Case (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
case) wrote in ![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png)
fandomsecrets2012-09-06 07:10 pm
case) wrote in fandomsecrets2012-09-06 07:10 pm
[ SECRET POST #2074 ]
⌈ Secret Post #2074 ⌋
Warning: Some secrets are NOT worksafe and may contain SPOILERS.
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[Sam Winchester, Young Hercules]
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[La Pucelle: Tactics]
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Notes:
Important: I'm really sorry about this, but I accidentally misclicked and deleted the submission post from last week instead of saving it. Managed to save the first page (25) of secrets, but the rest (about 100 or so) are gone.
If you submitted something last week (Aug 26-Sept 1), please resubmit it here.
The submissions post for next week is below as usual.
Secrets Left to Post: ?? pages, ??? secrets from Secret Submission Post #296.
Secrets Not Posted: [ 0 - broken links ], [ 0 - not!secrets ], [ 0 - not!fandom ], [ 0 - too big ], [ 0 - repeat ].
Current Secret Submissions Post: here.
Suggestions, comments, and concerns should go here.
no subject
(Anonymous) 2012-09-07 03:45 pm (UTC)(link)but also, try to get involved with what other people are interested in too
This part, I disagree with completely. I hate shipping. Hate it. Nothing will make me drop a series faster than a developing Romantic Plot Tumor, and nothing will make me stop reading a fic faster than smut. I'm not about to "try to like it" just because none of my friends can shut up about it for 5 seconds. There's no reason the OP should have to force herself to be into things that bore her for the sake of her friends.
no subject
Generally though, in life, if you want to connect and have a conversation you have to be willing to be flexible. It's a matter of who is most motivated -- the OP here wants to be part of the conversation, she can't be picky about what the conversation is going to be about. The other people in the conversation are content to go on without her.
Being able to break past your own obsessions and find interest in a broader range of things is an extremely valuable social skill to boot. So doing so will actually make life easier and better for the anon.
no subject
(Anonymous) 2012-09-07 07:35 pm (UTC)(link)no subject
Now if she really can't find anything other than her OCs to talk about with these people, you are right it's hopeless. She just needs to find other friends. But standing around on principle waiting for other people to see the light and accomodate you when they haven't a shred of motivation to do so is just going to leave you the way she's been left -- as a lurker. Someone whose presence is pretty much not missed.
Now once she becomes close enough friends with these people, she might be able to get one of them to take an interest in her OCs. But if that's her opening move to make friends, it's more of a turn off than a turn on.
no subject
(Anonymous) 2012-09-08 02:57 am (UTC)(link)But standing around on principle waiting for other people to see the light and accomodate you
And where in the secret does OP indicate she's doing that? The only thing the secret indicates is that she is writing by herself and that she feels bad lurking. Not that she's expecting anyone to see how perfect or special her characters are. That would be you projecting your own bias there.
If OP has been in fandom more than a week and hasn't developed much of an interest in anything but her OCs, she's probably not going to. And she shouldn't be faking an interest in anything, because that isn't how you make friends, online or off.
I don't know if you mean to come off this way, but you really are sounding like people who have interests that aren't popular in fandom need to just suck it up and contort themselves to fit in as a first resort, rather than look harder to find friends they can better connect with just as they are. Which is quite frankly silly.
Fandom is something you do for fun. Talking about stuff that bores you just so you have something to talk about with people isn't fun, and any friendships made as a result are going to be shallow, bland, and tiresome at best.
no subject
You know -- that's not true that if she hasn't found anything interesting in a week than she's not likely to. People get into ruts and they have to make a concerted kick to get out of them. The OP is lamenting that her rut is not satisfying. I made a suggestion as to how to get her out of it.
It's not that her interest is unpopular in fandom, it's that her interest is unique to her. IE: her OCs, not OCs in general. And I explained why its so. You can have unpopular interests and still find other people to share them with, but when you get down to something that's unique, you have a much harder sell. It's not a matter of finding people who share your interest, its a matter of coaxing other people to share your interest. And there's a social component that is really frowned on. That's pretty much on the order of not really wanting to talk about anyone's fic but your own -- and yeah, that doesn't go over well either.
But this isn't something that is obvious until it's pointed out: the fact that that instantaneous feeling of love and connection you get to your own creations doesn't transfer to other people. It can be hard to believe that comes so naturally to you -- this excitement -- doesn't come naturally to anyone but you. But that's because a lot of that emotional closeness and interest is not intrinsic to the character but rather to the process of making the character -- something that an audience can't share in. It becomes one of these "you had to have been there" stories that always falls flat.
It's not until the OC has proved itself in the context of a story that other people can begin to make an emotional connection. And even then, you know, until you get good at writing characterization, chances are that OC will just be meh. It's a skill.
no subject
(Anonymous) 2012-09-08 04:23 am (UTC)(link)Actually, the person you were responding to wasn't doing that, either. If anything, they were suggesting OP find people she has more in common to talk about with from the outset. That's the part you keep missing, it seems. Rather than force yourself to develop interests more people like or worse yet, feign interest in stuff your friends like just for the sake of conversation, anon above me suggested it's more productive to just find better friends.
And no, it's not impossible to connect with an OC just by the author talking about them. I don't create OCs myself, but I have friends with OCs and even though the story isn't written yet, I enjoy brainstorming with them about their characters just because I enjoy world- and character-building in general. That's the kind of community OP needs to find, not change herself to fit in better with fandom friends she really doesn't have a connection to in the first place.
no subject
And your friend didn't approach you as a friend by demanding you brainstorm about her OCs either -- you were already friends with her, and you do it in part because you like her company.
I'm not saying that the OP can never discuss her OC's again, she just can't make that be the only thing she wants to talk about, and she has to be ready to accept that other people don't want to brainstorm with her either. It could be that your friend with her OC is better at putting together an interesting character than the OP.
no subject
(Anonymous) 2012-09-08 04:41 am (UTC)(link)no subject
(Anonymous) 2012-09-07 07:39 pm (UTC)(link)no subject
(Anonymous) 2012-09-07 08:59 pm (UTC)(link)no subject
(Anonymous) 2012-09-07 09:23 pm (UTC)(link)no subject
(Anonymous) 2012-09-07 09:58 pm (UTC)(link)NO DYE FOR I
no subject
I mean, think about it -- what do you want? Do you want to talk to people in fandom? Is that something you care about? If so, you have to talk about something that both of you find interesting or at least something you can fake interest in. If there is absolutely nothing that you share with these people, it's not going to happen. They don't owe you attention just because you want it.
And this isn't kool-aid. Come on. Taking an interest in something other than your own OCs does not make like everyone else in fandom. Not unless you belong to the special snowflake variety of fan who thinks they aught to be appreciated soley for their uniqueness.
no subject
(Anonymous) 2012-09-08 02:19 am (UTC)(link)Rather than pretend to be interested in things you don't like, it's far better to find people whom you don't have to pretend for.
TL;DR OP needs better friends, not to force herself to like the stuff they do.
no subject
That said, if she is holding out for finding a group of friends who will want to spend all their time talking about her OCs -- that's like wanting a winning lottery ticket. Even among people who like talking about OCs, they aren't going to put up with it all being about her OCs. They are going to want equal time to talk about their own OCs (which probably won't interest the OP any more than shipping does.)
TL;DR the OP has no fandom friends because she has unrealistic expectations.
no subject
(Anonymous) 2012-09-08 04:36 am (UTC)(link)As a starting point, there are lots of character-building communities on FFN, and there's also the charloft community on LJ.