a Symple creature unlettyrde

Still alive! And it's still January, so it's clearly not too late for the year in fic meme.

I'm calling this the Year I Rediscovered Fandom (and incidentally met lots of incredibly lovely people). I did a Big Bang! Then I did another one! And I beta read, participated in challenges, attended a con, migrated (partially) to DW, started a comm, and generally did lots of things that were entirely unprecedented. Go me. And also all of you, you wonderful people, some of whom I've known for ages and others I've just recently met.


Fic I wrote posted this year (links to A03):

Sherlock:
Boston Marriage, the genderswap triple!casefic.
Cut-and-Cover
For Great Justice
Compromised
Everything is Backstory, the kinkmeme fic I haven’t got round to revising yet
Structural Integrity, the continuation to Boston Marriage

Vorkosigan Saga/Queen’s Thief Series (yes, really):
On the Desk of Simon Illyan
The Well-Born

Chalion Saga:
Housekeeping

That comes to about 116,000 words, not counting over 20,000 words of the Nikki!fic and related stories, various other odds and ends, and my work on Unlettered, the original novel.

( Questions: )

Well, that was fun! Here's to a brilliant fannish year.

Matching on any of my requests means you clearly have good taste, but on the off chance our minds aren't already operating as one, and in case you actually want to listen to me babble at excessive length about what I like to read, here's a bit about my preferences.

( My requests )

This is my first year, and I'm ridiculously excited. All the above is just in case you find this easier with additional guidance, but really I hope you'll write something you enjoy writing and you'd enjoy reading yourself. Feel free to stalk my journal and fic to your heart's content. Thank you so much for signing up!

Have decided to participate in Yuletide this year for the first time. Anyone else signing up? I am really excited but don't even know what I'm nominating yet.

I've just got back from a work trip to Dallas, where as it turns out things are very Texan, and now we have snow on the ground. Love you too, Wisconsin.

Posts this is not: a long rant about traffic and how much I wish I could just use public transportation in my commute, a music post with everything that's been making me happy lately (though that may follow), a list of the books I'm flailing about after finally taking the recommendations I keep getting (which also may follow).

***

I wouldn't have thought I'd ever use the word "endearing" to describe the author of The Magicians, but Lev Grossman is doing a piece on fanfiction for Time magazine that should be online tomorrow or the day after. If you haven't heard about this already, part of his research involved this community, which I'm afraid is members-only on LiveJournal (though anyone with an account can join). I can understand some of the reasoning behind that, but it's a pity, as the responses were well worth reading. He made half a dozen posts with questions about fanfic and essentially let that part of the blogosphere have at it. Currently, there are a little short of 2,000 comments.

He's admitted there will likely be omissions and errors in the final product, and the approach he's taken is somewhat problematic in terms of the crossections of fannish communities that were able to respond (which was pointed out numerous times in comments), but he's been extraordinarily respectful throughout. Which is all very nice, but the best bit is his last post, wherein he promises to include a list of Harry Potter fanfic he's enjoyed. This should be illuminating. :)

In other news, Laurie R. King has just put up a novella (the e-book is available in most formats, and it runs $0.99 or £1.50, though it won't be in UK markets until the 25th) that covers the first chapters of BEEK from Holmes' perspective. I admit I much prefer Russell's POV, but this should be an interesting read. The endearing bit about it, though, is her invitation for readers to tell her what they think of it--brave soul! I've always appreciated how interested she seems in a dialogue with her readers.

***

Both of those have me thinking about fanfic and pro authors' attitudes toward same, which led me to remember discussions I've seen on fannish attitudes toward remixing and other transformative works of their fanfic. I was going to include a poll, but the questions got a bit complicated, so I'll just put this up for discussion:

Is it appropriate or reasonable for authors of fanfiction to attempt to restrict or limit transformative work based on their writing? I'm thinking of remixes, sequels, fanart, podfic, and any number of other things. Should they attempt to exercise any such control at all?

If yes, then is that due to the greater availability of fan authors? It's obviously easier to fire off a PM to someone on Dreamwidth than it is to write Rowling and ask her if it's okay to play in her sandbox for a bit. Should that make a difference?

I suppose my philosophy is that if we're willing to dish it out, we ought to be willing to take it. I wouldn't even say I'd prefer to be asked permission, except that fannish mores are generally quite clear on that, so I might feel it as something of a cultural faux pas--if you want to record a podfic or write a remix, you're pretty much expected to ask the source author first. Fanart does seem to be an exception, from what I've seen.