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icarusDrawing on the FanLib discussion, I have to say that I was invited to archive my fanfiction on FanLib back in March.
Well, ain't that fine and dandy. I was "personally selected" because of my great writing. Why did that sound like a credit card offer? (Bring fanfiction to the big leagues? Really. You're going to what -- publish it? Hmm. Just looks like another archive to me.) I scanned through the possible places they could have gotten my name at random.
Remember. I'm an author who posts everywhere. If anyone's going to turn up on a random search, it'll be me.
Then I remembered the Gen drabble I posted at, aha, Gateworld. Gotcha.
Curious, I checked FanLib out. At the time, they had only four authors on the archive. Three were so-called "Multi-Fandom Authors." There was something strange about these authors. First off, I'd never heard of them. Okay, okay, I don't know every author in fandom, and I'm certainly out of step with the immense Harry Potter fandom. But Stargate Atlantis, while prolific, hasn't been around that long, and they wrote slash. You'd think I'd at least run across a multi-fandom author on![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-community.gif)
sga_flashfic. Huh. Odd. I let that go.
Then each author had exactly two stories in each fandom they wrote for. Now, usually how an author becomes multi-fandom is they are a little obsessive. They'll go through phases where they write massive numbers of stories in a fandom and then flit to another fandom that they'll flirt with for a while. But, hey, maybe they were only uploading their two favorite stories.
Then I read some of the stories. They weren't bad. Whoever wrote them definitely had taken some creative writing classes. But they had that kind of awkwardness and close ties to canon that you see in an author's first story in a fandom. All of them. They started slow and uncomfortably. One had Rodney flipping a coin (and described the coin in vast detail) a reference to "Rising," in a Rodney/Carson story. I dunno. They felt forced.
They didn't reference fanon at all. It was like these authors existed in a vacuum. A multi-fandom author is usually connected to fandom in some way.
I decided that the owners of FanLib had hired some interns (okay, "hired" for an intern implies pay) to write some "fanfiction" stories to seed their archive. It annoyed me.
Then I was annoyed at the "bright colors!" and "bold stars!" layout. What is this, kindergarten? They didn't even know the average age of a fanfiction writer. The site seemed marketed to high school students. I contemplated sending them a scathing (if politely worded) email on how poor their market research has been, but I decided I didn't want to help them.
But here's the weird part: of those four authors, only cpt_ritter is still around, and cpt_ritter wasn't one of the "multi-fandom" authors. Once they got their archive started, they pulled their "seed" authors out.
Now I'll post my stories anywhere. I've joked that I'll staple them to telephone poles. But even I draw the line here. These guys were dishonest and manipulative. I don't trust them.
ETA: I agree with![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
astolat: It's time for a truly all-inclusive multi-fandom archive. Now there was one called The Archive At The End Of The Universe. Let me see if that's still in business.
Hi Icarus,
I saw some of your Stargate fan fiction online and really enjoyed your writing. I work for a brand-new fan fiction website called FanLib.com and my colleagues and I want it to be the ultimate place for talented writers like you. In case you're wondering, FanLib's not new to fan fiction. Since 2001, they've been producing really cool web events with people like CBS, Showtime and HarperCollins to bring fan creativity into the big leagues (see below for some links).
We're impressed by your writing and impact in the fan fiction community and we value your opinion. That's why we're inviting you to be among the first to experience FanLib.com. As a member of our Beta Team (not like "beta reader" but "beta software" that's still in development), you'll get an exclusive peek at what we're doing before we open the site to the general public.
Feel free to take a look around, upload some fics, maybe read and comment on a few. Do as much or as little as you like. On FanLib.com, you'll be able to connect with other first-rate writers like yourself, exchange ideas with the site creators, and get some of the fun stuff we're giving away to celebrate our launch.
Don't worry, you won't get spammed. We're not selling anything. We just want you to try the site and hopefully give us some feedback.
You'll need to use this special individual login to access the protected site:
http://beta.fanlib.com
Username: Icarus
Password: ****
(This is just to access the beta site and is separate from your site registration.)
We look forward to having you as a founding member. Together, we can create the greatest fan fiction site the web's ever seen!
Best,
Naomi
FanLib Beta Launch Coordinator
FanLib.com
Well, ain't that fine and dandy. I was "personally selected" because of my great writing. Why did that sound like a credit card offer? (Bring fanfiction to the big leagues? Really. You're going to what -- publish it? Hmm. Just looks like another archive to me.) I scanned through the possible places they could have gotten my name at random.
Remember. I'm an author who posts everywhere. If anyone's going to turn up on a random search, it'll be me.
Then I remembered the Gen drabble I posted at, aha, Gateworld. Gotcha.
Curious, I checked FanLib out. At the time, they had only four authors on the archive. Three were so-called "Multi-Fandom Authors." There was something strange about these authors. First off, I'd never heard of them. Okay, okay, I don't know every author in fandom, and I'm certainly out of step with the immense Harry Potter fandom. But Stargate Atlantis, while prolific, hasn't been around that long, and they wrote slash. You'd think I'd at least run across a multi-fandom author on
sga_flashfic. Huh. Odd. I let that go.Then each author had exactly two stories in each fandom they wrote for. Now, usually how an author becomes multi-fandom is they are a little obsessive. They'll go through phases where they write massive numbers of stories in a fandom and then flit to another fandom that they'll flirt with for a while. But, hey, maybe they were only uploading their two favorite stories.
Then I read some of the stories. They weren't bad. Whoever wrote them definitely had taken some creative writing classes. But they had that kind of awkwardness and close ties to canon that you see in an author's first story in a fandom. All of them. They started slow and uncomfortably. One had Rodney flipping a coin (and described the coin in vast detail) a reference to "Rising," in a Rodney/Carson story. I dunno. They felt forced.
They didn't reference fanon at all. It was like these authors existed in a vacuum. A multi-fandom author is usually connected to fandom in some way.
I decided that the owners of FanLib had hired some interns (okay, "hired" for an intern implies pay) to write some "fanfiction" stories to seed their archive. It annoyed me.
Then I was annoyed at the "bright colors!" and "bold stars!" layout. What is this, kindergarten? They didn't even know the average age of a fanfiction writer. The site seemed marketed to high school students. I contemplated sending them a scathing (if politely worded) email on how poor their market research has been, but I decided I didn't want to help them.
But here's the weird part: of those four authors, only cpt_ritter is still around, and cpt_ritter wasn't one of the "multi-fandom" authors. Once they got their archive started, they pulled their "seed" authors out.
Now I'll post my stories anywhere. I've joked that I'll staple them to telephone poles. But even I draw the line here. These guys were dishonest and manipulative. I don't trust them.
ETA: I agree with
astolat: It's time for a truly all-inclusive multi-fandom archive. Now there was one called The Archive At The End Of The Universe. Let me see if that's still in business.
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no subject
Date: 2007-05-20 02:49 am (UTC)It read more like a homework assignment, "Give us six pages of fanfiction in this fandom by Monday" -- a homework assignment the writer was having trouble getting into, at that.
It was forced, dry, and lacked any sense of enthusiasm for the pairing or fandom. It was a retread of canon. And it seemed to be based on just two episodes (that were a season apart) and lacked a feel for the history and character development between those two. It was as if the writer skimped on the assignment and just watched the bare minimum to be able to write the story: the pilot, and the famous episode with the gay kiss.
The lack of fanon references was just one measure and way to describe how off this story was. But it was off on so many levels, even though it was well-written. Like a well-crafted creative writing assignment on a subject the writer didn't like.
Now maybe it was done for a challenge. Those can come out forced.
But why, then, were all the stories (in the fandoms I knew, HP, Stargate Atlantis) like this? If you're a multi-fandom author, why choose to upload a story you clearly struggled with? (FanLib said they chose only "serious" fanfic writers for this early beta testing, and these three claimed to be "multi-fandom" authors on their profiles.)
It's a pity those authors are gone. There were a couple of Harry Potter stories, too, and if I could link you to them, you'd see what I mean.
There were other red flags, too. These authors struck me as phony, and left me wondering if a fanfiction story was written by someone who wasn't a fan, was it still "fan" fiction?
Icarus
no subject
Date: 2007-05-20 09:18 am (UTC)But my general point was that canon > fanon as far as interpretations go. "Fanon references" don't have to be followed, especially if they're not obvious from the original source material, and it's good for fics to reinterpret things so that offbeat takes on the characters don't get baked in to the way people think about them.
no subject
Date: 2007-05-20 06:11 pm (UTC)Worse than that was the phony profiles. The three posed as "multi-fandom" authors as if they'd been around a long time, when it was pretty apparent that they hadn't. The puffed up exterior "If you're an important author then you should want to post here like me" is in keeping with FanLib's bullshit.
Have you seen the latest? In their media blitz they're portraying themselves as the first ever online fanfiction community. I like them less and less every day.
Icarus
no subject
Date: 2007-05-20 10:40 pm (UTC)WTF? Okay, I can understand that as a marketing tactic to people who don't know about FFN and TAATEOTU(?) and all the single-fandom and single-subject archives, but it's guaranteed to piss off the established authors they probably need to attract to give their site marketable value -- unless they can make it work with quantity rather than (average) quality. Which may be a workable approach -- it works for FFN, after all.