'd found in a while (since I left SG1 and Invisible Man fandom around '01 or '02, I think) that had a really significant gen presence. Anime fandoms are really notable for their almost total lack of gen -- I was used to being one of the only gen writers in most of the fandoms where I'd spent much time (although as I was discussing with someone else the other day, my version of "gen" in shippier fandoms wouldn't necessarily be considered gen by SGA standards, though I always thought of myself as a gen writer).

[friendshipper.livejournal.com]

I got this LJ around the time that I got into SGA fandom, so while I've experienced a bit of drift, there hasn't been a mass migration yet -- the diversification is happening, but slowly. It's going to be interesting to see what happens to my flist over the next few years. I've lost touch with a few people so far when it turned out that we didn't really have anything in common other than our shared fandoms, but for the most part, I think LJ tends to encourage staying in touch with people more than, say, mailing lists used to, because our personal lives are all mixed in with our fan lives, so we get to know each other as people as well as fans.

[jadesfire2808.livejournal.com]

*nods* The article I linked to talks about just this kind of thing, the way LJ is different to other forms of social networking, because it encourages you to share more than a one-line status update.

I'm fairly confident that my 'core' flist will stay as it is, no matter how far our fannish interests diverge, which at least means there will still be interesting people around for me to talk to :)

[aeron-lanart.livejournal.com]

I started off in Highlander fandom in the 1990s, began writing Highlander/Star Trek: Voyager crossovers in 1998 and 11 years later what am I doing? Still writing in the Highlander universe! *g* It's my first and greatest fandom love and I can't imagine my fannish life without Highlander in it somewhere.

I tend to obsess about few fandoms, but I stay obsessed. Last year I even wrote Voyager fic again, which was weird after so long away from the fandom. I think that means I don't tend to drift as much though hving said that my LJ flist is responsible for getting me into The Dresden Files (which I now class as one of my main fandoms), NCIS and Firefly though only DF has hit the obsession button so far (I adore Firefly, but I can't 'hear' them in my head which generally means I'm not obsessed).

Oh and as for LJ I've had one in another ID since 2005 (barely used), and this ID since Jan 07. Starting this one up directly corresponded to Torchwood reigniting my fanfic writing brain with a vengeance as prior to Torchwood airing it had been many years since I'd written fanfic regularly. I've always loved Doctor Who, but 10 years ago Doctor Who fandom was a bit scary if you got deeply involved and while I loved New Who I didn't feel the need to get into the fandom. Torchwood was a different kettle of fish altogether, and I haven't looked back since! The fun thing is that I've managed to connect up with some people on LJ I knew back in the days of being in Voyager fandom with one of them also becoming a Torchwood obsessive (completely independent of me, I hasten to add).

I can't believe I've only been around on here for 2 years, it feels like I've known some of you forever. And while I've only met a few people off my flist in RL, I'd love to meet a whole lot more of you!

[jadesfire2808.livejournal.com]

Interestingly, I'm just the same about Firefly - love the show, but can't write it for toffee.

Torchwood does seem to have sparked a lot of people off. Jack has that effect ;)

Well, you have a standing invitation to Oxford, any time you like. Give me 7 days' notice and I'm yours :D

[taffimai.livejournal.com]

I find that the best measure of whether you really like someone on your flist is when fannish drift has set in and you think to yourself, "This person is unlikely to post any meta or fic or vids that I will be interested in for the foreseeable future. Do I still want them on my flist?"

[jadesfire2808.livejournal.com]

*nods* I hang onto people even when fannish interests diverge because I'm interested in *them* first and foremost. I rarely de-friend people (which is also why I'm slow to friend) because I'm here for them, not just what they watch.

People are infinitely more fascinating than anything TV can conjure up :)

[mad-jaks.livejournal.com]

Criminal Minds, and am partially succeeding, but it's a heavily slash-based fandom
Really? I- do not see that.
*examines slash googles*
*eyes current tv programme 'wallpaper'*
No... they aren't broken.


Fannish divergance is *good*

[jadesfire2808.livejournal.com]

*giggle* I watch all shows through Gen-glasses, which usually leaves me feeling like I'm watching a different show to everyone else! But if you have a look at bau_inbox, the story lists kind of speak for themselves... It baffles me a little too!

I love fannish divergence - how else do I know which show to watch next?! ;)

[nebula99.livejournal.com]

I know what you mean about LJ - I only started one so that I could explore writing fanfic and have ended up getting to know a bunch of other people and connecting in a number of ways - not just through fandom. Some folks I have nothing in common with apart from watching the same programmes, but other people have become more than that.

I don't know about other fandoms, but I think that the slash tends to dominate. I'm not sure why - maybe we can't think of anything else to do with pretty boys? I read and write both gen and slash and enjoy them both for different reasons. However, gen seems to be in the minority when it comes to CM - people seem to prefer badly written slash over well written gen.

[mad-jaks.livejournal.com]

people seem to prefer badly written slash over well written gen
That's sad - personally I'll take well written gen over badly written slash any day, in any fandom.

Edited to kill the italics.

[roga.livejournal.com]

I would be psyched to see you in Merlin :-) I haven't written anything (yet), and when I do it will probably be gen, at least at first, because while that's not all I read, it's most of what I write. You're right that it's heavily slashy -- the stories are just so good though, I wouldn't care who was writing them in which genre, as long as they keep getting written. (Oh, and yeah, there's a show too other than the fandom, which I tend to forget about...)

PS - hope you never feel any flist neglect on my account! We've talked about this in the past, I think, but anyway :-)

[jadesfire2808.livejournal.com]

*smile* I'm going to need A LOT of persuading, if I'm honest. In SGA, I pretty much started out with "yeah, they're slash, but they're good", but burned out pretty quickly. Slash is just the default, which is fine, but I'm not sure I'm up for ANOTHER fandom where I feel out of step, you know? There's a show, sure, but the one we write is so much more fun :D

PS - :D Thanks - I've been aware of not getting around as much as I want to recently, then people leave SO MANY comments on my posts and I feel kind of embarrassed. So right back at you :)

[naye]

I just wanted to chime in with happy agreeing noises at the diversification I'm seeing now (I swear over 50% of my f'list I met through SGA - that's when I really got into non-lurking types of fannish activities), and that I am very very glad to have people around who are willing to share themselves and their lives with me. Because having all these awesome people around makes me happy, even if we don't share the exact same fandoms anymore.

[jadesfire2808.livejournal.com]

*nods* Most of my friends came through Torchwood/Doctor Who, but have stuck with me through SGA, and I still talk to the people I first met on LJ, which just feels nice somehow that I can't quite put words to.

I think sharing *themselves* is such a good way to put it - we meet through fandom, then find we have so much else to share. It's very cool :)

[caersmane.livejournal.com]

See, I came into LJ from XMen fanfic (non LJ based) and went to SG1, which I'm really no longer part of. I think, in the end, the slash gets tedious and you want a good fic that isn't just a few words between the porn. I'm not against the porn, I just, want the friendship bits as well. There isn't enough of that. And? Apart from a few pairings, I don't really slash or ship shows.
Which brings me to CM, a show I watched for the first couple of seasons, but not since. You write gen CM? I have to read this. I think some of the greatest characters are in it, but I seriously only want gen for this show. Um, same for Numbers. And SPN. I cannot get into the SPN fandom because oh, ew, incest, no thanks, but really, would like good genfic of it.
I've been following the progress of Dreamwidth, and it seems cool, but I love my LJ, I've had it for six years, and I probably won't ever give it up, not for anything.
I'm not done rambling, but I think we'll end this here :D

[blackmare-9.livejournal.com]

Know who writes some fantastic SPN gen? pwcorgigirl. I don't even watch the show and I love her fic for it.

She has a fic index on her LJ page; I strongly recommend checking it out if you're not familiar with her.

Corgigirl writes mostly House fic (also mostly gen, with some gorgeous, understated House/Cuddy on occasion), which is how I met her. She's amazing.

[aeshna_uk]

I seem to have a remarkably sturdy fannish anchor! I'm not a heavy TV/film viewer though there are a good number of shows that I enjoy watching. There are, however, damned few that I would call myself fannish over. In terms of "places where I feel the urge to be in any way creative", I think I've only ever had three in my life!

I have one lit fandom (shared universe, all-OC) that I've been in for over 16 years now and that has gone through a lot of changes in that time with things moving out of paper publications and onto the web. It's one where - let's be honest - the canon presents a nice concept and a universe as complex or simple as you want it to be, but the original author... well, let's just say that I'm one of the ones who got in on the basis of "jeez, I can do better than that!". ;) When said fandom first cropped up back in the mid-70s it was "semi-official" in that the copyright holder gave their blessing subject to a few basic rules, one of which was that folks didn't use the canon characters. I think that has actually contributed to its longevity, and if you can navigate your way through the numerous Mary-Sues (canonical and otherwise!), there's some interesting stuff out there.

To this day, I know folks who don't believe I'm in Pern fandom as it seems far too fluffy for my tastes. ;) But the world isn't all that bad if you deconstruct and look at the bits that the author hinted at and then ignored. Of course, it may help that I've not touched any new canon in the entirety of those 16 years as the cash cow influence got seriously bad after the 80s.... ;)

My first real media fandom was Star Wars (new trilogy!) and fell into pretty much the same category as above - lovely-looking universe that I knew from childhood, huge potential, but the story presented barely scratched the surface, and badly at that. That seems to be my default - I need to have a universe that I can explore beyond what is presented on the page/screen, be it with full canon characters, minor characters, or OCs; I'm crap at AUs as for me the characters are an integral part of that universe. I was in SW for a few years, but my interest faded somewhat over time and somehow vanished entirely after the last film.

TW (and I am much more TW than DW here) is interesting as it's the first fandom I've had where I've latched onto a character as well as the universe... although the two are rather intimately tied, these days! But Jack could pretty much have crawled out of my brain and the whole TW concept hits all of my buttons - British-based, rarely any easy answers, high mortality, complex morality, unafraid of killing characters off or of just having them act in a very human way. When the show was first announced, I was excited. Then we learned that the Institute was founded in 1879 and I was all up for writing all-OC Victorian steampunk adventures. ;) Then they threw in Jack's immortality and long history with the Institute....

So, yeah, I'm happy here. ;) No urge to drift, though I may end up lonely here in my little mostly-gen TW ghetto as everyone else buggers off to pastures new! :D

(my, that ended up longer than I expected!)

[caersmane.livejournal.com]

I completely agree with you about the cash cow influence with Pern. I've just had my daughter read the Harper Hall trilogy to start her off on the series, and she just loves it, as much as I did when I first read it. I'd love to read some good fic of the Pern world, if you have any recs.

[crystalshard.livejournal.com]

*nod* I agree with you. Fandom is why I came here, friends are why I stayed. If I hadn't made so many lovely friends, I'd probably have wandered off elsewhere long ago.

[jadesfire2808.livejournal.com]

That's a good (and much more concise :P) way of putting it. I've stuck around for the people when the fandom scared me, and that's definitely not something I regret :)

[avon-09.livejournal.com]

What is Leverage and where is it on? I keep seeing the name so it must be tied to SPN in some way because I keep seeing it on the J2 sites. I'm rambling, I'm sick, I'll go away.

[jadesfire2808.livejournal.com]

I've not seen Leverage, but this is the IMDB entry for it (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1103987/). As far as I understand it, it's kind of an American version of Hustle.

I think you might be seeing it as a result of fannish drift again - SGA folks are drifting to Merlin, maybe SPN folks are picking up Leverage.

[topaz-eyes.livejournal.com]

I find that you can take the girl out of a fandom but you can never take the fandom out of the girl. I started in Harry Potter fandom, made my home in House, and have dabbled in a few others. I still find myself reccing HP fics, and writing 24 fic every couple of years *g*, and yeah. This LJ started out about fandom, but really it is about the friends made over the years. (I'm on this journal more than my other LJ, for sure.)

[jadesfire2808.livejournal.com]

Heh, that's definitely true. It gets into your blood, or something like that :)

[rustydog.livejournal.com]

(ETA -
the way I thought I'd use my LJ and the way I actually do.

Meant to say also - I have thoughts like this too and would be interested in hearing yours!)

I have found the same to be true. I came to LJ with Buffy fandom, and until Buffy and Angel ended, I think all of my LJ friends were people I knew through that fandom - but many of whom I considered more as "regular" friends, as in our friendship didn't depend at all on fandom anymore. Afterwards, I actually met a few people through non-fannish routes (pretty unusual!).

When I started getting interested in Doctor Who fandom, I had almost no LJ friends who were interested in it to the level I was, so I stayed really quiet. I still have about 40 full-length analysis and reaction posts I wrote during that time and never posted, because I didn't know anyone who would read them, and I couldn't figure out how to get onto the who_daily watchlist (or whether I was brave enough to do it anyway). But eventually, through friends and friends of friends, I started meeting people in Whoniverse fandom.

What I've realized in comparing those two fandom/LJ experiences is that, to participate in fandom, I need people-friends, not just fan acquaintances. I'm not comfortable discussing fannish stuff except with people I know and like generally, and a result of that is that even without the fan stuff, we have a good chance of keeping in touch. Though it feels a bit odd saying "I need to know about your children and your life and your interests before I'm comfortable talking with you about fictional people in a TV show." *g*

So fandom drift isn't such a scary thing. What does trouble me a lot is *location* drift. What do you do if your internet friends leave LJ and disperse to five other places on the internet? How many sites is it practical, or possible, to monitor in order to keep up with your friends?

[jadesfire2808.livejournal.com]

I guess in a lot of ways, fandom is no different to any other way of meeting people. Either you've got stuff in common that outlasts the way you met, or you don't. The having to know people to talk fannishly to them doesn't sound odd to me - fandom can be a stressy, drama-filled place, and it can be hard to post things without trusting that people are going to take them as you meant them, which means you need to know them :)

The location thing bothers me a little too. Dreamwidth looks great, but I won't go unless everyone else does. I'll probably parallel post for a while, and see if I can settle into 2 places. That's probably my maximum!