Lois & Clark Forums Forums Fan Fiction Fanfic Related Do you read other fandoms?

I know this topic has been done before several times. I was going to tag this post onto the writers' topic, which I'm finding really interesting, but I figured I couldn't be the only reader with something to say...

So to mirror Yvonne's questions... Do you read fic from fandoms? Do the fics you prefer to read have similar styles and themes to the L&C ones you read? Or do prefer completely different fics? And what attracts you to those other fandoms, what have they got that we haven't?

I guess I should start...

I've dabbled with fics from several fandoms. I know this is slightly unusual, but I'm a bit of a crossover junkie, so that has often been my way in. But I've never really stayed anywhere but here and with a slightly obscure British kids TV show called the Tomorrow People (remember it? No, I thought not )

The reason why I like the Tomorrow People is because the show and the themes it covered really struck a cord with me personally. Even so, I'm nowhere near as involved there as I am here (and I'm not that involved here, so that's saying something) There's not a huge amount of TP fanfic, even in comparison to L&C, but there are some really good writers. And many of them like the show for the same reason I do, so I relate to what they are writing.

There are similarities with L&C, for starters the kids in the Tomorrow People have special powers... so I realised a long time ago that I was attracted to similar things in both fandoms.

Something else about the two fandoms that I like is that they are not riddled with politics and 'ships and and a different archive depending on whether you believe that the third episode of season 5 was a dream or not, and if you don't think it was a dream you can't be a real fan, don't you remember in episode S2.15 when there was the shark and the motorbike and there was that spectator in the background holding the sign about the unicorns and the FBI, that was an allusion to the kiss in episode S4.12, which meant that....

Sorry, you get my drift, there's nowhere near as much crazyness... Another attraction for me is something that lots of people in the authors' thread have talked about, L&C fic sticks to fairly tight situation and characters and there's only so much that can happen (relatively speaking). I like that, I like to know what I'm going to get. I'm quite happy to read revelation after revelation after revelation... And I've said before, L&C satisfies the secret romantic in me.

I really appreciate the archive and the ease of finding fics. Really recently, I've started to read Dr Who fics (it was inevitable, I've always loved Dr Who, and I love Wendy's writing... ) But I've not really strayed beyond the archive where Wendy keeps her fics. I know, partly because I have read some Whofic before, but mostly because I just knew from the nature of the Dr Who fandom, that finding stuff I like would take up more of my life than I have time for. There's lots of people, and everyone has their own favourite Doctor...

So what about the rest of you?

Helga

Yes, I've dabbled. Well, more than dabbled, in the case of the X Files. I'm a regular visitor to the Gossamer archives and enjoy flipping through a few stories every couple of weeks or so. I tried Starsky and Hutch once, but didn't really enjoy it, and recently, I flicked through one or two Dr Who fics and didn't much enjoy them either. I dabbled in Smallville fic for a bit, but many of those writers, frankly, seem utterly obsessed with sex and not much else (with apologies to any Smallville fic writers who aren't!).

So, to your questions, Helga. Yes, I probably seek out similar themes in any fandom I might choose to dabble in. I want good strong drama; something gutsy and challenging. Romance is nice, but not the main reason I'll choose to read a story. As a self-confessed hurt/comfort addict, that's my first choice of fic, and that's why I've stayed with the X Files - Mulder goes through hell and back in pretty much every story ever written. <g> Which leads me to my other criterion when choosing stories to read - I have to like the leading man. The general context of the fandom has to interest me as well, of course, so Buffy, Angel and Charmed fic, for example, will never float my boat.

Style of writing isn't important, but quality is very important. I won't read a story that's incomprehensible, riddled with basic spelling and grammar errors, or poorly articulated.

So what does the X Files have that L&C doesn't? Well, nothing much, really. There's more of it, but on the other hand, more of it isn't very good. There's more adult stuff, but often not very good adult stuff, and I really am not in the slightest interested in slash - of which there is quite a lot.

What's revealing, perhaps, is that it's usually with a sigh of relief that I come back from X Files fic to L&C. L&C is a kinder, softer world where people generally don't mistreat or abuse each other. I can usually rely on a good standard of writing here, too. Things are a bit more hit and miss out there in the big wide fanfic world.

Yvonne

I did find a few fics to read (of which I found the blurbs to be interesting), and they just weren't good. I also noticed there's a lot of "shipping" going on that I didn't care to read. I'm afraid I won't find good GG fic period because I find the show's dialogue so quick and witty, mixed with just the right amount of angst, it's hard to imagine anyone but the show's writers getting it "right". But that's just MHO.

I love my cozy little fandom with gads of good fic (and organization )!

Sara

Cool topic, Helga. I've been reading Yvonne's thread and found myself agreeing with some comments there, but couldn't speak up because I'm not a writer.

I, too, read fanfiction in several fandoms; I have been doing so for years. In fact, Lois & Clark is probably the fandom I've come to the latest in terms of reading fanfic.

I am admittedly a shippy person, so most of the fanfic I read focuses on a particular couple I like in each fandom. In that way, I guess the fics I read are somewhat similar across the different fandoms. The love theme is almost always there. (Heh, what can I say, I'm a hopeless romantic. )

However, I do find that the other themes do vary across fandoms. The couples obviously have very different histories and the characters very different personalities, so situations that may be appropriate for some couples will most certainly not be so for others.

For example, I realized a few months ago, reading a thread in I think this very forum, that the theme of cheating, on which I've read quite a bit in other fandoms, is practically taboo in this fandom, at least in relation to Lois and Clark (Lois cheating on someone else with Clark is apparently more palatable, I guess for obvious reasons. ). It has been mentioned several times in the other thread, and you've brought it up as well: there are indeed a more limited number of themes normally explored in this fandom than in others. Happy endings also seem to be more of a prerequisite here than elsewhere. I think part of it is that Lois and Clark and the love between them are placed on such a high pedestal by fans, by virtue of their iconic status. I understand how writers can feel constrained by the narrower scope, but as a reader, I fully embrace it. L&C is my comfort fandom. I think that above all, Lois and Clark's relationship is such a hopeful one, and theirs is a world I'm glad to escape into and immerse myself in for a few minutes or a few hours when reading fics. I can fully bask in the angst because I know the sun will be shining just around the corner.

The community is another thing I love about this fandom. The regularly updated, excellently managed archives, the helpful forum members, the responsive writers... I've never come across a more welcoming fandom. And the treat is that the pool of amazingly talented writers just keeps growing, almost ten years after the show went off the air. That's pretty unbelievable to me, and all kinds of awesome.

I'm attracted to other fandoms because I like the characters in them, too. Some of the couples I ship are very different from Lois and Clark, some with tons more baggage, and part of me is endlessly fascinated by the kinds of stories springing from that. On the whole, however, this fandom has more things going for it than the others I read in, and I don't think I've found more pleasure in reading and rereading fics than I have here.

And just to go OT for a moment, because I saw that new comments had been added as I was typing... Sara, have you been to Black & White & Read ? I've only read maybe five fics from there, as I'm nowhere near as big a shipper of GG's Lorelai and Luke as I am of Lois and Clark, but my understanding is that quality fics generally get posted there.

When I started off on the net, I dabbled in a few fanfic fandoms, as I was strolling around USENET. X-Files, Highlander, Xena caught my eye for a moment, and Sliders for a longer time. I found Sliders about the same time as L&C, and was fairly stuck in both. Sliders dwindled off after the third season (stoopid Kari Woowoo. Stoopid David Peckinpah), and for the longest time, I kept sights on L&C.

A few years ago, I stumbled across some Stargate SG1 fic, and I've been fairly stuck there recently. Themes are usually team-based, and some romance-based, but only with certain ships. I guess like most people, if the ship doesn't fit into my perspective, I'm not interested. If the morals don't fit mine, or what I think the characters would do, I'm not interested. Incongito mentioned cheating being acceptable in some fandoms, but since it's not acceptable to me in any fashion, I don't want to read about my favorite characters doing it, even if it's with each other.

I've dabbled in a few other fandoms recently, when something catches my eye. I've had problems getting into Doctor Who fanfic for the same reasons Sara mentioned. Harry Potter, it depends on the setting.. I like post-school stories, but once again, only with the ships that fit my ideas.

What attracts me to the other fandoms is the new ideas. After 10 years reading almost solely L&C, I'm getting burned out. I like the different interpersonal relationships (intimite or no). I like the different personalities. And I like the different ideas. It's like being stuck in the same town year after year after year, and finally moving away. There's just so much new stuff to explore!

I haven't read outside of the L&C fandom in years. What fandoms I read in usually has something to do with the shows I watch, and a lot of the shows I watch have much darker themes--NCIS, Criminal Minds, etc. I don't have a need to read about more dead bodies outside of my weekly viewings. :p I also watch a lot of comedy reruns-Friends, Wings, Frasier, etc. but I can find them so frequently on tv that I don't feel a need to read more about them. Now that Lois & Clark has been off the air in my area for a few years (I don't know about other places?), it's not overwhelming to read a bunch of fanfic a week. And I find the characters so interesting that they keep me coming back even after I became a fan of the show...what, 13 years ago? There's also a little bit of a community thing here, too. This is the first fandom I've ever picked up a fic to read and have been able to say, "Oh, hey, Dave wrote that; I hung out with him in IRC last month!" Or whoever. I'm much likelier to hang around fandoms if I know a few people rather than just surfing the web.


Jen

I've read a bit of JAG and One Tree Hill. I ended up liking JAG after Lois and Clark ended. I always saw Harm and Mac's as being similar to that of Lois and Clarks so I saw some sort of parallel I guess.

Oh, absolutely. It tends to depend on whether I'm in the middle of a wallow or an obsession for a particular show and whether what I'm getting on screen scratches the itch entirely or not.

For example, I was given S1 of the XF as a gift earlier this year and that sent me off on watching...nay, devouring...everything I had on DVD. Once I reached the point where the show jumped the shark for me, what was on screen just wasn't satisfying the itch, so I went trawling through the Gossamer archive for fanfic to get my fix.

The same thing happened when I became obsessed with Stargate (Classic). There just weren't enough episodes to watch over and over again and I was still restless and wanting more. So fanfic filled that gap. I felt as though I'd go crazy if I didn't find some new adventures and then I found Sally Reeve's wonderful J/S ship stories and that solved that one.

But with other shows which I really enjoy watching and are obsessed with of a moment - such as Firefly or BSG, I seem to get all I need from what's on screen and it never occurs to me to go looking for more.

And there are a couple of other shows - such as Buffy, Angel - where I've made a half-hearted attempt to find fanfic, but haven't been able to find anything of quality to appeal, so have given up.

These days, when free time is so sparse, I find that I have the appalling habit of downloading a ton of fanfic from other fandoms and then never getting around to reading them. :p

But Stargate and XF fanfic are probably the two that I trawl regularly to see if anything wonderful has appeared. I think maybe that's to do with the fact that both fandoms have a dedicated central archive, like FoLCdom does, so it's easier to find. I also have a large list of favourite Stargate authors' personal fanfic websites bookmarked and scan them every few months to see if they've posted anything new. But Heliopolis is the main stopping point.

I don't think I look for much that's different in the way of fanfic in other fandoms. I read what appeals to me, as I do here. Hurt/comfort, angst, a little bit of humour included, team banter, character relationship, SMARM, ship. With SG1 I enjoy team fic, too, and Daniel/Jack friendship fic (but bow out if it becomes slash, which doesn't interest me).

I have a big thing - always have done - for characters showing that they care about one another in difficult situations. One character being in trouble and having to be rescued or being hurt and having to be comforted. And I get a lot of that at both Heliopolis and Gossamer.

LabRat

Oh, yes indeedy. Well, since I write for different fandoms, I suppose it goes without saying that I read in different fandoms as well. However, I read in more fandoms than I write for - more than I could possibly list or even remember, in fact - and I try now not to focus so exclusively on one fandom that I wind up getting sick of it. (I learned this lesson the hard way with Harry Potter. I was so sick of HP that I didn't even much enjoy the last book and still can't work up any interest or enthusiasm for the end of the series - which is kind of sad, given how much I loved it at one point.) I read somewhere that the average time people remain intensely interested in a fandom is about two years, and then they tend to drift away in search of other things. That's been about right for me, though I've noted that a number of people responding to these what do you write/read threads have sustained interest in L&C for much longer than that.

Anyway, I'm off-track. (I tend to ramble on in the morning while I drink my coffee...feel free to just ignore me.) The first fandom I ever read in was, I'm pretty sure, X-Files. That was where I had that, "People actually do this?" moment. I never wrote any XF fic, but I did read quite a bit back when the show was still airing, Mulder was still on it, etc. The thing about XF is that I never completely understood the canon (I'm not convinced Chris Carter did either, actually) so really plotty stories tended to lose me. I'd see "black-oil" or something else that made no sense to me and just go running in the other direction. But I liked the relationship stories, and to this day, those are the stories I enjoy best in most fandoms.

Pretty much any book/tv show/movie I enjoy I try to take a peek and see if there is a body of fan fiction. Sometimes I'm pleasantly surprised (i.e., sucked in...) as I was with the L&C fandom, and sometimes I'm disappointed. My husband and I loved the TV show "Ed", which only ran for a few seasons. I really wanted to find some smart, funny "Ed" stories out there but was mostly unimpressed with the few I was able to find. I don't watch much TV at all, actually, but I do like "House M.D.", and there are some excellent "House" stories out there and will certainly be more, since the fan base for that show seems to be growing.

I have two "comfort fandoms" - places where I go when I want to read quality stories that make me feel good - and those are L&C and Jane Austen, which is 99% P&P fic. I realized reading some of the comments in the writers' thread that despite the obvious differences in source material, there are some real similarities between the two fandoms, and that these similarities are probably why I'm attracted to both of them. You think L&C is limited? Try a whole fandom devoted to a single novel. This is not to say that there's no variety in the stories there, but still, there's something relaxing about knowing that whatever happens in the story, E&D are going to wind up together, darn it, because that's just the way it's meant to be. (There are, of course, exceptions, just as there are exceptions with L&C here, but it's something you can mostly count on.) The limited settings mean that authors don't have to spend a lot of time describing every tree, shrub, and stone at Pemberley - or every battered desk in the Daily Planet - and can just get on with the shippy stuff, which, I'll be honest, is why I'm there. I've always been a "re-reader" - books I enjoy I'm really happy to enjoy again and again - and I don't mind having the same basic story told to me in different ways. There's something soothing about it, in fact.

Sheesh...have run on endlessly, haven't I? "But I must write no more. The children have been wanting me this half-hour."

Caroline

Awesome! Thanks, Chris! I haven't had a chance to trawl around yet, but it looks like just the sort of place I'd wanted to find. Even better that you say the quality is generally high.

Sara (eager to be out of summer school so she can go on a fanfic binge...)

I have this faint memory that you're as tall as me, so perhaps not.

And Jane Austen fanfic??? I'm astonished. Is it as good as the real thing?

Yvonne

I'm like that too. It always got commented on when I was younger (I was that kid always with her head stuck in a book), I would re-read books again and again and again. I use it now as my criteria for buying books, if I'm going to want to read it again I buy a copy, if not I get my books from the library or charity shops (like libraries but with added feel-good factor).

I've never thought re-reading books was odd behaviour, but maybe it is. And I'm beginning to wonder if it's a common habit amoungst folcs. It might even go some way to explain why we like, sorry no, love, the small universe we inhabit.

Helga

Count me as one of those pale children who shut themselves in the house on a sunny summer afternoon to read. I'm a compulsive reader. I don't think I can go more than five minutes without a fix, be that the back of a cereal box or whatever's handy. I love my Palm Pilot because now I have an entire library in my pocket (including all of Jane Austen's works).

I haven't read XF fanfic in six years or more. A couple of years ago I found some fanfic for Remington Steele but it was poor quality and there was no organized way to find it.

I re-read a lot of my books. Like Caroline said, there's something comforting about it. Plus, I can just pick up the book, let it fall open and be instantly immersed.

Sue

LOL! I thought I was the only one who did that. I read the cereal box at breakfast. I read the shampoo bottle while I'm using the bathroom. I read anything and everything.

But, in answer to the question at hand, no, I don't read at any other fandom.

I would be interested in knowing the url of the Jane Austin site, though.

Well, naturally not - though that doesn't keep it from being fun, IMO, especially since Miss Austen's body of work is so limited. I started in the fandom just interested in reading the sequels - the 'what happened next' stories - but gradually came to accept the 'what if's' and even some of the modern retellings, though I'm pretty selective about those.

Well, there's not just one, unfortunately; it's not as centralized as L&C even though there are probably a similar number of fics/authors. So here are a few:

Firthness is an invitation-only archive with fics of all ratings, though I think you need a password for R & up.

The Derbyshire Writers Guild hosts fics up to PG-13, with completed fics archived and WIP's updated at the message board.

The Hyacinth Gardens originated as a place for authors to post R & NC17 fics but hosts fics of lower ratings, too.

Austen Interlude is a nice little private archive. I'm not crazy about everything there, but I do enjoy Lucy's sequels, and Abigail writes an engaging Regency romance.

If you decide to give them a look, my only caution would be to beware WiP's - especially at Firthness - as some of them update at an absolutely glacial pace.

Agreed. I tried this too and gave up in frustration. I don't remember much about the stories now except that I encountered some of the most poorly-written smut I've ever read.

I don't know if I'd call it odd behavior, but I do think it's probably common among people who gravitate to fan fiction. And to write fan fic, you just about have to be willing to re-read (or re-watch, in the case of a TV fandom) until you practically have the canon memorized, or at least until you're hearing those voices in your head. Or I do, anyway. There's just no other way for me to make the dialogue sound realistic or to avoid the kinds of canon mistakes that make faithful readers crazy. And yes, I like the feeling that I'm inhabiting a world I enjoy and know well

Caroline

Oh, count me in! I re-read books all the time. I also
re-watch movies all the time. Dad thinks I'm absolutely nuts. Anyway, there's also a ton of fanfics on the archive that I'll re-read over and over, especially a nice long epic or a series. If I don't read *something* before I go to bed each night, I go stir crazy.

Jen

I've been reading fanfic for about 7 years now, ever since I discovered Fanfiction.net during my freshman year of high school. I headed straight for the Lord of the Rings section, which had only about 200 fics at the time (and was books-only, as the movies were only at the very beginning stages of production, and years away from release). As time went on and I read more books, I got into Mercedes Lackey, Tamora Pierce, Young Wizards . . . Most of the fandoms I've gotten into have been book fandoms, which have a different feel than TV show fandoms. The first TV show I've read fanfic in was Smallville--I watched the show thanks to a college roommate, and immediately searched out the fanfic on ff.n for it. I also love Dr. Quinn, but haven't run into much high-quality fic there. L&C is actually the most *recent* fandom I've gotten into. After re-reading the Young Wizards books recently, though, I've been reading much more YW fanfic again (and finding awesome YW icons for LJ <g>).

In some ways I read the same genre(s) across fandoms. Romance, for one--L&C isn't the only couple I love to read about. But each one is different, with their own history and characters' personalities. Many of my favorite ships to read about are just teenagers (probably because they're YA books, lol), but L&C and Rosethorn/Crane (from Tamora Pierce's CoM series) are very much adults. I do tend to like the ones where the girl has to be worn down (Lois, for one). My favorite fics are the ones which blend strong A and B plots, and those can be found in most any fandom I frequent: L&C and SV have reporters, CoM has mages who invariably stumble upon a mystery or crime problem that they have to solve, YW has wizards who have to slow entropy by fighting the Lone Power in some way . . . I'm noticing a theme of "fighting for good" here, lol. So yeah, romance and drama in almost all fandoms. Hurt/comfort somewhat, but that depends on which character it is.

Apology accepted, Y. (I've written two SV fanfics that I can live with, and neither one has anything remotely to do with sex.) There *are* good SV fanfics out there (I have a huge collection saved onto my hard drive for offline reading), and if you're interested, I can recommend some for various ships.

Why do I go to these other fandoms for fic? Well, as much as I love L&C (hey, happy endings nearly *all* the time, which is what I like, and heaps of variations on the same great theme), sometimes I want to read about different characters, ones with different histories and different possibilities. Other fandoms, such as SV and YW, don't have the beginnings of certain ships (the ones I go for) mapped out so well--it adds something . . . refreshingly different.

And last of all, having many fandoms for fic means that you're *always* discovering a new and great fic.

*perks up* There's Young Wizards fic?

Of course there is, there's fanfic for everything!

I might be interested in hearing more about that. After I finish my backlog of ST fic, SG-1 fic, HP fic . . .

Yes: Harry Potter and occasionally Tekken (though the majority of fic there is, to say the least, mediocre). I've also read Doranwen's Smallville fics (I don't regularly watch Smallville, but I follow the recaps and know what's going on).

Count me amongst the re-re-re-re-re-readers! I don't know why it seems so peculiar to some people that somebody would want to read again a book they've enjoyed in the past...

And, at home we keep a full magazine rack in the bathroom

See ya,
AnnaBtG.

In a word: Yep.

In a long, rambling post: Yep, I read in other fandoms. Most of the time it's an on-again, off-again relationship. Not so much this year, as I've been pretty busy with uni and work, but generally I like to read in at least two or three at a time and then switch them up.

The only fandom I've been fairly constant in is this one, if that counts for anything, and okay, only for two years, but that's four times as long as normal! <g> I don't think it's a matter of what those fandoms have that this one doesn't, as I've always been a bit of an eclectic reader. It's what does this fandom has that's kept me here that others haven't. The thing I really love about this fandom is, like Jen mentioned, the community. I love reading a story by someone I know. More than that, I love being able to discuss a story with the author - being comfortable enough to leave more than one or two lines saying I liked the story or didn't. A lot of the time you don't hear back from authors and it's off putting.

Now, themes... I find that I usually go for different themes in different fandoms. I'll read pretty much anything (baring OT3 ), but for some reason I find that certain themes work better for me in some fandoms than in others.

For LnC I love a good romance. Angst always goes down well, but generally I enjoy the stories that focus on the B plot. In TXF it's case files that really do it for me. It's always nice when my 'ship is acknowledged, but I don't really want to read about it. I still like the guy getting the girl, but it's not as important as being freaked out by the FOTW/serial killer/random scary dude. In another fandom, aptly dubbed 'the gay mountie fandom' (and no, don't ask) what I enjoy are the short, reflective introspections. And in my last fandom-of-the-moment, Doctor Who (yes, I've succumbed), it's the tragic stories that really, really do it for me. I like the happy stories, I like the waffy stories, I like the angsty stories, but I *love* the tragic stories. Nothing does it for me in that fandom like an unhappy ending.

And I think that's enough from me.

Dave