Palimpsest is best.

[pauraque_bk]

How well-known a word do y'all think "fandom" is? I was just watching a rerun of Futurama that mentioned "Star Trek fandom", and was a bit surprised, since I had a sense that it was one of those terms that non-fans might not know. I've been in fandom far too long to be able to tell.

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I'm about to link to a story I haven't read, because I know there are some Ender's Game fans on my list, and because this author cannot write other than in pleasing manner. I haven't read the source material in years, so I gave it a miss. That said:

"Meek Shall Inherit" (NC-17, Dink/Ender, underage) by switchknife exists.

If you feel like you might want to read Ender fic, but not quite that kind, there are some other interesting-looking stories on enderslash. I couldn't find an Ender genfic comm.

This seems like a good time to plug rarelitslash, which features some of the obscurest fanfic you'll ever see. Even if you don't stop to read, just looking at the headers is entertaining.

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HP fandomers should probably bookmark tinderblast (aka Brodie)'s list of authors with an LJ username different from their pen name. If you are one, or you know one (besides me -- I'm already on there), be sure to head over and let her know.

Comments

[http://users.livejournal.com/_hannelore/]

I confess I had no idea fandom existed beyond people going to cons and the like, let alone the writing. But I'm new to the good ship Potterdom.

Thank you for the list... bookmarked and helpful! I've been meaning to search out the fandom glossary that explains the word length for things like drabble and ficlets. I saw it once, but forgot to bookmark it at the time.

[pauraque]

But my question was whether, if you heard the word "fandom", you would have known that it referred to fans going to cons (or whatever it is they do, those weirdos).

The length of a drabble depends on the fandom. Most places, including HP, it's 100 words. (There are exceptions; it's 155 words in X-Files fandom. Some places it's 200.) Then there are special cases, such as the 15-minute time-limit drabbles written on IRC "drabble nights", which are any length as long as it's a multiple of 5.

A ficlet is any short fic. The definition of "short" is very subjective; I've posted 2000-word stories and received feedback saying "I liked this ficlet". HP fandom may have a skewed idea of what constitutes a short fic, due to its propensity for novel-length fics.

You didn't ask about this, but another useful term is "vignette", meaning a fic that doesn't tell a complete story, but simply presents a scene. Almost no one says "vignette" in HP fandom -- they'd probably call such a thing a ficlet or a snippet -- but it's quite common in some other fandoms.

[biichan.livejournal.com]

Eh, I think it must be a relatively known word. Not that any of them KNOW what fandom's like, but it's been bandied about in articles before and there are mystery novels like Sharryn McCrumb's Bimbos of the Death Sun that are actually about fandom. And, you know, CSI and the furry thing.

[pauraque]

That's a very neat icon. What's it from?

[switchknife.livejournal.com]

Wow, thanks for the rec! I was exceedingly nervous about this, because I've never written sex with characters as young as nine before. *cough* I sincerely hope Card doesn't find out, man. Or I'm so jailed. Throughout writing this thing I kept having to look away from the screen with burning ears and saying: I am not doing this, I am not doing this... (And then, somewhere inside me, a sinister voice hoots: I SO AM!)

... Damn Card and his goddamn shower-wrestling, anyway. He's got a military school full of boys, communal showers and fights! What on earth does he expect?

*hyperventilates*

... Eh. I... should go now. Before I further embarrass myself.

[switchknife.livejournal.com]

Erk, sorry. I've just read your rec and realized that you haven't seen the actual story. Sorry for blabbing at you about showers and such!

[pauraque]

Heh, sorry to confuse. I did say that you're a good enough writer that I feel comfortable pointing to your stuff before I've read it, so let that console you. ;)

[switchknife.livejournal.com]

*blushes hotly* That IS actually the nicest compliment anyone's ever paid my work. Thank you!

[so-haleza-grise.livejournal.com]

Well, I spose that it isn't all that hard to analyse: fan-dom.

I think I remember reading it in a few newspapers somewhere (always a good sign, since they're deliberately written so that Any Idiot can read them . . .)

[pauraque]

*nods* Not too long ago, I said "fandom" to a mundane non-fan, and he was baffled. Then again, he was considerably older than me, so it could have been that.

[whimemsz.livejournal.com]

Heh, I didn't know you liked Futurama. It is the bestest ever...woohoo!

Anyway, yeah...

[pauraque]

I do like Futurama, though it isn't a particular obsession. (I want to say "I don't LIKE-like Futurama".) However, I do recall reading an amusing piece of Futurama slash written for one of the "rare fandom" challenges last Christmas. *g*