I've written extensively in two fandoms and dabbled in five others, counting L&C. Each fandom definitely has its own culture and its own set of rules, both written and unwritten, and my personal approach now is to lurk and observe any fandom I'm interested in for a minimum of six months before attempting to post a story or become "involved" to any extent.

As for Yvonne's specific questions...

1) Differences between L&C and elsewhere: Well, there are a couple of biggies, actually. First, there's really only one major ship here. Certainly there have been great stories written that explore relationships among the minor characters, but overwhelmingly, the people who are here are here because they ship Lois and Clark. This cuts out an unbelievable amount of wank. It has always baffled me how, well, fanatical fans can be about their OTP's, but omigosh...they really are. And they have these screaming, eye-scratching, hair-tearing fights about it, as if a) the people they're talking about are actually real, and b) it matters whether someone else agrees with their completely subjective opinion. The absence of any of that here is just...bliss. And if there has been any in the past, I don't want to know about it. Everyone I've encountered here so far seems much too reasonable to engage in shipping wars, but I still find it nice that the temptation isn't much there.

The second major difference I've noted is that the relatively small size of the fandom allows for one central archive, and that one central archive not only requests that stories be properly edited but is committed enough to providing quality stories that it provides you with an editor. Wow! I'm still boggled that someone who doesn't even know me is right now editing something I wrote, bless her heart. It sure doesn't happen everywhere, and as a reader, especially in a new fandom, it can be awfully tiresome to have to wade through the dreck to find the diamonds. Being able to go to the L&C archive and know that anything I find will at least be spelled correctly, punctuated correctly, etc., is so nice.

2) Do I use the same style here as I have elsewhere? Well, pretty much, though I've experimented with things along the way. The story I posted here recently, however, was very much in my comfort zone as far as writing style and content, and that was deliberate. My own time constraints make being ambitious impossible just now. If I want to write at all, I have to write fast and then get back to real life.

3) Do I tend to address the same themes? Yes, I would say so. I write romance, and I write what makes me feel good, and that's usually a blend of humor and angst with a happy ending. This is a hobby, and I need it to be fun. This doesn't mean that I don't enjoy reading stories that address weightier or more significant themes, but I don't generally attempt to write them. I've consistently written het, across seven fandoms now, and I made a conscious decision years ago not to publish anything I'd give stronger than an R rating. Again, I'm comfortable reading stronger material and certainly don't condemn others for writing it, but I don't choose to write it myself.

4) What attracts me to other fandoms? Interest in the source material is a pretty obvious starting point, but usually what draws me into the fandom is a strong base of well-written fan fiction about a ship I'm interested in. I like fandoms that both interest me as a reader and challenge me as a writer. I want to be nervous when I post a fic because I know that the readers there are accustomed to high-quality stories - and that was certainly the case here. I'm also drawn to fandoms that seem to be populated with civilized, mature people, as is probably obvious from my earlier comments. I adore my children, but I need a break from them, too. Fandom is where I come to get away from childishness, and if I can't do that, I don't want the bother.

As an aside, L&C is the only fandom in which I read the fan fiction before I ever encountered the source material. I had a then-seven-year-old son who was interested in Superman, and I rented him the first of the Chris Reeve movies. Because we didn't let him watch PG movies without one us with him, I watched, too, and when we were done, I wondered idly if there was any Superman fan fiction out there. Wasn't there a Superman TV show with Teri Hatcher a few years back? I bet someone's written some fan fic about that... I was blown away by the quality of the stories I found, and from there I went and bought the first DVD, which I think had just come out.

And I'm not sure what that had to do with anything, but there ya go.

Shutting up now,

Caroline