Killing Time

Exactly one hour to go to exam number 4 and theoretically, I ought to be doing something other than checking email. Mind you, I've only been online for about 9 minutes - which isn't that much in the scheme of things and how much can one possibly review in 9 minutes? Anyway, I was thinking that the blogs weave a tangled web. I bounce around from blog to blog, see familiar names, see new ones. Along the way, I've come across discussions about BNF/divas (what are they? how do you become one? Do you want to be one? What is the negative connotations?) and then there are so many meta discussions that my head absolutely swims and I've got to go sit by the pool and have a strawberry margarita. It's almost as if fandom has entered a brand new phase: we spend a lot of talking about why we do what we're doing and what makes it good, what makes it bad, what could be better.

We're looking for answers. Why didn't my absolutely wonderful story get FB? Why doesn't my story win a contest, when, if nothing else, its techniquality ranked above the rest of the entrants? Why is someone a BNF and someone else not? How do you end up in a clique? Does an award matter when it's really just friends voting for friends? Should you vote for yourself in a contest? Are there ethics in fanfic? Should underage kids be reading slash or writing it for that matter? Do disclaimers really CYA or does it just make us feel better? Does POV matter? Why do so many women writers write slash? Why fluff? Why angst? Why PWP? Why write? Research or not research? How do we keep the newbies sticking around? How do I get over being a BOFQ? Edit or not edit? How do I find a beta reader who will stick around for any length of time? Do I even need a beta? Why oh why won't people use a beta? etc.

And so you see, the questions go on forever and then you end up in this fascinating loop of people attempting to answer these questions and their thoughts inadvertantly spawn more thoughts and new questions. Which leads to an entire new round of blog entries with more and more people jumping into the fray and offering their two cents and suddenly your blog rounds have grown from the 5 or 6 per day (multiple times a day) to 40 or 50 because you keep clicking because every meta blog has to refer to its predecessor and if you want to know what's going on, you click - adding yet more to the burden of fic taxes, because theoretically, if you're in fandom, you've got to know what all of the BNFs are saying and what the readers are saying; it's kind of like watching the McNeil Lehrer newshour.

The one positive thing is that the meta discussions are multi-fandom - which means you start talking to people you wouldn't have necessarily otherwise. But I also wonder if all of this meta talk also keeps us from what we do best - reading and writing (and of course, feedbacking) fanfic?