Is why I am trying to quit fanfiction.

I am, quite literally, incapable of simply enjoying fic. I get indignant, and judgmental, and demanding; and none of these things are conducive to being a passive fic reader. Fandom drives me insane and I need *need* to be free of it. But I can't. I can't.

And so I must rant, or at least pose a question, because really, really.

Warning: Orlando Bloom fans, MPREG fans, and Aragon/Legolas fans may be offended by the contents contained within. The author claims no responsibility for your rage.

( What the fuck is wrong with the LOTR fandom? )

And see, this, I think, is why I have never loved a fandom like I love Sherlock Holmes. I have never once felt the need to rant or bitch at the Sherlock Holmes fandom. Every other fandom I've played in has occasioned my rage. Every other fandom I've played in has gotten me wanked at fandom wank (or I've gotten myself wanked, because, let's face it, I am rather loud and opinionated). But SH... SH is like a warm cup of perfectly steeped tea. The people are fantastic. The fic is fantastic. The meta is fantastic. In fact, it's all so shiny it makes me swoon. I couldn't even say that about WaT, and I devoted 4 years of my life to WaT.

Gah, though. Gah. I seriously need a fanfiction patch. I quit smoking. I quit coffee. I quit sugar and wheat. I can quit fanfiction. I can. ::meep::

I have always known that fanfiction authors have an exaggerated sense of self importance. I've been guilty of this myself in the past. We fic authors love to talk about our own work, and expect people to squee when we tell them that we're writing a new story. We live for feedback, and spend countless hours participating in what amounts to navel gazing. We are narcissists (although with considerably lower self esteem than your average paid author). Oh, we'll deny all of this, because of course we only write fic because we have a story to tell, or because it's an exercise in creativity, or because we need to get the images of our favourite characters out of our heads. And we'll tell you that we can handle constructive criticism --that we want it-- but when it comes down to it, there's not a single fic author out there that doesn't want praise.

I'm sure there are fic authors on my flist who will be offended by this, and probably disagree with me, but let's face it, if it weren't for the instant, positive feedback, we wouldn't be writing fanfiction. We'd be trying our hands at original work and preparing to face the harshness of real life critics, editors and publishers. It's not a bad thing. There are people who want to read fanfiction, and they're willing to share their love in exchange for it. And writing is an enjoyable process (although the process would be infinitely less enjoyable if we couldn't share our work and make people squee).

The problem, of course, is that most fic authors don't question their self worth. They've been getting praise for so long (even when praise isn't deserved) that they feel they are entitled to it.

And nowhere is this more apparent than in the House fandom.

There are actually posts (in pairing based comms) from average authors (i.e. authors who think they are far better than they actually are) announcing their intentions to write more fic. In comms. Comms, people. I don't have words for how fucked up that is.

I wish I could enjoy fanfiction without being so cynical. I'm not sure that's possible in the fandom.

I also suspect I need to give up on House all together. It's making me negative, and I despise myself when I'm negative.

I had promised to talk about fanfiction, and the impact my recent venture in SH slash has had on my enjoyment of fanfiction, and we will get to that.  First, however, some random comments and a review.

( random SH related comments )

Now that that's out of the way, we can now turn to our review.  Having finally managed to find a torrent for one of the original (Fox) Rathbone films, I must confess, I am utterly impressed.

( The Hound of the Baskervilles, 1939, with Rathbone and Bruce )

And, of course, no entry would be complete without some fanfiction inspired rambling.  Also, as it is a rare occasion for me to admit my faults, it may interest several of you to know that, yes; I am, on occasion, wrong. ;)

( My Ten Commandments of Fanfiction are no more )

Today I want to talk about fandom, or, more specifically, fanish interpretation of fandom with respect to source material. Confused? Don't worry, it'll all make sense.

My own fanish experience is fairly vast, and yet, I'm going to limit my thoughts to the three fandoms I currently follow (and note that follow does not necessarily imply participation). I'm going to examine each in turn, not in terms of the source material itself (although spoilers may be presented) but rather, in terms of fanish interpretation of said source material.

This entire entry is a generalization, based entirely upon my own observations. As such, most of my analysis will come across as irrelevant to individual fans, as each individual's experience will be different and result in differing points of view.

Long story short, this is me rambling, with no real purpose. I am looking at this from an entirely academic view point, so no 'wank' is intended. In fact, to drive this point home, the entirety of my analysis is later expressed in a mathematical formula.

( House, WaT, and SH: a fan's perspective )

I really need to stop adding people to my flist. It's making keeping up with my flist very challenging. I think I'm about two days behind now, which pretty much means I've given up hope of getting caught up. You know the drill; if you want me to see something, comment here and let me know.

( biking adventures )

( on femmeslash, a pseudo rant )

( a follow up question to the above rant, in which I talk about WaT, and House )

I should probably precurse this by telling you that I am feeling... ranty. I'm not actually going to rant, despite having a dozen or so rants running through my head that would love to be put down onto paper. Instead I want to talk about pet peeves.

( more specifically, my pet peeves )

That actually felt kind of good. I'm curious, now, as to your own pet peeves. And feel free to say, girls who rant pointlessly in their journal. I'll forgive you. *g*

I was feeling all essay-y today and hence I did some pondering, which led to writing, which led to this.

( the not so perfect Mary Sue, by Neko )

Now I should probably attempt to finish the next chapter of Virginia.

On second thought, maybe I will write that rant.

( cut because it contains mild spoilers for upcoming episodes of WaT )

I was in a spoilery mood, and hence was reading boards for WaT spoilers and I can across this little discussion regarding my boys.

So you know how Sam/Martin shippers call their pairing Smarty? (yeah, I know... no comment)

Someone referred to Danny/Martin as... wait for it... Manny.

*Manny*

Oh God.  Kill me.  No, just *no*.  Anyone out there reading this, if you ever, ever feel the sudden desire to refer to my boys as Manny please step away from the keyboard and remove yourself from the internet until the urge passes.  The horror.  My God, the horror.

Danny and Martin are Danny and Martin, or D/M, they are *not* Manny.  For the love of all things pure and slashy, do not, ever, under any circumstance, give *my* slash pairing a *pet* name or else I shall be forced to smite you.

Gah, my poor brain.  I feel the sudden need to scrub it out.

::shudders::

I've already been defriended over today's little freak out.  Go me!

I'm going to take a moment know to share some shit with the new people reading my flist.  Anyone who's been around for more than a year knows this by now, but for those that haven't, I figure it's probably fair if I go over the ground rules.  I like to call this:

( Why Neko is insane and how you can avoid her wrath )

On that note, feel free to defriend at will.  Any comments/questions/concerns can be directed toward my comment button.

I'm going to warn you ahead of time: it's been a while since I ranted, so please forgive me if this isn't up to par.

Also know that, while this isn't my fandom, the point still remains, because this is quite possibly one of my biggest pet peeves.

Warnings:

The following rant may be offensive to some readers.  I?  Couldn't care less.  If you do find yourself offended you know where the defriend button is.

( I'm not a homophobe; I just think slash is gross )

Finally, a request for my flist.  I'd like to read lots and lots of dirty gay porn now, please.

I wasn't going to rant about this, but since the person in question has decided ignoring me is a better alternative to explaining themselves, I feel completely justified airing this publicly.

You'd think people would know better by now, by Neko

I swear, every time I think I'm free of fandom, it drags me right back in again. Now normally I'd start with a disclaimer, but I don't feel this rant needs one, because, if you disagree with me, you're setting yourself up to be stoned to death.

( this little thing called etiquette )

Why doesn't anybody like me?

Oh, that's right, I'm a bitch.

I'm feeling moody, and the mass consumption of LOTR fic has left me feeling ranty. And then some. And so I give you:

( The Ten Commandments of Fanfiction, by Neko )

Oh my God am I cold.

I'm sitting in my office, wearing my scarf, and a pair of mittens, and thinking about putting on my coat. Our heat isn't working. I've got two space heaters, but they're really only keeping my office marginally warm. When I got in today, my thermostat read -24 degrees Celsius, which is -11 degrees Fahrenheit. Inside. It's only like 5 degrees colder outside. Dude. And you'd think they'd send us home, but no. Apparently they're 'working' on it, and we need to just grin and bear it until it's fixed.

Fuck.

So cold.

I might have frostbite. (Seriously, you have no idea how painful typing is right now).

There will be fic later, but for now, ( I have several small rants )

In lighter news, yay, my heat is fixed! Now to wait for the office to actually heat up.


ETA: Mother fuckers. They shut down suprnova.org.

Good morning. It's time for a rant. A real rant. And in case you haven't read one of my rants before; the rules:

1) Here's where I pull the hypocrite card. Because I hate negativity, but sometimes it's just way too much and I can't pretend to play the nice, supportive girl.

2) The opinions contained within are not necessarily popular. I know this and choose not to care. Should you find yourself offended, you know where the defriend button is.

3) Feel free to disagree with me, but know that I am old, and hence stubborn, so chances are nothing you say will change my mind.

( dear fanfiction writers, please stop doing that )

And now I'm going to go back into hiding, because, yeah, foot in mouth.

Well, it's Monday, and you know what that means. That's right it's time for Monday morning rants.

Now, for those of you who are new to my rants, some warnings:

1) The opinions contained within are not necessarily popular. I know this, but choose not to care.

2) Feel free to disagree; just don't expect to convert me to your line of thinking. Remember, I'm old and stubborn.

3) At any time, should you find yourself offended, you know where the defriend button is.

And with that, I give you:

( Fanfiction Etiquette 101 )

Yes, I know it's not even 9:00, shut up.  Apparently I am very angry today, hostile even.  It's fun, really.

( incoherent drunken rants )

I promised I would never talk about this, because really, it's not my fandom and I'm fairly certain this is something people don't want to hear. It's more than that, though, because I get the impression it might be a touchy subject, and since there are several HP fans on my flist, I'm a little worried about offending.

( not that that's ever stopped me )

I'm actually feeling a little sick to my stomach now, so I'm probably going to go into hiding for most of the day. I'd like to write, but who knows if that's going to happen. What I really want to do is go home and finish my caps. It would be nice if my new dome would show up so I can finish this present. Canada Post really sucks.

But, on the plus side, tomorrow I'm going into Toronto to meet stareyednight and see her band play. That should be fun.

It's Monday, and today I feel like a rant.

Now, for those of you who have been around for a while, you know how this works. But, there are several new folks on my flist, and I feel like I should probably give you an idea of what to expect. So I give you, rant guidelines:

1) The opinions contained within are not by any means popular.
2) That being said, I do not mean to offend, except when I do.
3) Feel free to join in the discussion.
4) If you do find yourself offended, you know where the defriend button is.

( we're here, we're writing queer, get used to it )

Fandom love, fandom love. I will not rant, I will not rant, I will not...oh fuck it.

So you've posted a story, and you're thinking to yourself, well shit, Neko usually reads my stuff, why didn't she read this? So I give you:

( why Neko is insane and things she just can't read )

The sad part is? I'm feeling the itch to write some Nick/Greg, but I know I don't write them well so I'm not going to. It makes me sad because I really do like them, and well, I haven't written in so long, it would be nice to write something. Why couldn't someone else start talking to me? Why them?