Don't worry about it! I wrote my thesis in a month; I feel your pain! *snuggles*
In what ways (if any), for you personally, do your fannish practices change depending on the source culture of the material you're fanning on? (e.g. do you watch more music vids for anime, do you read/write particular kinds of fic for western shows, do you seek out cons for only certain types of fandoms, etc.) The more specific the examples, the better.
Hmm. I'm a very picky kind of fan - I don't fan widely. I fan in more focused way, and those ways are (of course) focused on what I like. And what I like doesn't change. So I read a little bit of fic, and watch some vids, and enjoy looking at fanworks.
Obviously, the main difference for me is that I can get doujinshi for my Japanese fandoms - I can't for most western stuff. And I love doujinshi. I love the way they're lovingly crafted, I love the stories they tell and the gorgeous art, and I love the act of meeting up with creators and buying it straight from them.
Other than that, I can't say that I've registered any differences in my fanning - well, except that the people I fan with are different too, maybe? There are precious few people who are fans of both western and Japanese stuff, sadly.
As a random note of interest, when it comes to vids, I think there's a huge difference in the vids I've seen for western stuff, and anime vids. The styles are totally different - I'm no expert, but I think it's totally clear that they come from two different places. (And I might even add that I believe the western vidding was pioneered by women, while the anime vidding is more of a male hobby.)
Plus, there's Japanese vids, made by Japanese fans - they're called "MAD", and some of them are actual handmade vids. As in, hand-drawn animation. Some are silly memes like Caramelldansen, or the Conbini thing, but others are gorgeously animated vids which tell little stories - and yet others are made in the style of famous anime openings and closings, featuring other fandoms' characters. (This probably sounds confusing! To explain it fully I should probably write an essay of my own, but I just wanted to mention it, because I find it interesting!)
Semi-related to the above question, in what ways, if any, has your fannish practices changed over your time in fandom? (both in general over the years you've been in fandom and in specific fandoms. ) And have these changes at all coincided with differences in source culture? (eg for western fandoms, you've always just watched/read fic w/out much change over time but with Japanese fandom, you started watching anime then moved on to music vids then progressed to helping scanlate manga because you went on to learn Japanese, etc.)
Hm. Well, I think it's the people I've met as much as the fandom that have drawn out different sides of me. I started out lurking, then lurked some more. Then I sent some feedback (this was way before LJ - we're talking commenting through mail here), and got some fandom friends, and I wrote a tiny bit. Then I went back to lurking.
Stargate: Atlantis brought out the ficcer in me - it was such a creative environment; I wrote more than I ever have. And now that I'm in One Piece I'm writing sporadically. Much shorter stuff, because I can't really do long and plotty with One Piece - canon simply doesn't leave gaps big enough for that. (Not like SGA, which was half made of holes - a wonderful opportunity for fandom, if not brilliant TV.)
Don't know if this is related to the western/Japanese divide? In my earlier comments, I wrote that I feel that Japanese things tend to be much richer in their plotting. Much more focused on story arcs with far-reaching consequences and character development and such, which makes it harder to find room in canon for long, complex fanfic that develops the characters. With western stuff, especially the more episodic shows, that's much easier.
More answers pt 1
In what ways (if any), for you personally, do your fannish practices change depending on the source culture of the material you're fanning on? (e.g. do you watch more music vids for anime, do you read/write particular kinds of fic for western shows, do you seek out cons for only certain types of fandoms, etc.) The more specific the examples, the better.
Hmm. I'm a very picky kind of fan - I don't fan widely. I fan in more focused way, and those ways are (of course) focused on what I like. And what I like doesn't change. So I read a little bit of fic, and watch some vids, and enjoy looking at fanworks.
Obviously, the main difference for me is that I can get doujinshi for my Japanese fandoms - I can't for most western stuff. And I love doujinshi. I love the way they're lovingly crafted, I love the stories they tell and the gorgeous art, and I love the act of meeting up with creators and buying it straight from them.
Other than that, I can't say that I've registered any differences in my fanning - well, except that the people I fan with are different too, maybe? There are precious few people who are fans of both western and Japanese stuff, sadly.
As a random note of interest, when it comes to vids, I think there's a huge difference in the vids I've seen for western stuff, and anime vids. The styles are totally different - I'm no expert, but I think it's totally clear that they come from two different places. (And I might even add that I believe the western vidding was pioneered by women, while the anime vidding is more of a male hobby.)
Plus, there's Japanese vids, made by Japanese fans - they're called "MAD", and some of them are actual handmade vids. As in, hand-drawn animation. Some are silly memes like Caramelldansen, or the Conbini thing, but others are gorgeously animated vids which tell little stories - and yet others are made in the style of famous anime openings and closings, featuring other fandoms' characters. (This probably sounds confusing! To explain it fully I should probably write an essay of my own, but I just wanted to mention it, because I find it interesting!)
Semi-related to the above question, in what ways, if any, has your fannish practices changed over your time in fandom? (both in general over the years you've been in fandom and in specific fandoms. ) And have these changes at all coincided with differences in source culture? (eg for western fandoms, you've always just watched/read fic w/out much change over time but with Japanese fandom, you started watching anime then moved on to music vids then progressed to helping scanlate manga because you went on to learn Japanese, etc.)
Hm. Well, I think it's the people I've met as much as the fandom that have drawn out different sides of me. I started out lurking, then lurked some more. Then I sent some feedback (this was way before LJ - we're talking commenting through mail here), and got some fandom friends, and I wrote a tiny bit. Then I went back to lurking.
Stargate: Atlantis brought out the ficcer in me - it was such a creative environment; I wrote more than I ever have. And now that I'm in One Piece I'm writing sporadically. Much shorter stuff, because I can't really do long and plotty with One Piece - canon simply doesn't leave gaps big enough for that. (Not like SGA, which was half made of holes - a wonderful opportunity for fandom, if not brilliant TV.)
Don't know if this is related to the western/Japanese divide? In my earlier comments, I wrote that I feel that Japanese things tend to be much richer in their plotting. Much more focused on story arcs with far-reaching consequences and character development and such, which makes it harder to find room in canon for long, complex fanfic that develops the characters. With western stuff, especially the more episodic shows, that's much easier.