In Which The Author Plays A Tiny, Tiny Violin That Sounds Like a Kazoo (Yazoo?)

[auronlu]

I am experiencing that inevitable part of most fandom, the melancholy of looking around and realizing that folks have wandered off while YOU had wandered off, and now that you're back and inspired, they aren't.

I wonder how nidrig is doing, with the baby and all. (I also wonder where I've stashed my copy of her "Still Life" Auron portrait, auuuugh.)

I especially wonder about mneme_forgets, who used to give the most incredibly astute/frank feedback and critique. No wonder she burned out.

Other folks too.

Most of the rest of those who used to spam the pages of ff_press are intermittent now, as I am. Bless the new blood!

There's certain people I want to poke and say, "Read this! Read read read! What do you think? I wrote it partly based on your past feedback!" but I can't, because I realize I never got around to reading/reviewing some of their best. Or else they've got real life now. Or both.

Also, self-plugging such as I'm doing now is... hm... the fandom equivalent of telemarketing. Annoying, and even when the product's good, the nag-call irks the customer.

Right now, I can't seem to stop checking for readers/comments. So consider this a shameless plug, with the understanding that I've been utterly LOUSY about keeping up and commenting, so... I have no excuse for asking others to do so. :)

Shameless plugs aside, I am very grateful that I caught the cusp of FFX fandom, even though I came to it about 4 years after everyone else. Sorry I slipped away before it had quite begun to fade to newer ones.

At some point I really need to play XII, eh? :)

Comments

[owlmoose.livejournal.com]

We are definitely in a lull of sorts, and have been for at least the last year or so. I have my theories as to what caused it, but as you point out the game was already several years old back at the last peak, so maybe it's just a life cycle thing, and we'll see another wave of activity in the future. I've contemplated ways to poke the embers back to life -- I still see them burning, but somewhat buried, in a state where a puff of air might put them out rather than reigniting them (....aaaand that particular metaphor ends here), so I'm not quite sure what would work. But talking about it certainly can't hurt.

Also, self-plugging such as I'm doing now is... hm... the fandom equivalent of telemarketing. Annoying, and even when the product's good, the nag-call irks the customer.

I'm not sure I agree. There were a lot of conversations about self-promotion back in the day, which led me to think that some level of it is a good thing. Busy lives, busy Internets... sometimes I appreciate the reminder that there's something out there I need to check out. Plus, it helps us fight our (women's) training that we shouldn't put ourselves forward. It would be better if our fandom had a culture of recc'ing other people's stuff, but in the absence of that, I think tactful self-recc'ing is not only not tacky, but necessary.

So I'm still around, still reading (although bad bad bad about leaving feedback; I'm working to get myself back in the habit, but it *will* take work), not writing nearly as much right now but still nursing lots of ideas. Maybe if enough people come out of the woodwork, we can pick up critical mass again.

[auronlu.livejournal.com]

I confess [Bad username or site: halfdead_ au @ livejournal.com] is one of the reasons I think, "wait, I can't poke..." since I got about 5 chapters into it and never finished reading.

But honestly, your one critique/comment that turned up a gaping hole in my backstory has done more to improve the plot than anything I could've come up with on my own, so I keep wanting to say, "thanks!" and "look!" Only there's not much to see because the backstory's hiding there in the back and won't really pop into the foreground until later.

I really do wonder what happened to mneme_forgets. I know she was overly-active in the way I used to be in LOTR fandom, which is an easy way to burn out, but it saddens me to see her name on my friends list displayed in black and no longer registered as an LJ member at all.

[shanaqui]

I've faded off a bit too, thanks to The Dark Is Rising fandom. But Final Fantasy (in general) is one I'll never leave.

[saharasnow.livejournal.com]

I'm just resting, because a lot of shit from real life requires more attention. But I guess it just somehow saddens me that the same batch of fans seem to have faded out and I just lurked in the dark like old times. =p

Oh FFXII, I could not bring myself to read anything yet because I have yet to complete it due to my PS2 decided to die on me! ;o;

[first-seventhe.livejournal.com]

I was actually thrilled to see you writing this particular story again, as it's an idea I find really intriguing and exciting. So even though I probably didn't comment because I was reading it at work (bad Sev!), there is at least one person here who would love to see that story continue!

[eclective.livejournal.com]

Hey, personally, for me it's wonderful that there still is this fandom out there, considering I got to the game stupidly late. It's honestly been the best experience, since I often play games late, to stumble in bleary and realise that, hey, wow, people still care. I can actually voice my thoughts on this and not everyone else has moved on. So, yeah, I'm sort of bad at commenting, mostly because at a certain level of writerly awesomeness I just can't think of anything really constructive to say and I hate leaving "yay!" comments-- the experience just sort of washes over me, and is bigger than me, and defies words-- but there are people out there, at least, who care, and have been inspired by your stuff, and feel like they know the characters better because of you. And things.

[heavenscalyx.livejournal.com]

Utena fandom has done this to me occasionally, but it has always been a teeny fandom anyway. With last year's 10 year anniversary of the show, we got a new influx of younger types, and now, word is that Be-Papas is remastering the show for rerelease, so we'll probably get a whole new influx when that comes out.

Meanwhile, I'm the Old Lady of Utena fandom, apparently, as most of the folks I interact with are just short of half my age.

[lassarina]

You really should play FFXII! I'd love to see what you'd do with some of the characters.

I've never been much for *writing* FF10 fandom. FF4 and FF6 were always my babies, and now 12 as well. But I do love to read in it.

My problem...

[vandevere.livejournal.com]

...is that I've got too many stories, all fighting, and jostling, for attention. I've got "The Summoner's Path"< "Keepers of the Trust", "The Icarus Files", and "A Tale of Two Brothers", in various stages, and RL has also decided to demand more and more of my time as well...

Vandevere

[trekqueen.livejournal.com]

I'm really glad though to see you're trying to get involved again. I want to as well, just gotta make room in RL. ^_^ Heh, I see you were busy while I was away camping and I have new friend requests from folks on the aulu community. very awesomeness. ^_^

[thbogzdd.livejournal.com]

I dunno, I've always been into FFX, but mainly have satisfied my needs by playing and replaying the games over and over and over again. If there's something cool going on in FFX fandom, give me a shout.