OT - Poll

[leavethesky]

cheyne55's comment to my rec of her fic got me wondering...why the hell do you people read the fics I rec? Do you really or is it that just the perception? Why do you read fic at all? And what's important to you in a fic? Thus, my first ever, hastily put-together poll that probably won't tell me anything, but it's worth a shot. Feel free to expand in comments. Thanks.


[Poll #794031]

Comments

[jaybee65.livejournal.com]

I'm not sure I fit into the poll options very neatly, but I use your recs as a way of dipping my toes into something beyond my usual fandom reading. I keep tabs on my own fandoms already so I don't need recs for that, but if I see a rec of yours that sounds intriguing for a fandom I'm less familiar with, sometimes I take a look.

[leavethesky.livejournal.com]

I know at least one of your fandoms is La Femme Nikita. The others?

[jaybee65.livejournal.com]

For femslash in particular, I'm fairly obsessed with BSG and Wicked at the moment. I try to keep up with fic in the Alias, House, and Desperate Housewives fandoms as well. I used to monitor comms for 24 fic, but there's so little femslash there I gave up. And if anyone ever slashed the female characters in Prison Break I would *so* be there (one of these days I'll slash the characters played by Patricia Wettig and Michelle Forbes, but I'll probably be the only person in the universe intersted in that!).

I will gladly read good fic in the Trekverse, Jossverse or for Xena, but I don't keep up with the fandoms -- so your recs there are very welcome. And every so often I try reading something for a fandom I'm not familiar with at all just to see if I *should* check out the source material, and I trust you to be a good source for that kind of experimentation.

[cabenson.livejournal.com]

Admittedly, I usually only read a fandom that I have been or am currently enchanted with. I do make an effort, sometimes by outside force, to look at at least one new fandom every year. Trouble is, when I fall into a fandom, I fall hard and won't come up for air til I have consumed everything there is for that particular fandom/pairing.

[leavethesky.livejournal.com]

Actually, believe it or not, I'm kind of the same way. I get completely obssessed with fandoms (right now, it's Xena -- I know, I'm seven years behind), but my favorite writers can usually drag me into any other fandom or pairing.

You (and ralst) got me hooked on Bad Girls. And I'll never be the same. :)

[ariestess]

I didn't answer the first two, because I haven't seen your recs up to this point, so don't have a point of reference yet. And the final question? Pretty much the first 4 options are good for me...

[mantaraggio.livejournal.com]

Hahah. Oh, man, I am currently the only person to admit claim to only read your recs for the pr0n, but that really isn't completely accurate. Basically, if you rec a fic from a fandom and pairing that I really enjoy, I'll most likely check it out. If you rec a fic from a fandom that I am vaguely familiar with and make great statements concerning the story's literary merit, then I will probably give it a shot. And, if you rec a fic with garbled exclamations concerning how hot and smutty and uhhhhhhh... you can't even speak, it was so steaming, and give it an NC-17, even if I have never seen the show, I will definitely give it a look. I fully admit that I came to femslash for the smut, and stayed for the genuine talent and storytelling.

[leavethesky.livejournal.com]

HAHAHAHAHA. I knew I could count on you for the pro-pr0n revelation. Actually, I was so shy about reccing smut in the first place, it was kind of ridiculous. Until I was like, dude, it is femslash. It's all about teh sex!!!! One way or another.

I fully admit that I came to femslash for the smut, and stayed for the genuine talent and storytelling.
Read Comments

:D word to that. couldn't have said it better myself.

[giantessmess.livejournal.com]

I don't really fit into any of the options in the first question, so I'm pretending to be a lit geek. But i'm tragically easy. If I find a character I like or an author I like, I'm pretty easily swayed when it comes to broadening my femslash reading. I'll follow a favourite author to almost any fandom.

So I do read your recs when they coincide with a fandom I'm interested in or one i'm curious about, or if I recognise the author. You have generally good taste, so I'm willing to make the leap. Unless it's South of Nowhere. That'll take more convincing. I'm too scarred by the actual show's quality. blech.

[leavethesky.livejournal.com]

I should have made it easier to be a litgeek and a smutlover. Which I am.

And I understand your trepidation as far as SoN, although, have you checked out Harper's Theory of Possible Selves? It rocks. And it's Harper. :)

[trancer21.livejournal.com]

Aw, man, can I just skip the poll and use mantaraggio's answer? I tend to read more of the recs regarding fandom's I'm in, then possibly dipping my toes into unfamiliar waters.. depending on the pairing.. and potential smut quotient.

Oh, and on the fandoms list, Harry Potter isn't up there. Which is like my fandom kryptonite. No matter how many people read it, write it, rec it, I still won't go near it with a Chase/Krista covered ten-foot pole.

[leavethesky.livejournal.com]

How did I know that the smut quotient would be critical for you? :)

Is the Harry Potter h8 because of the fandom, the source material, the characters, the underage squick...or something else entirely? Just curious.

[supersteph.livejournal.com]

I'm jumping in, because you don't know me and I'm good at this sort of thing...the jumping in thing. Harry Potter, to me, isn't so much underage as its.... um... yeah, underage. And the characters. Because the main ones are underage. Yup. Its too underage for me.

[trancer21.livejournal.com]

How did I know that the smut quotient would be critical for you? :)

I'm transparently shallow?

Is the Harry Potter h8 because of the fandom, the source material, the characters, the underage squick...or something else entirely? Just curious.

I honestly don't hate HP, although my post probably made it sound like I do. It's just.. for some reason, it doesn't appeal to me on a fannish level. I like the movies but not in the same way I do The Lord of the Rings trilogy. It's not the crazy-ass fandom because I'm so far removed, aside from the postings on Fandom_Wank, it barely registers on my radar. It's not the underaged characters because I can think of other programs with young/teenaged characters that interest me.

Hrmm. If I had to narrow it down, I'd say it's the whole 'wizards in training' aspect. I like fantasy but, I guess, I'm more swords and sorcery as opposed to magics and wizards.

[ralst.livejournal.com]

I didn't submit the poll because I couldn't answer most of the questions. Or, more accurately, I had more than one answer and couldn't decide between the two.

I'm not really into the pron so will usually skip those recs unless it's for a fandom for which I'm currently obsessed. I will try out new fandoms and pairings, especially if they're by a writer I already like, so long as they don't hit any of my squick buttons - you always mention possible squick factors, which is one of the reasons I like your recs.

There aren't any fandoms on the list I wouldn't read (agree with trancer on HP though), and the list of ones I read is ever expanding and contracting depending on a number of factors - but Bad Girls and Xena are usually always on the 'yes' list.

As for length, I'm not really into drabbles, but anything over the 1000 word mark is usually good for me.

[lostingeekdom.livejournal.com]

I think manta's answer best fits my way of reading any of your recs. I don't read as much fic as I used to (been distracted with other stuff too much lately), and I never try the fandoms I'm not into. I think it depnds on the author, and probably your description of the story. If it piques my interest, then I'll check it out. I like smutfic too, but I don't go in purely fo the pr0n. I like a well developed story, with lots of interesting dialogues or something that is visually evocative.

[raginhoops.livejournal.com]

I look through the list and mainly read what is currently my slash obsession. time ,you know. Yet, sometimes,based on your comments, I'll venture out to other things that I wouldn't read otherwise: Unfamiliar with the show, not into the pairing, not into the porn. Well, your recs often surprise me. For example, I rather like trancer's porn- so I read her stuff even if I do not have a clue who the characters are based on having read one of her stories that you reced. There are plenty of things that ick me that I will not read--- Underage, incest, rape, BSM: Unless exceptionally approached by a skilled writer.
Why do I read femslash?
I read for words well handled and the structure of the story centered in lesbian content. It is not being published on a large scale outside of the net,at least , not high quality stuff. I don't know,a girl needs her romance,I guess.

[theholyinnocent.livejournal.com]

I'm kind of on the cusp with a couple of my answers, most notably the first and last one. If a strong enough case is made for a story outside my fandoms, particularly if it's a writer I really like, I may check it out. But since I'm pressed for time more these days, I get increasingly picky about what I read. At the same time I'm not too picky about length; hell, if it's something I really like, then yeah, I want it to be hyuge.

But dammit, who doesn't enjoy a good pr0n now and then?

[leavethesky.livejournal.com]

But dammit, who doesn't enjoy a good pr0n now and then?

Amen, sister!

And I know what you mean about pressed for time. As soon as the semester starts, the recs will drop off dramatically. I'll stick to the authors I like and only when I can. Speaking of which, when's your next fic coming out? :)

[theholyinnocent.livejournal.com]

Right now I'm trying to write some "original" fiction...but I may do a little Halloween story for the kind peoples at the Royal Academy of Bards.

[narcolepsy-slds.livejournal.com]

I read stories because of the author, because of the pairing (or one part of it), because I am totally bored and don't want to work (then I read almost everything, or at least start).
There are some themes I am not interested in (incest, rape, really dark fics), or I simply cannot stand the pairing, e.g. I have a strange disliking towards Buffy, but love the scoobies.

And I love to read cross-overs, because it is not canon and will never be, and my preconceived notions about background and story line within the fandom are totally irrelevant, and it is a playground for my fantasy. And often I have one fave character and want her to make out with my other fave character who happens to be on another show.