[HPFGU-OTChatter] New York Times article which has pertinence to the recent discussion about slash

[Susanne]

Hi,

Monday, January 13, 2003, 9:44:56 AM, heidit at netbox.com wrote:

> A good story is a good
> story, and the category it's placed in isn't as relevant as whether
> it
> tells a good story.

Right...
And wouldn't it be nice if all fanfiction were telling good
stories in the eyes of everyone <g>?
(or non fanfiction reading materials, for that matter).

I do think it's hard to find what you (the general you, not
the personal) would consider "good" fanfiction stories,
without categories, because there are just too many
different views on the characters out there. And too many
HP stories to ever read all of them!

I read slash and gen, equally, but don't have the time to
give every story out there a try to see what it's about.

I pick according to my preferences and categories (and
blurbs) are very helpful to me in deciding if I want to give
a story a try.

For example, I never get into a fandom (may that be a TV
show, movie or book fandom) by reading fanfiction first.

I always get intrigued by the canon first, and prefer to
read fanfiction that stays reasonably close to what I see as
canon.

This means that AU's, crossovers, way in the past/future
stories, or stories that go in depth  following one character
that I'm not as interested in in canon as some other fans,
are fics that I will pass by without regret.

Looking at mainstream fiction, since finances are tight I
will almost always (unless I know the author and trust them
explicitly) read the book from the library first, to make
sure I like it enough to want to reread it several times.

If it's not available at the library, I'll read it at least
diagonally at a book store, before purchasing.


-- 
Best regards,
 Susanne                           mailto:siskiou at earthlink.net