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erdaEvery year around this time the Yuletide madness starts, and every year I sit and watch in amazement, because I do not get it. It's not that I dislike Yuletide, or that I want it to go away or anything. I just do not understand it.
So my daughter is far away at school, which means we talk constantly on gtalk, and I mentioned in passing to her that lj is being taken over by Yuletide. My daughter has an lj and reads btvs and Jane Austen fanfiction, and once in a while dips into Supernatural stories, but she is not involved in the social part of fandom; I think mostly because she is in a lot of groups -feminist, QSA, and other leftist stuff- on campus, and just feels all socialed out at the end of the day.
me:I feel so left out
her: ???
explain plz
me: it started with the idea
that if you loved something like Stargate
you could go online and read stories about it.
But if you loved something unusual and obscure,
wouldn't it be nice if over the holidays you could get someone to write you a story about it?
her: ok
me: like a book you loved or something
her: right
me: so I guess people nominate books, movies, anything they want
her: ok
me: and they make a big list
Then you sign up and you pick out all the ones you
would be willing to write a story about
and then you request a story
or maybe stories, I'm not sure.
and everyone gets matched up
her: right
me: so that everyone writes and everyone gets
and then they publish the stories anonymously
her: ok
me: and everyone reads and recs and discusses
her: so what's your issue?
me: and then after the holiday they have a big reveal the authors thing
well that's how it
started
but now it seems like the point is to nominate
the most obscure ridiculous thing you can think of
her: hahaha
me: and then people try to make up a story about it
like XKCD
her: ?
me: http://xkcd.com/
it's a comic strip
her: oh, ok, yes, I've seen that before
haha
me: http://yuletidetreasure.org/get_nominated_fandoms.cgi
long pause...
her: I'm reading the original translation of the mabinogion right now
me: but I look through and most of them I don't even know what they are...
and those I do recognize I would have to go back and reread.
her: ooh Black Cauldron
me: hmmm. I don't know if you can request and write from the same fandom. I just don't get how it works exactly.
her:I would so happily write OR read a mabinogion/black cauldron fic.
me:Some of this is about the challenge of having to be extremely inventive and creative. Haha. That's probably why I don't get it.
her: eeee Connie Willis is on here. Doomsday Book!!
me: I DON"T GET IT!!
her: buffy's also on here
me:Nothing on here says "write me" to me.
her:HAHA PROP 8 THE MUSICAL FIC
me: ...
her: Oh! Dark is Rising!! Ahahaha tales of cthulu.
There are a lot of children's books on here.
me: maybe that is part of the problem. Things I liked when I was young, like black stallion is on here. When I was in my twenties or thirties I would have enjoyed revisiting that. But not anymore. I tried to go back and watch I Spy, which I liked back in my youth. But they were so obsessed with the Yellow Menace. It was embarrassing.
her: oh, wow!!
15th century rpf!
me: I can't find anything on here that I think I could write
her: could be a PLAGUE FIC!!
Um, you couldn't do niebelungenlied?
me: I feel so left out
yeah maybe
that's prob the only one I could do
but then I think your person can pick the character
I mean, they could pick Brunhilde. I have nothing to
say about Brunhilde.
there's nothing on here I'd want to request either
her: count of monte cristo?
could you write that?
angel's on here
yay! whole category for arthurian legend!
plz remind me when these are posted
so I can read them
HAHA BEOWULF FIC
beverly cleary's ramona?
omg these people should go to my school
cabinet of dr caligari fic?
hahahahhahahaha
me: o_0
I couldn't write any of those
her: tons of dickens on here
you like dickens
me: I would have to reread. and they are long. And some of us grown ups are kind of busy this time of year
and don't have time to reread a long book like Dickens.
her:cmon ramona would be so easy
hey glee is on here!
also the godfather!
the movie version
me: I DON"T GET IT!!
her:carol berg
I remember we really liked her!
ahahaha, Mom! you should write lolcats!
This is really cool!
me: well then you should fucking sign up like every other fucking person except me on lj
her: ooh stephen lawhead
he wrote a book about taliesin
me:fuck you!!
her:You don't know how to have fun, do you?
So my daughter is far away at school, which means we talk constantly on gtalk, and I mentioned in passing to her that lj is being taken over by Yuletide. My daughter has an lj and reads btvs and Jane Austen fanfiction, and once in a while dips into Supernatural stories, but she is not involved in the social part of fandom; I think mostly because she is in a lot of groups -feminist, QSA, and other leftist stuff- on campus, and just feels all socialed out at the end of the day.
me:I feel so left out
her: ???
explain plz
me: it started with the idea
that if you loved something like Stargate
you could go online and read stories about it.
But if you loved something unusual and obscure,
wouldn't it be nice if over the holidays you could get someone to write you a story about it?
her: ok
me: like a book you loved or something
her: right
me: so I guess people nominate books, movies, anything they want
her: ok
me: and they make a big list
Then you sign up and you pick out all the ones you
would be willing to write a story about
and then you request a story
or maybe stories, I'm not sure.
and everyone gets matched up
her: right
me: so that everyone writes and everyone gets
and then they publish the stories anonymously
her: ok
me: and everyone reads and recs and discusses
her: so what's your issue?
me: and then after the holiday they have a big reveal the authors thing
well that's how it
started
but now it seems like the point is to nominate
the most obscure ridiculous thing you can think of
her: hahaha
me: and then people try to make up a story about it
like XKCD
her: ?
me: http://xkcd.com/
it's a comic strip
her: oh, ok, yes, I've seen that before
haha
me: http://yuletidetreasure.org/get_nominated_fandoms.cgi
long pause...
her: I'm reading the original translation of the mabinogion right now
me: but I look through and most of them I don't even know what they are...
and those I do recognize I would have to go back and reread.
her: ooh Black Cauldron
me: hmmm. I don't know if you can request and write from the same fandom. I just don't get how it works exactly.
her:I would so happily write OR read a mabinogion/black cauldron fic.
me:Some of this is about the challenge of having to be extremely inventive and creative. Haha. That's probably why I don't get it.
her: eeee Connie Willis is on here. Doomsday Book!!
me: I DON"T GET IT!!
her: buffy's also on here
me:Nothing on here says "write me" to me.
her:HAHA PROP 8 THE MUSICAL FIC
me: ...
her: Oh! Dark is Rising!! Ahahaha tales of cthulu.
There are a lot of children's books on here.
me: maybe that is part of the problem. Things I liked when I was young, like black stallion is on here. When I was in my twenties or thirties I would have enjoyed revisiting that. But not anymore. I tried to go back and watch I Spy, which I liked back in my youth. But they were so obsessed with the Yellow Menace. It was embarrassing.
her: oh, wow!!
15th century rpf!
me: I can't find anything on here that I think I could write
her: could be a PLAGUE FIC!!
Um, you couldn't do niebelungenlied?
me: I feel so left out
yeah maybe
that's prob the only one I could do
but then I think your person can pick the character
I mean, they could pick Brunhilde. I have nothing to
say about Brunhilde.
there's nothing on here I'd want to request either
her: count of monte cristo?
could you write that?
angel's on here
yay! whole category for arthurian legend!
plz remind me when these are posted
so I can read them
HAHA BEOWULF FIC
beverly cleary's ramona?
omg these people should go to my school
cabinet of dr caligari fic?
hahahahhahahaha
me: o_0
I couldn't write any of those
her: tons of dickens on here
you like dickens
me: I would have to reread. and they are long. And some of us grown ups are kind of busy this time of year
and don't have time to reread a long book like Dickens.
her:cmon ramona would be so easy
hey glee is on here!
also the godfather!
the movie version
me: I DON"T GET IT!!
her:carol berg
I remember we really liked her!
ahahaha, Mom! you should write lolcats!
This is really cool!
me: well then you should fucking sign up like every other fucking person except me on lj
her: ooh stephen lawhead
he wrote a book about taliesin
me:fuck you!!
her:You don't know how to have fun, do you?