March Meta Matters Challenge, Check-in 5

[yourlibrarian]

Apologies for the delayed post! It's check-in time again to see how we're all getting along with our meta importing.

Comment below with any of the following:

1) Is there some meta you've always wanted to see someone else write that you haven't cme across yet?

2) Did you write new meta based on the last post's prompt? Share it here! Or if you didn't, share a link(s) to a work that's now housed on AO3 that you'd like to get more eyes on.

And if you've been lurking, remember that you can join in to this challenge at any point during the month. The important part is getting started!

Comments

Done!

[ysabetwordsmith]

I finished my series about Thing. \o/

* Meta: "Why We Need Thing" Part 1: Overview
* Meta: "Why We Need Thing" Part 2: Disabilities and Differences
* Meta: "Why We Need Thing" Part 3: Relationships
* Meta: "Why We Need Thing" Part 4: Episodes
* Meta: "Why We Need Thing" Part 5: Memorable Fanworks

Also my weekly hobby post turned into a massive meta of links about board games / tabletop games. I even remembered to tag it as Meta! And it has a huge section on adaptive / inclusive games and modifications.

Hobbies: Board Games

>> 1) Is there some meta you've always wanted to see someone else write that you haven't cme across yet? <<

People used to write fanifestos a lot more. Every new show with significant fan appeal would quickly collect a handful of guides for new fans so you could find the canon, get to know the characters, locate key fanworks, and so on. There were also lots of ship manifestos, where people extolled the reasons why these 2+ characters belonged together, particularly citing scenes from the canon that could be interpreted to support said relationship. These tools helped attract more fans to a given fandom, helped people find things they would like, and provided guidance for fans who wanted to create fanworks but didn't know where to start. I miss those resources. I wish more people would make them nowadays.

Hence why I've done some of my own, last year with a series guide to Wednesday and a character study of the main character, and this year with Thing.

>> 2) Did you write new meta based on the last post's prompt? <<

That one didn't inspire me. I liked the first one, though. I would love to see more prompts for inspiring meta in next year's round.

Maybe we could have a post at the end for people to suggest meta prompts? Lots of folks are doing the Fandom 50 challenge or similar things that involve a lot of meta, so they might have ideas. I could chip in some.

Another possibility would be gather posts for links to different types of meta, or how to write meta. Frex, links to fanifestos and ship manifestos, websites where you can find information about canons, how to write a review, and so on. I'm sure we've all got lists of resources that we use, so compiling those into topical sets could be useful meta.

Re: Done!

[yourlibrarian]

That's true about the fanifestos. We used to see more recruiter vids too, I think. There's still a lot of vids made in that vein but I think before some of these were made very deliberately to bring in new viewers.

Good idea! I've included that in the draft of our final post and will include the links to resources suggestions in next year's prompts.

Re: Done!

[ysabetwordsmith]

>> That's true about the fanifestos. We used to see more recruiter vids too, I think. There's still a lot of vids made in that vein but I think before some of these were made very deliberately to bring in new viewers.<<

I haven't seen as many recruiter vids, but I agree that those are useful too. They'll hook a different subset of people than a text manifesto.

I've made a note to write "Why We Need Manifestos" for next year. It's probably bigger than I can fit in this year.

"Why We Need X" is a good topic for meta if people are looking for ideas on what to write. Pick a type of fanwork and extol its benefits.

>> Good idea! I've included that in the draft of our final post and will include the links to resources suggestions in next year's prompts.<<

Possible options:

* Academic meta, like the college fanzines journals about Tolkien or Lewis and books about superheroes as modern mythology
* Archive sites
* Databases or other resources for finding canons and their details
* Databases dedicated to a particular type of meta, like Goodreads for rec-reading lists
* Fanwork host sites
* Resources for a particular category of fan magnet, like my Hobbies: Board Games post
* Resources for a particular category of meta, or meta in general, like my Follow Friday list of meta communities on DW

These could be posted one or two a week, interspersed with other things like meta prompts and check-in posts. Then at the end of the month, just save and archive the posts, and that's 4-8 pieces of communally made meta right there.

[sunlit_skycat]

1) Is there some meta you've always wanted to see someone else write that you haven't come across yet?

Oh boy, yes.

Situation one: within a fandom that I am in, there is an element that someone else feels was executed in a rather antisemetic way. They have a preferred worldbuilding headcanon to fix that issue for themselves. While talking about it with them, I and some other people have expanded this worldbuilding headcanon into a larger thing on its own that I think is worth formally describing in a meta post. However, talking about how this came about requires talking about why the canon version of this is dispreferred.

The original poster plans at some point to formally write about why this worldbuilding element as used in canon is antisemetic to them, as well as other aspects of the text that accidentally reinforce real-life harmful conspiracy theories. Key phrase being, at some point. No idea when it will happen. I'm kind of waiting for them to write that out first before talking about the worldbuilding headcanon that sprung from it, because it doesn't make very much sense as a headcanon without that context. The original conversation is scattered across Tumblr and Discord, and while I could link to that and keep going, I don't really want to. So I'm waiting for OP to write their thing first, and then write my thing. Trying not to put unwanted pressure on them in the meantime.

Situation two: within the same fandom, someone has informally in many Discord conversations said that the political ethos of the two main works by the author reflects archetypally Canadian views on how government should work. This person is a Canadian historian, so they should know. Unfortunately this person is very busy IRL, so this will not be written anytime soon, or potentially at all.

In both cases, the person who I want to write the thing has a lot more background knowledge on the subject than I do, so even if I agree with their arguments, I can't articulate it as well as they can. They've spent a good amount of time in more private, hard to search spaces talking about these things. I'm trying not to be a jerk by demanding that they write something for my satisfaction.

2) Did you write new meta based on the last post's prompt? Share it here! Or if you didn't, share a link(s) to a work that's now housed on AO3 that you'd like to get more eyes on.

I haven't written anything new, but here are some links to the DW versions of meta about a minor antagonist character who received a humiliating end that people feel didn't match the story's previous effort in interrogating what place use of force has within a community's attempts to self-police without abusing power. By me and someone else.

A leash in the guise of kindness: the glove situation in E.5
By the end of Pale, Kira-Lynn is a disabled teenager kept in an isolated cell in Kennet Found. Though the narrative presents this as a sad but necessary method to keep others safe from her, the conditions of Kira-Lynn’s imprisonment in Kennet Found are significantly harsher than should be required to meet that goal. This is most apparent in the method that Kennet Found chooses to accommodate Kira-Lynn’s lack of hands, which unnecessarily reduces her autonomy.

Kennet Found and Kira-Lynn
Analysis of Kira-Lynn's situation at the end of Pale through the lens of forensic psychology and criminal justice, highlighting potential issues and solutions.

[yourlibrarian]

Thanks for posting your links! And I can see why you're waiting on that meta -- sounds like it would be a great insight into fan collaborations. And your reference to how the building blocks of it are scattered in so many places makes even clearer why a meta uniting them all before parts start disappearing is so important.

One thing I have noticed is that it's far easier to edit a thing that already exists than to have to start from scratch. It might be worth asking the two people if they'd be willing to collaborate with you on a meta piece. You could pull together all the relevant pieces, or start a draft outlining the different aspects of the topic. Then they could fill in or revise what's there. At the least all the scattered bits would be pulled together, and at best, they might get inspired to "set the record straight" 😉

[sunlit_skycat]

Unfortunately, I've already gone as far as creating outlines for the both of them. That doesn't seem to be rushing things along any.

[impala_chick]

I would love one big post about the science of Roswell New Mexico. There are some scattered thoughts on Tumblr and one friend has been doing a science review of each EP so I hope they have a big round up at the end. References like that make it much easier to write and come up with plots that work with canon.

I also want more Masters of the Air history but maybe I'll start doing that.

[yourlibrarian]

Yes, those sorts of fandom resources can be so valuable! Hope they will end up doing the round up.