Jane Austen fanfic fandom and other non existent things

[alias_sqbr]

Following on from What annoys me about fanfic meta about itself, the OTHER thing that annoys me about "fanfic" meta about itself is the assumption by people in the american dominated english speaking scifi-con-culture-associated mostly-inspired-by-mainstream-tv-and-movies LJ-based metafandom-reading part of fanfic-and-other-related-fannish-creations fandom (also known in some circles as Ponies) is that that's either ALL there is to fanfic-and-other-related-fannish-creations fandom, or that they/we are at least the central or most important part.

I was reminded of this by hlbr(*), who pointed out that I was making EXACTLY the same assumption myself. Oops.

Anyway, to counteract that, some meta about another part of fanfic-and-other-related-fannish-creations fandom:

I've been reading a bunch of Jane Austen/Pride and Prejudice meta recently, mostly inspired by the aforementioned hlbr and the wonderful Anghraine’s Blog she introduced me to.

On of the annoying things with Jane Austen fandom for me is the realisation that (a) I really like it (the fic, the meta, all of it. Well, ok, I haven't been that impressed most of the fanart or vids, but I probably just haven't been looking in the right places) and (b)It's almost all on blogs and forums and and NOT on lj.

And this reminded me why I switched to lj from my blog in the first place: Unlike some people it wasn't only because my friends were here. I also can't stand internet communication between a large group of people which doesn't have both email notification AND threading. It's too hard to keep track, and you can't easily split off into little sub-conversations so it's this huge nebulous time-wasting morass. And it's not just that I've gotten spoiled: I remember getting constantly frustrated by online conversations on forums etc back in the day. I stuck with them because there was no alternative, but now that I have one I really don't feel like wading back. That said, modern forum/blog software does allow for both of these things more than it did in the 90s, maybe I just need to dig deeper.

Which is a rather ironic counterexample to the "Non-Pony fans are hidebound and cantankerous for not understanding and adapting to our ways ie lj" trope.

Anyway, something I've noticed in what P&P meta I have read is that pretty much the nastiest thing anyone says in a review (especially of a professionally published "sequel", and the existence of those is interesting in and of itself): "Clearly she has only seen the movie/tv series and not read the book" :) See for example This review of “The Independence of Miss Mary Bennet” (which also has some unsympathetic things to say about us Mary fans but I forgive her)

(*)No relation, and I'm pretty sure the "br" doesn't stand for "bear" :)

Comments

[redbraids.livejournal.com]

It is fun to see comments on Jane Austen fandom! I am a real fan myself :-)

[hlbr.livejournal.com]

Indeed, not a bear. (Or not.. 'Bear'?) Just my incredibly unimaginative alias based on name and last name.

I'm glad you're diving in and that you like the meta! There's an incredibly lack of it, in general, or it's just that I'm used to having more and so the amount there falls short.

I saw you in AHA. That thread is awful. I kept away because I know how those things end, and I don't trust the mods to understand any angry reaction to the subject.

I... honestly like threading a lot, and lj, and dw, but I'm adaptable. I can get used to anything, really, and the only thing that actively bothers me is that forums are a really shitty way to archive fic, and that individual static html pages are barely better. It just makes it hard to search for stuff. I will pitch the AO3 software once it's ready; I'm decided, even though I'm pretty sure they wouldn't use it.

[alias_sqbr]

Yaaay Jane Austen :D

[alias_sqbr]

I can only be bothered checking out the forums etc very rarely, so there's enough for me for now :)

Thinking about it, the reason I felt comfortable reading the "POC in JAFF" thread was that, as I said, I started out thinking it was about something else, and read most of the comments through that filter. In retrospect..nng. Still, in the other post I made after decided to dig back in, the people at the Republic of Pemberley were very helpful answering my request about inheritance laws, even if I have to remember to go back and check the link every now and then because omg no comment notification :) EDIT: except now my post seems to have vanished o.O

Yeah, I haven't dug into the fic, partly because it all seems so hard to get to. I wait until people rec it to me, much easier :D

[hlbr.livejournal.com]

In the RoP? I don't visit the forums much--they seem to have lots of rules and all that. -_-

But if it was old, perhaps it was a matter of... it getting cleaned out? I'm told that they do that, every now and then.

[alias_sqbr]

It wasn't old, maybe I broke one of the rules :/