if you're reading this, it's not about you

[kutsuwamushi]

oh man.

you know that feeling when there's an author you'll follow into new fandoms, even though you have no idea what the fandom is about?

and then that author heads into a fandom or pairing where you're like "no. no. that is one step too far for me"?

feeling it right now :D :D :D :D

good on you, excellent author, for being all excited about ... stuff ... and writing lots of new fics about it. i'm sure they're great. i'm just going to ... wait ... until your next fandom.

Comments

[author_by_night]

I felt that way, sort of, although it wasn't really about pairings. The writer focuses on really minor characters, which totally worked for the fandom we met in - but her new fandom was for a series I wasn't quite as obsessed with, so I didn't really know who the minor characters she wrote were. I actually felt a little bad, because I love her writing. But I couldn't really follow. :(

[kutsuwamushi]

For me it really depends. There are writers who I'll follow into fandoms I know nothing about, because I can figure out what I need to know from the context. Sometimes I'm even afraid to check out the fandom later - because it's weird to see the clash between the story I really like and ... the universe it's supposed to fit into. I'm really a sort of "fandom first" person, I guess.

But I can see how that would be real confusing if the story relies on a lot of background knowledge about what's going on.

[orcofnewyork]

I totally feel you. This has happened to me so many times in fandom over the last two decades. Sometimes I can follow the author again after they've left that particular fandom or pairing, but sometimes they never leave it. Bandom was the biggest one that took authors I liked and never let them go. It's not just the RPF issue, but I've also never cared about bands and their drama/backstory/etc even in a non-fandom capacity. So Bandom to me is this alien thing I can never love and cannot for the life of me understand the appeal.

[kutsuwamushi]

Oh man, I've lost some favorite authors to RPF too. I've just never been able to get into RPF.

For me I think it's less that it's about real people, and the fact that I've just never been into "real world" settings in general. I've never been big into fandoms without some kind of fantastic element, and I don't like things like coffeeshop AUs.

(I do feel weird about reading stories about real people, but I can admit that I'd be a total hypocrite and read them anyway if I liked them. XD)