LISTEN UP, QUEER AS FOLK PEOPLE.

[amelialourdes]

Remember back in the day when we were all *click* "Yay! New wonderful fic! Oh my god. There's so many and they're all good. I don't really know where to go next!"

And then it was like, "Oh, okay. Show's over but look! New wave of people discovering the show!"

And then it was more like, *wades through tons of badfic* followed by *finds a rare gem of good fic* "Oh my god, you guys! There's a new fic writer and it's all shiny and new and GOOD!"

And then that new person is just all, "Later, Queer as Folk. Something shiny's over here."

And we go... :(

Well, here I am to say that I think we've found a winner.

moonbrightnites suddenly popped up with her excellent taste in good fic and her eye for avoiding the bad ones and I knew that she was a good egg. Better, she writes fic. EVEN BETTER, YOU SAY? It is damn good. I'm throwing my rec out there for you to read everything she's ever written. I'm experiencing sleep deprivation because of it. I still need to read through most of it but what I have read? Yes. Just... yes.

Not only that but she has created a wonderfully, active community called qaf_ficwriters which has inspired such a wide range of conversation topics such as pet peeves in fanfic, fan fiction summaries, and I'm very much looking forward to even more discussions. Personally, I'd love to get into banner vs. no-banner argument since banners were once used as indicators to avoid fic at all costs, it now seems like an acceptable practice. Me? I'm still against them. (This is not the place to discuss it. I'm just throwing out a topic.)

Even you long gone QaF writers, pop back in to take a look. Do it.

EDIT: MASTER LIST OF HER FICS RIGHT HERE. GET READING.

Y'all. I am not kidding. I will hunt all of you down until you read it and then talk about it with me.

Comments

[darksylvia.livejournal.com]

Lol, even though I have no urge to participate in QaF fandom any more, I went to the community. It's nice to know that the same cliches are still rampant. And moonbrightnites is about a million times nicer about them than I am. I still have rage whenever Brian calls Justin Baby. RAGE.

Actually, I have to say that every fandom I've been in since QaF has less bad fic and less tolerance for bad fic. And by less tolerance I mean no glowing reviews on the stories that are terribly written. In my more current fandoms, bad fic just doesn't get read, and without the feedback, less gets written. It's super nice.

[amelialourdes.livejournal.com]

GURL, HER WRITING IS AWESOME. GET ON THAT.

All right, all right, I'll concede to you actually going to the community. I totally still have major rage against what you rage about. There's no circumstance (unless Brian's openly mocking Justin a la "honey") that Brian would ever seriously call Justin "baby." Nope, no way. That plus all the additional pet peeves that were addressed. moonbrightnites is terribly diplomatic, isn't she? I don't have that gene, haha.

That's actually pretty fabulous and it's great to hear. What are these fandoms that you involve yourself in? I'd like to live in a land where badfic remains badfic and isn't praised. You know, like all the bullshit Twilight fanfics that are getting book deals.

[darksylvia.livejournal.com]

If I feel a sudden urge for QaF again, I will tote read her stories.

Lol, I only have the diplomacy gene for things I don't care as much about, and when it comes to fictional characters, well, FEELINGS.

I've been mostly reading Inception fic. It's not that all of it is brilliant, it's that there's no out-right BAD fic. The worst stuff is just mediocre. I had a fling with Doctor Who, and that fandom is so nicely entrenched with die-hard old-time fans that bad fic (like Starema bad) just doesn't happen. Again, the worst is mediocre. And I occasionally look for stuff in the Diana Wynne Jones fandom, and the people in that one are so few and care so passionately, that really bad stories don't get written.

OH MAN, DON'T EVEN GET ME STARTED ON 50 SHADES OF GRAY.

[amelialourdes.livejournal.com]

Yay! I'm so glad. I know she enjoyed your Friends crossover (as one does) and stuck you in a rec list somewhere. I highly recommend for a read.

... okay, I see your point. I know, I really don't know how to move beyond those feelings of rage if I'm in a disagreement to diplomacy. Nope.

I'd take mediocre over a story where they turn the main characters into vampires and their tongues are so long they can come out of the other side of you. I mean, what? Haha. I think that you're on the right path.

THERE ARE ANOTHER TWILIGHT FIC THAT GOT PICKED UP YESTERDAY.

I mean, seriously. If I were the Twilight author, I'd be pissed. They're kind of profiting off of you. It's one thing to turn fic into original fic (which, I don't really like anyway) only because you're taking the characteristics and mannerisms of an already created character and using them as your own. Even for Twilight, they don't belong to you. Anyway, just frustrating.

[rinmonsterer.livejournal.com]

The worst part about the fsog thing isn't that she steals the *characters* - because, lbr, those are cut-out romance cliches anyway - but because she steals the *audience*. That makes me rage - she would never, ever, EVER sell enough of her Amazin ebooks to be noticed by real publishers, if she didn't have half of the gullible, badfic-loving twilight fandom rallied to buy out her shit. Exploiting someone else's fandom, coupled with basically no effort put into that book and it being popular by some fucked-default - that's the crazy, rage-inducing thing for me. People originally bought it because it was Edward and Bella having kinky sex.

[amelialourdes.livejournal.com]

I read your thoughts over in qaf_ficwriters, bb, and I completely agree with you especially about the gullible members of fandom with absolutely no discernible taste. On the other hand, we are talking about Twilight here. I hate everything about it. I hate how popular it is. I hate that it's badfic turned a profit and so many people are eating it up. There are better works out there but I think it's lazy reading, lazy writing, etc.

[rinmonsterer.livejournal.com]

THIS POST IS ACCURATE.

moonbrightnites is also an angel like Justin and a magical robot, who can circumvent the linear time flow and/or produce time to write/beta/be awesome out of nowhere.

[amelialourdes.livejournal.com]

RIGHT? THANK YOU.

I am discovering this about her, myself, and that is just a bucket of awesome. Even though I'm less willing to read things that are not written by her, I like that she had a helping hand in some fics.

[rinmonsterer.livejournal.com]

Fo' realz! Last week I sent her the last chapter of my fic to read through and I was like "I know you're currently beta'ing a 50k-words fic, you've got several unposted WiPs, two one-shots to post, not to mention a family and work, but could you maybe lend me a bit of your beta time in the next, I dunno, two weeks?" And the next day she replies to me with the full beta work done and I'm crying from too much awesome. True story.

[amelialourdes.livejournal.com]

Dude, that is amazing. I mean, how do you even have the time?! And I'm sure the beta is awesome, right? I imagine it is.

[moonbrightnites.livejournal.com]

Aww, thank you so so much! I'm kind of speechless so just -- thank you!
I am hugely, giddily flattered. :D

Personally, I'd love to get into banner vs. no-banner argument since banners were once used as indicators to avoid fic at all costs, it now seems like an acceptable practice.

I think you should start a qaf_ficwriters topic on the subject! It must be discussed.
I had absolutely no idea that banners were once used as indicators to avoid fic at all costs. In my first fandom (Oz) there were almost no banners because we had about three artists and they were all busy. When I returned to fandom four years later, suddenly everyone except me had banners for every single story. I was filled with banner-envy.
Now I can (sort of) use Gimp to create my own (ugly-ass) banners, so watch out, QaF Fandom!

[amelialourdes.livejournal.com]

You're very welcome! I have been waiting for you for a v. v. long time, okay? :D

I believe I will. Maybe tomorrow when I can be more engaged. I know opinions really run the gamut but when I came into fandom, there were no banners. I'll try to screencap some stuff, show examples, etc. I think it's pretty much my opinion that banners meant "do not enter" just because a new string of writers came along and used them and the banners weren't as... well, aesthetically pleasing. I also have ridiculously high standards so, there's that. Ooh, you were in Oz fandom! Do you know severina2001? When I think of Oz, I think of her.

Hahaha, you're on the loose now! Well, writing still trumps over banners any day so I'll stick with that.

[darksylvia.livejournal.com]

It's not just you, banners always meant "Do Not Click" to me.

[amelialourdes.livejournal.com]

Yay! Are these banners in your other fandoms?

[darksylvia.livejournal.com]

No, my other fandoms don't seem to do it, I'm only talking about the last legs of QaF before I stopped participating.

[amelialourdes.livejournal.com]

Oh, yeah. That was me when I checked out, too. Just too much and very "do not want" signals going out. This fandom does it a lot for some reason.

[darksylvia.livejournal.com]

Fannish culture's evolution is always weird! I could write whole theses on this stuff, for reals.

[amelialourdes.livejournal.com]

You know what? I would read it. :D

[moonbrightnites.livejournal.com]

You are so sweet. :D

I'd definitely like to talk about banners in the fic writers comm. Reading your comments has been amazing to me because when I first wandered into this fandom, all the banners were the first thing I noticed. Hell, every 100-word drabble had a banner! I really thought that if I couldn't find someone to create them for me no one would even bother with my plain, undecorated stories.

It used to be that the only time people had banners was when they wrote 50K+ big bang efforts. Things are so different now.

And I do remember severina from the Oz fandom! She wrote amazing stories there and amazing stories here, too.

[ragingpixie.livejournal.com]

I DO NOT KNOW IF I CAN GET INVOLVED IN THIS, ASIAN FRIEND.

[amelialourdes.livejournal.com]

LOOK, RAGINGPIXIE. I DON'T KNOW WHAT YOUR PROBLEM IS, BUT YOU NEED TO.

LOOK AT THE FACE I GAVE YOU. I GAVE YOU "BITCH, PLZ" JUSTIN FACE.

DO IT.

[ragingpixie.livejournal.com]

DON'T YOU "BITCH PLZ" ME. I WILL SEND YOU MANY THINGS YOU WON'T KNOW WHAT TO DO WITH.

[amelialourdes.livejournal.com]

OOH, I AM SO SCARED. I'D LIKE TO SEE YOU TRY.

WHY ARE YOU EVEN TALKING TO ME? GO READ ALREADY.

[on-the-ground.livejournal.com]

Thanks for the rec, I'm bookmarking it for when I have time :)

[amelialourdes.livejournal.com]

Yay!

[reeface.livejournal.com]

THIS IS MOST EXCITING OMG.

[amelialourdes.livejournal.com]

TELL ME WHEN YOU'VE READ HER FIC SO WE CAN DISCUSS, OKAY?

[reeface.livejournal.com]

ROGER WILCO.

[lennongirl.livejournal.com]

LATE BUT: THANK YOU :X:X:X

*reads more*