Well, then...

[przed]

Just got an email comment on my second UNCLE slash story, written, oh, about 15 years ago. It included the following gem:

"You have a knack for plot, and your dialogue isn't bad. :) Practice makes perfect, ne?"

I am soooo tempted to send a snarky reply, but think I shall settle for amused silence.

(BTW, I'm not saying the story's a gem. Those early UNCLE stories were a bit rough. But, man, I think my dialogue is better than not bad. *g*)

Comments

[przed.livejournal.com]

Which is a fair enough assessment. I really haven't been active in UNCLE for years. It's just amusing as hell from my end, considering the number of years I was really active in the fandom. (Way pre-LJ, of course.)

[draycevixen.livejournal.com]

That's the thing, I think people are skipping from fandom to fandom so much any more that half the time they don't really know any of the background stuff. When I've become interested in a fandom it's because I've seen/read all of the canon (or am doing so as the canon is in the process of airing) and because I've read at least a large percentage of the archived stories/older stories at the coms. I think I was hanging out at LI'73, reading and commenting for about two-three months before I ever posted anything there. I really don't want this to come off as a "hey kids get off my lawn thing" but I've recently seen people posting stories/leaving comments at both LoM and Pros where they've said "I haven't watched all of the show yet" or "I've only seen four episodes." I think it was about a year ago where someone posted at LI'73 to ask which one was Sam and which one was Gene as she was about to post a story and wanted to check. Egads!

I recognize writers names in my fandoms that haven't been active in them in years/who have long since moved on to other fandoms but I don't think that would be common any more. My experience with the newb who thought I should be encouraged to write my second story isn't an isolated one.

Ah, I followed the name you mentioned further down and she does indeed appear to be a bit of a fandom butterfly. Her recs cover multiple fandoms.

[przed.livejournal.com]

I held off on reading Pros fanfic for a couple of years until I could finally track the episodes down. (This was in the late '80s/early '90s, and finding Brit shows that didn't air over here was a nightmare.) And I'll never tackle a fandom until I'm familiar/comfortable with the canon, and have read a heck of a lot of fic in the fandom.

Alas, that definitely seems to be an attitude whose time is fading, in some areas of fandom, anyway.

I think not being able to tell Sam from Gene is actually worse that not being able to tell Bodie from Doyle. Marginally, anyway.

[draycevixen.livejournal.com]

I completely agree. Bodie and Doyle are almost twins in comparison to Sam and Gene. *g*