Surely I would have remembered

[ziparumpazoo]

You know that moment when you get a comment on an old fic? So you go to thank them and end up accidentally reading a line or two of said fic because, well, it's old, and maybe you have fond memories of writing it? And then the line or two turns into reading all of said fic, and then you go to hit the kudos button because omg, who wrote this? The prose! I wish I could write prose like this...wait a minute... *facepalm*

And then you spend the rest of the day wondering when you stopped writing like that.

Other signs you might be a grouchy old lady of fandom: getting more than one kudo or comment at once on old fic and not being able to find out how they got directed there in the first place. Searching for recs used to be easy before twitter and tumblr and all the rest.

Comments

[princessofgeeks]

LOL.

Yeah.


I love finding out how people find my fic. I got a burst of new comments on my old Sentinel fic when 852 Prospect archive was folded into the Archive of Our Own, so that made sense, but occasionally I too will get random new kudos on something and wonder where they found me.

[ziparumpazoo]

The way I figure is if I try to write the kinds of things that I want to read for the most part, so if there are people out there that like my stuff enough to rec it, then most likely they've rec'd other things I'd like to read, and so it carries on.

(though I'm still trying to figure out how one piece I wrote managed to be listed one of the only three notable fic for that fandom on Fanlore. I'm thinking the author was abducted by aliens or something before they could finish their list.)

I guess fandom in general has just gotten too scattered, or too large and public, or we're posting too much from smart phones and tablets so that we need a platform that works with those technologies that the underlying sense of community isn't what it used to be.

[monanotlisa]

And then the line or two turns into reading all of said fic, and then you go to hit the kudos button because omg, who wrote this? The prose! I wish I could write prose like this...wait a minute... *facepalm*

Yeah, yeah, absolutely.

I know it's bollocks, that connection between depression and writing, and I like my recent Natasha/Steve fic enough to know it's not true. But when I was sad and less busy, I did put out some amazing prose...

[ziparumpazoo]

It's true that writing styles change over time, but I think it's the less busy part that is key. This past year and a half has been rough in a lot of ways that would probably require trigger warnings to go into here, but suffice to say, there just hasn't been the spare brainspace to just let the words rattle around first and stick together before they make it to the page. For me, that's how it works anyhow.

I *knew* somebody on my list posted Natasha fic recently! Thanks for the reminder. (speaking of brainspace) Must go back and look at that. :)

[jae]

I have SO BEEN THERE.

-J

[ziparumpazoo]

Every time I think I've got this fandom thing figured out, it changes again.

[jae]

Yesssss, that's exactly it.

-J