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Meta and AU round-up (and links)
I posted this on Tumblr a while ago; thought I would copy it here:
Kind of a random post, but sometimes I see a post going around Tumblr telling people to not think of their art as "content" but rather just call your art "art," call your fiction "fiction," etc. Don't call it "content." I am too lazy to find the post in question, but in any case, that's not the only place I've seen this sentiment, so the original post isn't necessary -- I now regularly see people outside that post criticizing calling one's fannish or creative outputs "content" (presumably after having read that post).
And while I can kind of see the connection between "content" and "content producer" and this sort of undesirable culture of, like, overwork, monetization, obsession with clout/following, and/or pressure to constantly produce and not go too long without a lull in a stream of "content," I'm just not sure it's the word "content," or thinking of your fic/art/whatever generically as "content," that's the issue? I think that pressure would still exist regardless of what you call your social media posting and, conversely, I think "content" can be a very innocuous and appropriate way of thinking about one's outputs/contributions/whatever you want to call them, at least in a fandom context.
Like, I am not someone entirely immune to the pressure to create ever more art, but output/productivity/clout/monetization has never been something I really struggle with or which motivates me on social media. I don't have productivity goals (in the sense of sheer volume -- I do have big projects I badly want to finish because they burn a hole in my mind, and I sometimes need productivity goals in order to make any progress on them at all). I also don't attempt to make money off any of my art (it actively kills my art drive to do so), and so I'm also pretty indifferent about the popularity of what I make (aside from social factors or other natural artist desires to want one's talent/skill/achievement/etc. to be recognized, which I don't think is unusual or unhealthy for an artist unless it becomes pathological), because I am not financially dependent on my social media posts having far reach or anything like that.
But specifically when it comes to fandom, when I contribute to a fandom, I tend to be very multimedia in the way I do that. I write fic, I draw, I make graphics, I write meta/essays/manifestos, I make memes, I create events/communities/social activities, I collect reference material, etc. etc. The easiest, most succinct, and most accurate way to describe what I do is that I produce... content for my fandoms. I guess you could call it "outputs" but that sounds robotic and business-speaky. Or you could call it "works" but I don't like that because fan stuff is what I do as a break from work; they don't feel like work and I wouldn't describe them that way. Also, calling some of things I make "works" sounds a bit grandiose for what they are! Calling all those things "art" doesn't work either because I need to be able to distinguish my art-qua-general-fannish-activities from my visual/drawn art, and, between those two categories, I don't think the word "art" is an appropriate way to describe the first, especially when it fits the second much better (it depends on context, obviously -- sometimes "art" is clear as a generic, but if I'm talking about both things at the same time, it will not be). "Fanworks" doesn't work either because not all the things I produce are fanworks. It's... content. Like, maybe I am missing something obvious, but I literally cannot think of a better/more accurate way of talking about my collective fannish output (other than "my collective fannish output").
Another helpful use of the word "content" is when you’re in, like, rareshipper hell (which I am). Then it becomes very tempting to be like:
...whenever someone posts anything related to your rarepair, no matter how small, off-the-cuff, or modest. Or really:
Like, there's a level of desperation you reach in a tiny fandom where literally anyone contributing anything feels like a life-restoring drop of water in a desert... When you're desperate for literally anything, it seems fine to say what you are craving is "content." I suppose I could also say, "Finally, some good fucking literally-anything-at-all for this fandom" instead. But the word "content" does the job.
Anyway, what I'm trying to say is that I think the word "content" is getting a weirdly bad rap here. I do get the mental adjustment someone is urging you to make when they say, "Please don’t think of your fic/art/whatever as content" because thinking of it as content first and fic/art/whatever second is an indication that you might be too preoccupied with ensuring you're always producing a steady stream of content without much care over what that content is, or thought as to why you feel pressured to keep churning out content. It could also indicate that you view your role as a fan or creative person as being a "content producer," someone whose value is dependent on how much you produce and whether you’re producing, which can often be unhealthy (unless you do that for a job, are paid based on your level of output, and absolutely love your job -- then that's great!).
So I think that's a very valid and important PSA to make to creatives -- you need to be cognizant of when, like, you're becoming alienated from your art and especially your hobbies/fandoms/things you do in your spare time. I just also think there are legitimate uses for the word "content" specifically, especially in fandom (e.g. to describe your collective fannish output or your collective fannish intake when you're very multimedia in inclination) and so I personally haven't found the whole "content (derogatory)" attitude in fandom/on social media to be helpful to my particular situation, to be honest. Not contradicting the general sentiment of that post and its advice, but I just think thinking of your work as "content" is okay/appropriate, actually (situationally).
Also, here are my thoughts on various AUs done for this AU Bingo meme. I'm still taking requests for this, by the way!
Final Fantasy IX + 20th Century AU
Ooh this is a fascinating prompt. I had a bit of trouble thinking of what to do here because FFIX feels so strongly embedded in its medieval setting, and also it's hard to pick which part of the 20th century to set this in -- so many possibilities!
I'm tempted to say World War II, or maybe WWI, setting here, though? War is a big part of FFIX's storyline, at least the beginning, and part of that involves airships and black mages/air superiority in the game, which I think translates pretty well to fighter planes and bombs. In this case, I'd probably make it a bit alt-history/historical fantasy, though, to keep the vibe a bit fantastical and not get too bogged down by real-world politics.
I feel like a war orphan or "evacuated to the countryside to avoid bombs" storyline could work for Eiko and/or Vivi, and I think Zidane would be part of a traveling entertainment group that puts on shows for soldiers, and I'd probably throw Freya and Quina in there as part of that crew. Garnet is a defector/spy who needs to be extracted from behind enemy lines, and Amarant is part of a mercenary group. Kuja is looking for a super weapon.
This is a bit half-baked, but that's all I've got so far. I was also trying to come up with a 20th century AU where Garnet is some famous actress? dignitary? who runs away and hides in a quirky little theater group, but I didn't really have many more thoughts than that, and also that could be set in basically any decade of the 20th century, so it didn't really narrow things down... But yeah, trying to imagine what the cast of FFIX would look like in different decades was an amusing exercise!
Final Fantasy Tactics + Monster Hunter AU
I wasn't sure whether to interpret "Monster Hunter AU" as a generic monster hunter AU or one for the Monster Hunter game series in particular, but I'm not super knowledgable about the latter, so I'll interpret it as the former. I'm sorry if this wasn't what you were looking for!
I actually think you wouldn't need to change FFT all that much to turn it into a monster hunter genre, because demons are already such a big part of FFT, and Ramza and his party are kind of unaffiliated wanderers who go around helping people wherever they end up, which translates pretty naturally into monster-hunting specialists.
I think Ramza would be the main monster hunter in this AU, but everyone has trouble believing that he's the monster hunter because he's so small/quiet/meek/unassuming. But I think a combination of experience, instinct/intuition, and encyclopedic knowledge of monsters would make him actually good at this job.
I think the various people on his team would also have their own specialties and reasons for monster-hunting. For example, I think the high-faith characters would be sensitive to monsters/the supernatural, so good at detecting them and drawing them out, but it also makes them favored targets for monsters too. Mustadio would be like the resident sharpshooter who is like the "Q" of the team -- responsible for coming up with fancy new monster-hunting tools. He doesn't have anything against monsters, just likes the intellectual challenge involved in this work. Meliadoul, on the other hand, HATES monsters, won't rest until they're all dead, views it as her personal duty to protect the innocent from them, etc. Reis *is* a creature that a lot of people view to be a monster and who is regularly hunted, but she is not malevolent. Orran isn't a member of the team, but Ramza sometimes consults him on certain jobs because he has the gift of precognition.
Ramza doesn't talk about his past much, but there's a rumor that he comes from an old family that was wiped out by monsters. There's a dark prophecy that involves his family, and some people think it already came true in the event that killed most of his family members, but Ramza is not sure it has.
I'm not really sure what to do about Delita and Ovelia in this AU. The Church/Lucavi plotline fits pretty naturally into monster hunter AU, but the non-supernatural political plotline not so much. Maybe Delita turned Ovelia into a monster or cursed her so that she could escape from something, and Agrias is traveling with Ramza in the hopes that he can find a way to turn Ovelia back or something like that.
Star Trek: Deep Space Nine + Royalty AU
I'm still trying to figure out how the whole situation would work, and what kind of setting to use here (like a traditional monarchy vs. a constitutional monarchy type system instead), but I feel like Ben + Jake work pretty well as a king and prince of Bajor, but ones who were only recently brought in, for some reason. Maybe there was a series of regime changes and upheaval on Bajor, but then they found some foreign nobles who are distant, distant relatives of a past monarch or something who could function as a successor and wouldn't have any of the problems associated with the other options / is a compromise monarch between rival factions, and invited them to come rule.
The officers of DS9 would then be prominent members of Sisko's court. Kira is Sisko's majordomo or whatever -- the head of his household. She doesn't think this arrangement will last and is annoyed that someone who didn't grow up on Bajor is currently the king, but grudgingly admits Sisko is probably the least worst option here. Dax is Sisko's... general? Some sort of strategic adviser who he worked with before and brought from whatever country he was living in previously. Worf joins later, another general/military adviser who initially doesn't get along with Dax, but then they become bros. Bashir is the royal physician. Odo is the sheriff of the nearby castle town. Nog is Jake's commoner BFF who has an uncanny talent for sneaking the prince out of the palace and away from his studies, lol.
Winn is still the leader of the local Church and wary of Sisko's policies, especially where they curtail the Church's power/influence. Dukat is the former, recently-deposed tyrant of Bajor who is in exile and who everyone hates, but he's always going around trying to raise an army to take Bajor back and is ready to invade at the first sign of weakness.
I'm not really sure what to do with the Changelings/Dominion and whether to keep them in at all. They could certainly be a neighboring country and you could have some geopolitics that way, but I also wonder if they could be a powerful family within Bajor or something like that.
Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, Quodo + Superhero AU
Superhero AU Quodo is tough for me because Odo is basically a superhero already, so it's hard trying to change Quark to match him. I'm also torn between having Odo and Quark both be superheroes on the same team (who butt heads) or to have Odo be a hero and Quark be a villain (but of the variety who spend more time flirting with each other than fighting each other).
So yeah, Odo is a shapeshifter who is also impervious to most things. Quark, if a superhero, would have a pretty minor superpower, I think, like the ability to create fireworks a la Jubilee or the ability to implant mental suggestions but it takes a while and only works on one person at a time. Or super-hearing -- just something that is situationally useful if you're doing a heist or something like that, but otherwise not a superpower you'd want to bring to a fight. For this reason, he's not particularly into the whole superhero thing except when it brings him celebrity and fame, and this kind of annoys Odo. XD
For supervillain Quark, I think he would either have no superpowers or very minor superpowers again, but he is just very dedicated to doing crimes. These crimes are pretty small-change and so Odo probably *should* focus his efforts elsewhere, but Odo is too much of an obsessive to let them slide and also Quark makes them purposely audacious to bait Odo. And sometimes when Odo comes to put a stop to Quark's activities, Quark will subtly drop some information about things happening in the criminal underworld he thinks Odo should know about and then disappears. Batman/Catwoman dynamic.
And then to round out this post, just a couple of links I wanted to share:
- The Hidden Racism of Book Cover Design -- I knew what "black woman author" book cover style they were talking about before any examples were given... There are also book genres that my partner calls Blue Book and Pink Book, and you can instantly tell which type of book is being advertised on the subway with basically no information given, just based on the graphic design of the ad. It's very powerful visual branding!
- Magic: the Gathering now has a game state in which you need to prove that there are an infinite number of twin primes to win
Kind of a random post, but sometimes I see a post going around Tumblr telling people to not think of their art as "content" but rather just call your art "art," call your fiction "fiction," etc. Don't call it "content." I am too lazy to find the post in question, but in any case, that's not the only place I've seen this sentiment, so the original post isn't necessary -- I now regularly see people outside that post criticizing calling one's fannish or creative outputs "content" (presumably after having read that post).
And while I can kind of see the connection between "content" and "content producer" and this sort of undesirable culture of, like, overwork, monetization, obsession with clout/following, and/or pressure to constantly produce and not go too long without a lull in a stream of "content," I'm just not sure it's the word "content," or thinking of your fic/art/whatever generically as "content," that's the issue? I think that pressure would still exist regardless of what you call your social media posting and, conversely, I think "content" can be a very innocuous and appropriate way of thinking about one's outputs/contributions/whatever you want to call them, at least in a fandom context.
Like, I am not someone entirely immune to the pressure to create ever more art, but output/productivity/clout/monetization has never been something I really struggle with or which motivates me on social media. I don't have productivity goals (in the sense of sheer volume -- I do have big projects I badly want to finish because they burn a hole in my mind, and I sometimes need productivity goals in order to make any progress on them at all). I also don't attempt to make money off any of my art (it actively kills my art drive to do so), and so I'm also pretty indifferent about the popularity of what I make (aside from social factors or other natural artist desires to want one's talent/skill/achievement/etc. to be recognized, which I don't think is unusual or unhealthy for an artist unless it becomes pathological), because I am not financially dependent on my social media posts having far reach or anything like that.
But specifically when it comes to fandom, when I contribute to a fandom, I tend to be very multimedia in the way I do that. I write fic, I draw, I make graphics, I write meta/essays/manifestos, I make memes, I create events/communities/social activities, I collect reference material, etc. etc. The easiest, most succinct, and most accurate way to describe what I do is that I produce... content for my fandoms. I guess you could call it "outputs" but that sounds robotic and business-speaky. Or you could call it "works" but I don't like that because fan stuff is what I do as a break from work; they don't feel like work and I wouldn't describe them that way. Also, calling some of things I make "works" sounds a bit grandiose for what they are! Calling all those things "art" doesn't work either because I need to be able to distinguish my art-qua-general-fannish-activities from my visual/drawn art, and, between those two categories, I don't think the word "art" is an appropriate way to describe the first, especially when it fits the second much better (it depends on context, obviously -- sometimes "art" is clear as a generic, but if I'm talking about both things at the same time, it will not be). "Fanworks" doesn't work either because not all the things I produce are fanworks. It's... content. Like, maybe I am missing something obvious, but I literally cannot think of a better/more accurate way of talking about my collective fannish output (other than "my collective fannish output").
Another helpful use of the word "content" is when you’re in, like, rareshipper hell (which I am). Then it becomes very tempting to be like:
...whenever someone posts anything related to your rarepair, no matter how small, off-the-cuff, or modest. Or really:
Like, there's a level of desperation you reach in a tiny fandom where literally anyone contributing anything feels like a life-restoring drop of water in a desert... When you're desperate for literally anything, it seems fine to say what you are craving is "content." I suppose I could also say, "Finally, some good fucking literally-anything-at-all for this fandom" instead. But the word "content" does the job.
Anyway, what I'm trying to say is that I think the word "content" is getting a weirdly bad rap here. I do get the mental adjustment someone is urging you to make when they say, "Please don’t think of your fic/art/whatever as content" because thinking of it as content first and fic/art/whatever second is an indication that you might be too preoccupied with ensuring you're always producing a steady stream of content without much care over what that content is, or thought as to why you feel pressured to keep churning out content. It could also indicate that you view your role as a fan or creative person as being a "content producer," someone whose value is dependent on how much you produce and whether you’re producing, which can often be unhealthy (unless you do that for a job, are paid based on your level of output, and absolutely love your job -- then that's great!).
So I think that's a very valid and important PSA to make to creatives -- you need to be cognizant of when, like, you're becoming alienated from your art and especially your hobbies/fandoms/things you do in your spare time. I just also think there are legitimate uses for the word "content" specifically, especially in fandom (e.g. to describe your collective fannish output or your collective fannish intake when you're very multimedia in inclination) and so I personally haven't found the whole "content (derogatory)" attitude in fandom/on social media to be helpful to my particular situation, to be honest. Not contradicting the general sentiment of that post and its advice, but I just think thinking of your work as "content" is okay/appropriate, actually (situationally).
Also, here are my thoughts on various AUs done for this AU Bingo meme. I'm still taking requests for this, by the way!
Final Fantasy IX + 20th Century AU
Ooh this is a fascinating prompt. I had a bit of trouble thinking of what to do here because FFIX feels so strongly embedded in its medieval setting, and also it's hard to pick which part of the 20th century to set this in -- so many possibilities!
I'm tempted to say World War II, or maybe WWI, setting here, though? War is a big part of FFIX's storyline, at least the beginning, and part of that involves airships and black mages/air superiority in the game, which I think translates pretty well to fighter planes and bombs. In this case, I'd probably make it a bit alt-history/historical fantasy, though, to keep the vibe a bit fantastical and not get too bogged down by real-world politics.
I feel like a war orphan or "evacuated to the countryside to avoid bombs" storyline could work for Eiko and/or Vivi, and I think Zidane would be part of a traveling entertainment group that puts on shows for soldiers, and I'd probably throw Freya and Quina in there as part of that crew. Garnet is a defector/spy who needs to be extracted from behind enemy lines, and Amarant is part of a mercenary group. Kuja is looking for a super weapon.
This is a bit half-baked, but that's all I've got so far. I was also trying to come up with a 20th century AU where Garnet is some famous actress? dignitary? who runs away and hides in a quirky little theater group, but I didn't really have many more thoughts than that, and also that could be set in basically any decade of the 20th century, so it didn't really narrow things down... But yeah, trying to imagine what the cast of FFIX would look like in different decades was an amusing exercise!
Final Fantasy Tactics + Monster Hunter AU
I wasn't sure whether to interpret "Monster Hunter AU" as a generic monster hunter AU or one for the Monster Hunter game series in particular, but I'm not super knowledgable about the latter, so I'll interpret it as the former. I'm sorry if this wasn't what you were looking for!
I actually think you wouldn't need to change FFT all that much to turn it into a monster hunter genre, because demons are already such a big part of FFT, and Ramza and his party are kind of unaffiliated wanderers who go around helping people wherever they end up, which translates pretty naturally into monster-hunting specialists.
I think Ramza would be the main monster hunter in this AU, but everyone has trouble believing that he's the monster hunter because he's so small/quiet/meek/unassuming. But I think a combination of experience, instinct/intuition, and encyclopedic knowledge of monsters would make him actually good at this job.
I think the various people on his team would also have their own specialties and reasons for monster-hunting. For example, I think the high-faith characters would be sensitive to monsters/the supernatural, so good at detecting them and drawing them out, but it also makes them favored targets for monsters too. Mustadio would be like the resident sharpshooter who is like the "Q" of the team -- responsible for coming up with fancy new monster-hunting tools. He doesn't have anything against monsters, just likes the intellectual challenge involved in this work. Meliadoul, on the other hand, HATES monsters, won't rest until they're all dead, views it as her personal duty to protect the innocent from them, etc. Reis *is* a creature that a lot of people view to be a monster and who is regularly hunted, but she is not malevolent. Orran isn't a member of the team, but Ramza sometimes consults him on certain jobs because he has the gift of precognition.
Ramza doesn't talk about his past much, but there's a rumor that he comes from an old family that was wiped out by monsters. There's a dark prophecy that involves his family, and some people think it already came true in the event that killed most of his family members, but Ramza is not sure it has.
I'm not really sure what to do about Delita and Ovelia in this AU. The Church/Lucavi plotline fits pretty naturally into monster hunter AU, but the non-supernatural political plotline not so much. Maybe Delita turned Ovelia into a monster or cursed her so that she could escape from something, and Agrias is traveling with Ramza in the hopes that he can find a way to turn Ovelia back or something like that.
Star Trek: Deep Space Nine + Royalty AU
I'm still trying to figure out how the whole situation would work, and what kind of setting to use here (like a traditional monarchy vs. a constitutional monarchy type system instead), but I feel like Ben + Jake work pretty well as a king and prince of Bajor, but ones who were only recently brought in, for some reason. Maybe there was a series of regime changes and upheaval on Bajor, but then they found some foreign nobles who are distant, distant relatives of a past monarch or something who could function as a successor and wouldn't have any of the problems associated with the other options / is a compromise monarch between rival factions, and invited them to come rule.
The officers of DS9 would then be prominent members of Sisko's court. Kira is Sisko's majordomo or whatever -- the head of his household. She doesn't think this arrangement will last and is annoyed that someone who didn't grow up on Bajor is currently the king, but grudgingly admits Sisko is probably the least worst option here. Dax is Sisko's... general? Some sort of strategic adviser who he worked with before and brought from whatever country he was living in previously. Worf joins later, another general/military adviser who initially doesn't get along with Dax, but then they become bros. Bashir is the royal physician. Odo is the sheriff of the nearby castle town. Nog is Jake's commoner BFF who has an uncanny talent for sneaking the prince out of the palace and away from his studies, lol.
Winn is still the leader of the local Church and wary of Sisko's policies, especially where they curtail the Church's power/influence. Dukat is the former, recently-deposed tyrant of Bajor who is in exile and who everyone hates, but he's always going around trying to raise an army to take Bajor back and is ready to invade at the first sign of weakness.
I'm not really sure what to do with the Changelings/Dominion and whether to keep them in at all. They could certainly be a neighboring country and you could have some geopolitics that way, but I also wonder if they could be a powerful family within Bajor or something like that.
Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, Quodo + Superhero AU
Superhero AU Quodo is tough for me because Odo is basically a superhero already, so it's hard trying to change Quark to match him. I'm also torn between having Odo and Quark both be superheroes on the same team (who butt heads) or to have Odo be a hero and Quark be a villain (but of the variety who spend more time flirting with each other than fighting each other).
So yeah, Odo is a shapeshifter who is also impervious to most things. Quark, if a superhero, would have a pretty minor superpower, I think, like the ability to create fireworks a la Jubilee or the ability to implant mental suggestions but it takes a while and only works on one person at a time. Or super-hearing -- just something that is situationally useful if you're doing a heist or something like that, but otherwise not a superpower you'd want to bring to a fight. For this reason, he's not particularly into the whole superhero thing except when it brings him celebrity and fame, and this kind of annoys Odo. XD
For supervillain Quark, I think he would either have no superpowers or very minor superpowers again, but he is just very dedicated to doing crimes. These crimes are pretty small-change and so Odo probably *should* focus his efforts elsewhere, but Odo is too much of an obsessive to let them slide and also Quark makes them purposely audacious to bait Odo. And sometimes when Odo comes to put a stop to Quark's activities, Quark will subtly drop some information about things happening in the criminal underworld he thinks Odo should know about and then disappears. Batman/Catwoman dynamic.
And then to round out this post, just a couple of links I wanted to share:
- The Hidden Racism of Book Cover Design -- I knew what "black woman author" book cover style they were talking about before any examples were given... There are also book genres that my partner calls Blue Book and Pink Book, and you can instantly tell which type of book is being advertised on the subway with basically no information given, just based on the graphic design of the ad. It's very powerful visual branding!
- Magic: the Gathering now has a game state in which you need to prove that there are an infinite number of twin primes to win