(no subject)

[wolffyluna]

(Crossposted from tumblr)

So, this is a Hot Take™ someone else has probably already had, but I just realised it now:

Glowfic is fanfic for original characters.

Like, yeah, Glowfic is often fanfic, but hear me out:

Two notable properties of fanfiction are 1) A tendency not to spend time introducing the characters and 2) a tendency to throw them into lots of scenarios and settings.

Glowfic very rarely takes much time to introduce who the characters are, and often assumes you already know who they are. For example, you know who Jean is, you know who Z is, no need for formal character establishment. And even though I’m new to glowfic, and didn’t actually know who those two were, I picked up the basics pretty quick without much set up.

And Glowfic thrives on throwing characters into lots of scenarios and settings from “What if Tolkien elves were sci fi?” to “What if Asher was Iron Man and Z was Deadpool, and they kissed.”

Which as someone who has a deep soft spot for fan fiction (and a new deep soft spot for Zs and Sashas and Jeans etc. and et al.) I quite like.

Comments

[contrarianarchon]

Huh, that's a good way to put it. I tend to find it impenetrable and depressing, but otherwise, it's quite interesting? Like, in the sense it has enough virtues for me to still read it when recommended to do so despite that.

[tehhumi]

Yes, exactly! It means I only have to learn once which characters interest me, and I can read a whole lot of plots with them. And sometimes not plots, just happy snuggles. Only downside is occasionally forgetting that Kappa did not invent Miles Vorkosigan.

[wolffyluna]

Thanks! I'll admit I'm one of those people who likes a certain amount of impenetrableness and having to work out what the heck is going on, so that trait of glowfic is a selling point. (Also: a fan of h/c, so that's another point in glowfic's favour for me.)

[wolffyluna]

Yeah, the only having to learn the characters once is nice. Sometimes what you really want to read about is [character with specific traits] and it's nice to know which ones they are, and have a lot of variety with them.

(Also, I really should read a Kappa!Miles thread at some point.)

[lb_lee]

I have never heard the term 'glowfic' before. What IS it? I just assumed you meant fanfic of the TV series 'Glow,' but... maybe not...? O_o

[wolffyluna]

I mean, it could be fanfic of the 'Glow'-- but no one has done that yet to my knowledge.

(I'm potentially going to describe this really badly, apologies for that.) Glowfic is a roleplay community. Some of the characters are original, some of the characters are fan characters, some are sort of halfway in between those characters.

One of the big things about this community is that there's a lot of alternate versions of characters (called 'alts'), with different backstories or who come from different settings. There's also some assumed multiversality, and the ability for people to go to different universes. A standard plot is 'character is magically transported to different setting than their own, tries to sort things out.' Alts also sometimes meet each other.

Another big thing is this community has a lot of rationalists and rationalist adjacent people, so you've got a lot of things like characters trying to make everyone immortal, or picking philosophical fights with god, or trying to find The Best Ways to use a particular magic system. This quote is probably a good example of the thing: "It’s like a game theory problem on an exam with a sadist for a tutor. ‘In one to five thousand words, solve the problems of this entire continent and its well-justified rifts in the underlying social fabric with only illusion magic, healing spells, and the ability to turn people into birds’" (But that isn't universal, though. There's plenty of characters who don't do that kind of optimisation, and plenty of other styles of plots. It's just sort of --an option, that isn't present in a lot of other communities.)

[lb_lee]

Huh, wow, okay, that sounds super confusing, but hey, if you're having fun, by all means!

[wolffyluna]

Yeah, I'll admit it's confusing :P It's one of those things that kept growing, and kept growing in complexity, over several years.