For the record, I haven't at all felt that you're trying to change my mind--and I hope you haven't felt that I'm trying to change yours. (Like I said, I know I'm weird. ;) ) It's always good to try to clarify exactly why you feel the way you do about something, and this conversation has been very useful for that. (I seem to have a terrible tendency to think it's because of one thing and then realize later that it's actually something else in situations like these. Especially terrible as it's lost me at least one friend, but that's a long story.)
Anyway...the thing with me and the bad writing is that, for me at least, the vast majority of it is bad. Which sounds weird, I know, and I am not sure how to clarify it except to blame it on the MFA. I don't know if it's that the writer's sensibility is different enough from the canon sensibility, or if it's that my standards are much higher than they used to be, or if it's just that it's not the sort of thing I want to read anymore, but I just don't enjoy it. I wish that made more sense than it does. (ETA: I think there's also a certain element for me of, "If you can write well enough for fic, why not write your own cool stuff?" I got back into writing after a long absence thanks to fic, so I get how it gets people's feet wet, but there's nothing like the rush of writing your own thing, figuring it all out as you go along, seeing how the pieces of your own puzzle come together...and if you never progress beyond fic, you'll never discover that for yourself. To me, that seems like an awful shame.)
As for fandom, well...I don't really regard myself as a fandom/fannish person. I think Doctor Who fandom, with all its thoroughly unexpected (to me, at least, when I first found it on LJ) fights and pettiness, beat that out of me. I stay far, far away from the madness now. So perhaps that's part of it, too? Could very well be. But as you've no doubt noticed, my journal is mostly about my life, with occasional posts about whatever I'm watching. I watch a few of the saner fan communities but I don't participate much. BTR is an exception for me, born out of an flist that was interested in watching B5 with me and their friends who wanted to come along for the ride.
So maybe the short answer is, "I'm just strange." :)
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branchandroot
no subject
Date: 2011-02-25 01:08 am (UTC)Anyway...the thing with me and the bad writing is that, for me at least, the vast majority of it is bad. Which sounds weird, I know, and I am not sure how to clarify it except to blame it on the MFA. I don't know if it's that the writer's sensibility is different enough from the canon sensibility, or if it's that my standards are much higher than they used to be, or if it's just that it's not the sort of thing I want to read anymore, but I just don't enjoy it. I wish that made more sense than it does. (ETA: I think there's also a certain element for me of, "If you can write well enough for fic, why not write your own cool stuff?" I got back into writing after a long absence thanks to fic, so I get how it gets people's feet wet, but there's nothing like the rush of writing your own thing, figuring it all out as you go along, seeing how the pieces of your own puzzle come together...and if you never progress beyond fic, you'll never discover that for yourself. To me, that seems like an awful shame.)
As for fandom, well...I don't really regard myself as a fandom/fannish person. I think Doctor Who fandom, with all its thoroughly unexpected (to me, at least, when I first found it on LJ) fights and pettiness, beat that out of me. I stay far, far away from the madness now. So perhaps that's part of it, too? Could very well be. But as you've no doubt noticed, my journal is mostly about my life, with occasional posts about whatever I'm watching. I watch a few of the saner fan communities but I don't participate much. BTR is an exception for me, born out of an flist that was interested in watching B5 with me and their friends who wanted to come along for the ride.
So maybe the short answer is, "I'm just strange." :)