And the writing continues

[owlmoose]

I got a last-minute tap to write a backup gift for ff_exchange, and it is now posted! "Political Considerations", a story about Ashe and Balthier and how they might manage to negotiate something of a life together, written for the lovely lassarina.

Five thousand words, the bulk of which were written in three days. And now there are other stories crowding my brain, waiting patiently, and not so patiently, to come out. Not just FFXII stories either, although there are certainly a share of those. I do suspect that this story single-handedly doubles the totally number of words I've written for FFXII. I suppose it's time to admit that I might actually be in this fandom, instead of just lurking around at the edges of it....

Comments

[owlmoose.livejournal.com]

I've played most of the main titles, not quite all. (My big glaring gap is FF6.) But until now, the only one I've really been part of the fandom for is FFX/X-2 (which I consider a single canon, although I know not everyone is with me on that one). I'll read and meta FF8 and 9, and FF4 now that I've finally played that (yay DS ports), but I've never done fic myself for any of them. I do adore FF9 -- fun game, neat world, wonderful characters -- and wish it had a larger fandom.

I agree that, for the most part, FF feels like one big fandom, but it's more fragmented than most outsiders understand. I think people who don't really get how it works look at the masses of fanworks created for the FF7 universe and think that it must all be like that.

My OTP for X-2, and for all of Final Fantasy and for all of media ever in history (seriously), is Paine/Nooj. It's sort of ridiculous how much I ship them. It was actually an overwhelming urge to write about them that got me into writing fic in the first place. And then I started reading and discovering how much else was out there, and then the plot bunnies came, and the rest is history. ;) I do definitely agree about writers having different takes on the cliches. That's a large part of what makes fic interesting, and why we can still have active fandoms for games that are over 10 years old.

[pearlrose86.livejournal.com]

FF6 is pretty good, but I'm not allowed to comment, because while I've played and been exposed to most of the games in the main series, I've only actually beaten three of them. This is why I lurk a lot, I suspect.

I've beaten IX, IV, and XII. I've played most of VI, VII, VIII, X, and V. I, II, and III I've just gotten access to. I like reading lots of different stories from the games I've actually played, but some of the fandoms are pretty small (or I've read most everything already for some of the older games).

I started writing fic because FFIX fandom is pretty tiny. Essentially, about six months ago it got to a point where I was tired of looking for cute, sweet fanfic that didn't exist. So I took the ideas for things I wanted to see and started writing it myself. It seemed to work well enough (to varying degrees of success). I sort of am starting to branch out, with a little bit from X, and some XII, and well, who knows what else. That's one thing that I do like about Final Fantasy fandom. It's easier to branch out to other games. It's like exploring a new fandom without actually leaving the current one.

I do see X/X-2 as a single canon, despite how some people feel about X-2. I um, haven't beaten X-2 yet, but it was a decent, fun game. Not quite the trainwreck that much of the fandom suggests.

I think in that way, it shows how divided Final Fantasy fandom is. Not everyone likes every game in the series, and that's why the smaller groups and cliques get created. Fans may like the series as a whole, but each game in the series is usually pretty radically different, which means that there's a great deal of diversity from the fandom. It's interesting to see two FF fans who are fans of different games and points in the series debate things--when it can stay civil. All too often, it doesn't, and it hurts the reputation of fandom more.

Paine and Nooj? I knew that, somewhere in the back of my mind. I think maybe I've seen some of your X-2 stuff before, then. I might have to check on this now. ^^ And yes, keeping fandoms fresh for older games is nice. New takes on old ideas and other creative endeavors are actually what brought me back into Final Fantasy and its fandom, well that and the games themselves. ^^