Back Button!

[quiet_tiger]

I think I've posed this question before, but I was recently bombarded with examples again--

What really throws you out of a fic?

I was invested in a long fic so I didn't actually back button, though I contemplated it, when the sentence described the main character's eyes as being blue, when they are clearly brown in the movie. Brown and blue are usually difficult to confuse!

The story had a lot of other issues, but basic fact problems really are annoying.

Comments

[quiet--tiger.livejournal.com]

Also on the Torchwood/jumping into fandom thought, I was never more intimidated than when I wrote/posted TW fic. I was so worried I'd have all my British stuff wrong, and it's such a huge fandom, especially when combined with DW, it was hard to feel comfortable. But I had to find a good American-->British dictionary to try to minimize mistakes. I was sooooooo confused before I realized a "jumper" was a sweater, not a little girl's dress.

I need to renew my paid account so I can get my TW icons back. Have Kon and Tim slapping 5 instead.

[larsinger29.livejournal.com]

I know exactly what you mean about being intimidated to write something for Torchwood. I’ve only so far posted one story (and even then, just to my LJ and not to the comms) because of my fear of getting terminology/continuity wrong. I feel like I’ve done a good job immersing myself in the fandom, and that I’ve picked up on British colloquialisms now, but I’m still hesitant. Maybe because it just bugs me so when authors don’t take the time to Brit-pick or American-pick their stories. Because I’ve read American based stories where the American character sounds wrong, and just no. Put a little more effort into things, take the little bit of extra time to make sure your characters actually sound like they should! (And yes, “jumper” being the term for “sweater” threw me off the first time I saw it! I ended up googling a lot of terms when I first got into the TW fandom, and now I’ve read so much in it that I find myself thinking in British terms on ocassion!)

Oh man, I’ve stayed away from Tumblr too. My only real interaction with it is via links, but my impression from perusing it is that it’s so not for me. It’s just too…overly simplistic and doesn't seem to invite real engagement between members, just posting something and people commenting on it/sharing it (which I guess is good in some ways, but it's just not for me). Plus, like you, I spend waaaaaay too much time on LJ when I should be doing other things (like working!). And I’m familiar and comfortable with LJ, and even if many of my fandom friends from the DCU seem to be MIA as of late (and possibly migrated to Tumblr), I just can’t be bothered to try and expand someplace new. Hell, I didn’t even migrate to dreamwidth when that whole giant migration took place (though I did set up an account, I just didn’t do anything with it!).

The canon v. fanon thing is just too juicy to not enjoy. I honestly took it as canon that Ianto was the TW archivist, but your comment now has me wanting to investigate. The one that really set me off was the common reference to Ianto’s mother being in a psychiatric hospital, which after hours of hunting down clues and references I discovered was actually based on an off-handed comment that Ianto made about knowing (well) a certain psychiatric hospital, and people theorizing that his never mentioned mother must have been there. DC is great to play in because you can just go from so many different starting points or incarnations (though I’m with you, I refuse to read the new Roy Harper stuff (even though he’s one of my favorite characters) because I don’t like how they’ve completely removed Lian). Certainly there are a number of “facts” that are still constant in the DCU, but there are also the possibilities to play with those facts or reinterpret them.

I know what you mean, too, regarding people being MIA. It seems like there was some sort of exodus or something in the little corner of the DCU fandom that we both play in. Partly I blame the reboot, which I know turned a lot of people off, but I suppose real life and maybe the appeal of other communities or sites also lured people away. It’d be great if there could be one conglomerate site, which pulled together tumblr, livejournal, dreamwidth, AO3 and other fandom platforms postings into one “feed”. I’d sign up for that in a heartbeat if it meant keeping track of all my authors and friends!

(Oh, and porny euphemisms are a riot. Weeping Cock can often have me in stitches with the purple prose or “that’s now how that works” anatomy people employ! Seeing “member” in a fic makes me giggle for some reason, though I guess at some point you have to come up with another term for “cock” so it doesn’t get too repetitive. Still, makes me giggle.)

[quiet--tiger.livejournal.com]

TW fandom is just so big. I was really into it for about a year, and then Children of Earth came out, and, well, like the DCU reboot it killed the fandom for me. I just lost all enthusiasm. Even rewatching the first three seasons with my boyfriend and seeing it through new eyes didn't help. Though getting a friend into it helped--she loves Janto and Tosh--until she inevitably got to Exit Wounds and COE... Yeah.

The familiarity of LJ is what I have trouble leaving. I like my layout and my comms and everybody. I made an insane journal back when it looked like fandom was moving there, then again to Dreamwidth, but the problem is that while my friends for the most part moved, the comms didn't, or at least not with the volume. And then having to move entries over, and everything... As much as Livejournal is so much made of horrible, painful fail, I can't leave. I'm even going to give them their 20 bucks for a paid account again soon so I can get my icons back and edit comments.

I think canonically Ianto really does start off as the "tea boy;" I forget what Jack introduces him as in Everything Changes, but it's definitely not archivist. I know he spends the first many episodes just making coffee, ordering food, and cleaning. We must be reading different fics, as I don't remember a reference to Ianto's mom being committed at all! I don't recall ever thinking about his mother, really, just that his dad is a jerk.

Also, I'm not sure if you've noticed this with TW, or if I'm just really sensitve to it, but I found the fandom not welcoming at times because it truly wasn't. More than one person put in the header that if the fic is a spoiler for particular episodes, then why is the person considering reading TW fic. Like, I started reading fic before I got my hands on season 2, but why should I feel ostracized because I haven't yet seen Kiss Kiss, Bang Bang? I'll just not read the story so I'm not spoiled. It's like people don't realize not everyone has the ability to watch every show when it comes out, or even years later. I also like a spoiler warning if particular episodes are going to be mentioned so that I can get a basic timeline of where the story fits.

Outside of batfic_contest, Bruce/Clark, and the occasional Nightwing or Tim story, I barely read DC anymore, but I'm not sure if it's because my tastes have changed or if there's really not a lot of fic anymore. Even Bruce/Clark has dropped off a lot, and that's a really popular pairing with a steady comm.

The splintering doesn't help--where everyone used to use LJ now there's Tumblr, AO3, etc. Everything consolidated would be awesome!

Dude, weepingcock, oh man, the way people seem to think the body and sex work is just horrifying. Like, how do you become old enough to use the Internet and not learn the basic process of human reproduction?

Outside of "cock" I think I probably use "shaft" the most. Anything else sounds weird or simply not sexy!

[larsinger29.livejournal.com]

Oh yeah, it’s quite massive. It was intimidating as hell when I first began, and I’ve still got a number of people’s LJ’s bookmarked to read through their fics and such (and it’s now been well over a year and a half since I “joined” the fandom). But even though I was saddened by the outcome of COE and Exit Wounds (can’t deny they played on my emotions beautifully though, and I was enthralled in their events), I really love all the different ways people have explored alternative endings or what have you. It’s really quite imaginative and engrossing, and probably why that has become my main fandom.

I agree with everything you said about LJ. Every. Single. Thing. I broke down last year and got a paid account, and I’ll be renewing once again when my time is up. Even though I’m not happy with some of the stuff LJ has done, it’s still suits my needs/desires/interests best.

You’re right, Ianto’s basically just the seen as the assistant in the first episodes, hinting at being general support and basically a gopher/dogsbody. But I think people took to the idea that he was also the archivist because whenever Jack has something to go into “Secure Archives” he hands it to Ianto to do. Perhaps there’s also references in other mediums (books, audio plays, etc.), or maybe some slight references in other episodes that I’m forgetting. But it’s a good illustration of people inferring something from canon and making it fanon. As to his mom being committed, I’ve seen it in quite a few of the angstier fics I’ve read. Often when Ianto is grappling with his own mental health (either in terms of having OCD or battling some other mental illness). What can I say, I like the angst.

I can’t say that I noticed much hostility within TW fandom, but maybe it’s because we engaged with it in different times? I also mostly lurked for the first year I was reading, so that might impact it as well. I did see a few “if you haven’t seen X episode, well, why are you reading this?” type spoiler warnings, but I took them more as a cheeky British thing than said with malice. But I can see where you could also take it as a slight to people not having seen the episodes yet, because you’re right: we don’t all get it at the same time. And I didn’t start watching Torchwood until 2011. I think, in the modern day and age, spoiler warnings are a good idea and courtesy to your readers no matter what the fandom (and while it can be trickier in comics fandom, I try and give a general time period so people understand where and when the story would fit in).

The drop off in DC fanom is really quite disheartening. It seems like two years ago, there was a steady stream of new fics and stuff within the Bruce/Clark, Teen Titans, and Tim/assorted pairings and Dick/assorted pairings sub-fandoms. Now it’s significantly less, and probably for a variety of the factors we’ve discussed. Still, it makes me sad. Because I miss all the great stories and brilliant minds!

Man, the euphemisms in smut are just crazy sometimes. As are the expectations and delusions of how body parts work. It’s crazy to think how naïve people can be, but I think it’s like a vicious cycle: a person reads a “bad” fic, and assumes what’s described is realistic, so then uses that as basis for the scene in one of their fics. And on and on it can go. I read a ton of different smutty fics, and drew on real life experiences, before I tried my hand at writing a bit of smut. But I don’t think enough people attempt to do anything like that. Still, makes for some fun reading horrible smut like that, and gives us a great reason to have a comm like weepingcock!

[quiet--tiger.livejournal.com]

I've had stuff for TW, and even other fandoms, bookmarked for literally years because I've been busy or moved on or I've just gotten so used to seeing the title I don't feel like reading anymore. TW just breaks my heart because I was so, so into it, about six months before COE was when I got into fandom, and then I just lost it. I'll still read fic sometimes, but I guess I don't have it in me. Or maybe the summaries just don't look appealing? The same thing has happened with Tim/Kon--I used to love it and now I just... don't. Not sure what happened there, other than the whole Kon dying thing.

Ah, regarding angsty Ianto, I avoid angst most of the time. I like my ficcish diversion from reality to generally be angst-free. Not necessarily fluff, but I tend to veer into humor most of the time. Though Ianto and Jack (and Bruce Wayne depending on the story, or Dick) are built for angst, absolutely.

I think with the "spoiler warning" it struck me as odd because it's the first fandom I'd ever seen such a thing in, and I'd been poking around/heavily involved in several fandoms by that point.

I don't think I usually write stuff with a specific timeframe in mind, or it doesn't matter in other fandoms as much as it does with TW, where things change super quickly. My Batman, unless otherwise indicated, is always set in a very specific timeframe where Tim is Robin and with the Titans, Dick is Nightwing and with the Outsiders, and Kon and Bart are alive while Steph is dead. Other than those details I don't generally think my stories need timeframes.

Yep, the vicious "I saw it in a bunch of fics, so it must be true." I'm ashamed to say a lot of my early smut had some awful tropes in it due to reading so much stuff with the same thing, but after reading what weepingcock had to offer, I like to think I've gotten so much better at it!