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thefourthvine) wrote2006-10-22 06:47 pm
thefourthvine) wrote2006-10-22 06:47 pm
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Poll: Consensus, Part One
So. I miss talking to and hearing from y'all. But I'm suffering from a tiny problem, namely absence of any ability to finish anything. Someday I hope to be able to write actual useful sentences that connect to other sentences again, but today is not that day, so I'm going to do a themed poll series instead of meta or a themed recs post. (There are only three parts to this themed poll set, but I realize that, from me, three posts is totally massive spamming. My apologies in advance.)
The poll's theme is: consensus.
In part one, below, I'm going to try to establish my relative fannish sanity by consensus. To do so, I need to take you on a brief tour of my brain, focusing on two particular fannish things it does that I'm starting to suspect are - well, weird. (And keep in mine I'm judging myself compared to other fans; we'd already be considered insane by many of Them Folks Out There.)
We will now depart on our trip through TFV's brain. Please keep your arms and legs inside the vehicle at all times.
Imaginary Fandoms. I have, um, imaginary fandoms. I don't mean original fiction that I tell myself - I mean original fandoms, where I come up with, for example, a long and detailed original story, and then entertain myself with considering - and sometimes, um, even writing - various types of fan fiction or kerfluffles or meta that might result from given installments of the story. Sometimes I do, like, a TV series, and cast it with imaginary actors and plan out both FPF and RPF. In my most recent imaginary fandom, I've even begun mentally vidding it.
These imaginary fandoms hit basically all my buttons, of course. I'm not actually going to describe this in any kind of detail, because, um, oh my god so embarrassing that I kind of want to die just from typing it out, but the current one involves time traveling teams (one "temporal scientist" and one assassin-ish type) from the future. The main team, at this point (in my head, we have arrived roughly at book or season three), has uncovered evidence that they are working for - and trapped by, and no, I'm not even going to elaborate on the whole legal enslavement aspect, because I do not want to die of embarrassment - an organization of extremely questionable ethics and purpose, which opposes an organization that also has extremely questionable ethics and purpose. Oh, and the timestream, which they're supposed to protect, is slowly dissolving.
I have assorted mental fan fiction for this story, all carefully tagged to various chapters or episodes. I have, as I said, mental vids. I entertained myself on one long, hideous drive to Pasadena imagining the meta resulting from the end of book or season one.
I'm pretty sure that all this is the very definition of sad and pathetic. But, hey, this is fandom - maybe we all do this. Do you?
Epics That Must Not Be Read. (Term borrowed from the only other person I know for sure has written one of these. She will not be named here - unless she just wants to be - out of mercy for her.) Another thing I do is write these long, involved pieces of FF that are only for an audience of one, and that one person is me. They're always AUs of some kind, and they always start in canon and move sharply away from it, and they always entertain the hell out of me. But only me.
I've written two. The first is a BtVS story that currently stands at 80 pages of actual story, 30 more of notes and dialog, and 5 of outline, plus 10 pages of deleted scenes. It assumes that canon remains the same up to "Once More with Feeling." (Please note that "Once More with Feeling" is the only episode of BtVS season six that I've seen - and I haven't seen any of five or four, either. No, wait - I think I've seen one episode in season four. My point is, the first clue I had to the ETMNBR status of this beast was that I was writing in canon I hadn't seen.) At that point, a single line changes, and this massively alters everything from then on. In terms of timeline, I've written up to where season nine would have been if there had been one, and I know how things will resolve in season ten.
There are only two people in the world who would be interested in this story; one is me, and the other is Best Beloved. We've both read it. I know it's an ETMNBR, so I'm not worried about finishing it. But I re-read it fairly regularly, and I still write on it from time to time, because it entertains me so damned much.
The other one is much more embarrassing because I didn't realize it was an ETMNBR until after I sent it to be beta-read. It's also rather long (and needs to be much, much longer), an AU that assumes canon up to a certain point and then sharply diverges, and entertaining only to me. (My poor, poor betas - some of them actually read the fucker, and provided really helpful, thoughtful, useful comments - in short, they helped me make a story that was interesting only to me even more interesting. To me. At the cost of a lot of their time and effort. I would send them flowers and chocolate except that I'm embarrassed to speak to them.)
Now for consensus. Feel free to judge harshly.
[Poll #851020]
The poll's theme is: consensus.
In part one, below, I'm going to try to establish my relative fannish sanity by consensus. To do so, I need to take you on a brief tour of my brain, focusing on two particular fannish things it does that I'm starting to suspect are - well, weird. (And keep in mine I'm judging myself compared to other fans; we'd already be considered insane by many of Them Folks Out There.)
We will now depart on our trip through TFV's brain. Please keep your arms and legs inside the vehicle at all times.
Imaginary Fandoms. I have, um, imaginary fandoms. I don't mean original fiction that I tell myself - I mean original fandoms, where I come up with, for example, a long and detailed original story, and then entertain myself with considering - and sometimes, um, even writing - various types of fan fiction or kerfluffles or meta that might result from given installments of the story. Sometimes I do, like, a TV series, and cast it with imaginary actors and plan out both FPF and RPF. In my most recent imaginary fandom, I've even begun mentally vidding it.
These imaginary fandoms hit basically all my buttons, of course. I'm not actually going to describe this in any kind of detail, because, um, oh my god so embarrassing that I kind of want to die just from typing it out, but the current one involves time traveling teams (one "temporal scientist" and one assassin-ish type) from the future. The main team, at this point (in my head, we have arrived roughly at book or season three), has uncovered evidence that they are working for - and trapped by, and no, I'm not even going to elaborate on the whole legal enslavement aspect, because I do not want to die of embarrassment - an organization of extremely questionable ethics and purpose, which opposes an organization that also has extremely questionable ethics and purpose. Oh, and the timestream, which they're supposed to protect, is slowly dissolving.
I have assorted mental fan fiction for this story, all carefully tagged to various chapters or episodes. I have, as I said, mental vids. I entertained myself on one long, hideous drive to Pasadena imagining the meta resulting from the end of book or season one.
I'm pretty sure that all this is the very definition of sad and pathetic. But, hey, this is fandom - maybe we all do this. Do you?
Epics That Must Not Be Read. (Term borrowed from the only other person I know for sure has written one of these. She will not be named here - unless she just wants to be - out of mercy for her.) Another thing I do is write these long, involved pieces of FF that are only for an audience of one, and that one person is me. They're always AUs of some kind, and they always start in canon and move sharply away from it, and they always entertain the hell out of me. But only me.
I've written two. The first is a BtVS story that currently stands at 80 pages of actual story, 30 more of notes and dialog, and 5 of outline, plus 10 pages of deleted scenes. It assumes that canon remains the same up to "Once More with Feeling." (Please note that "Once More with Feeling" is the only episode of BtVS season six that I've seen - and I haven't seen any of five or four, either. No, wait - I think I've seen one episode in season four. My point is, the first clue I had to the ETMNBR status of this beast was that I was writing in canon I hadn't seen.) At that point, a single line changes, and this massively alters everything from then on. In terms of timeline, I've written up to where season nine would have been if there had been one, and I know how things will resolve in season ten.
There are only two people in the world who would be interested in this story; one is me, and the other is Best Beloved. We've both read it. I know it's an ETMNBR, so I'm not worried about finishing it. But I re-read it fairly regularly, and I still write on it from time to time, because it entertains me so damned much.
The other one is much more embarrassing because I didn't realize it was an ETMNBR until after I sent it to be beta-read. It's also rather long (and needs to be much, much longer), an AU that assumes canon up to a certain point and then sharply diverges, and entertaining only to me. (My poor, poor betas - some of them actually read the fucker, and provided really helpful, thoughtful, useful comments - in short, they helped me make a story that was interesting only to me even more interesting. To me. At the cost of a lot of their time and effort. I would send them flowers and chocolate except that I'm embarrassed to speak to them.)
Now for consensus. Feel free to judge harshly.
[Poll #851020]
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OMG. OMG. Don't even. Don't even start, because time travel speculation of this kind, alternative histories and whatnot - this is a total obsession of mine, and you are basically throwing gasoline on an open fire, here.
(But, in fact, my time traveling team can't, or aren't supposed to, kill anyone contemporaneous, and they're supposed to avoid erasing their memories if at all possible. (Anachronistic knowledge will get contemps wiped, though; it's the only good reason, and they're supposed to have proof, which is very hard to get, and they have to go through an "interview" in which a group of people who have never been in the field decide if the wipe was justified. So, really, wiping a contemp is unfortunate and messy and just not a good idea.) They're only assigned to wipe or kill other (opposition) time travelers (well, except in certain circumstances). Except last book/season they had to kill a contemp, and they couldn't report it because of [book/season one plot complications] and now they think maybe they were responsible for the temporal dissolution.
And, oh god, I totally did not mean to share all that. That's...that's TMI beyond all bounds of TMI. Sorry.)
(But, hey, if you're still here, can I go off-topic for a second? Because I've been meaning to ask you if you have tips or suggestions for finding and attending a Unitarian church, ideally one that is fairly, um, non-threatening and open-minded, and it just never seemed like a good time. But you're here! In my comments! And I just revealed a great secret shame! So, really, at this point I think religious impositions are actually going to improve the overall tone of this comment.)
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Do you know Harry Turtledove?
So it sounds as though I'd have to avoid your team, then. But think of it -- without uniting Germany, you put von Moltke and the excerable Kaiser in a much worse position to try and take over Europe; without the full horrors of The Great War, the Germans never smuggle Lenin back into Russia, and the Reds never hijack the Revolution -- if it ever comes off at all -- and Stalin stays a small time thug in Georgia. More to the point, no German inflation, no bitterness at having lost the War, no Nazis, no second war...
And how about reintroducing horses to North America around 1400 -- and a infectious vaccination against smallpox?
Um -- that's not TMI, that's a back cover blurb. When do you start writing?
As for hunting down the wiley UUs...
First, ask questions. I'm happy to explain why I think a church still has a role in my atheist life, or why I stayed a virgin until I was 28, or what I think of the MBTA.
I would hope that any UU church would be non-threatening and open-minded. Most of the people who walk in the doors have just shaken loose from something further to the right, and are both nervous and a bit queasy. Mind, I only know from New England -- CA is a closed book to me. Since we're radically congregationalist, every church is going to be its own organization.
As for finding one -- one idea is to go to the UUA website. http://www.uua.org/ Click on the "Find A Congregation" link. Or, just google the name of your town and "UU". There's the yelow pages. Then, just show up on Sunday. (Unless you find a Pagan or a Jewish congregation and they have a different Sabbath.) (That's a joke. I think.) Every church I know of has coffee/social time after service. Check out the, um, vibe.
If I weren't at least three thousand miles away, I'd just invite you to my church, but it's a bit of a hike.
If you decide to investigate, let me know what you think!
no subject
More to the point, no German inflation, no bitterness at having lost the War, no Nazis, no second war...
Oh, I totally see the temptation. My god, do I ever, and yes, I have thought of it. In, um, some detail. Possibly even scary detail. (I am of the opinion - yes, I have actually thought carefully about this, and am as mentally and ethically prepared as I can be for time travel, as sad as it is to admit that - that it's a really bad idea to make any attempt to change anything. But the temptation is strong in some cases, and that's one of the strongest going.)
Have you played Chrononauts (http://www.funagain.com/control/product/~product_id=011218)? It's a card game in which you must alter the past in order to get back to your specific future. It is - it is like fetish porn for the time travel fancier. I mean, obviously there aren't enough options (although there are expansion packs!) or anything like enough depth, but, just - you can unsink the Lusitania! You can kill Hitler! And these things cause changes to future cards, or paradoxes. Tell me you haven't dreamed of a game just like this and - well, actually I will admit that you're more normal than I am.
how about reintroducing horses to North America around 1400 -- and a infectious vaccination against smallpox?
OMG. I love this one. Because the "avoiding the Great Unpleasantnesses of the 20th century" thing is done quite a bit, but this one I haven't seen before.
So, how do you think it would go? My initial contemplation takes me to a place with a European-dominant, Native-influenced country in the east part of what is now the US, and a Native-dominant, European-influenced country in the west. But I'm not sold on that; it's my kneejerk response, because that's where I'd like it to go.
And, oh my god, I just realized the effects on the ecology of North America - that would completely change!
Okay. I'm getting over-excited. I think I need to breathe deeply for a while.
(You realize this will be showing up in my imaginary fandom. Probably really soon. Eeee!)
I would hope that any UU church would be non-threatening and open-minded.
Well, but I'm an athiest of Jewish heritage married to a Christian (and we're lesbians) - it's possible I would challenge even the legendary open-mindedness of your average UU.
And I'm kind of freaked out about the idea of being in a real church; I've never been in one, and I don't know what to do there. Also, I'm afraid people will be huggy. I hear they do that in churches, even to strangers.
(If you're interested, this (http://www.pacificunitarian.org/index.htm) is the one I've been eyeing with trepidation for about a year. Try not to be put off by their crappy website; crappy websites are apparently a strong tradition for liberal religious organizations in these parts. They're a Welcoming Congregation, which I remember you talking about; I looked for that when I was considering local congregations.)
*thinky*
Hmmm. Could we maybe take this to email? Let me know your email address if you're willing. Or drop me a line at thefourthvine at livejournal dot com. Because, hey, you said questions are welcome, and I have many, many questions.
(And I would so go to your church if I was, well, on your part of the continent. I would bring Chrononauts with me, too. Unless - wait. Aren't actual Christians not supposed to play cards on Sunday?
Hmmm. It's possible I'm not adequately prepared for organized religion.)
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Oh, you are so cute. That's mainstream. We have all of those every Sunday. You would so fit in. And if you're in Boston at the right time, you could come to our Seder.
Go, experience. It might not be a good fit -- but the very last thing you should worry about is being too outre. The only thing we have trouble dealing with is when a visitor asks "You don't talk a lot about Jesus, do you?"
I put my email addresses into a reply I'm going to erase, but it should have been sent to you. My home edress is in my UserFax anyway. (I can talk future!)
The Vikings, you may remember, got a toehold on the continent about a thousand years ago, and the natives threw them off. If it was too tough for Vikings -- who were colonizing Greenland and destroying Irish civilization at the time -- a strong, healthy population could crush the English incursion no trouble. The Spanish, maybe a little more of a problem, but nothing impossible. Remember -- before the Europeans started colonizing in earnest, 90% of the people in North America had died of European diseases. The English and the Dutch moved into a devestated, post-appocolyptic landscape, cleared for settlement. (CF "The Screwfly Solution")
Here's another thing to think about -- what if the Chinese hadn't stopped exploring, burned their boats and sealed their borders? They'd have gotten to Alaska within a generation...
no subject