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Getting people to actually read fan content
http://www.ectozone.com/phpBB3/viewtopic.php?f=5&t=751
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Author:  pushmipullu [ September 6th, 2019, 6:57 pm ]
Post subject:  Getting people to actually read fan content

Just kind of a personal rant, but I'm kind of sad that most ghostbusters fans don't really seem to read or even acknowledge fan content. I'm considering turning my fanfics into LEGO comics so that maybe someone would actually pay attention to them, but I have no idea if that would work.

Thoughts?

Author:  Fritz [ September 7th, 2019, 10:06 am ]
Post subject:  Re: Getting people to actually read fan content

I wish I had an answer to that too.

When I first started posting stories mumble mumble* years ago, the fan fic section of Ghostbusters.net was thriving, and the stories got a lot of attention. But things were different then--the 88MPH miniseries was announced, but very slow in being released. It did seem that once it came out, things started to slow in the fan fic community. Now, with almost regular comic stories, a video game, and movies out and on the way, hardly anybody cares. They have "real" stories to consume, who needs fan blatherings?

And it's not just me; other properties seem to explode with fan fic when new stuff comes out. But not Ghostbusters. There was some uptick in 2016, with FFN's GB sections being filled with lots of Erin Gilbert/Jillian Holtzmann femslash (Did...did they see the same movie I did? The one with Erin drooling all over Kevin Beckman?) but it's slowed back down.

I hope I'm not sounding too sour; I know some of it's my own fault, as my last few stories haven't actually been Ghostbusters stories, with only one character to have actually appeared in Columbia/Sony content and that was a cat. But man, those stories were some of the most fun to write in years. (And if I was really sour about it, I'd have given up by now.)

We'll have to see how GB2020 does. It certainly does present the possibility of suggesting a ton of potential "How did that happen?" stories to bridge the thirty-one year gap in the movie-only universe.

*--Sixteen

Author:  pushmipullu [ September 8th, 2019, 10:15 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Getting people to actually read fan content

Yeah, I know how that feels. >.< I used to write Blues Brothers related stuff, but that fandom's fic presence has been non-existent for years (if ever). It is kind of weird that new official stuff makes fanfics less popular in the GB fandom (whereas it's usually the exact opposite in most fandoms). I chalk that up to most gb fans being from an older generation.

Image

Here's a prototype page I've put together by the way.

Author:  Fritz [ September 9th, 2019, 4:32 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Getting people to actually read fan content

Lol...that's not bad, actually.

I played around with "Ectozone Minimate Theatre" a while back, and have a script for a story in that format I never got around to shooting. I may have to do that.

Author:  Crazy1van [ January 17th, 2020, 7:28 am ]
Post subject:  Re: Getting people to actually read fan content

pushmipullu wrote:
Here's a prototype page I've put together by the way.

I'll be honest; I read the original piece before seeing this Thread, and while I enjoyed it, I didn't feel like it was necessary, like how Ray and Egon arguing over the possibility that SMURFS is based on a true story (part of a story I wrote years ago but never did anything with) doesn't really contribute something I needed.

Seeing your proposed LEGO Theater strip, I feel much more connected to the story and look forward to seeing where it's going. There is definitely a bigger market for this kind of story telling, if you want to engage more than just the fans of Ghostbusters that also read fan fiction AND make an effort to comment on it. I am supremely guilty of that last thing; I rarely comment on fan fiction since I tend not to want to 'poop in someone else's flower box'.

Full disclosure, I'm old (well, I'm 50, so at the bare minimum I'm middle-aged), and I haven't posted fan fiction online since 2010, even though I still write and still read. So yes, I have my own headcanon that influences how much I enjoy someone else's fan fic, and I have seen the rebirth of official Ghostbusters story releases in comic book and movie formats as the material I am most concerned with... but I also love LEGOs, and with the recent movies, plus the LEGO DIMENSIONS videogame, providing new fun ways to tell stories about familiar characters that are in a separate continuity, I see this comic strip as more relevant than a lot of fan fiction, including my own.

I also love run-on sentences, but you probably already figured that out. 8-)

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