DW Meme: Remixes

[graycardinal]

Although I've been playing in the fanfic sandbox for a scarily long time now, it's only been quite recently that I've come across the corner of it that is remixing -- taking someone else's fic and turning it inside out or sideways or going off in a different direction from the same beginning or ending.  There is, it turns out, a good-sized Remix Challenge concerned with just this; more informally, icepixie and aria have been circulating a meme for those of us who've either not yet succumbed to the organized challenge or are simply curious about what might happen if our own works were respun by other hands.  It goes like this:

Here's a link to my AO3 page, wherein most of my extant fic is posted.  If you're so minded, take a look around and see which -- if any -- of my stories you'd be most likely to remix, then post here as to what story you'd choose and how you might spin it.  [No actual obligation to write; this is an exercise in speculation.]  If you do comment here, you're also welcome (but not required)to post a link to your own fic-index -- either in the comments or in your own journal -- in which case I'll have a look and tell you which of your works I might remix, and what approach I might take.

Comments

[twilight2000.livejournal.com]

ok - a couple of those are falling down funny (for me anyway ;>) - how does one upload new stories to AO3? I've got others to upload before I truly respond to your challenge here...

[graycardinal]

You need to be logged into your AO3 account (that would be the one you created back during Yuletide); then simply click on the "Post New" link at the top right corner of your screen under your account name, and you'll get the relevant Web page.

Note that if you are posting text from MS Word, there is a magic button for handling the paste portion of the cut-and-paste process that cleans up the spectacular amount of gunk-code Word will otherwise insert. To invoke it, (a) click the link for "Rich Text" at the top of the textspace for "Work" on the "Post New" page, and (b) click the leftmost button that appears on the ensuing button-bar.

[twilight2000.livejournal.com]

*snerk* yea - logging in helped a LOT (geez - it's like nanna and "where are my glasses" - ACK!) - but I wouldn't have guessed about the MS word issue - so it was worth bugging you after all :>

Now let's see if I can post...

[twilight2000.livejournal.com]

New Q: one more of "ettiquette" and "culture" ;>

When posting stories -

1. Does one check this one "This work is a remix, a translation, or was inspired by another work" if it's fanfic at all or only if one's fanfix is *inspired* by another fanfic?
2. "Only show your work to registered users" - Bearing in mind that I plan to publish any original work elsewhere - is it useful to check this box for original work? I understand most pubs don't count it "published" if you have it under PW somewhere online - but don't know if this accounts for that issue. Is it better to just not put the original work up there until *after* it's published? Just curious ;>.
3. If one has a piece whose whole POINT is to NOT let the reader know the fandom till the last line, does one list "N/A" for the fandom? Seems wrong - but tagging it destroys the work. Any ideas?

Thanks!

[graycardinal]

1. The "remix/translation/inspired by" box is specifically for works spun off from other fanfics. My "Career Day" is an example -- not strictly a remix of the kind contemplated by my fellow fen over on Dreamwidth, but a story deliberately set in someone else's continuity (note that Azar had previously endorsed the idea of other people writing in that universe).

Your M,SW piece is right on the edge of this, too, although in your case I think that story stands mostly on its own and that while adding that notation would be appropriate, it's not a Bad Thing not to have done so before.

2. In general, I wouldn't post a work to AO3 (or any other fanfic archive) that I might eventually want to market commercially; likewise, I wouldn't post a work to AO3 if I'd sold publishing rights somewhere else. Mostly, of course, fanfic isn't commercially marketable anyway, but there are some interesting borderline cases (a couple of my early Yuletide pieces, for instance, or the sequel to Shakespeare's Twelfth Night from a couple of Yuletides back).

The "registered users" checkbox isn't so much about "is it published" as it is about keeping a fannish identity a little more heavily stealthed. It may also have some specific value if one is writing works with mature content. I don't check the box myself, but I understand why some folk find it useful.

3. This one's tricky, as the posting engine requires you to put something in the "fandom" textspace; also, note that a work with no fandom tag attached to it is liable to be hard for the database to index (thus, nobody will be able to find it via fandom searches). I have seen in some archives a convention for "surprise fandom", but there doesn't seem to be an agreed-on tag for such in AO3 as yet. (This may actually be worth writing a query to the support folk about.)

I have one crossover story among my works (originally posted to a different archive) for which I simply don't mention the second fandom in the tags, though it's noted at the end of the story.

Bear in mind, incidentally, that AO3's approach to tagging is such that once you've posted a work, someone else may add a tag to it identifying the fandom anyway -- and I am not sure what the protocol would be in terms of your being able to squelch that tag once it's been attached.

[twilight2000.livejournal.com]

ooh - that last one is unfortunate - kind of ruins the piece if we know what fandom it's from going in... I'll have to think about that one... Maybe write A03 :>

original work - good to know - thx!

I put "N/A" - but that's not very useful - I may have to ask for "surprise" :>

Thanks again!

[twilight2000.livejournal.com]

So - I LOVE "Opposite Numbers" - and think Jo and Ziva should do something... interesting. Not sure what yet - but I'll be writing it and posting it ;>. (yea, I know I've not quite properly answered the challenge above - but I write organically as you might remember...).

My AO3 page, should you be interested...

[twilight2000.livejournal.com]

Quick A03 Q: how does one add "fandoms" to one's list? I can't find it anywhere...

[graycardinal]

As I understand it, the "fandoms" list that's appeared on your AO3 dashboard/home page is auto-generated, and consists of all the fandoms in which you've posted works to the archive. So the answer is that one can't add fandoms to that list -- OTOH, normally one doesn't need to.

In your case, the "Fandoms" list is not picking up the "Doctor Who" and "NCIS" fandoms because of the way you tagged the story. The tag system is comma-delimited, so one enters crossovers as "Doctor Who, NCIS" (see my Career Day), rather than "Doctor Who & NCIS" -- which, since it won't have been in the database previously, would take some time to propagate itself into the database anyway.

[twilight2000.livejournal.com]

Ah - that makes more sense! Thanks :>.