[Silversun]

I know it says in the title it's a 'book club', but it's actually a 'fic club'. Basically the idea is that participants will read a fic every couple of weeks and come back to discuss it. Hopefully I'll update this post soon with some general questions from which our discussions can start.


The Procedure:
If you would like to participate, please post and state what fandoms you would like to see added to the Participating Fandoms list.

You may nominate any fic from the Participating Fandoms that you think would be appropriate for this book club, but please refrain from nominating your own fics.

Once nominated, the fic goes in the Nominated Fics List. It needs to be seconded and thirded by participating members before it moves into the To Read list, which is the list where we will select our fortnightly fics from. We'll try for a diverse mix of fandoms as much as possible, so the fics we read might not be in the chronological order in which they were put in the To Read list.


Criteria for nominating fics:

1. Above all else, this fic must be of a high quality. There seems to be little point in reading a poor fic in detail and trying to discuss it.

2. Please use your discretion in determining whether the fic length would be appropriate for a group of people who have only two weeks to read the story and engage in detailed discussion.

3. Try to place yourself in the shoes of someone who is not familiar with this particular fandom. Is it going to be quite hard for them to understand what's going on, and/or is it reliant on quite a bit of background knowledge? If so, it's probably not appropriate here.


Criteria for seconding fics:

1. Please remember the first criterion of fic selection is quality. Please refrain from seconding/thirding a fic just because of its fandom and/or ship, though of course you are encouraged to nominate/second fics from your own fandom/ship if it is a genuinely well-written fic.

2. Take into consideration the length of the fic, and whether it will be appropriate.

3. Ditto for fandom/degree of background knowledge needed.


Nominated Fics
Curse the Darkness - Lauren Eli. Fandom Young Americans. Nominated by Silversun. Seconded by Catalinay.

To Read
none yet.

Participating Fandoms (to be updated continuously): Young Americans, Roswell, The West Wing, Alias, Angel, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Veronica Mars, Harry Potter.

[Doublestuf]

Hmmm.

I only know the Roswell fanfic world so I'll be happy to contribute so ideas to that genre. It'll take me a little bit to come up with reasonable sized stories, though. So many Rosfics just seem to become incredibly expansive, which is great for us fans, but for a book/fic club may not be what we'd want.

[Silversun]

I definitely think that epics can be very daunting, and may even turn off potential fic clubbers from joining.

Ooh, I just thought of a good one to recommend: Curse the Darkness by Lauren Eli, fandom Young Americans. By far my favourite fic from the fandom, and not much background knowledge is required. Short and quality writing.

Another concern I have is that this is just going to become a 'pimp your fic' type thing where people can just drop in and recommend their own fic. To that end, I was wondering if it'll be worthwhile implementing some sort of system where one person nominates a fic, and it has to be seconded before we take it on for our designated weekly reading. Or is that way too oppressive? Sorry, I'm just a pessimist and a bit of a control freak when it comes to things like this.

[Doublestuf]

That doesn't sound oppressive at all. In fact, I think it would be perfectly appropriate that folks not nominate their own stuff, at least in the beginning. Now, if someone else happens to nominate your fic for a read, then that's another story.

I also think it would be appropriate to develop a rotating schedule of fandoms. Right now, obviously, the only ones who have replied to this thread read YA and Ros. Assuming more people sign up (ahem, ahem!!!) then whatever fandom they read would be added to the list, which could go a little something like this.
1. YA
2. Roswell
3. ???
4. ???
etc

This way we try and balance the fandoms out.

[Nikki K]

First of all, I think that is a brilliant idea.

Then I have to say, I see where you're coming from, Nicky. Maybe I'm far too optimistic but people who are only going for the fast praise probably won't "pimp" their fic here where it's going to be "put into pieces" and discussed.

I'll think about candidates for discussion soon. Promise.

At the moment I mostly read The West Wing, Alias, sometimes BtVS/AtS, Veronica Mars... but actually I'm fine with everything. As you said, we don't want to run down crappy stuff but discuss good fic and there the fandom shouldn't be an obstacle. Let's just treat it as a "normal" short story.

[Doublestuf]

Oh, now this may get a little more annoying, but I had another thought.

When my friends and I had a little book club (which reminds me, we need to meet... I read the Vampire Lestat for this club and I want credit for it! I know lots of folks love Anne Rice, but it was a difficult read for me) the person who recommended the fic often helped led the discussion.

Someone, whether it's a generic set or it's tailored per fic, should develop at least a few questions to focus on, to help get the discussion going. Otherwise our comments may be come quickly uninteresting (not that we could ever be truly dull, of course).

Just a thought.

[Scythe]

What the hell! I'm going to join in and read Fan Fic for different couples to Buffy/Spike.

I would like to add BtVS to that list Doublestuf.

[Catalinay]

Great idea! I'd add Harry Potter to the list as well.

[Silversun]

I definitely think it'll be worthwhile making up a few beginning questions so we could get our discussions started. Characterisation is probably out, at least for those unfamiliar to the fandom.

And I was also thinking that perhaps, if most of our discussion is positive, we should compile it somehow and send it to the author as feedback. Who here as a fanfic author has not wanted a really detailed, insightful piece of feedback? I think most of them would absolutely love it.

I'm gonna edit the fandom list into the opening post. So far we have
YA
Roswell
The West Wing
Alias
Angel/Buffy
Veronica Mars
Harry Potter

What is an ideal time period? I am leaning toward a fortnight, personally.

[Doublestuf]

A fortnight sounds good... plus it's just fun to say.

[Night Nymph]

What would be a good size limit for a fiction? I ask this, because I would love to help recommend a Buffy fiction, but many of my favorites are on the longer side. So how long or short should it be? A page range or "word limit" might be the best way, depending on how the story is formatted.

[Doublestuf]

Night Nymph: Have no idea... I've been wondering the same thing. What might be a fine size for me might not be for someone else... I've been trying to go through fics I think would work in this type of setting and most are a little longer. But is that a bad thing? I don't know if I can answer that question...

Anyone have any thoughts?

[Silversun]

How about we look at it this way: if a fic needs to be nominated, and then seconded (and maybe even 'thirded') to make it onto the reading list, then feasibly people can also raise objections at its nomination that it might be too long. The person doing the nominating can make their own judgment call, because there's the added step of having others agree to whether it'll be a good fic for this purpose.

[Doublestuf]

Brilliant!

Okay, any other ground rules we need to establish, or can we get this puppy rolling?

[Kath7]

Are we just nominating here on this thread? I pretty much know the Roswell fandom, but I have some good ideas.

Kath