Teaspoon and slash: a pondering

[pontisbright]

(Sorry for the borked formatting, LJ is chucking a mental)
I'm reccing at calufrax this week, and since calapine pointed out the tragically small number of slash recs so far, I'll be serving up an all-slash, all old-skool (or old/new crossover) selection of fics.

Finding stories has been interesting - possibly in a way which is just a reflection of my own reading habits - but it made me ponder.  My automatic reaction was to go looking for slash I'd already loved on LJ, in the hope that I'd find it at Teaspoon, with varying degrees of success.  Some people seem to upload everything they write as a matter of course, both to multiple comms and to Teaspoon: some stories only crop up on LJ (often in small comms, where there’s likely an small audience of familiar faces): some (especially older) fics are on knackered old geocities sites where the author has likely forgotten they’re even still there (and it’s only thanks to the likes of ghost2 and the who_otp Masterlist of Doooom that we ever find them again).

Conclusion: it seems as if a lot of writers of slash and femslash don’t use Teaspoon – or if they do, they’re selective about what they post there, especially with stories involving explicit sexual content. 

So, I’ve got two questions. One: is that accurate?  (I'm more than happy to be proved entirely wrong!)  And two: if I’m not just being crap, what’s the likely reasoning behind writers being selective at Teaspoon?  Is it the notion of small LJ comms being a cosy coterie – and if so, is that a lovely thing or a problem?  Readers, do you mentally categorize Teaspoon and LJ differently in terms of expectations?  Writers, are there some stories you’ve written that you feel are ‘more Teaspoony’ than others?    Can you unpick what your notion of ‘Teaspooniness’ is?

(Please note: this is in no way a dig at Teaspoon, which I love with a burny flamy love.  Nor a dig at LJ comms or individuals.  I know that some stories seem to have the best ‘fit’ in certain locations; some were written as commentfic or ficathon entries or in-jokes, and outside of that context they can read as oddities, weird deviations from the author’s usual style, or just plain incomprehensible.  And that’s before we get to the fics that we regret for one reason or another, and will happily let vanish in the LJ scroll (as much as anything ever can) instead of placing them somewhere more accessible like the ‘official’ fic archive.  It’s entirely up to you where you post your fic: I’m just curious about the reasoning, that’s all.)  

LJ – for any old thing, which you can pass off as just fluff if need be, but which can also result in nice quick feedback and the making of fannish friends
Teaspoon – for ‘proper’ fic which you’ve spent a bit of time over and reckon is worth showing to people outside LJ (despite the fact that you value the opinion of those on LJ more): feels a bit more detached from the audience
ff.net etc – not worth even looking at

Apologies for the tl;dr.  Am interested to know if other people's heads are quite so keen on compartmentalisation as mine, anyway...

 

Comments

[wishfulaces.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I don't follow the Ten/Simm!Master stuff either. Then again, it might just be simple "I don't want to follow the crowd!" contrariness? *shrug*

Yeah, I've kinda gotten that impression myself. I would never have dreamed of writing slash DW fic, either, were it not for LJ. Hrmmmm. This stuff is fascinating, isn't it?

[pontisbright.livejournal.com]

Who is such an odd fandom, though. I'm not sure that some new series types would consider Doctor/Jamie any more irrelevant than 'horses' (though you have amused me no end with the notion of you having two main interests: horses and Avon/Vila, heh). Which is more their problem than yours, certainly - and as you say, chances are they'd not find it unless they were looking.

Ahh, fannish guilt. Powers the entire internet, you know.

[wishfulaces.livejournal.com]

When were those?

[pontisbright.livejournal.com]

I love that aspect of fandom: brings out the failed academic in me. All of these stories, existing as part of this huge fannish history that you don't even need to be aware of to be hugely influenced by, in a completely inescapable way. It's not like any of us sat down and consciously thought 'It appears the climate is at last propitious for some classic Whovian filth: have at it, Harry!' and yet here we are. It's a brilliant and exciting thing, being part of that tide (or as you say consciously opting out of it), but it's no less brilliant and exciting to step back and squint at it.

[livii.livejournal.com]

Excellent; though I am thrilled to see gen leading, hurrah! That is v. v. cool.

For my next time I seem to have a LOT of het lined up, but I also have a femslash and aces' mixed het/slash one, and a gen. I intend to always make a point of at least one femslash, even if the last one got no notice, he.

[pontisbright.livejournal.com]

Phew. And yay. :D

[pontisbright.livejournal.com]

Psst: you couldn't tip me off as to what femslash you're reccing? Seems unliekly to cross over but if we're both posting in the same week, thought I should check... (And I totally thought of you, crusader that you are, when ensuring that my week o' slash was not all just boys.)

[livii.livejournal.com]

Hee! I'm ever-so glad that you'll be posting a femslash; makes me very happy, it does. I can't wait to see what you're doing! (I don't think we're the same week though, I have been lax in what I mean by 'next week' wherein I mean 'next next week' but I am already thinking ahead, heh).

I'm going to do "Nighthawks" by Rivrea, a Rose/Romana piece that I particularly love for a few very awesome lines. Plus I hope that maybe since it has two companions people are interested in... ;)

[calapine.livejournal.com]

Nineties, I think.

[calapine.livejournal.com]

It matters not if it is not seemed to be noticed, it is there and noticeable, yes. And if it is not noticeable, it will never be noticed ansd that would be v sad indeed.

[calapine.livejournal.com]

You have discovered our sekrit innner workings! ::frets::

[livii.livejournal.com]

After skimming your story page, I see that that's because that story is AMAZING.

And now I want to also rec your adorable Clyde'n'Luke roadtripping, and and...well, this is the best part of having a recs website; you can put up loads of fics by the same authors, just spread it out a little. With a week on Calufrax it's a little more 'one per'. :D

[pontisbright.livejournal.com]

No worries in any case, then, as that's not one of the two (two!) I've got lined up. :) And yep, I'm going for the 'crossover which might be persuasive' angle (as well as them being fab, obviously).

[livii.livejournal.com]

TWO! Oh em gee, I think I love you, dahling.

[livii.livejournal.com]

I actually realized this one hadn't been recced yet, so am planning on it as well - Lizbee's "Streams", Martha/Romana. If you've got it planned I will pick something else, but thought I'd check. :)

[snowgrouse.livejournal.com]

Yeah. I wonder if with the interactivity of LJ (yet the feel that you're talking to your mates instead of The Big Wide Internet) makes some writers feel that posting stuff into an archive and getting feedback once in a blue moon is a step back? But then, they'd have to be the sort of writers who would remember Them Olden Days. When there was, like, that one, *one* explicit Doctor/Master story in existence (and the other two fics, EVER, of that pairing were non-explicit Three/Delgado romance mush or Ace going "ew, I can smell him on you, you sick fuck" at Seven).

I laugh hard and bitter at "hard slash" and Valeriana being mentioned in the same sentence. If I ever describe two Timeys fucking as "a statue kissed to life by lust" again, you may shoot me. But then ancient fic like that still gets tons of readers, so, fuck... who knows.

[taleya.livejournal.com]

There's a third option, that applies to me - I'm incredibly fuckin' lazy! I keep forgetting to get around to putting them up :D

[rhube.livejournal.com]

I've found as much slash at Teaspoon as I have on LJ *shrugs*

[rhube.livejournal.com]

And hey! Thanks for introducing me to exactly the sort of lj comm I'd been unable to find!

[pontisbright.livejournal.com]

Actually I am planning to do that one! I thought it was just so so awesome. Hope that doesn't bugger up your plans. :)

[pontisbright.livejournal.com]

It's one of the disadvantages of the Great Migration to LJ, sadly: more fic, but often harder to find because there's less likelihood of there being one, 'definitive' archive. If such things ever existed (especially when, as you say, there were times when there was only one story for a pairing, if that). Still, the mateyness is teh shizz. And more likely to involve people pointing you to the good stuff anyway.

I really liked the purpleness of Valeriana: it's like this slice not just of old-skool-Who fic but old-skool-fic fic too - the kind of stuff that never gets written any more because everything's so knowing now, so it's all cliche ficathons and Five Things... and self-conscious crack. I love those things too, don't get me wrong, but I like melodrama and bombast and ridiculousness too. They suit Five. (And I think I was just trying to find a way to describe 'slash where there is lots of fucking' with the 'hard slash' thing. Our terminology needs troubleshooting.)

[pontisbright.livejournal.com]

*slaps you*

I was already pipped to the post with reccing that majestic post-Singularity one of yours. Then again, I'm trying very hard not to put Turlough into every single rec, since that's probably not really the done thing.

You should put things there, though. Then I will get to reread them and be gleeful, and this will prompt me to poke you about Time's Folly, which might result in more of it, and thus fandom shall be saved. Hurrah!

[pontisbright.livejournal.com]

What, calufrax? Yes, it's fabulous: only been running for a little while, but it really feels like it's pointing people to things they wouldn't otherwise read, and leading to feedback, which makes people write more, and it's a lovely merry-go-round of fannish awesome. :D

[livii.livejournal.com]

Well, drat. It deserves to be recced though, so that will be good! I will just chime in on your post or something. :)

I'm just finding that a lot of the more unique stories I want to rec are not archived on the Teaspoon, alas. No others of my femslash or slash recs I have done up already are there. Suppose I'll have to go for more gen (not such a terrible thing, though...)

[taleya.livejournal.com]

Meh, it's not too badly out of date :P

And yes, mustest work on TF. Get myself back into a happy groove.