Popularity vs Inspiration

[extrapenguin]

Does anyone else feel like they have much more creation-energy (writing fic, meta, etc) for rare canons and rarepairs than for juggernauts? I keep thinking I should post some sorta-meta for Star Wars, but keep putting it off, and while I do ship Obi-Wan/Anakin* I have written a grand total of zero fics for that. Meanwhile my current favorite pool noodle of a ship, Anakin/Mace, has 6 things I have contributed to the tag and I actually have further ideas for that. IDK. It's like the more popular something is, the more likely I am to go "eh, that's been done already" and go think about something else. This is probably related to me not liking to repeat myself thematically/plotwise – there are themes and such I return to, but I have so many ideas, I'd rather write something that I haven't already written a form of.

* As a side note, I hate the smushname. In this age of fictionkin, every time I see Obikin I have a moment of panic of the "oh no, does this person believe they are Obi-Wan Kenobi on the astral plane?" sort.

Comments

[china_shop]

Oh yeah, I much prefer uncharted territory, and rarer ships and fandoms have more of that. It's one of the reasons I'm not reading much in my fandom(s), too, because I don't want to be put off my WIPs by seeing other people's similar things; if I keep my blinkers on, I can pretend that all my ideas are blazingly original and shiny. ;-p

[extrapenguin]

Ha! Alas, my fannish squee comes from interacting with a community (even if it's a community of one), so I tend to encounter the "common" tropes anyway even if it's from my conversation partner mentioning fics they've read. And I do like looking, since if it's a rarepair or equivalent I want to shower any fellow fen in squee and entice them to make more.

[china_shop]

Alas, my fannish squee comes from interacting with a community (even if it's a community of one)

*nodnod* I do that in email or on meta posts, mostly. But I think your way is commendable/better!

[extrapenguin]

I have my safe space of private communication with friends, but also I would like more friends, which necessitates public communication! And I do also like reading and engaging with other people's public posts. So I try my best!

[isis]

Hah, yeah, same. I haven't been into a juggernaut ship since my Eagle days (so that's ten years ago) and haven't been into a juggernaut ship in a megafandom since due South (twelvish years ago). It's definitely the tiny fandoms and minor characters that catch my eye and make me want to create the content which nobody else has.

[extrapenguin]

I was that person (or rather, the "I have never not had a Yuletide-eligible main fandom" person) but then I got into Star Wars. *g*

[isis]

Oddly I think that lost interest in two of my main fandoms at the same time as they grew out of Yuletide! Like, turn them in and get newer, smaller ones...

[extrapenguin]

I think I faded out of Vorkosigan just about when it became too large for Yuletide for the last time. Huh. Same for Guardian, actually! And then I got into Star Wars. *g*

[trobadora]

Yeah - there's more of a drive to get my thoughts out of my head and into fic or meta when no one else has already talked about the thing in question, or posted fifty similar fics yet. I don't spend less time thinking about it, because when I get obsessed I get obsessed, but wiith a really popular thing I can have all those thoughts while reading and reacting to what other people have already posted, and I get to spend a lot of time in that headspace and share it with others without having to initiate anything. *g*

[extrapenguin]

Interesting point about initiating! Yes, I think about popular things (well, a subset of popular things) but don't initiate – or necessarily even communicate with others about it, actually? Hm. I guess rarity makes me more likely to interact, since if there are fewer people who like X than Y each interaction comes across as more precious?

[trobadora]

I do interact if I'm really into something, no matter how popular, but yeah, rarity adds an additional impetus.

[cyberbrain]

Yes, me! I'm like that, it turns out. I've liked plenty of "popular ships" but I never had a strong urge to create (and, most importantly, finish) anything. I'm kind of going through this, um, phenomenon, with my current fandom too.
So, yep, I feel you.

[extrapenguin]

Yeah. I can make stuff for rarepairs and I suppose I could see myself writing a rare scenario for a popular ship? But yeah.

[shadaras]

Oh, definitely. It's part of why I've mostly been getting into small fandoms lately, and a little bit why I don't actually browse fic in the larger/more active fandoms I'm into? Like, for those either I can create works or I can read them, but it's hard to do both.

[extrapenguin]

Huh – it's never that bad for me. I had no trouble reading in Guardian, for example, even if the writing bug did cut into my reading time immensely. Can you write for a ship/character even if you're reading elsewhere in the fandom, or is it the whole fandom that has to be one or the other?

[shadaras]

It's more like I don't think to go looking than that I am incapable of it. xD If someone sticks recs in front of my face, it's pretty likely I'll check them out, but I don't think to see what's out there when I'm thinking about what I want to make for the fandom.

[plingo_kat]

Completely agree! For me it's a consumption vs. creation mindset. In large fandoms/pairings there's so much out there that sates what I want out of fic that I can just read happily, but in rarepairs you gotta make it yourself. There's also the community aspect, where in smaller groups it's more likely people enthusiastically welcome new people. I've very rarely made personal connections in megafandoms because I'm less likely to randomly speak up or reach out in such large groups.

(I also don't like portmanteaus, mostly because it can make it hard to search for pairings between platforms. Does somebody tag their art by the portmanteau, or by full name/full name, or what? Sometimes I can't even figure out what the portmanteau is. D:)

[extrapenguin]

For me it's a consumption vs. creation mindset.
Ooh, this hits on the issue nicely! Yeah, when there's more to consume, I'll be there consuming, while if there's nothing (or, I suppose, if nothing is to my tastes) I'm more likely to be creating.

The community aspect is another thing. I find myself much more willing to comment and reach out for rarer/more niche stuff, since person who likes the same rare thing! Whereas with people who like the megafandom juggernaut, it's like eh, that's person #9871 today who likes that thing. And megafandoms are more likely to already have the lines drawn in the sand and all the friend groups be insulated from one another due to terrible wanks that went down in ages past.

Some sites restrict the usage of the / character in tags (tumblr, frex), so I understand using portmanteaus along the lines of Finnpoe. When it gets to stuff like Reylo (vs Reykylo) or Beefleaf (vs ??? I have no idea who these people are, other than that they're from TGCF) I am significantly more annoyed. Though with really long names character limits on e.g. Twitter are likely to lead to abbreviation... Let's all just return to DW?

[lannamichaels]

Yeah, there was an old guard fic I never polished off because I didn't have much enthusiasm for it and part of that was 'I am sure a thousand people have done this exact same thing'.

[tinny]

Does anyone else feel like they have much more creation-energy (writing fic, meta, etc) for rare canons and rarepairs than for juggernauts?

Yes! And for the exact same reasons. Guardian only kept me this long because it was tiny when I started out.