This and that

[luzula]

1) I got some lovely feedback on Librivox, which I treasure all the more since it's a site which is not set up for easily giving feedback: Just wanted to send a note saying how much I have enjoyed listening to you read D.K. Broster's works. I have stuck with them solely for the last few weeks and these fine stories have made my summer so enjoyable. Please please consider recording, Ships in the Bay also. Thanks!! Aww, I'm sure the listener will be happy that Gleam in the North is almost completed, then! I won't be recording Ships in the Bay!, but I might at some point record Sir Isumbras at the Ford and The Yellow Poppy.

2) I have bound a volume of all my stories which are not in due South and adjacent fandoms, nor in Flight of the Heron and adjacent fandoms, and rereading one story a day at bedtime. I am so happy to be able to enjoy my own stories! Considering that they are written to my own taste, perhaps that isn't strange, but I can't relisten to my own podfic the same way. Of course, there are also occasional old stories that I regret. The main one is a due South casefic I once wrote that had migrant workers as victims with little agency, where we never even found out what their fates were. /o\ Since I am now active in a union where I regularly interact with migrant workers and help out with negotiations, I could never have written that today. But I don't write in that fandom anymore and doubt I can find the inspiration to rewrite it. Ah well, you live and learn, and hopefully I’ve paid back. I've put a note on the story to that effect.

3) I haven't been engaging much with all the OTW stuff, though I will be voting in the election. I just have too much stuff going on in my environmental organization, where I am on the board, to engage in conflicts and problems in other organizations.

4) I was talking with garonne about wingfic and my impression that this trope is out of fashion and not common anymore. Then I went to AO3 and looked at the 7,370 fics tagged with "Wingfic". If I sort by date posted, and go to the middle page, I see that half of those fics are posted after August 2019. Of course one then has to consider the general growth of AO3, but perhaps I have to discard my notion of it being out of fashion...it might just be out of fashion in my corner of fandom. Hmm.

Comments

[philomytha]

I've written wingfic in the past year - granted with flying being the theme of my tiny fandom anyway, it fits in nicely. I wonder if the wider popularity has something to do with the Good Omens tv show, which I think was 2019? But I also think of it as an older fandom trope.

[luzula]

Hmm, yes, Good Omens is certainly the third most common fandom among the wingfic! The most common by far is Supernatural, which I assume also has canonical wings? More interesting are the fandoms which don't have canonical wings...second most common fandom is Marvel/Avengers, and then comes Minecraft, huh. It also seems to have been popular in Sherlock (TV).

[sanguinity]

I was going to say, I associate wingfic with Holmesiana generally (and Sherlock (TV) is by far and away the largest part of that). I haven't seen wingfic in a few years, but then I haven't been reading Holmesiana for a few years, so...

[luzula]

I don't think I've ever read a Holmesian wingfic! But then, I never read at all in Sherlock (TV), and no doubt I've only dipped into the ACD fic.

[regshoe]

You couldn't do Ships in the Bay! just yet anyway, could you? It won't be in the US public domain until 2027. (How lovely to get that feedback, though!)

Hmm, wingfic... herons have wings... are there possibilities here??? Anyway, the changing popularity of particular tropes across different fandoms and over time would be a fascinating topic to investigate in detail, I'm sure.

[luzula]

No, you're right, but even if it were possible, it is not one of my favorite Brosters--it's a little bland.

Well, you have written fic with bird shapeshifting before, but that's not quite the same thing. : )

[regshoe]

I agree! Amazing scenery descriptions, not terribly interesting characters or plot.

Well, you have written fic with bird shapeshifting before, but that's not quite the same thing. : )

Hee, true! Perhaps Ewen could also be a bird shapeshifter... (Ooh, you probably haven't seen this post by chiropteracupola? Alan Breck Stewart as a bird shapeshifter—a fantastic idea).

[luzula]

No, I haven't! Alan as a grouse in particular--genius. : D

[regshoe]

Just what I thought! I can't wait to see more of this fic :D

[chestnut_pod]

That is lovely feedback; I'm so pleased someone is appreciating your work as they ought to!

Hearing that wingfic is still alive and well in the ecosystem is very heartening too.

[luzula]

Recording for Librivox is like releasing your recordings into the wild--podfic, little feedback as it gets, still gets more than audiobooks at Librovox. So yes, it was lovely to hear!

Is it still wingfic if the wings are canonical, though (as in Good Omens)?

[chestnut_pod]

Fascinating question. I'd argue yes, because in GO specifically, the wings are sort of a la carte, rather than being permanent or integral to the characters.

[luzula]

A la carte: I like your expression. : ) And I see your point--choosing to include the optional wings makes it wingfic. Not sure about fandoms where the wings are permanent, though...

[garonne]

I guess there are certain commonalities in what people enjoy in wingfic, like maybe the exhilaration of flying, descriptions of the beautiful colors and shapes of the wings, one character touching or grooming another's wings... (I only started reading wingfic very very recently, so those are only educated guesses!) And if those elements are present in fic with canonical wings, then one could say it's still wingfic?

It reminds me of the debate as to whether it's still "slash" if the queer couple is canonical. Whereas for other tropes such as hurt/comfort, we don't hesitate to use that label even when it's canonical.

I guess some tropes or fic categories were widespread in fandom before ever being a canonical part of a large, popular canon, whereas for other tropes it's the other way round. It would be interesting to examine some other popular tropes from that perspective...

[nnozomi]

Just wanted to send a note saying how much I have enjoyed listening to you read D.K. Broster's works. I have stuck with them solely for the last few weeks and these fine stories have made my summer so enjoyable. Please please consider recording, Ships in the Bay also. Thanks!! Aww
Oh, that's so nice! What a good motivator.

[luzula]

Indeed, it was! : )

[scribe]

Oh gosh what lovely feedback! It's so cool to think that some random, unknown person (probably) far away has been listening to you narrating books to them this summer.

[luzula]

Yes! That is very satisfying to think of. : )

[sanguinity]

Another data point, just seen on fandomcalendar: wingficex is running a wingfic exchange right now.

[luzula]

Yes, I just saw that! There are so many multi-fandom exchanges these days; I feel like that's one thing which has increased with the years. It's like Yuletide has been spawning lots of little children.