Fannish Drift
Mar. 2nd, 2009 02:18 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
jadesfireWith 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![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-community.gif)
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
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
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
(no subject)
Date: 2009-03-02 05:36 pm (UTC)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?
(no subject)
Date: 2009-03-03 09:42 am (UTC)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!
(no subject)
Date: 2009-03-03 12:47 pm (UTC)True! I was thinking about that last night, after I replied to you here, about which friends from school I have kept in touch with, for instance. Interestingly, it led me to the same conclusion that location proximity is really important to me ...and that the friends I've met online, since college, are people I know I have more in common with than most of my previous friends!
I'll probably parallel post for a while, and see if I can settle into 2 places. That's probably my maximum!
::nods:: I've also been trying to think of ways that, even if I'm not posting at more than one place, I can keep up with other people's posts by feed subscription or something. I've been trying to do that since some of my friends moved to Facebook. It's not a great solution, and it's pretty one-sided, but it's better than nothing.