*hooks pinky fingers*

[fishpatrol]

I don't visit spnpermanon frequently (more like never), but I've been glancing at the Big Bang threads as a way to decide whether or not to read particular fics. I try not to read the comments too carefully in case I skip out on a gem of a fic simply because a couple of nonnies have different tastes from me. (I'll admit that the comments did save me some time with the Chuck/J2 fusion one -- which was kind of disappointing because I was so looking forward to a Chuck/J2 fusion. D: How could that premise not be awesome?)

This particular thread caught my eye. I wonder how many fans secretly search+replace the names in fics that include pairings they don't like. XD I've toyed with the idea of replacing the names of main characters in original slash fiction with Jared and Jensen, but I've never done so because: 1) it's effortful, 2) the physical descriptions will be off (I'll miss the cliched mentions of Jensen's deep green eyes that are like grass in the sunlight! And Jared's bright, dimpled grins that light up rooms!), and 3) something just won't feel right.

Point 3 is the weakest argument out of the bunch (point 1 is the strongest argument, in case you're wondering. What? I'm lazy D:) because there really aren't any defined characteristics for Jared and Jensen, other than their physical appearances. If I posted several snippets, some from searched+replaced original fiction and some from J2 AU fics, I'm sure it would be tremendously difficult to identify which was from which. So...I guess my point is, if I weren't lazy and were willing to search+replace all instances of "blue eyes" with "DEEP EMERALD ORBS", I might be able to enjoy reading a Dean/Castiel AU fic (oh wait, the replaced eye colour should then be "BRIGHT HAZEL ORBS, WITH FLECKS OF GOLD AND BLUE AND GREEN").

--
On a completely different note, I introduced my dad to the show Castle (he watches a lot of movies, but rarely TV shows -- something to do with his attention span, I believe. ;) I convinced him to try Castle by telling him that James Patterson appears in the first episode, hee). He finds Detective Beckett attractive, but only in the pilot episode -- apparently, her face? features? skin? becomes rougher in later episodes (in other words: she's not as hot anymore). Idk, lolwtf, Dad? XD I don't know if he's going to continue watching Castle, but I did manage to convince both of my parents to watch White Collar with me. :> Man, the Neal/Peter/Elizabeth vibes are even stronger upon re-watching.

Speaking of TV shows, the characterization inconsistencies in Glee drive me nuts. D: But! Complaints aside, I am totally shipping Santana/Brittany ♥.

Comments

[hils.livejournal.com]

I'm kind of doing the opposite and reading the anon comments after I've read the fic in question to see if we agree or not. LOL.

The J2!Chuck isn't bad but is lacking in originality. It's just the show with the names changed which is a shame

[fishpatrol]

So are you finding that you're agreeing with many of the comments, or no? ;) I've only finished reading one BB so far, but I have a handful bookmarked. I think my strategy this year is going to be to read just the ones by my favourite authors and wait for recs before trying the other ones.

It's just the show with the names changed which is a shame

Yeah, that's what most of the anons said as well. :( Perhaps the author did a search+replace on the Chuck pilot script... XD;

[hils.livejournal.com]

Well, I only checked a couple but the comments that were rational concrit and not just bashing I seemed to agree with. I haven't been and checked any since yesterday though

[pornography.livejournal.com]

a few years back, i got sent this really long akame (jpop fandom) fic where akanishi was a vampire.... anyway, after i read it i found out it originally was a...popslash fic? like, with justin timberlake in it? but a friend of a friend had gone through it and find/replaced all the names, plus other details like hair colour. i got sent a bunch of them; wish i could remember who was crazy enough to go through all that effort (asked and it was lj user=font lollol)

[fishpatrol]

LOL. That's a lot of effort to go through -- but I guess if the fic was really well written and the reader preferred KAT-TUN over N'sync, it's probably worth it? So, was the fic any good? XD

[illuminations.livejournal.com]

I skimmed through the first paragraph of that J2/Chuck crossover and realized it was not going to be what I wanted it to be. :( I'm a little ... about the replacing thing though, mostly because it seems a little, well, rude? Like, LOL HI I KNOW YOU SPENT A LOT OF TIME AND EFFORT INTO WRITING THIS BUT I'M JUST GONNA MAKE IT INTO WHAT I WANT, 'KAY? 'KAY. Especially since compared to KPop fandom or something, SPN is fucking spoiled with their fic. They have amazing writers and longfic up the wazoo. Like, jesus, there will always be something to read in SPN. :\

I LOVE SANTANA/BRITTANY. And slkdjf so excited for White Collar to start back up again. \o/

[fishpatrol]

I was so excited when the J2/Chuck fic was first posted. :( I hope someone else will take the premise and write a fic without, y'know, copying the script from Chuck.

I'm a little ... about the replacing thing though, mostly because it seems a little, well, rude?

Yeah, it does seem kind of rude. But at the same time, the author could interpret it as that their work is so good that even people who aren't into the fandom/pairing/characters want to read it. Come to think of it, I wouldn't be surprised if SPN fans who dislike incest but are into RPF do this search+replace thing to transform Sam/Dean fics into J2 (plus, they don't even have to worry about the physical appearance not matching!).

Especially since compared to KPop fandom or something, SPN is fucking spoiled with their fic.

I agree with this 100%. XD After I left Super Junior for SGA, I realized that I could be more picky about what I read because there was so much good fic to choose from (and same goes for SPN -- thank you so much for reccing fleshflutter's Bulletproof to me, Di ;) That was my gateway drug into the J2 and SPN fandom).

[illuminations.livejournal.com]

That's true, but I feel like the people who find/replace in fic probably do it across the board. As far as Sam/Dean vs. J2 goes, I can understand that a little better because you don't really take incest lightly, but that thread seems to be a lot of Dean/Castiel --> Sam/Dean or J2.

FLESHFLUTTER ISN'T POSTING UNTIL THE VERY LAST DAY. :((( Which isn't to say there isn't going to be awesome fic from now until then, but I hate waiting. :(

[fishpatrol]

that thread seems to be a lot of Dean/Castiel --> Sam/Dean or J2

The author took it quite well. And looking through all of the comments, it seems to be a YMMV situation: some anons were more comfortable with the fic once Castiel was replaced and some felt that the dynamic doesn't work unless the characters remained as Dean and Castiel.

Did Fleshflutter participate in last year's BB? I can't remember! D: Also, I have no idea if she's doing a Sam/Dean or a J2 fic this year. There are a bunch of authors' works that I'm looking forward to, so I think there'll be plenty of reading material to tide you over before Fleshflutter posts. :D

butting in to say..

[aldehyde.livejournal.com]

unfortunately fleshflutter dropped out of the fest :/ she's one of my absolute fave authors in the spn fandom, so i was really looking forward to her BB fic. hopefully she'll still complete it and post it sometime soon!

Re: butting in to say..

[fishpatrol]

Oh no, really? D: I just remembered what her last year's entry was and I loved it so, so much. I hope she'll still want to complete this year's as well!

[cantarina]

I would miss the Texas clichés.

I've been reading bits of White Collar fic between BBs! Does the whole fandom write extra toppy Peter, or is it just the authors I've happened to stumble on?

SANTANA/BRITTANY IS AWESOME. I had no rage at Glee this week! Actually, there was some squee! What show was I watching?

[fishpatrol]

Everything I know about Texas, I learned from J2 fics. :D

You know, I don't think I've read more than a handful of White Collar fics (and surprisingly, I can't recall if I've ever read any Peter/Neal NC-17 fics). So, I can't answer your question. ;) But! Peter did say to Neal that he would own Neal for the next four years, in the very first episode -- perhaps that translates into super-dom!Peter. XD

SANTANA/BRITTANY IS AWESOME.

They are so adorable! *flails happily* This is one of the few times that I'm actually shipping a canon-ship, hee.

[postingwhore.livejournal.com]

It has never occurred to me to search+replace...:O That is way too much work, and idk, I like my fanon characterizations and I am sticking to them! :P I mean, even in AUs...the fanon characterizations of each character will still remain, so yeah...

Also...I wouldn't want to watch TV shows in English with my parents, idk. Just feels awkward. It even feels awkward watching TV shows in Chinese with them. :|

[fishpatrol]

even in AUs...the fanon characterizations of each character will still remain

This is the case most of the time, but I can think of examples (in J2 AU fics) where the characterizations were entirely different from canon and fanon. I've heard of a few authors who took their own fanfic and slapped on different names, and then published them as original fiction.

Sometimes it is awkward watching stuff with parents (there was one scene where there was an allusion to one of the characters being a lesbian and my parents didn't get the comment and I was just like, "I don't know how to explain this, so I'll just pretend I didn't get it either" ;;;), but as long as what we're watching is mostly PG-rated, it's usually pretty fun. XD What's wrong with watching shows in Chinese with your parents?

[postingwhore.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I'm not totally down with people publishing fanfic as origific. And hmm, that's interesting about J2 AUs...not quite sure I've read any like that, during my three months of being into the fandom XD

I think it's just that I spent so little time with my parents doing anything growing up that I feel awkward in general. I don't mind watching Chinese TV with my father because that's something we've always done together, but I always feel awkward doing it with my mother...maybe it's because I'm wary that she'll make comments that I won't like and to which I can't respond because she just doesn't listen to me. :|

[aldehyde.livejournal.com]

yeh, i've been looking through the BB threads on a regular basis too, even though i usually don't visit the meme too often. i gave fics that looked interesting a try, but if they got really boring a few chapters in, i looked for comments from people who had finished the story in order to decide if i should bother continuing :D

i was discussing the search-replace topic with a few people yesterday! i've never done that myself, and honestly, i wouldn't want to, because i think it would take away from the fics. for instance, if it's a wincest fic and i want it to be dean/cas instead, i'm pretty sure the search-replace wouldn't fix anything because the dynamics between the two ships are quite different :D

i wouldn't do it even if it's AU [especially rpf AU where we "know" the least canon information about characters]. because there are still qualities we attribute to jared, jensen, chad, misha, etc - and replacing one with another wouldn't read as "true", y'know what i mean?

[fishpatrol]

That's a good reading strategy! :D I'm probably going to stick with authors whose previous works I've enjoyed and read the other fics based on recommendations (so I'm depending on lovely people like you do all the work and tell me what's worth reading! ;)).

because there are still qualities we attribute to jared, jensen, chad, misha, etc - and replacing one with another wouldn't read as "true", y'know what i mean?

Mm, true enough. I've thought the whole search+replace thing over since I posted about it yesterday, and since I've never tried the method myself, I can't actually say whether it would work for me. I suspect that switching names between familiar characters wouldn't work for me (e.g. switching a Dean/Cas fic into a Dean/Sam fic -- or even Dean/Cas into J2 because I would know that the fic started out as Dean/Cas and I would recognize certain interactions/behaviours/etc as very Dean/Cas-like -- it might be a different case if someone else sent me the fic with the names already switched and I thought that the fic was actually J2...), but I predict that swapping the names from an original fic with J&J wouldn't phase me much.

[akintay.livejournal.com]

I do think even in J2 fics it's possible to write them in character or not. There are a lot of fics that I read where I feel like the characters are the way I see/imagine Jared and Jensen as well and it always throws me when I read J2 fics and I totally can't recognize the Js in them. So that's why I'd never replace names or anything - it would never work for me...

[fishpatrol]

I do think even in J2 fics it's possible to write them in character or not.

I agree that there are definitely certain characteristics that are consistent across many fics -- but not all fics. There are a couple of examples that come to mind where J&J could have been replaced by original characters and I wouldn't have even known the difference -- I've enjoyed said fics, but we all have different characterizations of J&J in our own minds and some people have a more defined view of J&J while others have a much looser view (i.e. a wider range of behaviours are accepted as Jensen-like or Jared-like), which is probably why the search+replace strategy works for some people (I've never actually tried it myself, so I can't say if it would work for me ^__^;;).