Reading Room - Volunteers please!

[byslantedlight.livejournal.com]

Okay - we seem to have a) enthusiasm for fic discussion and the return of the Reading Room; b) a preference for reccing/reviewing random fics rather than by theme or any other way; c) a feeling that Thursday is as good as most other days. So - let's see how we get on!

First of all - how does it work?
1. We ask for volunteers to make a post about a fic on a Thursday
2. We list the fics so that people know what to read for the Thursday discussion
3. We make a post to remind people what the fic is going to be, early in the week
4. The volunteer posts about the fic at some time on Thursday, saying as much or as little as they want
5. People comment to the post whenever they can - that night, the next day, over the weekend, whenever - to agree/disagree/state opinions/thoughts/anything at all about the fic! General happy discussion ensues, because we love the lads and we love reading fic - even when we don't like particular stories - these don't have to be recs, they can be I hated this fic because... or This fic made me think of such-and-such, which I thought was interesting.... (Obviously hating a fic is not the same as dissing a fic, or being insulting about an author etc. etc. Not that I think people here would, but don't forget that all Pros stories were written by someone for the love of it - they were written as wonderful things, and whether they seem wonderful to other people or not, we need to respect that origin. I didn't like the story because it focussed too much on the plot and not enough on the relationship is fine. I didn't like the story because Blank can't write for toffee is definitely not fine.)

There's been a suggestion that we might purposefully try to include some longer/zine-length stories in the recs. We've done that before via the monthly scheduling, because that way people know what to read in time to join in the discussion. I wondered if maybe we could have the last Reading Room of each month about a longer story, as a kind of dedicated spot. So maybe if anyone would like to talk about a longer fic, they could choose that one...?

And we'll start of with a six-week schedule, and see how we get on. Maybe we can even ask for new volunteers in the reminder posts, so that we can always bear the longer-term schedule in mind...

So - without any more ado - who will volunteer for Thursday posts? (You don't have to name your story straight away, as long as you let us know by... say the Monday before at the latest, so that we can let people know/remind them what to read then). But if you do know what you want to post about that's ace, and will give readers more time to sort out reading-time. *g*

Thursday 20th August - jessebee - On The Side Of The Angels by AnythingButPink
Thursday 27th August - paris7am - title of fic to follow
Thursday 3rd September - gilda_elise - title of fic to follow
Thursday 10th September - ci5mates - title of fic to follow
Thursday 17th September - fiorenza_a - The Waiting Room Affair and Incident in a Stairwell by Debra Hicks (two connected stories).
Thursday 24th September - A Long Pros Fic - fiorenza_a - The Lost and Found Series by Hutchynstarsk
Thursday 1st October - byslantedlight - title of fic to follow
Thursday 8th October -
Thursday 15th October -
Thursday 22nd October -
Thursday 29th October -

Comments

Okay, I'll bite

[jessebee.livejournal.com]

Put me in for the 20th, although I'm probably cutting it fine *winks* Are you giving me a story/theme? Or shall I pull a rabbit out of the hat? Or what I hope will be a rabbit, anyway? *g*

RE: Okay, I'll bite

[byslantedlight.livejournal.com]

Excellent - we have a starter for ten! Or at least for Thursday... *g*

Just tell me the name of your rabbit as soon as you can so I can put it up here and people will know what to read for Thursday!

Re: Okay, I'll bite

[jessebee.livejournal.com]

Lordy, now I have to come with something! *g* I'll have you a rabbit by end of day, if not before.

RE: Re: Okay, I'll bite

[byslantedlight.livejournal.com]

Hee - those rabbits... *g*

RE: Re: Okay, I'll bite

[jessebee.livejournal.com]

*snork* Icon Love!! *g* Alrighty then, for my next trick I will produce a review of: (drumroll) On The Side Of The Angels by AnythingButPink. http://archiveofourown.org/works/989827

RE: Re: Okay, I'll bite

[byslantedlight.livejournal.com]

Excellent - you're on! And nearly up! *g*

[gilda-elise.livejournal.com]

I'll take September 3rd. That'll give me time to select a story! *g*

[byslantedlight.livejournal.com]

Yeay, thank you! *vbg*

[paris7am.livejournal.com]

I 'll take August 27 with fic title to follow. Thank you so much for organizing this!

[byslantedlight.livejournal.com]

Brilliant - thank you! *g*

Can I cheat early on?

[fiorenza-a.livejournal.com]

And have two at the same time, because the first is very short?

The Waiting Room Affair
http://archiveofourown.org/works/188204.
Incident in a Stairwell
http://archiveofourown.org/works/208328
both by DebraHicks

And if we're doing longies I would very much like to talk about:

The Lost and Found Series (2 x stories at around 19,000 words tops in total)
http://archiveofourown.org/series/22689
by hutchynstarsk

RE: Can I cheat early on?

[byslantedlight.livejournal.com]

It looks like the two you want to do together are the first two in a three-part series, so in that case, yes, no worries. *g* Is there a reason you don't want to do the third, though? I'd suggest throwing that in there, and calling it "The Uncle/Pros series by Debra Hicks". Most people would probably go on to read the third one anyway, unless they didn't like the first two at all.

<lj user="ci5mates" has offered to do the 10th, so that leaves the 17th and 24th Sept free - or any Thursday after that (I'll just add them onto the schedule for as long as we have people booked to do them). Do you want to try the long story on the 24th (last Thursday in September and either the 17th or another date for the other two, or...?

RE: Can I cheat early on?

[fiorenza-a.livejournal.com]

No particular reason not to do all three, although, whereas the first two come in at just under 7 thousand words combined, the third is a longish one and bumps the count up to nearer 19 thousand. The stories all occur within the same universe, but pretty much stand alone.

You're right about people either being turned off or, alternatively, maybe wanting to read all three. I think that's half the fun, finding out what other people like and read, I've already started reading jessebee's choice for kicking us off :o)

The Lost and Found Series are two halves of the same story and really should be read together.

So, with all that in mind, I'll go with whatever dates you think best.

RE: Can I cheat early on?

[byslantedlight.livejournal.com]

Wow, that's some third installment! *g* But if they stand alone, and you want to do the first two only, then that's fair enough - I just wondered if it would seem incomplete to do the first two but not third. You can always link to it maybe, in your post, so that people know where to go. *g*

I think that's half the fun, finding out what other people like and read
Yes! And I've quite missed hearing about that over the last year or so... years or so even...

I'll put you down for the 17th for the two connected-but-shorter stories then, and for the 24th for your long story. Excellent - full calendar already, and I've not even nabbed a post myself yet! *g* Clearly time to expand the date range... *g*

RE: Can I cheat early on?

[fiorenza-a.livejournal.com]

Yeah, they do. So I was thinking just as you suggest; do the first two and link to third for anyone who wants to follow up (or even post next).

I may need a reminder for my dates - brain of a dead donkey, but I should be near a computer at some point on both dates.

I'm looking forward to this already :0)

RE: Can I cheat early on?

[byslantedlight.livejournal.com]

Well, I'll put up the comm reminder of what the story's going to be at the beginning of the week, but to be honest I can't promise to send you a separate reminder as well - I have my own donkey-brain and full-time work and stuff to deal with I'm afraid!

If you're going to be away from a computer and want to send me your post though, I can put it up for you on the day. Or if you need to change your dates at some point, then let me know and we can rearrange.

But I'm glad you're looking forward to it!

RE: Can I cheat early on?

[fiorenza-a.livejournal.com]

Reminder on the comm will do just fine, thank you :0)

[ci5mates.livejournal.com]

I'll give it a crack on the 10th if you like.

[byslantedlight.livejournal.com]

The 10th is all yours! Let me know what fic you want to do when you know!

[nypagan.livejournal.com]

What's the cutoff for a long story? Over 20,000 words?

[byslantedlight.livejournal.com]

Oh, I dunno - probably something that busy people might take more than a couple of days to read, I suppose (though that's always going to be different between people anyway). There's no hard and fast cut-offs for anything really... and people can organise themselves as soon as something's on the schedule too, don't forget - it would really only be if a story was announced at the last minute that most people might have problems working out time to read it, I'd guess. Did you have something particular in mind?

[nypagan.livejournal.com]

Yes, the story has 40,000 words, 224k. I don't consider that a long story, but others might.

[byslantedlight.livejournal.com]

Hmmn, I suppose it's not so much whether we consider it "long" as such, but maybe whether people have enough time to read it. How long the story's been around might affect things too - if it's a "classic" then most people might have read it already, if it's newer then possibly not... Can you tell me what it is (whisper? *g*)

[nypagan.livejournal.com]

It is a classic. I will PM you. Or gmail?

[byslantedlight.livejournal.com]

Email please! *g*

[nypagan.livejournal.com]

Gmail addy failed? What is it?

[byslantedlight.livejournal.com]

Oh sorry, I thought you had it - I could have sworn we'd emailed before! slanted light at gmail dot com.

[nypagan.livejournal.com]

Brain cramp. Email on its way!