it's like a fun surprise

[marcicat]

I love the 'subscribe' feature on AO3, but I don't usually remember if I've subscribed to a story, a series, or an author. (Okay, I usually don't remember subscribing at all. Isn't that the point of subscribing? So that I don't have to remember to go check for updates?)

So every time I get a notification I'm like 'what's this? was I reading this fic? what's it about?' Usually I just read the new chapter, and sometimes I remember the context as I go, and other times I have no idea what's happening. But I have fun anyway!

I figure once I've read enough in a fandom, there's a sort of, I don't know, context cloud. And after that, everything I read has all this potential backstory and context and subplots that my brain just fills in around the text. (Also applies to reading or viewing actual canon! Makes movies so much more fun!)

I don't really know how to explain it. But fandom is great! Way to go, fans!

Comments

[china_shop]

I figure once I've read enough in a fandom, there's a sort of, I don't know, context cloud.

Yes! It means I often write ficlets that are really just scenes from epic stories, because the reader can fill in the blanks from shared narrative assumptions (and it saves me having to think about plot, win!). :-)

[marcicat]

Yes! ('Shared narrative assumptions' is a much clearer way of saying it than 'context cloud,' for sure!)

[china_shop]

(Hee, maybe? I think they're slightly different things, and both are important? Like (if I'm going to get analyse-y, which apparently I am because I just woke up and my filter is still set to 'off'), I'd say narrative assumptions are more linked to the plot arc of the show (so I can write an AU of Shen Wei and ZYL's first meeting, and readers will assume it will more or less follow canon from there on, or will diverge in semi-predictable ways, depending on the changes I made), and context cloud could include character reactions and relationship dynamics and other stuff too? Idk. Maybe I'm getting hung up on the word "narrative". /ramble, hi, sorry! *waves* :-)

[marcicat]

Very good ramblings! That makes sense to me! :)