Fandomy bits, and HAIR

[blamebrampton]

I just thought to actually read through my notifications, and there was a sweet wee lemur there from cinnatart , thanks love! But it had a twin! roma_fics  had also sent me a wide-eyed wacky mammal, with a note, to tell me that Snatched was this weekend's fic at hp_weekend_fics , which both made me do a mad little dance of glee at the same time as hang my head in shame, since I have meant to read several of the last weekend fics, but have instead been writing selfishly.

But THANK YOU, Roma and Maggie! I have such love for that mad Next-Gen set in their studio of Great Ego and Peril. Having spent most of the time since writing that working with a TV team as well as my mag set, I have mentally revised the level of ego I ought to have included upwards, but these are newspeople, who are usually a little saner ;-) And touched does not begin to describe my response to your words. Charmed and filled with love is a bit closer.

All of which reminds me that there are other fandom things Of Great Import happening! gunshandcuffs  has the fandom-wide H/D Most Read Bookshelf poll still underway! If you've not voted, please go over there and do so now! However, you don't need to vote for me -- in fact, I'd probably not cope, I like thinking of myself as a slightly acquired taste, like pismanye or Kurt Weill (NOT like Marmite! Bleagh!) What I DO ask is that if you have ever followed my previous recs, you vote for some of the other great fics out there that SHOULD be on the bookshelf but which look like slipping off due to lack of promotion. 

In particular, I would love to see  A Tale of Horns by pushdragon , Crup-tion of the Not-So Innocent by calanthe_fics , and The Simple Joy of Living by mahaliem  make it on. They're all everything that fandom generally loves: tightly written, well characterised, funny and porny, and all had massive responses when they were posted, but are all dropping off for some reason or other (probably because they are from 2008). Go and read them if you haven't -- each and every one is a complete delight (and none are awfully long). There are a bunch of other fics on that list that I would also be pimping were it a best fic list,  but these are the three that I remember having fantastic public responses and recs abungo, which seem to be merely in need of a bit of publicity.

So if you've ever trusted me on a rec and felt it worth the hour of your time, trust me again on these three! (Or check out the gunshandcuffs list for any number of great fics!)

In hair news, I now have dark brown-black hair with pillar box red racing stripes. It is FANTASTIC. I may have found the style I wish to keep for the next decade! (Unless the red runs out as quickly as the old 80s bright colours used to, in which case, expect griping and possibly an experiment with white badger stripes ;-))

And Rage, the Friday and Saturday night music clip show on the ABC, has an all-covers special on which has been unbelievably brilliant. Right now they are playing the Housemartin's version of Caravan of Love -- I am filled with joy!

Comments

Re: i've been thinking about this...

[blamebrampton.livejournal.com]

I'm not sure that's entirely accurate.

I should start off by saying that I am a massive fan of the G&H longlist. While there are a couple of fics missing, on the whole it is a really good place for people to go to catch up on post-canon fic and I will be working my way through the shocking number I had not read.

But looking at the current final 25, I'm with Cal in thinking that it is a bit skewed. The G&H shortlist is fantastic at giving the stats for the writers and fics that most people who took the poll are willing to vote for, but I don't know that that translates directly to most popular, nor to great fics. Which is not to say that it doesn't, either, simply that the mechanism that is there for voting isn't one that gives you greatest fics.

What it gives you is a list of the fics that the most people who are motivated to take the poll remember reading. Which is exactly what it said it was going to in the original posts :-) But this means it is skewed both by who participates and by how thorough they are in their participation. I know that several of the fics I ticked were ones I thought were less than great (a lot less in one case!), but I read them nonetheless!

And several fics that I KNOW are great are ones that I have only glanced at and put aside to read later (I had hopes to get to them through the polling process, deranged hopes, I tell you!), so I could not vote for them in good conscience. But I would rank them more as favourites if that was the criterion!

I think that the problem is language such as 'great' and 'favourite' has crept in. 'Most read' was perfect, because it was accurate and allowed for all the reasons a fic will be most read, which include that it is a great fic, that the author is a gorgeous human being, and that the author is a brilliant self-promoter. These things are as true in fandom as they are in real life publishing.

You're absolutely right that going for other mechanisms could have resulted in major-league wank, and I think it was sensible to steer clear. But by the same token, I see what Cal's getting at, too. I have to say that I very nearly did not vote for anything because when I went to the polling post it said "New Harry/Draco Favourites" -- what I voted for certainly was not a list of my favourites, it was a list of fics that I had read for one reason or another. My favourites list would have been very very different indeed!

I do think that there are more writers than the small number with the highest grosses on the list who turn out reliably great long fics. And I thoroughly agree with Wemyss below that some of that is due to cultural positioning. He and I were sharing giggles that we would never be winners in fandom popularity contests, which I think is unfair for him since he at least includes the occasional spot of quite eye-opening sex. But what has surprised me most with the poll is the way that it is reflective of such a short period of time. The position of Fray's Wings is the most indicative example of what I am talking about: 12 or 24 months ago it would have been a rampant leader -- no one has unread it in the time since, fashions have simply shifted.

So, yeah, in the end, I love the longlist, and I think it will give a terrific 'most-read' list, but I don't agree that it will be the same as a 'great fic' list, nor as a most popular fics list -- neither of which are the goals that G&H set out at the beginning.

And MASSIVE apologies for the rambliness -- it is far too late here!

... but two of them were not memorable.

[wemyss.livejournal.com]

Again, I think we agree the poll does, and can only, measure Memorability on the Sellar-Yeatman Index. On which hangs all the rest of this law-and-prophets discussion.

Re: ... but two of them were not memorable.

[blamebrampton.livejournal.com]

I have a terrible urge for 1066 of the Voldemort Wars now ... ARGH! Must finish writing Fathers and spend the next month on RL novel. You're a TERRIBLE influence, but with such flair.