Okay so I tried some Jim and Pam fanfiction

[whitewriter]

It was boring, and utterly uninteresting.

Whilst the show is great-- the writing is really funny (and that painful funny that I'm really starting to enjoy) -- the acting makes it even better and the two just gel so well that the show is great.

With the show being complete nothing is stopping me (bar Pete) from binge watching.

I don't need spoilers, because I can spoil myself, by watching more episodes.

We are in the age where whole seasons are available instantly. You are ruining the age of spoilers. The season run with an episode a week and long summers of nothing to watch. The leaks, the late nights spent sitting up on message boards: 50% of the time spent figuring out if I really wanted to read the spoiler, and then 5% of the time actually reading the spoiler, and then 45% of the time finding my online mates who had read it (or hadn't read it and avoiding them) and then giggling about whatever the spoiler said and how that would all fit in. Or not fit in. Or go to full denial. Couldn't be true.

The Office is a show about good 'ole boring life and finding the little gems of truth and comedy to entertain us.

I'm not even tempted to read the episode synopsis to be spoiled.

All of the fun is in watching the show.

Now that I've tried one story, (which had a lot of kudos and was written in 2006 titled And Harder Still to Make Noise by sophiahelix I was completely underwhelmed.

It was like watching the show but droll, without the acting or even, a crazy storyline - to make it interesting.

Contrast The office fanfiction; to x-files fanfiction.

I don't know what it is about Dana Scully but she is just riveting. A doctor turned into a crime fighting FBI agent; who gets sucked into a conspiracy because she's following a man that she has grown to admire [and love] in his passion for the truth? They work for the government; and believe in the government -- and yet it is the government itself who is making decisions against individuals for the greater good of humanity?

If there was a (well written) fanfiction about Dana Scully making toast and doing groceries: I want to read it.

M and S are heroes. CC tries to walk the fine line between "normal people" and extraordinary individuals with amazing lives; and I think he achieved it with these two. So I covet them. They're whom I dream I could be (but we all know no one could ever be them).

Pam and Jim will not suffice.

Pam? What is Pam. She's just ordinary. Did she compete any further education past high school? She's been with the one guy since forever. The relationship smacks a little of DV/coercive control almost. She has a perfectly cute and funny friend who likes her a lot : and yet she just wants to be friends, or not : she's not sure. If she goes home and makes toast or does groceries I want to take a nap and stop reading.

The Office is super fun to watch.

Fanfiction about The Office is in the "why would anyone bother" category...

Comments

[wendelah1]

I get where you are coming from. I write fanfic for series for two reasons, neither of them are shippy. I like writing stories that expand on existing canon by portraying a minor character in greater depth or providing backstory or missing scenes. I also like fix-it fic, though that's harder to write, obviously. Shipping provides the motivation in most fanfic and if you're already getting what you need from canon, there is no reason to read or write it.

Have you read "Small Lives Awake" by JET? It's Thanksgiving holiday fic, very domestic, and very well-written--and shippy, too. But it is a rarity, well-written (as defined by moi, naturally) domestic fanfiction for TXF. The characters are defined by their work, and so is their relationship. YMMV.

Small Lives Awake

I miss the anticipation and sense of community that watching weekly network series provided.

[whitewriter]

I suppose online communities and fandoms still spring up over shows now - but they probably aren't what they used to be like with all the spoilers and anticipation reduced. Feels like TV has become like fast food: you can get it any time, anywhere- whenever you want it.

I guess that's driven down piracy ??

But reduced that fandom community spirit.

My last fandom was Castle actually. I quit in s4 because I basically lost interest in the series. I think Beckett and Castle just got together and then it became... less interesting than actual life. But at one stage I liked it enough to start up a meetup group for Australian fans and attend a charity event with one of the actors when they visited Sydney. That was when I was a uni student in 2011-ish.

Couldn't imagine doing any of that sort of stuff now, though.


Did you do all that fangirl stuff for IWTB?
I really wanted to go to LA. I think some of the girls went - and got in to see the first screening and all that stuff. I lived on haven boards... feeling shite and sorta half wanting to go but also knowing it would be "just one day" and way too expensive for a university student without full time work : and in the scheme of life, not worth it probably.

Actually looking back I'd agree (it wouldn't have been worth it).

[wendelah1]

Well, I didn't go to the premiere screening--the one with David and Gillian in attendance. I was probably working. There was an earlier event in Westwood with Chris Carter, talking about the film with Spotnik, I think? That I did make it to. Funnily enough, my late sister-in-law, her husband, and their three sons were all there, too. She was a huge fan back in the day--had an entire room in her house devoted to TXF. I wonder what happened to her memorabilia? Knowing her husband, it all got tossed after she died.

I was avoiding spoilers so I absolutely was not living at Haven. Along with a friend on LJ, I started a small community xfspoilerfree. I think we might have done a short rewatch? The xf_book_club discussed post-"The Truth" fanfic for a couple of weeks or so leading up to the movie. The entire year after the movie production was announced at the con in the Bay Area--can't recall the name of it, God my memory is crap now--was a mini-renaissance for the fandom. Many people who had quit writing fic came back, participation in all of the online spaces was up. There were three different rewatch communities on LJ, and one got most of the way through all nine seasons. I think I saw the movie four times in the theater. Even though I wasn't thrilled with it at the time, seeing Mulder and Scully together again was an emotional experience. So, yeah, I guess you could say I did the whole fangirl thing. LOL. No regrets. It was a wonderful time and I even made a few lasting friendships.

Apart from a brief dalliance with new Star Trek, I haven't been in a large fandom since TXF. My last truly active fandom was Fringe and that's been off the air for what, seven, eight years? In seven seasons, great as it was, The Americans never got big enough to lose Yuletide status.

Scifi fandom has been dominated by fantasy for years and years now. Harry Potter (books and movies) and Game of Thrones (books and TV series), all the X-Men comics and movies, Marvel and DCU TV, comics, films and so on. I read the HP books along with my son (he was the same age as Harry when the first book came out) but I was never fannish about them. Video games, manga, animé. (shrugs)

[whitewriter]

So cool.

I was doing my honours year, so I could arrange my time as I wished. I think my thesis suffered because I was fangirling too hard. I also feared it was my last ever chance to really fangirl over anything. Like the movie would probably fail me, and I'd be disappointed by it - but at least I intended to enjoy the build up.

In hindsight it was actually the last time I fangirled over anything. There was a midnight premiere screening and a radio station was giving away tickets. I rang them so many times I got tickets for all my high school mates (all of whom were not x-files friends) but were good enough to turn up (free movie I guess) but it was midnight so we were very tired.

And then there was the red carpet thing with a GA greet thing for $600 (ish) that I didn't have- so I just did the whole stand outside the cinema since 0900 for a thing that starts at 1400 to meet her for all of 2 seconds and get her to sign a poster (wasn't an x-files one. which I regret harshly: this was because there was some rumour going around that she wasn't going to sign XF memorabilia? which wasn't true.) Some pic she did when she was very young, not xf related. Anyhow. It was still good fun.

I also saw the movie at least 4 times in the cinema, dragging some friend or family member each time. I usually don't go to any movies but like you said, the nostalgia. And considering how long we waited for IWTB: I really didn't think they'd be anything else afterwards.

I was so knackered from all that fangirling and movie watching and attending stuff ... my poor thesis was due about 3 or 4 weeks after it all ended. I finished it, at least.

Good times.