[ there's no home for you here ]

[winterlive]

not for the first time, i wonder: why is it impossible to have a community that outright focuses on good fic? anthologies of selected works of fiction are published every damn year; what's so wrong with doing it for fanfic?

what if it were moderated by a small panel of people, maybe three people, whose job it was to allow or disallow what was posted there? it'd be unpopular at first, because some people would scream elitist bitchery and most people would listen to that, so it wouldn't even be all that much work. the moderators would obviously have to be people of brass and class, but i wouldn't even care if they were sockpuppets so long as they had good taste in fic.

how easy would it be to, when somebody new gets into SPN, just point them to the community? you want good fic, there it is, fly and be free.

there's only one thing i would want, and that's the ability of posters to delete or edit their own stuff. i considered yuletide for all of ten seconds before i found out that they won't take your stuff down later, even if you ask them. whoo, unacceptable, at least to lil ol me.

is that so undoable? bah. i'm sure it is. god knows we'd all rather open a vein than offend someone, even if the offense taken is totally unreasonable. *hands*


ETA: since this posting, maygra has decided to formulate a project. the parameters of this project are radically different from my little whine session here, and i assure you that she is taking every opportunity to consider the impact of her structure, process and presentation. her guidelines will be available soon for public review, so please withhold judgement on that project until you see them - things have really changed quite a bit. :)

Comments

[maygra.livejournal.com]

I have been reading comments. I'm sure there will be wank, but there's wank and then there's justifiable outrage for a process that *is* playing favorites. I can be pretty forthright about people who say they can handle it and then demonstrate they can't and since it's likely everything would be at lease mostly private, the first person to go public is going to look like sour grapes, especially if the work being posted is consistently good.

What we need is a talent wrangler for the panelists -- which I think you could be very good at -- and applications for at large jurors could be as simple as list your 5 favorite stories and tell us why they are awesome.

[winterlive.livejournal.com]

have you seen me say the word "literary" about eighteen times? do you concur? am i making any sense at all along that line of thought? i require a second opinion. :)

i think that YOUR especially your ability to be forthright with people who need it would be an absolutely essential thing.

my involvement, i think, should be at the beginning only. i want to drop off the management list after things get up and running, you know?

those favorite stories from the successful panelists could be the first anthology, you know. if the authors agree. :D

also, i don't think i said this outright, but i would desperately wish this thing to be just for SPN at the outset. other fandoms might benefit from something similar, but i feel that this sort of thing is something that we in particular could really really REALLY use.

[maygra.livejournal.com]

I have, although I think using "literary" as a demarcation is going to make it seem like good "genre" fiction, of which there is much, is out of the running.

By which I mean, first time incest fics are out there in droves. Most are pretty good, but a few are both original and different and well done enough to be excellent candidates without being literary. They are still basically romances.

I think if you did the internal talent round up, and helped iron out the wrinkles, once the suit is pressed you could step back. I say you because while I know excellent when i see it, I sincerely have standards lower than say you or Cee or a dozen other of my favorite writers because I am more interested in story than craft. (which doesn't mean you aren't, only that I'm less likely to be bothered by stuff that I know drives you bonkers.)

[winterlive.livejournal.com]

hee hee. you said bonkers. <333

...v, help us. what word is it when what you MEAN is fictions that is grammatically sound, typo-free, interesting/original/different/significant, and you don't give a good goddamn if they're 30's gangsters or space aliens or actors or ghostbusters or samurai, so long as they're a good stab at being art?

[maygra.livejournal.com]

Personally, I call them solid or standards. They are well done, they hold up to being reread, they are original in someway.

and that might be a good name for this SPN Standards. Not necessarily the best or the favorites, but the stories that people come back to, that other stories remind them of, that they strive to meet in their own writing.

[winterlive.livejournal.com]

i might veer away from that if only b/c some people could easily read it as "we have standards and the rest of you don't".

of course, they'll probably take umbrage with any damn thing we call it. jerks. :D

[traveller.livejournal.com]

genre fiction can be literary. ask Kurt Vonnegut. or Asimov. or Tolkien fergodssakes. there are plenty of pieces of literature that are still basically romances -- Ms. Austen and the Misses Bronte, please line up here. *point*

the OED's third definition for literary is: "Of or pertaining to, or of the nature of, literature. a. Pertaining to letters or polite learning. b. Pertaining to books and written compositions; also, in a narrower sense, pertaining to, or having the characteristics of that kind of written composition which has value on account of its qualities of form."

that doesn't exclude genres. if people come to the table with their prejudices about what literature means, a simple explanation on the about page should disabuse them of that notion -- and if they are unwilling to be convinced, well, they can found the Like Omg Romantical Quarterly or whatever inclusive space they feel comfortable in.

[maygra.livejournal.com]

I do not disagree. Romance vs romance

[traveller.livejournal.com]

sweetface, is there more to this? :)

[maygra.livejournal.com]

possibly a [.] period.

That is, I agree, and that definition would clear up my concerns. (Uhm, I like to be inclusive in my exclusivity?) I want people to submit, even if they don't consider *themselves* literary, you know?

[traveller.livejournal.com]

I want people to submit

AS DO I MUAHAHAHAHAHA.

i mean.

*cough*

[maygra.livejournal.com]

we could call it the "Literary Impala".

[traveller.livejournal.com]

i love you. i hate that title, but i love YOU.

*press*

[traveller.livejournal.com]

i'm against anything that has impala in the title because it's too easily confused with other comms of similar name. i support a title that is quirky and memorable without being too silly.

[litotease.livejournal.com]

Here via esorlehcar's post (http://esorlehcar.livejournal.com/557295.html?format=light) on metafandom.

I was just about to suggest something like this (5 favorite stories, or 20 favorite stories, or a del.icio.us page link).

I may get my ass handed to me on a plate, but please may I volunteer? Or at least volunteer to be considered as a volunteer? (Since I read more than I actively participate in fandom, I'm relatively unknown, and I certainly understand if you'd prefer to start off with people whose "standards" you're already acquainted with. On the other hand, being relatively unknown makes me somewhat impervious to being hurt by wank.)

[maygra.livejournal.com]

You may absolutely volunteer (And wow, did you time it right, we're polishing up the guidelines as I type.) drop an email to admin.nostairway@gmail.com and take a look at http://community.livejournal.com/nostairway/ to get you started.