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New computer! New computer! New computer!

Feel my glee, y'all. ^_^ It's a Dell Latitude, and I'm so very happy with it. It still needs a name, though...

While I was in the computer store, which also does repairs, someone came in to drop off their laptop. It was the exact same brand and make as my last one, and it had the same problem that I'd had. Hah. I knew it wasn't my fault.

Okay, now a bunch of links:

gushoushinfiles. For all your Yami fandom needs. It's like

fandom_bb, but for YnM instead of Smallville. It'll keep track of new fic, icons, challenges, whatever. Such a cool resource. Much love for

animadri. She does way too much stuff for this fandom. ^^

rinoared wrote an excellent Tatsumi/Tsuzuki/Hisoka essay for

ship_manifesto. So cool.

And speaking of

ship_manifesto, do you realize that no one is signed up to do Muraki/Tsuzuki? That is just wrong. Someone should sign up! Don't make me do it, my essay would be far too strongly influenced by the fact that I really dislike Muraki. But we can't let the pairing just languish.

Meanwhile,

yasminm has collected 20 themes for Yami no Matsuei, plus a few bonus ones. And she's working on a list for Weiss Kreuz. Go suggest some! See, the idea is that you take these themes, and write a fic for each of them. Major, major cool points for anyone who actually manages to write all 20. But it's a very neat idea for a challenge.

And now I swear to stop pimping things out for a moment. I wouldn't have to keep making link-posts if so much stuff didn't happen. :p But I have a question that I'd like people's opinions on. At what point does fanfic become too self-indulgent? I mean, on some level, obviously all fanfic- all writing, even- is self-indulgent. It's telling stories that you expect people to listen to, writing down your daydreams- though hopefully with a bit more characterization and tighter plot- in the hope that it will make other people happy as well. But where's the point that it becomes too much? How do you know if you've gotten in to a project that's nothing but your kinks and ideas, with no interest to anyone else?

Is there a point at which some stuff just shouldn't be written? Or shouldn't be published, at least. How far can you reasonably expect readers to follow you? And how do you know when you've crossed the line?

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Say, for instance (in this fandom), someone wanted to write a (God forbid) Gushoshin/shinigami piece. Now, it may seem totally fine to the author, but I don't believe many would want to read it, so it should be kept for the author's enjoyment, and not posted.

See, saying this just *tempts* me.

I don't agree that potential audience is a reasonable standard of judgment. I've written minor and unpopular characters several times (it's a thing), or even for media which I didn't think had an organized fandom, and sometimes these stories sink like a stone, and sometimes, rather to my surprise, they don't. It doesn't seem like there's much demand for Tsubaki-hime or Hijiri fic, but I'm very glad

wordsofastory posted those stories, because they're (a) good stories; (b) interesting reflections on canon; and (c) pretty different from anything else out there.

rachelmanija just had an interesting post (http://www.livejournal.com/~rachelmanija/60800.html) on this subject, which amazingly did not focus on Anne Rice.

I don't think you necessarily *do* know when you've crossed over the line, but then I think writing is often an emotional risk in general. The best thing I've found is to get beta readers who I trust to tell me if I'm on crack.

Thank you. ^^

And it was actually that post that started me thinking on the topic. It's easy to get lost inside your own head when you're writing; you start out with one small step, and then another, and then another, and before you know it you're so far from canon or logic that no reader could follow you. Especially if you're working in isolation without people to stop you when you've crossed the line. Which is why beta readers are the best thing ever.