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eldabeBack when tumblr was just another option instead of the primary and/or only platform People I Want To Talk To Are Using, I started to write a post about Fanfiction on Different Mediums.
So, that was a real essay. Maybe one day I'll finish it. But I've actually read a few nice old-fashined fics on tumblr, where they are doomed to be virtually lost unless they are reposted elsewhere. So I'm going to write these less-organized thoughts instead.
Here's the thing. Livejournal is not an ideal fanfiction platform. We (fandom) have come up with pretty great conventions in the standardized header format to make the fic we publish on this platform nicely accessible. We use linking and lj-cuts to neatly hide our fic so we don't flood our friends with text. We (well, most poeple) make masterlists to make it easy to find fic within blog posts. Some people make separate blog accounts for fanfiction posts. Some people tag their fics extensively.
This is all to try and make fics well organized here and easy to find here on LJ/DW/etc.
But the thing is, the ideal place for fanfiction is still going to be archive sites. Because there, all the little organizational things that writers have to finagle on their own are already taken care of. The default will have your fics nicely arranged together with tags and other indicators for genre and pairing and other details. Posting on ff.net and AO3 is a relative plug-'n-play pleasure. Although they do have forced formatting that you as a writer might not care for. Blogging platforms certainly provide more wiggle-room for personal formatting and such.
On the other end of the scale from archive sites, tumblr is not the ideal place for fic. Even more than LJ, it's a platform the buries old content and the shared tagging system means people can be stumbling on your fic when they aren't looking for it. You can put up a masterpost post, but it won't stay at the top of your tumblr. It's frustrating to see conventional fic over there, and most people seem to agree. I see more promotional/reccing posts for fic on tumblr than actual fic.
But, there is one type of fan creation I would tentatively broadly label as fic that tumblr is actually fabulous for!
The only example I have personally followed is Notes Passed By Marauders which I recommend checking out. (You'll note that the "blog has been RETIRED" but to turn a fanfic phrase, it's complete.) It's visual fic, and it definitely treads into photomanip/fanart territory of the fan creation spectrum, but I would argue for fic. People asked the person questions and she or he responded as the Marauders. Each post was a short piece and it was fun to follow along.
It's not traditional fic, but it fits better on tumblr than a fic archive certainly, and while it could have worked on livejournal I think it's best on tumblr. I followed it in my RSS feed in large chunks but it could be read in many different ways.
But it lacks the archiving value of the other sites, which is unfortunate. I wouldn't stumble on it in my occasional searches for Marauder fic and it might fit awkwardly into classic rec lists and fic archives. On tumblr it slides in well with other, similar sorts of blogs that are short, punch and visual-heavy and while it was running it was reblogged enough to attract a following. It's a brilliant and perfect way to use tumblr for a specific style of fic.
(My other favorite is Rory Williams Facts but that is far more photomanip-y and less fic-y. I welcome any other awesome utilizing-tumblr-best-fic in the comments!)
My point in the longer essay -- which would have had more detailed with more examples separating blogs and archives and some stuff on twitter-fic -- is that the medium can influence themessage stories/fan creations, in both positive and negative ways. It can influence the way it is written, the way it is posted, the way it is perceived and the way it is preserved. Tumblr is new and interesting and not exactly my favorite sort of medium but it can be exciting to find things there as well.
The point of this ramble is that I hope people will begin to cross-post their old-fashioned text-only "normal" fics to other places, because I think they're going to get buried in the early days of tumblr and I'm a big fan of preserving everything.
___
I would like to conclude with a plug for my favorite posting-fic-on-LJ-tools, the fanfiction header builder. I use it for a solid 99% of the fic I post, and it makes my life about 2 minutes easier per fic. Plus, it's fun. :D
So, that was a real essay. Maybe one day I'll finish it. But I've actually read a few nice old-fashined fics on tumblr, where they are doomed to be virtually lost unless they are reposted elsewhere. So I'm going to write these less-organized thoughts instead.
Here's the thing. Livejournal is not an ideal fanfiction platform. We (fandom) have come up with pretty great conventions in the standardized header format to make the fic we publish on this platform nicely accessible. We use linking and lj-cuts to neatly hide our fic so we don't flood our friends with text. We (well, most poeple) make masterlists to make it easy to find fic within blog posts. Some people make separate blog accounts for fanfiction posts. Some people tag their fics extensively.
This is all to try and make fics well organized here and easy to find here on LJ/DW/etc.
But the thing is, the ideal place for fanfiction is still going to be archive sites. Because there, all the little organizational things that writers have to finagle on their own are already taken care of. The default will have your fics nicely arranged together with tags and other indicators for genre and pairing and other details. Posting on ff.net and AO3 is a relative plug-'n-play pleasure. Although they do have forced formatting that you as a writer might not care for. Blogging platforms certainly provide more wiggle-room for personal formatting and such.
On the other end of the scale from archive sites, tumblr is not the ideal place for fic. Even more than LJ, it's a platform the buries old content and the shared tagging system means people can be stumbling on your fic when they aren't looking for it. You can put up a masterpost post, but it won't stay at the top of your tumblr. It's frustrating to see conventional fic over there, and most people seem to agree. I see more promotional/reccing posts for fic on tumblr than actual fic.
But, there is one type of fan creation I would tentatively broadly label as fic that tumblr is actually fabulous for!
The only example I have personally followed is Notes Passed By Marauders which I recommend checking out. (You'll note that the "blog has been RETIRED" but to turn a fanfic phrase, it's complete.) It's visual fic, and it definitely treads into photomanip/fanart territory of the fan creation spectrum, but I would argue for fic. People asked the person questions and she or he responded as the Marauders. Each post was a short piece and it was fun to follow along.
It's not traditional fic, but it fits better on tumblr than a fic archive certainly, and while it could have worked on livejournal I think it's best on tumblr. I followed it in my RSS feed in large chunks but it could be read in many different ways.
But it lacks the archiving value of the other sites, which is unfortunate. I wouldn't stumble on it in my occasional searches for Marauder fic and it might fit awkwardly into classic rec lists and fic archives. On tumblr it slides in well with other, similar sorts of blogs that are short, punch and visual-heavy and while it was running it was reblogged enough to attract a following. It's a brilliant and perfect way to use tumblr for a specific style of fic.
(My other favorite is Rory Williams Facts but that is far more photomanip-y and less fic-y. I welcome any other awesome utilizing-tumblr-best-fic in the comments!)
My point in the longer essay -- which would have had more detailed with more examples separating blogs and archives and some stuff on twitter-fic -- is that the medium can influence the
The point of this ramble is that I hope people will begin to cross-post their old-fashioned text-only "normal" fics to other places, because I think they're going to get buried in the early days of tumblr and I'm a big fan of preserving everything.
___
I would like to conclude with a plug for my favorite posting-fic-on-LJ-tools, the fanfiction header builder. I use it for a solid 99% of the fic I post, and it makes my life about 2 minutes easier per fic. Plus, it's fun. :D
