A lot depends on how one defines fan/fan community--and how that changes over time.
She identifies as a femslash fan -- but she seems to be an archivist more than a writer which is an important element of a fan community, but the rhetoric has shifted from "Jacky is a fan supporting everything" to something a bit different over the past years.
And it's also true that different areas and sub-cultures of fandom are very different--but the article you quote from sounds very different to me than any of the femslash fans I know of in my area of fandom (more sff media and transmedia narratives) -- I never watched the "L-word" -- I'm a queer woman, and its whole premised seemed absolutely boring, i.e. not for me. I rather liked XENA when I got around to seeing it until the creators ruined it the last few seasons (I'll always take fantastic genres over realistic genres with the exception of mysteris).
Plus, a lot of her quotes in that article are about fan art which has always held a somewhat different space than fan fiction--though people in the comments seems to use fanfic and fanart as synonyms.
And I agree with Fanficforensics: what the heck is this with "ship fics" and "fantasy pairings" -- what fandom space did that come in?
And she never never never used the words slash or femslash which I find interesting, but disclaims the "X-rated fic assumption" and talks about "cerebral" -- all terms that signal an attempt to normalize the whole thing, especially with the stuff about how the networks should "thank and court" the dedicated fans.
So her fandom activity was years ago--and now she's talking busspeak and corporate speak and marketspeak.
“I think the shippers [fans who follow a specific relationship] are still writing fast and furiously,” said Jacky Abromitis, Webmaster of the L Word Fan site. “But I do think it's the nature of the beast that there will be more fantasy pairings the longer a show is on the air. They may not overtake the number of ship fics, but they seem to gain a stronger presence as time goes on.”
....
Abromitis also noted that, contrary to popular belief, not all fan art (even L Word fan art) is racy, X-rated stuff.
“I don't think it's any racier than any other "adult" fandoms,” she said. “I think the more telling element is the story line of the show or movie. Our Loving Annabelle fics on myFandoms.com, for instance, tend to be more cerebral.”
....
“I think that's because the movie was so in the heads of the characters," she explained. "Sure, there was a super hot sex scene, but overall, it was a very introspective movie, so the fics tend to try to fill in the blanks...the unspoken words of Annabelle and Simon.”
....
This time of year is one of the busiest for fan artists of Sapphic persuasions, with the debut of The L Word’s final season and another official Xena convention just having concluded.
....
“Those who create fan fiction, fan art, fan videos, etc. are the most dedicated fans,” said Abromitis. “They are also the ones that keep fans focused on the show during hiatus. Those fan artists should be courted and thanked by networks and show creators for the service they provide— entertaining and creating dedicated fans.”
no subject
She identifies as a femslash fan -- but she seems to be an archivist more than a writer which is an important element of a fan community, but the rhetoric has shifted from "Jacky is a fan supporting everything" to something a bit different over the past years.
And it's also true that different areas and sub-cultures of fandom are very different--but the article you quote from sounds very different to me than any of the femslash fans I know of in my area of fandom (more sff media and transmedia narratives) -- I never watched the "L-word" -- I'm a queer woman, and its whole premised seemed absolutely boring, i.e. not for me. I rather liked XENA when I got around to seeing it until the creators ruined it the last few seasons (I'll always take fantastic genres over realistic genres with the exception of mysteris).
Plus, a lot of her quotes in that article are about fan art which has always held a somewhat different space than fan fiction--though people in the comments seems to use fanfic and fanart as synonyms.
And I agree with Fanficforensics: what the heck is this with "ship fics" and "fantasy pairings" -- what fandom space did that come in?
And she never never never used the words slash or femslash which I find interesting, but disclaims the "X-rated fic assumption" and talks about "cerebral" -- all terms that signal an attempt to normalize the whole thing, especially with the stuff about how the networks should "thank and court" the dedicated fans.
So her fandom activity was years ago--and now she's talking busspeak and corporate speak and marketspeak.
Abromitis quotes in the Fan Art Empowers Queer Women
“I think the shippers [fans who follow a specific relationship] are still writing fast and furiously,” said Jacky Abromitis, Webmaster of the L Word Fan site. “But I do think it's the nature of the beast that there will be more fantasy pairings the longer a show is on the air. They may not overtake the number of ship fics, but they seem to gain a stronger presence as time goes on.”
....
Abromitis also noted that, contrary to popular belief, not all fan art (even L Word fan art) is racy, X-rated stuff.
“I don't think it's any racier than any other "adult" fandoms,” she said. “I think the more telling element is the story line of the show or movie. Our Loving Annabelle fics on myFandoms.com, for instance, tend to be more cerebral.”
....
“I think that's because the movie was so in the heads of the characters," she explained. "Sure, there was a super hot sex scene, but overall, it was a very introspective movie, so the fics tend to try to fill in the blanks...the unspoken words of Annabelle and Simon.”
....
This time of year is one of the busiest for fan artists of Sapphic persuasions, with the debut of The L Word’s final season and another official Xena convention just having concluded.
....
“Those who create fan fiction, fan art, fan videos, etc. are the most dedicated fans,” said Abromitis. “They are also the ones that keep fans focused on the show during hiatus. Those fan artists should be courted and thanked by networks and show creators for the service they provide— entertaining and creating dedicated fans.”
Edited for html fail