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Feedback
I am finding the fannish discussions about story feedback very interesting. I'm paying attention because I've been a lurker for quite awhile and my excuse has been 'necessary' silence until I get a sense of what fandom is like today. And since fandom is pretty much the same as in past decades I can no longer keep using that excuse. The problem is that I still think of fandom as just a few people. And since my fan-nest came on line with me, I still think of fandom as local, small and face-to-face. This is a very dangerous illusion considering the immense size of fandom today-- I have no idea who is reading this post or even how many people are active in SGA fandom.
Trying to get a sense of what to write and what to avoid writing in my journal is a strange compartmentalization process. I waver back and forth between casual and quasi-formal style depending on whether I'm flocked or not.
I have always been more comfortable doing artwork than doing writing. Primarily because artwork is easy and writing is difficult. The dyslexia makes writing laborious and makes any kind of spontaneous outpouring in words impossible. I normally run every entry and comment through the spell check at least seven times, sometimes double that, correcting spelling takes twice the amount of time that the original writing takes. Many of the words I can't spell are so mangled that even spell check doesn't help. So because my burn-time for commenting is limited I must ration out who get the comments and that's my dilemma. Do I skip commenting if the author already has lots of feedback? I admit to doing that and I feel what I say isn't important and will just add more confetti into the air. I mean this only about my comments, not about anyone else's comments.
What the current discussions have taught me is that even short comments are treasured, and that confetti storms are good. Most of my early fanworks were done when there were no easy methods for commenting so there wasn't any feedback...... that's why the feedback issue is new to me and the proper etiquette for commenting isn't always obvious, so I appreciate all the discussion.
I tend to comment on stories that intrigue me, I particularly like experimental styles and unique perspectives. Since I've been reading fanfiction for forty years I have an appetite for the unusual. And I must admit to favoring those stories for feedback I am going to make a better effort to leave more comments everywhere. Thanks everyone for making we wake up to this.
Re: hi! and feedback
Needless to say I have read a ton of Trek stories over the years. The really good stuff from each decade, I like to think so anyway, but I suspect I only touched the tip of a very deep iceberg. So much great writing never made it beyond manuscript because fans were worried about the reception their stories would receive.
Escapade does sound like fun--Maybe someday.
I think I have found most of the SGA must-subscribe-to community journals, I could be wrong on that, for many months I didn't know the SGA Newsletter community existed. Elemgi had told me about it, but I didn't understand how central it was. Once I started using that to keep track of the fanworks producers, my understanding of SGAs size and depth started getting clearer.
I kinda like that SGA is now a closed fandom. I know that probably many fans have departed. I have noticed that fan immersions tend to last about three years and at that point people want something new and exciting. The vacuum left behind when they depart, always hurts a little, but it leaves an opening for story types that haven't been explored before. The second wave can be much more interesting than the first. I hope that is the case with SGA.
I would be hard pressed to even guess all the fandom incarnations Trek has gone through. For years us old cranks have been saying how superior the character dynamics were in the original Trek compared to all the secondary series'--Now the new fans understand, seeing what we saw through the eyes of enhanced special effects. In 1966 you had to suspend your critical gaze and just accept that the effects were the best they could do, and imagine in your mind what it should look like. In this respect the new film (which I love) got it right.
One of these days I will wake up and the Trek muse will be irresistible, but for the moment SGA has me. Thanks again for your kind comments. I'm sending my check to DW today to become a paid member, I really need the ability to edit my comments, I'm embarrassed by all my typos.
Re: hi! and feedback
I have so many SG1 friends who also adore SGA and who moved there either partially or completely, and now there are not a few SGA fans who are discovering the earlier show second. So it's all good.
You sound like a serial monogamist like me! I read in several fandoms but I just went through a wave of cutting back on comms for my reading fandoms because I just wasn't bothering.
I'm not sure what "wave" sga is on now; people seem to be so much more multi fannish than I ever dream of being! There was a definite sense of angst at the end of season 3, because of elizabeth, but I don't really know when the peak was for new fic.
again: i'll certainly watch for your recs and character discussion, if you choose to post any. I don't really have a favorite pairing in SGA; I enjoy them all. So I would read quite indiscriminately there.
and no worries about the comment typos: As you can see, I make no attempt to be neat and tidy. I have to be such a perfectionist about writing in my day job -- fandom is a place to relax.
*cheers*