Revisiting fandom: seven years later

[icarus]

In the downtime when I was hiding taking time off after a difficult quarter, I started revisiting Stargate: Atlantis stories I'd missed on Amalthia's SGA master list.

Re-read Freedom's Just Another Word For Nothing Left To Lose.

It's shorter than I remember. Still achingly satisfying.

Reached fiercelydreamed's Who's Left And Who's Leaving which I remember starting. I don't remember finishing it.

And then I saw the date: 2007. Seven years (!!!!!?) ago.

My active fandom days are vivid, alive like voices in my head. It's only been a moment, a whisper of time. A year or two.

Not ... seven.

I've come home to my playground to find it empty. To realize that I left. To sit on the squeaky swing at sunset and dream of my apartment in Seattle, the vibrant hum of the fan community in my old laptop that was too warm for the book it was sitting on, offering the sunlight of the Olympic mountains in the distance. WG complaining, "You're on that thing all day..." while I rolled my characters like dice, seeing what turned up.

Is it too late to still write? I wonder. I've written for the SGA Santa every year. Are my friends still here, despite being neglected?

I can't go back. The swing rusted years ago. But I can go forward. Do I have time?


ETA: Just read the new SGA fic, Decade, by canis_lupus. Wow. It's an entire reboot of the fandom.

Comments

[mrshamill]

Babe, I feel your pain. I haven't written anything since the 2009 BB, which finished Pegasus Purgatorio. And I mean anything -- fandom related or not.

sigh




p.s. I wrote a mirror to the Chic's Freedom called Speaker for the dead, if yer interested.

[icarus]

Link?

Doesn't it feel like you went down with the ship when SGA's canon ended?

[mrshamill]

http://www.hawksong.com/~thammill/SGA_Fic/SGA.htm (my SGA page, I haven't made it to AO3 yet)

And oh hell yes. Which is so unfortunate. I blame the idiots who wrote for it and their stupid crushes.

[icarus]

Thank you!

And their stupid crushes? Do tell.

[mrshamill]

Oh, you remember, how they brought Keller in and tried to make her and McKay a romantic couple. And how utterly wrong that whole idea was. Even Hewlett agreed with that, they thought of each other more as sister brother than romantic. There was no chemistry there.

Between that and some stupid writing about Michael and Carson, the show was almost ruined by the 5th season.

[icarus]

I got two paragraphs in and thought, "Oh! Someone didn't like it that John died in Freedom...."

[mrshamill]

Ack! No, no, I wanted to play with the idea of Mackay being dead, and Sheppard having to live without him. In so many ways they are opposite each other, almost as many ways as they intersect. John would have a completely different response then Rodney would.

sigh

Just once, I'd like to appear on somebody's "Best Of" lists. /whine

[icarus]

Oy! Spoilers! I haven't finished yet! *covers eyes*

[icarus]

Your ideas should be on best-of lists.

I'll tell you a story.

In 2001, I wrote my first fics: here. (I took them down in embarrassment. Then posted again.)

No reviews. No best-of lists.

My beta said people had no taste. I thought mmm, maybe I need to change.

So I studied the stories that made the Best-of lists.

- short sentences
- active
- focused
- minimal exposition

I killed my setting addiction. Cut anything that didn't drive the story. Chopped my long sentences. Outlined and planned my main point of each scene. Wrote tight, and short.

My next story made the Best-of lists.

Like Michelangelo. Cut away the excess to reveal the story. The writing gets in the way.

[icarus]

Okay, finished.

The section with Halling is downright inspired. He's so passionate and caring, and it seems to give John new purpose.

I like the idea of John living off the land, alone, though Rodney would call it wallowing.

The story demands a lot of the reader. If I hadn't just read Freedom..., and if you hadn't pointed it out to me now, I think I would've missed that contrast between Rodney and John's responses to loss, I would've only thought about John.

[wrabbit]

I feel nostalgic for all my former fandoms. It seems like SG1 fandom is still trucking along, but I see less about SGA. Probably just the bias of my circle.

[icarus]

It's interesting that SG-1's hung in there. I wonder why it has, while SGA, well, the SGA Santa continued.

[wrabbit]

I think it helps that SG1 was on the air twice as long. And I think you might be able to still watch SG1 re-runs on the syfy channel, but don't quote me on that.

[icarus]

No need, I have the entire boxed set.

[wrabbit]

I mean maybe it being on the air keeps interest in the fandom alive :)

[icarus]

Oh. Silly me, yes, that would keep it going. (It's not still playing here.)

[wrabbit]

I have the set but it came missing the DVD with Heroes part 2, one of my favorite episodes of all time. D: I never bothered to download it. One day.

[icarus]

Not to mention Heroes Part 1 doesn't make much sense without Part 2.

Oh, I think I'm going to be trotting out my old SG-1 DVDs....

[elf]

Sing it.

I'm still hoping for "The Mirror of Maybe" (Snape/Harry) to be updated. Head's still full of snippets; folder still full of WIPs that I mean to write someday. The chatter in my head is full of characters from fandoms that are no longer in the public eye; they still have a few fests here and there, but there's no active growing thriving community.

I'm not done with exploring the Batverse from before the New 52, which is not so new anymore, and we're probably approaching the next reboot event.

I keep meaning to watch BSG and SGA so I can read and enjoy the fics. I wonder if it's "too late," if it'd be weird to watch some canon and then bounce around among (eep) nearly decade-old fic to leave squeeing comments toward authors who've mostly moved to new fandoms. (Well. It'd be weird, but I know a lot of them would appreciate it anyway. Still. Is daunting, realizing how the time slips away.)

[icarus]

Update "The Mirror of Maybe" and I'll jump on it.

BSG is one to watch just because you should. The show's actually better if you mainline it, well paced.

SGA has never needed much viewing to get into the fic.

If you're interested into diving into decade-old fic, which is what I've done this week, here's a great list: Amalthia's Master List. I found I hadn't read everything on it yet, having focused on the humor, romance, and technology stories.

[krait]

I'm still hoping for "The Mirror of Maybe" (Snape/Harry) to be updated.

I'm not the only one?! *fistbump of oldskool solidarity*

[elf]

I had (have) this whole Mary-Sue-esque spinoff-ish story that I kept wanting to write for it, involving a muggle woman who was a toy/tool for the death eaters showing up again later, but I wanted to wait for it to be done, or at least, close to done.

... It didn't get done.

... It doesn't look like it's going to get done.

Wah.

[icarus]

People have so many fandom names that I wondered, "Wow, elf was Midnight Blue? Who knew?" (Bribes, I was thinking. Lots of bribes.)

I'm sorry. The same happened to me with The Long Road to Damascus.

As for "The Mirror of Maybe" ... I have a fuzzy memory of corresponding with a friend of Midnight Blue's, who said that the story was dead. She started writing original fiction or writing for her job or something like that and just didn't have the time/energy/interest to come back to it.

And this would be why I've made such an effort to finish all WIPs. One got jossed (Snape Manor). Another, well, I never promised I'd finish it (Reunion). One, my computer got stolen and I was never able to recreate the second and final part (The Care & Feeding of Unicorns, although part one does stand fairly well on its own).

Other than that, I think I've finished everything I started.

I think.

[elf]

No no no! Sorry! I'm not Midnight Blue; I have snippets and bits of followup stories I wanted to write but was waiting on it to be done.

And yeah, I gathered it was in the "jossed too much; author got other RL interests; never gonna be finished" category.

[icarus]

Oh, hey, where'd my reply to this go?

I don't see any reason you need to wait. It's not like Mirror of Maybe will joss your snippets. ;)

Though I believe that it's best, even if writing a fanfic for a fanfic, to make it stand on its own. Like, what if someone hasn't read the Mirror of Maybe? Treat the premise as if it were your own.

[amalthia]

It's not too late, if you feel you have a story to write, there is still a fandom to read it. Someone posted this story called "Decade" and I loved the hell out of it and still re-read SGA favorites.

[icarus]

I know what you mean about re-reading SGA favorites. I just the week doing that.

As for writing ... doesn't it feel like everyone's gone home? I'd write in a new fandom, but I'm not really into any of the new fandoms right now.

Link for "Decade"? (I'm reading a lot of fic right now.)

[amalthia]

Hi,

Here is the link for Decade: http://archiveofourown.org/works/1618925

Um, to me it doesn't feel like everyone has gone home, people are still posting stories to A03, and bookmarking fic on pinboard which is how I found this last story. :)

Sure the people you knew back then may have switched fandoms but there are people who are now discovering SGA, and they are writing and doing things in the SGA fandom.

[icarus]

Thank you! *reads!*

Are there people like you who are reccing things from SGA these days? The change to Tumblr, I'm with Isis, I can't do it. I tried and it... kept tumbling. AO3 searches, well, you know. It's better than random searches on FF.net, but it's still pretty random. I miss having my favorite authors friended and reading every syllable they write.

[amalthia]

I use Pinboard to find new fics, I search for Sheppard/McKay, see who is bookmarking their stories, and then follow the bookmarker on my rss feed. This is how I'm finding most of what I'm reading in a variety of fandoms.

I'm going to Tumblr blackout because Tumblr savior broke with the last Firefox update and I keep getting spoiled for Age of Ultron.

There are people recommending fics and I'm still following people from my SGA days, they occasionally post fic recs.

[icarus]

Well, I'll follow your stuff. Fortunately I never read a lot of your Gen recs, so there's still plenty left.

Decade! What a fresh story! I inhaled it last night, and other than some odd Britishisms, typos (Coldwell), and whoops-don't-know-where-Cheyenne-mountain-is-in-that-big-old-continent-you-have-there -- wow!

The idea's great and short-circuits the painful ending of canon. And also, far more likely than the last-minute rescue from Earth in season two. I love Sheppard de-age-ified back to about 25. I want to color in the corners of this world, figure out how they got from here to there.

And oh, it's so satisfying to see the SGC stunned by the successful lost mission to Atlantis. It's just scrumptious!

[amalthia]

I'm so glad you liked Decade, I loved it for the same reasons you did. :) I also desperately want a sequel. :) You can browse my pinboard tags for SGA and Gen.

[icarus]

...as soon as I remember what Pinboard is. :)

I have a lot of stories that I never uploaded to AO3. There are 22 HP fics AWOL. 14 missing SG-1 stories. Hmn. I'd better write down which ones... ignore this part, I have to stuff the list somewhere:

Harry Potter fics

The Metronome - 1/6/06
The Albatross - 7/14/05 (seems I was going through a "The" phase)
Two Way Mirror
Council of Obvious Edicts - 1/16/05
Pin-Up Percy - 1/15/05

These are short fics so I can do them last:
Crossed Signals - 7/5/04
It Was All Right - 1/22/04
Rare Scottish Snow - 1/22/04
Rat For Dessert (and the entire Dessert series0 - 1/22/04
In November - 1/22/04
Six Week Charade - 1/22/04
Deep Throat - 1/22/04
A Little Night Music - 1/22/04
Weasley and Weatherby - 9/2/03

At Fauntleroy & Diagon Alley - 9/22/03
A Deserving Man - 8/31/03
A Scandalous Interview - 8/3/03 (apparently going through an "A" phase)
Rising Sun - 4/15/03
Unexpected Guest - (the most hits of any story on my site, and fewest reviews; I suspect repeat customers)
Drunken Domesticity - 3/8/03

SG-1 fics

Arguing with the Gods
Straight Across the Desert
A Solid Foundation
Sonic Boom (I can't believe I never put this on AO3)
Shared Secrets
The Other man
Between the Lines
First Time A Soldier
Binary Roles
Hotel California
Nowhere But Up
Fools Can Dream
For The Petulant Gods
Welcome Home, Mr. General, Sir

Okay, the list is here now so I don't lose it again. Sheesh.

[amalthia]

It sounds like it now might be a good time to upload your fics. :)

[icarus]

Almost done.

[marcelo]

*sighs* I miss fandom as well. Not just for the old fandoms (although I do miss those as well), but also for missing opportunities in new materials. It's almost painful to imagine what some of my favorite fannish writers would have done with, say, Hannibal.

[icarus]

Fandom -- especially when a fandom attracts really good writers -- does flesh out all the corners, doesn't it?

[isis]

Well, I left SGA fandom ages ago (and HP even longer ago!), so I can't really speak to that. But fandom in general has mostly left journaling sites and moved to tumblr, which I don't care to use, so in some ways I no longer participate in fandom in the same way I did (fandom doesn't happen the same way it did, and am not involved in the way it happens now).

But I still have friends on Dreamwidth, and a few who cling to LJ. I still participate in Yuletide every year, and in a few other, smaller festathons. Most of my fandoms these days are pretty tiny, but they are there. There's fic. There's art. There's the occasional discussion.

You can't step in the same river twice, but there are new rivers, some of which may appeal to you.

[icarus]

I'm with you on the issue of Tumblr.

I tried. It tumbled. I couldn't get interested. Struck me as being rather like a slot machine.

Yuletide may be the way to go. I'm cautious. I've only written one or two stories a year since SGA broke up. Taking on a microfandom when I've written so little seems ... foolhardy? Yes. That's the word.

You can't step in the same river twice, but there are new rivers

Very apt. I'll read for now and see.

[krait]

I'm with you both regarding Tumblr. I've looked at it a lot! About every three months I think, maybe I should just make one, and give it a try... and then something else happens to reinforce my decision not to. Sigh.

Yuletide was so much fun the two years I did it, but I just haven't felt as drawn to it in the last couple years - it wasn't on DW and it was hard to find information because of that, and the list of fandoms seemed less "small fandom" and more "microfandom" (to borrow your phrase): commercials, specific songs or albums, random YouTube videos I'd never heard of, etc. It just made me feel old and kind of curmudgeonly in a can we really call that a fandom sort of way, so I've abstained. Maybe this year it'll be less daunting?

[elf]

Tumblr is not a discussion platform. Tumblr is for saying "LOOKIT LOOKIT LOOKIT" over and over, and seeing what other people have said LOOKIT LOOKIT about.

There are methods that make it feel like it's "working," but even diehard tumblr fans will admit that, no, you can't find a damn thing there outside of your subscriptions, and if you blink, you missed it.

It's kinda like a psychadelic dance club with a strobe light on. Very pretty, very energetic, lots of awesome stuff going on of which you see only flashes. And maybe you can make connections that you can take somewhere else for coherent conversation.

[icarus]

Uhm-hmn. And I'm the sort who has been known to walk into a grocery store, get overwhelmed with too many options, and walk out without buying anything. "I don't need cereal that badly...."

[icarus]

I made one. And then I just ... couldn't.

What I miss most of fandom is the personal connection, and Tumblr doesn't seem to offer that.