I drew something, believe it or not.

I can't draw, but I figure that's what the hp_switcheroo community is for, right? I recently read a sweet little Ron/Harry ficlet called Wet by lysrouge, and the ending of it stuck with me. So I drew it.

Check it out if you like, but please be nice... *wibbles*

ETA: Look what I got for my art! :-D

Writing novel-length fanfic

Edit: New community! novel_fanfic

There've been several conversations lately about the way the H/D sub-fandom has changed in recent years. One thing I heard mentioned a few times was that there aren't many epic fics being written any more. A few people even suggested this was a sign of the decline of the fandom, that the change in canon or in the size or average age of writers in the fandom was to blame.

As a writer of novel-length fic in two fandoms, I'm not sure I agree. Recent conversations have led me to believe that part of the problem is that the culture of LJ is neither conducive to nor supportive of the writing of novel-length fic, in any fandom. The temptation to abandon your 60,000-word novel and start posting frequent short fics is great, considering that it gets the writer just as much feedback as that novel she quietly slaved over for six months. And it gets her recced a lot, by the people who do the reccing.

Now, I don't want to give the impression that writing novels is "better" or "more worthy" than writing other kinds of fanfic -- not at all. I simply think it's more difficult to do in an LJ-based fandom. LJ seems geared toward instant gratification, and the writers who post lots of short fic are rewarded more for doing so. Many novel-writers just don't get the same sort of attention, which is unfortunate, IMHO. (Of course, someone else recently noted that you never see shorter fics on people's "Top Ten Fics of All Time" lists, either.)

I have some questions, and I'd love to hear your thoughts.

1. Do you write novel-length fanfic? Why or why not?
2. Are you currently working on a novel-length fic? If so, are you posting it as a WIP, or will you wait until it's finished to post it -- or something in between?
3. What do you think about my claim that the culture of LJ is not conducive to the production of novel-length fanfic?
4. Do you have any ideas about how we as a community could better support the writers of novel-length fic? For example, is there any interest in a comm along these lines?