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Fic Reading Habits
So, I've been talking in a couple places to ![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
paradise_city about fanfic, and our preferences.
The thing is, I'm not really comfortable talking about which fics I like, and which ones I don't. To some extent, I don't like leaving *comments* to fics, because then people will *know* I read it. It doesn't matter if it's the fandoms latest *hit* that already has 8 pages of comments, or if I'm the first to leave a comment (and it's been up for a month) it makes me nervous. I have to be in a very specific mood, or be affected by a fic in a very specific way before I leave a comment. And yes, I feel shame over this. Especially considering how much of a feedback whore I am.
But it comes down to not feeling comfortable having people know what fics I read; what type I enjoy. Because sometimes? The fandom's latest hit just doesn't impress me, or one that I just couldn't stop reading? I know other people would mock. Also, I read a lot of kink fic, and I'm kind of freaked out about what those fics reveal about me.
It also feels weird to admit that I hardly read any fics with ratings less than NC-17. When you say things like that, it sounds like you're just there for the sex, and really, most of the time I'm *not.* I skim sex scenes a lot, and hardly ever read PWPs, but won't read a longer one that doesn't have a high rating. I was talking on a com about this (ok, it was a com about how author's rate their fic, and how there's no reason for us to under rate it, but this came up), and someone said that they do that too, because it generally guarantees that the main couple get together (even if it's only temporary), and sex often conveys a level of intimacy that she's searching for. I think that's sort of it for me. I want for there to be a certain lever of intimacy in my fics (and I like my subtext textual, so I look for ones with sex).
Anyways, wandering off topic here, but I wanted to ask:
How comfortable are you with sharing your reading habits?
Are there any fics out there that you like/dislike, but are hesitant to admit it?
I always have anon comments available on my LJ, so feel free to use it, but I'm really interested in hearing people's responses to these questions. :)
paradise_city about fanfic, and our preferences. The thing is, I'm not really comfortable talking about which fics I like, and which ones I don't. To some extent, I don't like leaving *comments* to fics, because then people will *know* I read it. It doesn't matter if it's the fandoms latest *hit* that already has 8 pages of comments, or if I'm the first to leave a comment (and it's been up for a month) it makes me nervous. I have to be in a very specific mood, or be affected by a fic in a very specific way before I leave a comment. And yes, I feel shame over this. Especially considering how much of a feedback whore I am.
But it comes down to not feeling comfortable having people know what fics I read; what type I enjoy. Because sometimes? The fandom's latest hit just doesn't impress me, or one that I just couldn't stop reading? I know other people would mock. Also, I read a lot of kink fic, and I'm kind of freaked out about what those fics reveal about me.
It also feels weird to admit that I hardly read any fics with ratings less than NC-17. When you say things like that, it sounds like you're just there for the sex, and really, most of the time I'm *not.* I skim sex scenes a lot, and hardly ever read PWPs, but won't read a longer one that doesn't have a high rating. I was talking on a com about this (ok, it was a com about how author's rate their fic, and how there's no reason for us to under rate it, but this came up), and someone said that they do that too, because it generally guarantees that the main couple get together (even if it's only temporary), and sex often conveys a level of intimacy that she's searching for. I think that's sort of it for me. I want for there to be a certain lever of intimacy in my fics (and I like my subtext textual, so I look for ones with sex).
Anyways, wandering off topic here, but I wanted to ask:
How comfortable are you with sharing your reading habits?
Are there any fics out there that you like/dislike, but are hesitant to admit it?
I always have anon comments available on my LJ, so feel free to use it, but I'm really interested in hearing people's responses to these questions. :)
Re: Reading habits Response Part I
Oh definitely. When I first started reading fic, I'd read anything I would come across, and then I'd troll through fandom archives reading all those fics. Then when I started reading in SGA, I basically went exclusively from rec lists, not I get most of me reading from my flist. Each of those different ways of finding fics led to my reading very different types of fic.
(b) what our friends read, both of which are linked.
*nods again*
It's not even just that cycle of which you spoke, but too, you'll find that each section of fandom (be it the difference between Gen/Het/Slash, or even just the difference between different pairings or certain character-centric fics) interpret fandom differently, and will have a separate set of fanon. I mostly read McShep, but there are a lot of other pairings I think are good (Rodney/Ronon, Rodney/Carson, Ronon/Teyla, Ronon/Elizabeth, Ronon/Radek, Radek/Lorne, etc.) but when I try to read fics with those pairings, I sometimes find the characters unrecognizable. Especially if it's a het pairing. I seem to find reading fics with different pairings OOC in a way that some of the more OOC McShep fics. Maybe it's because I've been reading MCShep for too long and now find any fic where they aren't a couple OOC, but... I don't think that's it, because I've read a few other pairing fics written by author's I know, and don't feel that. I think it does come down to how specific subsections of fandom decided to interpret canon. What do you think?
Personally, I'd love to read more SGA gen -- I love SGA gen. But I tend to get most of my links from rec lists, and most of the reccers I read lean toward NC-17 fic and away from gen fic.
Yeah, I totally get that. It's just so much easier to read what's coming at you rather than try to find a new place and build from there. I know I've told you this before, but I started off in SGA as a McBeck shipper. I had no interest what so ever in McShep, but my best friend and then room mate was reading McShep, and kept telling me about all these great fics she was reading, and I somehow got sucked over. And since there's such a huge presence of McShep available on LJ, I got stuck in that pairing. Not that I'm complaining :P
there are some popular fics out there that don't really read as fic to me. The characters are just a bit too difficult to recognize as the written equivalent of their televised selves that it's easier (and more enjoyable) to read it more as original fic.
I do that all the time, and I think that I have an easier time of that than a lot of other people. So long as I can respect the character as it's being portrayed, I have no problem reading a fic, even if it's really OOC (if the character is constantly crying, or acting just plain stupid, *that's* when I feel it's OOC, but I suppose it's more that I don't *like* the character). As you'll probably notice in my big ass To-Read list I sent to you there are a lot of AUs, crack!fic, and darker, emotional (and what most people call OOC) fics on it.
I think I read fic for different reasons than others. I read fic because there seems to be the kind of stories I want to read available than there are in bookstores. The familiarity of characters and settings just means I'm more likely to like those things than if I go in and read an original story. Seeing what's missing from the show is very much secondary for me.