Last year I decided to myself to reduce reading web fictions and start reading more published stuff. Web fictions doesn’t necessarily mean web novels, to be clear, but also stuff like fan fiction, and the like. And I don’t limit what sort of published stuff I read: so long it’s published, I’ll read it.
Well, there’s one limit: it must follow fiction - nonfiction - fiction, and so on. And I generally avoid self-help; I don’t mind reading self-help, sometimes they can be enlightening, sort of lens of viewing human experience. But they tend to be a touch too self-contemplative to me.
So I decided to take a broad cut of fictions, which means: anthology of short stories.
And what I read blew my fucking mind.
Now, at a glance, they aren’t anything that’s different than what you can find on internet. Apocalypse via gene-engineered plants and animals; weird living situation in post-cyberpunk in floating city with ninja roommate; body dysphoric-inducing forced replacement of trans to cis consciousness; generation ship crewed by genengineered children, and so on.
But there’s something about them that separate them from web fictions. Something that make each of them, the premise, sounds unique and different, in distinct way than web fictions. I wish I could tell you what it is and why - and no, I don’t mean editors. Though editors undoubtedly help!
And this is science-fiction, that’s derided as genre-fiction, where people assume it’s all about pew-pewing laser gun and poorly-hidden frontier tale (ON SPACE!).
Several days ago, I was in discussion with - I wasn’t entirely sure of our relationship, but let’s go with a metamour. Her thesis was people want same slop, just like in her fandom. My thesis was-
Well, what do you expect?
It’s a fandom. It’s a place where people that likes a specific work discussing about said work, and making creation derived of it. And it’s online game fandom, too, which means the work will always be renewed, there’ll always be new release, new spin of same thing, until the company decided to shut it down, so-
Why wouldn’t it be same-ish?
If they want different thing - maybe call it different slop, even - they’ll move on from fandom, or at least read something else, too. I love Revue Starlight, I count myself a fan, but I don’t join the fandom, because I do agree with Karen (“We’ve acted it all out… Revue Starlight”) and Nana (“There was nothing left to be found in our worn-out scripts”), at the end of the movie - I’ve acted it all out. There’s nothing left- well, that one isn’t entirely true. I think there’s always new lens to view it, and when I’m older I can rewatch the series and maybe found different way to (not) appreciate it…
But, well. I’ve moved on. I’m not in Revue Starlight fandom. So I don’t read slop.
To be clear, I don’t mind people reading slop. Read what you like, the world is as bad as it is and even if it’s less bad, you probably want something you like than what you don’t.
Still: do take a chance. If you decry same-ness and slop-ness within your fandom, maybe read outside of them, too. Don’t worry: they’ll always wait for you, to see what you can bring to your fandom.