Gimme a Y…
Silly mac program of the day: Fish Bowl
Seema and I were discussing retirement from fandom. She’s tired of the meta and I’m tired of the women. Yes, there are a handful of men out there writing fanfiction, but think of the numbers of men who have been driven away by the overwhelming femaleness of the place.
Women are, statistically speaking, more illogical and emotional than men, and that alone increases the annoyance factor of fandom for those of us on the logical end of the scale. But the thing that struck me was how few men have read my fanfic. I have an audience that’s restricted almost entirely to women purely by the demographics of online fandom. How many of my stories have flopped that might have suceeded among a more normal science-fiction audience? How many of my masterpieces would have been berated by a more Y-endowed crowd? Might someone even dare to say that a fic was bad or that an aspiring writer might want to consider a different hobby, one for which they have a modicum of talent?
But enough about how the lack of men affects my fic - how does it affect me? I rarely get to read fanfic written by men. I don’t think the execution of a story is noticably different between the chromosomes, but I have noticed that men and women tend to write about different subjects, and I like the ones that attract male authors. For example, I can’t think of a single male Voyager writer who does J/C, but there have been several who’ve written K/7 and Borg stories in general, or been involved in J/P fandom. There were also a few men writing Khan stories over the past year, after just a couple by women the year before and none to speak of for years before them.
The equation is simple: more men = more Khan stories.
As long as I’m here, I may as well do the meme. Initials are for VOY pairings, full names for SG-1, TOS, and crossovers:
One True Pairing ‘Ship: J/P, Sam/Narim
Canon ‘Ship: C/7, Daniel/Sha’re
“If this happens I’ll stab my eyes out with a spork” ‘Ship: Tu/T, Sam/Maybourne
“You are one sick bastard” ‘Ship: Tu/N, Jack/Daniel
“I dabble a little” ‘Ship: K/7, Chakotay/Crusher, Sam/boyfriend
“It’s like a car crash” ‘Ship: EMH/7, Teal’c/Drey’auc
“Tickles my fancy but not sold quite yet” ‘Ship: C/T, Sam/Jack
“Makes no canon sense but why the hell not” ‘Ship: J/C, Sam/Daniel
“Everyone else loves it but I just don’t feel it” ‘Ship: P/T, Sam/Janet
“When all is said and done” ‘Ship: T/K, Khan/Marla, Apophis/Amaunet
December 17th, 2003 at 5:29 pm
I’ve fallen out of fandom mostly through depression (my own, not induced ;-). Also because these days Trek is as exciting as dirt. I don’t read much Trekfic anymore, and have stopped writing, even though I started an OCC series I’d love to take back up. So, I’ll take your challenge; give me two or three of your “master” works to read. Action/adventure preferred over ’ship (is that a guy thing?), but I’ll read what you point to.
December 17th, 2003 at 7:04 pm
Hey, I still read your stuff. Though I realize I’m not exactly the poster guy for masculinity….
- Z
December 17th, 2003 at 11:07 pm
Zeke: any man in fandom is the poster boy for masculinity.
Mike: the list of good fic is here in the blog, about halfway down on the right under “Fiction.” The Dance, Honeydew, Lurking, The Unity of the Multiverse, and 148 are all somewhat shippy, but not too much so. The Museum is mainly action-adventure despite signs of shippiness early on. The Lamne’rau and Seven of Borg are pure borg stories.
You are not obliged to read any of them. If I were you, I’d just read the filks - they’re pithier.
December 18th, 2003 at 9:00 am
I’m with Mike. It’s not that I’m tired of meta solely (I am), but I’m tired of the whole processing — writing, reading and feedbacking. My new approach to JAG and X-Men is so much better: I post only to my site and ff.net, don’t get involved in lists. I write what I want when I want and I don’t have to read other people’s stuff if I don’t want to. Being a fannish segment of one is unbelievably appealing sometimes.
December 18th, 2003 at 10:49 pm
I don’t think Mike was talking about writing, reading and feedbacking. I took Trek is dull as dirt to mean Enterprise is dull as dirt. As for reading and writing what you want when you want, that was always an option - I’ve been doing it myself for years now. Welcome to the Club of One.