Reading and writing.

[foxmonkey]

So...if you write fic, do you read it as well?

I'm asking because I read a comment in a community where the poster (a writer) said that she rarely reads other people's fic unless it's recommended. This just boggles the hell out of me. I get the theory (bad!fic abounds!) but...well, I just can't wrap my brain around it.

Maybe I'm just a Philistine who'll read anything that's put in her path. ;-) Well, not everything, I do have standards, but, yeah. I don't need a rec to read. Hmmm. Just wondering if this is more common than not.

Comments

[madripoor-rose.livejournal.com]

I'll go out on a limb here and say I do it. I'm a primarily gen/het reader and I have a few characters in different fandoms that I have an irrational dislike for... and so few people bother to label their fic on LJ any more, if I don't already know the writer's work or had it recced by somebody who mentions the pairing, I skip it.

[foxmonkey.livejournal.com]

I'll go out on a limb here and say I do it. I'm a primarily gen/het reader and I have a few characters in different fandoms that I have an irrational dislike for... and so few people bother to label their fic on LJ any more, if I don't already know the writer's work or had it recced by somebody who mentions the pairing, I skip it.

See, your reasoning makes sense to me. But if you're in a fandom where more likely than not the plots are good, the writers are good, and the characters involved are ones you want to see...I don't get it.

I'm glad to hear I'm not the only one with an irrational dislike of some characters. I can't stand Samantha Carter on SG-1. I absolutely love 'Dexter' but I cannot stand his sister. I love Torchwood, but I want to set fire to Gwen every time she steps up on her "I'm a cop with a humanist point of view why are we doing things THIS way?" soapbox. OH MY GOD! BITCH SLAP! Whoops. See, that would be the irrational dislike coming out to play. ;-)

[madripoor-rose.livejournal.com]

Huh. In that situation I don't get it either...unless the reader is under some RL time crunch so they only have a half hour or so for ficreading a day.

(it's really hard to read HP fanfic when you cannot stand Ron Weasley, for my example.)

[foxmonkey.livejournal.com]

Huh. In that situation I don't get it either...unless the reader is under some RL time crunch so they only have a half hour or so for ficreading a day.

See? Stumps the brain, doesn't it? And it wasn't presented in such a way that she didn't have *time* to read more, she just didn't.

(it's really hard to read HP fanfic when you cannot stand Ron Weasley, for my example.)

And that example makes perfect sense, and OMG I just noticed your icon! Aris Boch!

[madripoor-rose.livejournal.com]

Heh. Aris is my favorite stargate character right now. And he's only in six fanfics and the Siren's Song tie-in novel, sigh. Someone not me seriously needs to write Aris vs Vala: Intergalactic Midnight Run.

[foxmonkey.livejournal.com]

Aris vs Vala: Intergalactic Midnight Run.

If you're talking about an SG-1 version of the De Niro movie of the same name, you seriously WIN AT LIFE. That's genius. If anyone writes it, please, please let me know.

And actually, Aris and snarky Daniel would be pretty hilarious too. One of the funniest lines in Stargate history:

"But you're a doctor."

"Of archeology."

Oh Daniel, I love you. Michael Shanks needs a new TV gig, stat, before I go into withdrawal.

[(Anonymous)]

Yes! An SG-1 version of the movie, with the bounty hunters and the escaping and recapturing and double-crossing! Perfect for the greatest bounty hunter in the galaxy and the universe's best con artist and thief! But sigh, he's not exactly the most popular one-off character in SG fandom, so it doesn't look likely.

[foxmonkey.livejournal.com]

he's not exactly the most popular one-off character in SG fandom, so it doesn't look likely.

Which is odd, considering the chemistry he had with Daniel. That's usually the kind of thing (in other fandoms, admittedly) that gets a writer's mind cranking!