(no subject)

[brigdh]

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?

Comments

[childofatlantis.livejournal.com]

And then you get the crazy AUs, where the characters are transported to Hogwarts or Ancient Rome or space or a pirate ship.

I call those ones Elseworlds rather than AUs, and I strictly prohibit myself from writing them. I think there is a point when I, at least, go too far from canon, when I'm not just examining the characters in a new light but actually using their names on an original cast.

My own "ranking" for self-indulgence, from least to worst, goes: Canon extrapolation, minor What-Ifs/AUs, full scale Alterniverse, Crossover, Elseworld. I start to get wary when I hit an alterniverse that requires a fundamental change in the canon setup, because it can too easily turn into an elseworld which I'd do better saving as an original fic.

This is part of my attempts to limit plot-bunnies, however, since once I've been in a fandom for a while I start trying to think too far outside the box (^_^), and may not work for everyone...

[wordsofastory.livejournal.com]

That's a really good category that clears things up: Elseworld vs AU. We need to spread that around; it'd be useful.

I have a real kink for stories that make one little change, and extrapolate it farther and farther out, until everything's different. It's like Chaos Theory, and it's always so cool to see how tiny things can have huge effects, how delicate the canon balance was.

[childofatlantis.livejournal.com]

Yes, because I specialise in alterniverse, and it IS a specific kind of story - the kind where you drop a stone and plot the results logically, not just stick everyone into a new setup because you feel like it. I severely dislike fics labelled as "AU" just because they disregard one aspect of canon with no explanation as to WHY.

And yesyesYES. This is why I write AUs. This is why the AU of DOOM has eaten my soul. I _love_ coming up with all the little tiny details of change, and I love plotting it all back to one moment. The AU of Doom comes down to one tiny change, really, and it's not Hisoka's belated death so much as the first major consequence of his not dying when he was meant to...

[wordsofastory.livejournal.com]

*wants more of the AU of DOOM, like, very very much*

Good AUs are so much fun. Elseworlds have their attractions too, but there's something absolutely fascinating about the way tiny changes, tiny differences, add up and change entire personalities and relationships and situations.