Friday, May 03, 2002

"Their names we cannot list,
so many they are that lie
under the eternal guard of granite.

But know you who hear this,
No one is forgotten,
Nothing is forgotten."


Olga Berggolts

Feminism and Fanfic


A question to ponder:

How does the self-marginalization of authors of fanfic -- not making money for writing effort, being in an 'underground' community -- fit, or fail to fit, with feminist ideals?

Fanfic anti-feminist?

Fanfic writers are typically women. Fanfic writers talk in closed communities about what they wish was different about the show/film they fic. They often deliberately distance themselves from the actual production, cast, and stories. They choose to write 'outside' the production.

Be on the In or Outside of the System?

Would it be

better
worse
different

to apply that same interest and activity more publicly, as pressure on the actual production of TV shows and film? Are we eliminating our own clout as a market when we write fanfic instead of spec scripts? When is separate but equal ever equal?

Inferior?

Do we think we're "not good enough"? Whether it's not good enough to warrant response to our stated desires as a market [and there's certainly historical support for that], or not good enough to make it with the Real Writers, Real Film Editors, Real Actors?

Food for thought.

Monday, April 29, 2002

Christened The Office, Redshifts


Saturday morning I woke up with a Story(tm) in my head. Got up, relocated my corporeal self into MY HOME OFFICE [mwahahahahahah], fired up the laptop and put finger to keyboard.

Muse! Baby! Good to see ya! How was the vacation!?

Actually, it's not that bad. It's just the unpacking and buying of things, and finding stuff and settling into work and a new home has [quite understandably] taken over my life recently. It felt good to drop back into the groove and start pounding out what I think will be a very warped little science fiction story.

In other news...

I cut off all my hair this weekend, and, not at all coincidentally, bought a bed. Trust me, I don't buy beds whenever I get a haircut. It may look like a causal relationship, but only because I'm travelling near the speed of light. It's why I appear to be posting with a lower frequency right now, too.