Fandom Meme! 1 & 2

[osprey_archer]

I just couldn’t resist this fandom meme when thisbluespirit posted it, so I’ve stolen it for myself. I’m doing the first two questions together because they are basically the same answer.

1. What's changed about your fandom life in the last 365 days?

MUCH AGAINST MY WILL I have fallen in Charioteer fandom, by which I mean mostly reading selections from the book over and over, although I’ve also dabbled my toes in the fic.

I was just rereading the part where Laurie first tells Ralph about Andrew, and he’s explaining to Ralph why he just can’t let Andrew know ever about his feelings for him even though he’s pretty sure Andrew is queer too and just hasn’t realized it yet; and Ralph is all, “You’ll meet him again in a few years and he’s going to have a boyfriend,” and Laurie is VERY hurt…

Anyway, it just occurred to me that Ralph is commenting bitterly on his own situation with Laurie. He too! held back from telling the boy he loved (Laurie) about his feelings because he had some idea about protecting Laurie’s innocence, and here Laurie is! a few years later! with a boyfriend. Sort of.

2. Your newest fandom.

See above!



1. What's changed about your fandom life in the last 365 days?
2. Your newest fandom.
3. You've got your OTP, you have to throw a third into the mix (from the same fandom), creating an OT3. Who is the OTP, and in your opinion, why would they make a perfect third for them?
4. What are the origins of your penname/username?
5. What's a fandom that you wish had a bigger following?
6. What’s the longest you’ve ever been in a fandom? What fandom was it? Not necessarily your oldest fandom, but a fandom that you started and still continue to read/write/create content for in some way.
7. What would make you leave a fandom, or prevent you from getting into it in the first place?
8. Squicks - What are some things that squick you in fandom - not necessarily "icky", though it can be. From anything involving blood, to bad grammar.
9. What's the hardest thing about writing, and why are titles the Worst™?
10. Do you have a fandom that you follow - either regularly or casually - with little to no knowledge of canon?
11. Ships that you currently like a lot. (They don’t have to be OTPs because not everyone has OTPs.) Friendships, pairings, threesomes, etc. are allowed.
12. A ship you have never liked and probably never will.
13. Do you prefer art, fic, or vids? Why? Bonus: If someone was to give you a fandom gift, what format would it be?
14. A pairing – platonic, romantic or sexual – that you initially didn’t consider, but someone changed your mind.
15. What was the first thing you ever contributed to a fandom?
16. Do you remember your first OTP? Who was in it?
17. What is your favourite source text for fandom stuff (e.g., TV shows, movies, books, anime, Western animation, etc.)?
18. How many fandoms have you written for? How many have you been in, and how many are you still in?
19. Has social media caused you to stop liking any fandoms, if so, which and why?
20. What fandom broke your heart?
21. Say something genuinely nice about a character who isn’t one of your faves. (Characters you’re neutral about are fair game, as are characters you dislike or even loathe.)
22. Name a character that you’d like to have for a friend.
23. Your rarest fandoms.
24. A fandom you’ve abandoned and why.
25. Do you have any hard and fast headcanons that you will die defending?
26. A trope which you are virtually certain to love in any fandom.
27. A trope which you are virtually certain to hate in any fandom.
28. How did you first get into fanfic, and what was the first fandom you wrote fic for?
29. Have you ever tried to write for a fandom or ship, and found you couldn’t?
30. Name three things you wish you saw more of in your main fandom (or a fandom of choice).

Comments

[minoanmiss]

Oh my heart, The Charioteer. *feels all the feelings*

[osprey_archer]

I didn't want to feel all the feelings, and yet here I am! Feeling them! Repeatedly!

[tei]

Okay I just stumbled across this via network and have JUST embarked on a Mary Renault Journey, so… hanging around for when I get to The Charioteer (probably after Funeral Games, assuming I am emotionally ready for that some time in the near future 😆)

[osprey_archer]

I too am on a Mary Renault Journey; currently reading The Last of the Wine, although I've stalled a bit. (Not just on Last of the Wine, on a bunch of books concurrently. There's a bit of a logjam.)

I don't know how many future Charioteer posts there will be, but everything I've posted about Renault's work so far is under the tag "author: Mary Renault."

[kore]

One of the things I love about that book is after a couple of rereads, it's SO CLEAR that people are speaking to Laurie out of their own heartbreak or cynicism or malice, and Laurie's such a blank slate he just doesn't know what to think and can't really judge it. His innocence isn't a shield, it's something other people can turn against him (very common in Renault). It's a fascinating authorial technique kind of reminiscent of the Socratic method, where so much of what people believe as True is revealed to be not terribly well thought out opinions.

[osprey_archer]

One of the rather tragic aspects of the book (in a facepalmy kind of way) is that Laurie clearly sees himself as a jaded old soul who must protect Andrew's pure innocence, when in fact Laurie is still so innocent and confused in his own right.

ETA, and I think that Laurie's attitude towards Andrew's innocence is a projection of his own ambiguous feelings about his sexuality. He knows, but a part of him would really prefer not to know, so in shielding Andrew he is "doing unto others what you would have them do unto you."

[kore]

Yeah, and Andrew may in fact not be the same kind of innocent as Laurie! It's been a while since I reread the book (you're tempting me), but Laurie seemed to be doing a LOT of projection on everybody, including Andrew.

Aww, that's a nice point about Laurie. He seems confused a lot of the time, but confused maybe in a different way from, say, Maurice, who is sort of like one of Le Guin's "block of uncarved wood" characters. Laurie seems more gaslighted by his culture, maybe. He's really sensitive and perceptive but a lot of the time that actually leads him into misreading things (IRONIC).

[troisoiseaux]

One of the rather tragic aspects of the book (in a facepalmy kind of way) is that Laurie clearly sees himself as a jaded old soul who must protect Andrew's pure innocence, when in fact Laurie is still so innocent and confused in his own right.

... Laurie seemed to be doing a LOT of projection on everybody, including Andrew.

THIS.

[kore]

There's always some moment in a Renault book when a protagonist really tragically misreads or underestimates somebody, but it seems to happen quite frequently to Laurie! It's kinda weirdly adorable. He's not so much clueless as....overthinking everything?

[troisoiseaux]

The scene that haunts me, just absolutely breaks my heart, is the part where he comforts the little boy in the neighboring hospital bed during the air raid and he's been so wired by society to be self-conscious and hyperaware of how he reads to others that he's worried someone will take the fact he is comforting a scared child during a traumatic event The Wrong Way.

[kore]

AAAAAGH yeah, when Laurie worries the nurse has heard something from that doctor? That is so awful. (Or wait, am I misremembering....)

[osprey_archer]

What can I say! I'm a bad influence!

I think to a certain extent Laurie's relationship with Andrew remains chaste because that's exactly what Laurie wants - he doesn't want to fully face his sexuality and with Andrew he doesn't have to. He gets the uplift of being in love without the hard practical reality of having an actual love affair.

But he's wrapped it up in all this guff about protecting Andrew, and the Phaedrus, etc., because if he faced it all clearly the whole house of cards would come tumbling down.

[anna_wing]

I first fell in love with Middle-earth, not any specific characters, but the Star Wars universe didn't particularly interest me until the Sequel films came out, so that one was both character and world-driven. My ongoing giant novel-length Sequel Trilogy-based serial is very much an ensemble piece, though. My fic focus is quite definitely on the world-building opportunities, for which the characters are an excuse....