![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
jetpack_monkeyThis is something of an embarrassing confession, being male and a Buffy fanfic writer. I've had a few recent additions to my fanfic awareness bubble and I've taken to perusing their profiles. It's come to my attention that I automatically assume that a Buffy fanfic writer is female unless I'm otherwise informed.
How ridiculous is that? There's nothing about "Buffy" that makes it more orientated to the female writer than the male. Indeed, there's nothing about men that makes them less likely than women to key into the "Buffy" fanfic world. Hell, I write fanfic (I just don't finish it), and I'm male.
Maybe it comes from experience. I've been involved in a couple of LJ RPs in my time, and I'm usually one only a few males. Once I was the only one. In the one major fanfiction group writing project I've done, I was the only guy (and also, incidentally, the youngest by a few years).
So, I guess the real question is - where are the good male Buffy fanfic writers? I know they exist. I've read their work. But why is it such a minority that I actually find myself shocked when I discover one?
So, here's a little survey for the guys out there:
1) Do you write "Buffy" and "Angel" fanfiction?
2) Do you feel that you're in a gender minority in the Jossian fanfic circles?
3) How would you describe your fanfiction? What genres, 'ships, etc. do you write in?
4) What genres, 'ships, etc. would you absolutely avoid?
And for everybody:
5) Why do you think there's a gender imbalance in "Buffy" and "Angel" fanfiction writing?
6) Does this trend extend to all fanfiction?
7) Do you find it's more difficult for a writer to win your readership, based on their gender? Why?
Please pimp this out, start a dialogue. I'm interested in the answers and the discussion resulting from those answers.
How ridiculous is that? There's nothing about "Buffy" that makes it more orientated to the female writer than the male. Indeed, there's nothing about men that makes them less likely than women to key into the "Buffy" fanfic world. Hell, I write fanfic (I just don't finish it), and I'm male.
Maybe it comes from experience. I've been involved in a couple of LJ RPs in my time, and I'm usually one only a few males. Once I was the only one. In the one major fanfiction group writing project I've done, I was the only guy (and also, incidentally, the youngest by a few years).
So, I guess the real question is - where are the good male Buffy fanfic writers? I know they exist. I've read their work. But why is it such a minority that I actually find myself shocked when I discover one?
So, here's a little survey for the guys out there:
1) Do you write "Buffy" and "Angel" fanfiction?
2) Do you feel that you're in a gender minority in the Jossian fanfic circles?
3) How would you describe your fanfiction? What genres, 'ships, etc. do you write in?
4) What genres, 'ships, etc. would you absolutely avoid?
And for everybody:
5) Why do you think there's a gender imbalance in "Buffy" and "Angel" fanfiction writing?
6) Does this trend extend to all fanfiction?
7) Do you find it's more difficult for a writer to win your readership, based on their gender? Why?
Please pimp this out, start a dialogue. I'm interested in the answers and the discussion resulting from those answers.
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
no subject
Date: 2005-01-13 05:00 am (UTC)5) Why do you think there's a gender imbalance in "Buffy" and "Angel" fanfiction writing?
I think part of it is the overall symptom of more females writing in all fandoms, not just Buffy and Angel. For reasons which Lizbet got into above, women look for these forums, and are able to explore them in more detail (for whatever reason). Now, that said, I have seen a lot of guys in B/A fandom--- but they're commentators, critics, meta-specialists, more often than writers. I'm not sure why, exactly. Maybe because the fandom makes it easier on women to seek help? Maybe it's a guy thing, where the risk of criticism scares 'em off unless they're really serious? I hope not. It might be the cliche's and stereotypes of some of the shallow end of Jossian fandom scares them; the teenyboppers who love the Buffy-Angel relationship, or the women who are crazy about Spike.
I think maybe more guys need to answer this. :>
6) Does this trend extend to all fanfiction?
To an extent, but it's worse in B/A. You'll find more guys in Highlander fandom writing (why, I don't know) and more in the hardcore scifi like Bab5 and Stargate, and the borderline Farscape. Again, why? Not sure. Those shows don't have any more intrinsic appeal for men than they do women, I think (although HL has always been notorious for the RPG guys who like swords). Comic book fandoms are geared towards young guys, who stay in and sometimes end up writing; maybe they just get sucked in earlier?
You won't, by comparison, find too many guys in the heavy male slash-oriented fandoms (Sentinel, QL, Mag7, etc.), which probably explains itself. But why Buffy & Angel would fall somewhere in the middle of this, with a population bent towards more women, is beyond me. It can't be a slam at the heroines-- all the guys in the fandom like the women as they are, and there's a low incidence of the degrading/denigrating fanfic. Maybe they dont' like the guys? *sigh* Your turn.....
7) Do you find it's more difficult for a writer to win your readership, based on their gender? Why?
No. I may go in with certain preconceived notions, I'll admit -- most guys I've read tend to like action more than emotions, but that's not a bad thing. Gyrus is one of *the* best action writers in any fandom, and he doesn't neglect the dialogue or motivations either. Plus, he can write in a woman's voice -- his Faith is excellent-- so I don't go into it assuming a male writer has less business here.
I make most of my "should I read this?" judgements based on summaries, anyway. If you can't write even a semi-decent summary, I won't attempt to read the story. If the title's okay (not trite, not a cliche, some cleverness to it) and the summary is at least interesting and not misspelled, I'll try anything.