Thanks for all the links! I swear I would never know anything that was going on in fandom if it weren't for link posts.
No worries. This fandom is way too disconnected. Though helpfully we might be a bit more centralized, now that gushoushinfiles is organizing things.
I think fanfiction becomes too self-indulgent to post when it either loses coherence or the connection to the canon.
That's a very good point, and it was the connection to canon that I was thinking of specifically. I suppose I could have phrased my question much better. AUs are one of my favorite genres, but I find that the ones that tend to be best written and have the most things to say about the characters are the ones that are very close to canon, with just a few things changed. And then you get the crazy AUs, where the characters are transported to Hogwarts or Ancient Rome or space or a pirate ship. Fics like that can often be a lot of fun, and they're not neccesarily badly written- there's an excellent LotRPS one set in a high school- but do they really count as fanfic? That's what I meant by self-indulgent: not bad, but just so far from canon that there might not be any reason for readers to follow.
Ah, well. I'm sure I'm just angsting terribly over something that isn't really that big of deal. But you're right: I need to point some beta readers at the issue and have them tell me what they think.
no subject
No worries. This fandom is way too disconnected. Though helpfully we might be a bit more centralized, now that
I think fanfiction becomes too self-indulgent to post when it either loses coherence or the connection to the canon.
That's a very good point, and it was the connection to canon that I was thinking of specifically. I suppose I could have phrased my question much better. AUs are one of my favorite genres, but I find that the ones that tend to be best written and have the most things to say about the characters are the ones that are very close to canon, with just a few things changed. And then you get the crazy AUs, where the characters are transported to Hogwarts or Ancient Rome or space or a pirate ship. Fics like that can often be a lot of fun, and they're not neccesarily badly written- there's an excellent LotRPS one set in a high school- but do they really count as fanfic? That's what I meant by self-indulgent: not bad, but just so far from canon that there might not be any reason for readers to follow.
Ah, well. I'm sure I'm just angsting terribly over something that isn't really that big of deal. But you're right: I need to point some beta readers at the issue and have them tell me what they think.