curiouswombat: (suitable job for a lady)
[personal profile] curiouswombat
My friend [livejournal.com profile] lindahoyland posted a link on her journal to this article about fanfic.

It is interesting in a number of ways; the writer clearly enjoys reading fic, understands the 'why' of so much of it - I started reading fan fiction because I wanted to read more about characters I already knew, and gives an interesting history of fanfic.

But... she is clearly one of the lurkers - not really involved with the feeling of fandom as a community, I think, so there is little sense of that existing. And she mainly discusses FF.Net (aka The Pit of Voles, around here) and AO3, rather than the more fandom specific archives. And so she quotes a piece of research that concluded that the average user of FanFiction.Net in 2010 was a 15.8-year-old girl from the United States who didn’t write fan fiction herself. Not to say that 45-year-old mothers and adolescent boys don’t also read it, or that fan fiction is only written in English; but the odds are not good. ...the community is 80 per cent teenage and 80 per cent female.

We've seen this before - quite a few of us think it is probably not a true picture of fanfic at all - and the person who wrote the article should have really thought about it when she quoted it - as she also pointed out that from her first forays in the Pit of Voles she lied about her age and always ticked to say that she was over 18... I mentioned on Linda's journal that I have a feeling that quite a lot of the over 40s probably knock a few years off, as well... Linda agreed that she did, just because she got fed up being asked her age.

So logic suggests that any measure of age should tend towards a modal age in the early 20s really - not one of under 16!

Still; an interesting article, I think.

Date: 04/03/2013 09:46 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] willowgreen.livejournal.com
I read that article and found it extremely surprising that she said she'd only ever ONCE commented on a fic. And she got a positive response -- but never did it again anyway. ??? To each her own, but I have to say it seemed odd to me. But then, I got into fanfic via online communities, not the other way around.

Date: 04/03/2013 10:02 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] curiouswombat.livejournal.com
It is interesting in as much as she is clearly typical in that - I've had over 210,000 hits at Twisting the Hellmouth - and 723 reviews. Currently I get about 400 hits within 2 days of posting a new chapter there - and 2 or 3 comments... and TtH is quite good for comments.

Other places I have things with a couple of thousand hits and no comments at all. It is a pity, because I tend to get on with the next chapter better if I have any sign that people enjoyed the last one!

Date: 05/03/2013 08:18 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] scarlet1061.livejournal.com
I didn't read the article, but based on what you say here, if she visits FF.net mainly, (and AO3, rather than the more fandom specific archives), the she indeed lacks the feeling of the community which is found really in the specific archives.

I remember that I also started in FF.net (ages ago), and when I wanted to comment, it was very hard to register (technically, it simply rejected my attempts over and over).
I didn't really had much motivation to comment.

It was only later, on more specific archives, that it changed. So, I am not THAT surprised she's a lurker.

But I agree on the main quote you posted: I started reading fan fiction because I wanted to read more about characters I already knew

Date: 05/03/2013 08:33 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] curiouswombat.livejournal.com
The reality is that most people probably do start at the Pit of Voles - and doubtless many of them never stray from it - possibly never really realise that other archives exist. And I'm like you - I've read there but never commented.

But that quote does go a long way to explaining to anyone who has no idea at all why we write, and why so many others read.

Date: 04/03/2013 09:47 pm (UTC)
ext_15194: floral background with hobbit's journal written diagonally across the front (what the hell by hannahclarke)
From: [identity profile] hobbituk.livejournal.com
Is it wrong that I am dumbfounded the article writer never mentioned Buffy?????

Date: 04/03/2013 10:09 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] curiouswombat.livejournal.com
She's too young. She clearly read mainly in HP and Twilight, which is probably pretty much where a lot of her age group start. And they are much more popular - over at the Pit of Voles there are 633,977 Harry Potter fics, 207,510 Twilight fics, and 45,607 Buffy ones...

Date: 04/03/2013 10:14 pm (UTC)
ext_15194: floral background with hobbit's journal written diagonally across the front (Default)
From: [identity profile] hobbituk.livejournal.com
Ah. I keep forgetting how old I am... *grins*

HP and Twilight are a mystery to me!

Date: 04/03/2013 10:26 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] curiouswombat.livejournal.com
Of course the best of it is that we know that an awful lot of people involved in fanfic are, actually, our age rather than that writer's... :)

Date: 04/03/2013 10:06 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] slaymesoftly.livejournal.com
It is interesting - in a "your view of ff is very limited and probably way off base" kind of way. She really needs to learn/understand that there are a lot of perfectly adult (refuse to say "old") readers and authors who wouldn't go near ff.net on a bet. I had no idea that AO3 was as big as she says it is. But I guess when you're a multi-fandom archive you can grow pretty quickly.

Date: 04/03/2013 10:17 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] curiouswombat.livejournal.com
It is interesting - in a "your view of ff is very limited and probably way off base" kind of way.

Absolutely!

I was surprised to see that she had AO3 as so big, too. But I guess it is that they are both totally pan-fandom and accept everything - whereas other archives are more specific.

Also I would be surprised if she had even heard of some of the others - for example TtH currently has 22,147 stories posted and so is quite big. But then I realise that it is tiny compared with FFNet - where there are 45,607 Buffy stories alone - and that is only about 6% of the number of Harry Potter fics there!

Date: 04/03/2013 10:08 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] keiliss.livejournal.com
I'd love to see an article by someone who's actively involved in fandom rather than just lurking on ff.net, but it's great to see it treated as a normal activity rather than some of the befuddled references I've seen elsewhere.

I know several writers in their 40s or 50s who write in several fandoms, and I'm pretty sure they're less open about their age in the more 'youth oriented' corners, lol. As I said on Linda's post, you have no way of judging age online. Even gender can be an open question. I think that's a good thing, btw. You get to interact with people on the basis of shared interests and world views rather than gravitating to your age, your colour, your gender.

Date: 04/03/2013 10:24 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] curiouswombat.livejournal.com
Re your first paragraph - that was almost exactly what I thought. She is, no doubt though, fairly typical as most people read but don't write, and read but don't comment. So, in many ways, she is fairly typical of the people those of us who write are being read by... at least at FFNet if we post there. (I don't - I've never got around to it!)

It would be interesting to read an article sometime that actually said 'A lot of readers and writers are in the 20 - 90 age group, a few may be older. And there are a good few things around that are much better written than many things that are published. Better, too, than a lot of the fanfic that is published, like 'Pride and Prejudice and Zombies', or '50 shades of grey' etc!'

But this was at least a little more realistic than some of the articles we've read in the past.

Date: 05/03/2013 01:06 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] keiliss.livejournal.com
Most of the really good fan fiction is on smaller archives, yes. I get a bit fed up when I read articles about fan fiction based solely on ff.net (and no, I've never found a good reason to post there). All else aside, it's incredibly sloppy research. At least she brought in AO3, though I don't think she was as familiar with it.

I've never understood someone reading and liking a fic enough to come back chapter after chapter and still never comment. Just 'this was cool' or 'gosh, I never saw that coming' makes so much difference for the writer. I suppose that's why you'll find most people who comment also write. I mentioned this once and one of my readers delurked and admitted she never knew what to say, which I guess is part of it.

Date: 05/03/2013 08:40 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] curiouswombat.livejournal.com
[livejournal.com profile] scarlet1061 was pointing out that she had found it difficult to register and comment at The Pit of Voles. And I must admit that I make a point of commenting at the smaller archives - but on the odd occasion I do read at FFNet I have never commented either...

I guess she is not really writing about fanfic in general so much as about her own interaction with it - so it is not really an article that required background research - but the once piece of published research she did look at came to a conclusion that most of us would disagree with!

Date: 06/03/2013 03:51 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] heartofoshun.livejournal.com
I acquired a the habit over the years of interacting also with writers outside of fanfic myself (successful and making a living, published in the big, wide world writers). It is so easy to do online. I think a lot of people do not do that. I guess lurking in fandom seems less acceptable because commenting is one's only payback to the writer.

Date: 05/03/2013 08:31 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] scarlet1061.livejournal.com
"you have no way of judging age online"
Not accurately, you can't. But you CAN get a feeling if someone is young (early 20s or less) or have some life experience.

You can feel it in the the way they write and the way they show their characters and interactions within the story.

At least, this how it feels for me.

Date: 05/03/2013 05:01 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] curiouswombat.livejournal.com
It is a better judge of how mature they are than of their chronological age - but maturity is more important anyway. I can remember someone in the Buffy fandom who I had assumed was late 20s or so when we first 'met', by the maturity of the writing, 'coming clean' later and admitting she was still at school (not college) - those first mature, well-written, fics and comments etc. had been written when she was 14.

Whereas I read something on a Tolkien archive at one time, or at least the first couple of chapters, and decided it was the work of a 14 year old - until I noticed a discussion in the comments about her children and junior high school....

Date: 04/03/2013 11:10 pm (UTC)
gillo: (Penguin AU)
From: [personal profile] gillo
Interesting but in some ways clueless. She doesn't know about dedicated archives, which almost every fandom I know of has, nor the fact that many of the best writers stay well away from the Pit. And she certainly doesn't get the ages right - I'd say the vast majority I know are at least over 30. Not just in the Buffyverse, which one might argue is a very-much ageing fandom, but elsewhere too.

At least she doesn't work on the "fic is for crazy people" model, but she needs to expand her experience - and leaving a few more comments would help that way. (Only ONE!!!???)

Date: 04/03/2013 11:49 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] curiouswombat.livejournal.com
but in some ways clueless.

That was really what I found most interesting, if you see what I mean. Because she is in so many ways the typical reader - right down to not commenting - I reckon I get something like one comment per 300 - 350 hits. And she clearly has not really strayed far from the Pit - which is where the research on readership was done.

So the research was almost bound to come up with a younger age than if they had looked in the places where the writing standard is higher. There are some wonderful stories at the Pit (Altariel's 'A Game of Chess' for example) - but a lot of dross.

But I was still amused that she accepted that 'research' as valid, knowing that she lied about her age - so why wouldn't others?

Date: 04/03/2013 11:46 pm (UTC)
shirebound: (Good fanfic - Baylor)
From: [personal profile] shirebound
I wonder if I'm the oldest person who regularly posts and reviews at ff.net? I've been a regular there for 11 years now.

Date: 04/03/2013 11:53 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] curiouswombat.livejournal.com
I think the average age of people posting there is lower than at fandom specific archives - but there are certainly other people who post there who are in their late fifties and early 60s that I know - and not particularity just in the Tolkien fandom.

So I think that however that piece of research was done it was probably not a totally representative sample.

And yet it is quite likely that she is typical of an awful lot of those who do read there - very young and only ever a reader, rather than commenting. Whereas, as you write as well as read, you know the joy of getting a review - and so leave them for others!

Date: 05/03/2013 03:32 am (UTC)
rahirah: (Default)
From: [personal profile] rahirah
Would you mind if Metanews links to this?

Date: 05/03/2013 08:49 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] curiouswombat.livejournal.com
Not at all - feel free.

Date: 05/03/2013 01:43 pm (UTC)
rahirah: (Default)
From: [personal profile] rahirah
Thank you!

Date: 05/03/2013 06:20 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] zanthinegirl.livejournal.com
Interesting; thanks for the link! It's always a little bemusing reading other perpectives on fanfiction.

I'm not terribly surprised that she focused on the pit of voles; it's an easy place to find plenty to keep you busy. I suspect a lot of people start reading there. And I'm not terribly surprised that FFN skews young; though I have to say 15 seems younger than I'd expect.

I started reading fic when I more or less accidentally stumbled onto a spuffy fic back in season 6 of BtVS. I was actually looking for recaps and/ or spoilers as I had a lot of thoughts about season 6. That story lead me to a now long defunct list of other stories by the author, and also links to more by other writers. I was unusually lucky I think in that a lot of those stories were really, really good. I remember Annie SJ was one writer, also Wisteria. If I'd just stumbled onto ff.n I probably wouldn't be on LJ today!

Date: 05/03/2013 05:04 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] curiouswombat.livejournal.com
though I have to say 15 seems younger than I'd expect.

Yes - especially as so many of them lie to say they are over 18!

I am an oddity - I began reading online fanfic when my husband started writing it... rather a long time ago, now. And yet I had always made up my own continuations and gap-fillers - just not thought to look on-line for other people's before that point!

Date: 05/03/2013 07:39 am (UTC)
ext_93291: (eternal)
From: [identity profile] spiced-wine.livejournal.com
I wish articles on fanfic did not always focus on The Pit. I have never found anything on there I liked, only if an author I read elsewhere crossposted to FF.net, which is not often.
The best work is in the fandom specific archives, although more genuinely good authors now use AO3.

I didn't even know about FF.net until after I'd begun posting on LOTRFF.com in 07, and the SWG.

I also wish there was a focus on the older authors who produce quality work.
As for really not being bothered to comment, which is what it boils down to, I never understand it, but I've seen it ever since I began posting. I've got more hits on Faerie since July '11 than I did on LOTRFF.com from 2007 - July 2011, and in the last month or so, one story gets about 1000 per week, but no comments. I find though, that less people comment on older and finished works anyhow.

Date: 05/03/2013 08:37 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] scarlet1061.livejournal.com
"As for really not being bothered to comment..."
I commented on that here (http://curiouswombat.livejournal.com/348292.html?thread=10266756#t10266756)

I think that the "where" matters a lot when it comes to commenting.

Date: 05/03/2013 09:33 am (UTC)
ext_93291: (Bronze)
From: [identity profile] spiced-wine.livejournal.com
I comment on FF.net if some-one I read and who posts there, like Ziggy, has had an ill-mannered anti-slash review, just to be supportive, but I do tend to not review her there as she does already have a lot of fans, and I'd rather comment on a (fandom) specific site. I do think that many fanfic readers, and probably writers never get further than the Pit. At least AO3 is becoming better-known these days. I notice a lot of people on Tumblr tend to post to AO3 simply because it does not ban Adult-rated works.

(Also, just my opinion, but my experience of FF.net is that it is tacky as hell. Even its layout looks like an old dot matrix printer. AO3 is more classy, and the admin seem like good eggs.)

Re: The sense of community. The only 'community' I have seen on FF.net is the forums where it can too easily turn into bitching and bashing. Ghastly. And I feel no community on AO3, although I do respect what they're doing, and how they feel about fanfic, so I post there.

Edited Date: 05/03/2013 04:19 pm (UTC)

Date: 05/03/2013 05:13 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] curiouswombat.livejournal.com
Also, just my opinion, but my experience of FF.net is that it is tacky as hell. Even its layout looks like an old dot matrix printer.

It does manage to look as if it was designed some time before the internet!

And yes - the best sense of community is here, or at the archives like Faerie, HASA, or Many Paths.

Date: 05/03/2013 05:09 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] curiouswombat.livejournal.com
The best work is in the fandom specific archives,

Absolutely. I didn't know of the existence of the Pit until I'd already been introduced to Buffyverse fic through fandom specific archives - and when I began to look for Tolkien stuff I still didn't think to look there - but basically googled 'Tolkien fanfic archive'! Oddly I think the first one I found was Open Scrolls - which is very, very, quiet these days - but still has some class stuff that was written ten years ago, and the odd good thing is still being posted there now and again.

Date: 05/03/2013 05:32 pm (UTC)
ext_93291: (edl)
From: [identity profile] spiced-wine.livejournal.com
I didn't know of the existence of the Pit until I'd already been introduced to Buffyverse fic through fandom specific archives -

I didn't know of it either, but I found a fandom specific archive by accident, and only looked at FF.net some time after I began posting. I was told they didn't host adult ratings, and that flaming was rife, and it reminded me of some huge comprehensive school, all noise and bad behavior and rubbish. If I'd discovered that place first, I would have been appalled.

I was extremely lucky with finding good stories on fandom specific archives, and stayed with them. I also got to know people through them. They feel like quiet, cosy libraries, whereas FF.net - I literally cannot read on it, as I can almost *hear* the noise and shouting.

Date: 05/03/2013 09:51 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] curiouswombat.livejournal.com
it reminded me of some huge comprehensive school, all noise and bad behavior and rubbish.

What a perfect description.

Date: 06/03/2013 03:10 pm (UTC)
ext_93291: (LA)
From: [identity profile] spiced-wine.livejournal.com
:D Swearing, slapping, bitching, bullying. Yes, it felt like a horrible flashback to me!

Date: 05/03/2013 04:10 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] melusine6619.livejournal.com
Kind of interesting, but also kind of clueless, but maybe because it seemed to me she took the same approach to researching the topic as to commenting on stories she'd read: ain't nobody got time for that s&%t, as my youngest would say. I'd expect better of someone studying English at William and Mary. Well at least it wasn't dismissive of the genre.

Date: 05/03/2013 05:19 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] curiouswombat.livejournal.com

I guess this was meant to be a personal view rather than research - but is a pity she had not done a little ore homework and mentioned fandom specific archives.

I suppose if you are mainly interested in Harry Potter and Twilight there is little reason to stray from the Pit of Voles - except that with 640,000 HP stories posted there you must have to be a totally indiscriminate reader, or wade through an awful lot of total dross to get the odd gem.

Perhaps one of the most interesting things is an English student at a prestigious university actually discussing fanfic - oh, and that she still has time to read any!!

Date: 05/03/2013 08:56 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] melusine6619.livejournal.com
Yeah, afterwards, as I was shoveling snow, I thought I was being too hard on her, as it was clearly more an op-ed than an article. *blushes*

It's surprising she has time to breathe, let alone read for fun. :)

Date: 05/03/2013 08:46 pm (UTC)
independence1776: Drawing of Maglor with a harp on right, words "sing of honor lost" and "Noldolantë" on the left and bottom, respectively (Default)
From: [personal profile] independence1776
Here because [livejournal.com profile] spiced_wine linked to it.

It's an interesting article, and definitely one-sided. As someone who originally got into fanfic in the early 2000s through ff.net, I can honestly say that the existence of fandom-specific archives didn't even cross my mind until a couple of years later. (Though I don't think my gateway fandom had an archive, and it definitely doesn't now.)

It doesn't surprise me she knows of AO3, because of the mass exodus from ff.net to there that took place last summer.

As for lurking… I tend toward that. For me, it's a combination of not knowing what to say, not knowing how to phrase something intelligently, not wanting to say "I liked it" instead of something more substantial, not wanting to be corrected on my interpretation of something, or simply not having the energy. Plus, I go through phases of commenting on everything and then nothing at all. So lurkers don't bother me, and I do consider them part of the community.

The age thing, she's dead wrong on. It's definitely archive-related (because Tumblr skews noticeably young, too), but my experience in the Silm-section of fandom is that I'm on the young side-- in my mid-to-late twenties.

Date: 05/03/2013 10:04 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] curiouswombat.livejournal.com
You are always welcome.

I think one of the things that interested me most was that the writer is, in many ways, the typical reader. Discovered FFNet and never left it until some of her favourite writers moved to AO3 - lurks but hardly ever comments, and so on.

As a writer I am quite happy with comments that say 'I just want to let you know I am reading this and enjoying it' - and so I quite often leave that very comment. No-one has ever replied to say they think it was a waste for me to say so, and couldn't I have said something more intelligent/constructive/insightful, so I continue doing it! But on the odd occasions that I do read at the Pit I am a total lurker there....

As for the age thing - I do wonder quite how the research was done (perhaps sometime I will see if I can find out), it seems to be such a commonly held belief - and yet everyone I know is at least your age, and some of the people I know, writing not only in the Tolkien fandom but others too, are 55-60, or older.

Date: 06/03/2013 01:10 am (UTC)
independence1776: Drawing of Maglor with a harp on right, words "sing of honor lost" and "Noldolantë" on the left and bottom, respectively (Default)
From: [personal profile] independence1776
Thank you.

You're right; she is. Sometimes, it's easy to forget that our corners of fandom aren't the only way to do or look at things. (Though I do remember when AO3 opened, there was a huge kerfluffle about hit counts versus reviews because LJ-centric fandom hadn't experienced that as normal!)

That… is actually very useful for me to hear. I may steal that, if you don't mind?

Finding out would be interesting. I for one don't have my age listed publicly in any profiles, and no desire to. So I do wonder-- possibly self-reported?

Date: 06/03/2013 08:43 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] curiouswombat.livejournal.com
That… is actually very useful for me to hear. I may steal that, if you don't mind?

Feel free!

I wonder who we can find to publish an article about 'fanfic writers/readers; the reality'?

Date: 06/03/2013 07:42 pm (UTC)
independence1776: Drawing of Maglor with a harp on right, words "sing of honor lost" and "Noldolantë" on the left and bottom, respectively (Default)
From: [personal profile] independence1776
Thank you!

I know TIME did one a couple of years ago. Unfortunately, that's the only positive one I know of. Beats me who else would be willing to report fact and not "look at the strange people."

Date: 07/03/2013 10:17 am (UTC)
ext_93291: (1)
From: [identity profile] spiced-wine.livejournal.com
Still one of the very best is Bookshop's

I’m Done Explaining Why Fanfic Is Okay (http://bookshop.livejournal.com/1044495.html)




You probably know it, although it is a pro-fanfic article rather than an article about who is writing it/reading it and how old they are.

I do, however love this quite from it:

We get that you think fanfic is a stepping stone to being published. You're wrong. Fanfiction is not a set of training wheels, not some shameful awkward thing you do before you grow up and learn the ~true meaning~ of being a ~real writer.~ Fanfic is brilliant, beautiful, faithful to canon, critical & powerful, hysterically funny, iconic, full of love, subtle, diverse, poetic, adorable, epic, subversive, heartbreaking, progressive, self-aware, political, sharp, inventive, smart, satirical, incredibly complex, feminist, read by thousands of people, redemptive, and transformative on a scale that's hard to describe.

Fanfiction becomes an independent collective experience for the people who write it. And it is written by some of the most incredibly talented people on the internet. Fanfic writers are bestselling and acclaimed professional authors. They are agents and editors. They are network television executive producers. They are New York Times journalists. They are Supreme Court clerks. They are PHDs and experts in their fields.

All of us are still writing fanfic. None of us need training wheels or stepping stones.


Because as some-one who moved from o-fic to fanfic, yes, I am not writing fanfic for practice, so that I might produce an original fic and get it published. I am writing it because I prefer Middle-earth to anything I have created myself.

Now, she would be a great person to write a current article on fanfic readers/writers.
Edited Date: 07/03/2013 10:18 am (UTC)

*waves hello*

Date: 04/09/2013 02:57 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] sulien.livejournal.com
Please forgive my being so very late to this party, but I just found your Live Journal after reading your Valinor Trail stories over on TTH. I hope you don't mind if I jump in with both feet and start following your stories and posts here. If you do, please PM me and tell me to get lost in no uncertain terms and I'll fade away like the morning mist.

After reading your post and the replies to it, I have to say that it's fantastic to see more writers and readers of fan fiction who are over the age of 20! And I am truly enjoying reading the discussions going on in response to this post. I myself am in my 50's (no, I have no qualms about admitting my age) and have been involved in fan fiction since I stumbled across it on the internet in the early 2000's. I'd have been involved in earlier zines and such, but I had no idea they even existed, sadly, nor did I have a Compuserve account to access a lot of the things available online in the 90's. :( I don't do a lot of writing (I can't keep the thread of a plot and the character's voices for an extended story to save my life), but I do most definitely comment on the stories I enjoy, whether they're on the Pit of Voles, LJ, Dreamwidth, AO3, TTH or wherever. Feedback is a fic author's food and drink and it's only right to say so when you enjoy their efforts. I also do my best to give any serious constructive criticism in a locked review or private message, as no one enjoys being nit-picked in front of everyone.

So many of my real life friends only admit to reading fan fiction in private, one on one conversations with the proviso that it never be mentioned elsewhere. I just never got the reasoning behind that, but whatever floats their boat, I suppose. I find it rather humorous because I've read the blogs of published authors who admit to writing fan fiction under pseudonyms and if they write it, they undoubtedly also read it, even if they could run into copyright issues by admitting it.

As for the article you mentioned, I have to admit that I'm not really motivated to read it as the author seems to have failed to collect much data at all before writing it. Call me an old snob or whatever, but I expect someone writing an article to at least bother to collect a wide range of data before sitting down to put words on the screen.

Re: *waves hello*

Date: 04/09/2013 07:48 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] curiouswombat.livejournal.com
Waves back! How nice to see that you are here, too. I tend to forget that my TtH name is not quite the same as this one and so I am not so easy to find from there.

There are definitely writers on my friends list here who are into their 60s now, and a lot in their 40s and 50s. The good news, too, is that there are also some good writers in their 20s so we won't run out of good fic as we get older.

I think the article was really more a subjective look at fanfic than an objective one - but it certainly provided food for discussion.

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