Introduction/Paryt/Hang Out Post!

[amaresu]

So, apparently this community has 211 members with 308 subscribers and I bet you barely know each other. I know that I barely know you. So we are having an introduction/party/hang out post of greatness!

What do you do here? Introduce yourself in a comment, reply to other peoples comments, talk about that bizarre idea you've had and didn't think anyone else would be interested in, throw out some ideas you think this comm could have fun with, basically have fun and get to know each other. There's no wrong way to do this. Except .gif spamming in a top level comment because there are still people out there on dial up.

I'll go first in the comments.

Comments

[amaresu]

So, things about me! I'm a mod around here, I hate to see this place active only once a year, I will eventually get around to make a masterpost of the mini-metas, and I desperately want an all-female version of something like The Losers.

Let's see, as much as I find those "Why I Slash" essays to be asinine and navel-grazy I really wish there were all sorts of "Why I Femslash" essays to match them. I think Vampire Diaries is probably the best show currently on tv (and I say that without any irony). I'm re-reading Animorphs and I wish that Discworld fic had more Susan/any-female-character-ever-but-really-Agnes-or-Unity-please, but I'm incapable of writing Susan it seems.

Also I'm terribly addicted to Echo Bazaar.

I'd love it if you'd let me know what you'd like to see done around here.

[lilacsigil]

The cool things about Vampire Diaries are so awesome (Elena! Caroline! Bonnie! Liz! Female friendships, mothers and daughters, Katherine and Emily) and the bad things so bad (woobie!Damon, all the characters of colour except one dying). But that doesn't stop me watching it, because most shows have those bad parts without the awesome to make up for it.

[amaresu]

Exactly. So many shows have so much fail and not a lot of awesome. It's nice to have a show with a lot of awesome even if it still fails.

[cleo]

I started watching TVD with friends this season and then devoured the first season. Needs. More. Femslash. For real!

[amaresu]

Lots more femslash! I want Anna/anybody to be honest.

[havocthecat]

I have an Anna/Bonnie WIP that I'll probably finish come next Yuletide.

[catpella]

Yaaaay Animorphs! *cheer* Rachel is still one of my favorite examples of an amazing female character; she's strong-willed and courageous, but she's also flawed by her bloodlust and recklessness. I really loved that dichotomy of strong but vulnerable.

[amaresu]

Animorphs was always a book series I regretted never finishing as a kid. So it's happy making to finally get around to it. Rachel is one of the most amazingly flawed characters ever. Period. I love how well rounded her character is, from teen shopping princess to death goddess, she's just awesome.

[havocthecat]

I really wish there were all sorts of "Why I Femslash" essays to match them.

I wrote one of those! I mean, the general consensus of everyone who commented was basically "women omg yay!" So I think that the answer is terribly, terribly obvious to most of us who are in femslash?

But I still wish there were a plethora of those essays out there.

I desperately want an all-female version of something like The Losers.

I think we should have a comm "make your own all-female team" post, maybe in the style of The Losers and Leverage both? Or a thread? Wait, I have a better idea. I'll start a thread for it!

[amaresu]

But I still wish there were a plethora of those essays out there.

Sometimes I think that femslashers have read enough of the slash versions to realize how asinine and navel-grazy they are so they refrain from writing them, but other times I think that femslashers just don't like to talk about femslash. Which isn't true, but eh. Least I don't think it's true. But the thing is with those essays is they never say anything new and yet they keep getting written so I feel like femslash fandom could totally have a million essays saying the exact same thing. IDEK.

[havocthecat]

but other times I think that femslashers just don't like to talk about femslash. Which isn't true, but eh. Least I don't think it's true.

I think the number of comments on the anon posts at girlgay do belie that statement. :) On the other hand, I also have started to wonder if femslashers (or a portion of femslashers) have evolved a culture where we're supposed to put on a polite public face. Because the accusations of not being nice and the "right way" to femslash and encourage more femslash that show up on the anon post are...interesting. If frustrating, because there's no one "right way" to femslash and encourage more femslash.

[amaresu]

Okay I went and found the anon post (at least the last one) and read through it. And then had to remind myself that everything was like three months old and thus I couldn't comment on it. Bah.

(I have to say that I think I've looked at P&P all of once and decided a place that restrictive wasn't for me, so I'm not sure where the idea that it's the center of femslash fandom comes from.)

I don't think it's wrong to want to be encouraging of new femslash authors, but I don't think it's necessary to leave nice feedback on every femslash fic that passes your radar. It's a lot like how you approach small fandoms, at least for me. Read, comment of the things you like, write your own shit, and nominate it for every ficathon ever that it has even a slim chance of being applicable for. I mean it's hard work to promote your very favorite, but unloved thing, but it can be done. And done without telling every crappy writer out there that they're fic is awesome.

On the other hand I don't think it's necessary to publicly criticize all the bad fic. Privately, criticize to your hearts content. I'm not a fan of public criticism unless it's asked for myself. I know too many people who have various mental issues to be okay with that.

But, yes, basically there's no reason to cater to bad writers, just ignore them.

I think the idea of an all-the-time femslash kink meme would be interesting though. It might have the unfortunate side effect of killing a lot of the little women-focused memes that pop up throughout the year. Which would be sad because I often like those a lot more then the kink meme.


(Not sure how I feel about this DW spellcheck. Stupid not-my-computer.)

[havocthecat]

I think that there are some people for whom P&P is the center of femslash fandom, you know? And I think that those people have kind of forgotten that their experience =\= everyone's experience. It's also been around long enough that it has a pretty prolific core group, and some of that core group gets rather defensive of critique. Which irritates other people. Which leads to the vitriol that comes out on anon posts (from the pro-P&P and irritated-with-P&P groups both), I think.

(I think that, once the commentary on this post dies down, we'll be having another anon post. I love those.)

[amaresu]

That makes sense. It's easy to forget that the center of your fannish universe is not the center of everybody elses. See: People who forget that fandom even exists off of journaling sites.

Anon post that I could participate in? Excellent...

[havocthecat]

So, tell me, how do you think the conversation is going here? Has it died down?

[amaresu]

It's probably died down enough. My experience from asexual_fandom and running these things is that they'll probably be a conversation or two that lingers for the next week or so, but the main activity has probably finished.

[lea_hazel]

I think we should have a comm "make your own all-female team" post, maybe in the style of The Losers and Leverage both? Or a thread? Wait, I have a better idea. I'll start a thread for it!

Have you seen the isurrendered meme? I think that format can be really cool for a project like this.

[tamsin]

Have you read Not Exactly Human? It's Susan/Angua. I really enjoyed it.

I'd love to read more Granny Weatherwax/Nanny Ogg fic, but sadly there's not much out there.

[amaresu]

I do love that fic.