![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
silveradeptChallenge #5 asks for resources that we use to make our stories the best they can be.
One of my most consulted resources from when I talk about fandom, even if I don't use it all that much when I'm creating transformative works, is TVTropes, the all-consuming pop culture wiki. Learning and using trope language helps build a shared dialect around pop culture things and makes things a little more understandable if you have something to build from. There are arguments that trope language is reductive and can be used to flatten or prune the uniqueness of each work or implementation or that understanding true language takes some of the mystery out of the experience, but I haven't found that to be the case, and being able to link things through trope language allows me to make connections between things that seem very distant.
Second, while I don't use them specifically, I have heard very good things about tools like Written? Kitten! to keep someone focused on putting down words and revising them later. If you're somewhere with a spotty internet connection, or you would rather write offline, dice can be effective word count helpers as well. A pair of d6 can cover up to 3600 words of writing if each pip is worth 100 words, and if you have the d10 and the percentage die, that covers 10k of words, probably more than most people would write in a single day. And, so long as the dice aren't disturbed, you'll know how much more you have to get to for your big bang total.
Third, while Great Old Ones like me crack wise about how the back button on a browser is by far the most useful thing in any fen's tool belt, especially when encountering a work that is not to your own taste, I wanted to point out, because it seemed to come up a lot in the Challenge #3 screams, that AO3 offers suggestions on how to use both browsing and searching effectively in the archive and a list of additional, "hidden" search operators that someone can use to further refine what they are looking for. When combined with a primer on how Boolean search operators work, it makes it possible to be your own algorithm, rather than assuming that AO3 has one for the millions of works already present in the archive. On the assumption, of course, that everyone tags well or well enough and there aren't curious synning decisions that get in the way.
In search and browse, you can tell some of the underlying decisions that got made in setting up the structure of the archive, and one of them that comes out strongly is that the Archive is intended to be a place where the power searcher feels at home. For the web as it was, before it became the kind of place with a lot of natural language processing and algorithms behind the scenes manipulating the results on best guesses, ad buys, and large data sets, knowing your way around the Boolean logic and the search operators of your chosen database was part of knowing how to use it. (Which is not to say the improvements in language processing are bad, just that they can sometimes be hlep.) Nobody has to learn the ins and outs of AO3 search and browse to find good works, but I suspect that many of the people who are frustrated at not finding what they want would benefit from learning a little more about browse and search to more effectively ask AO3 for what they want in the language of AO3.
And if none of that makes any sense, then I can try and explain it more, or you can ask for what you're looking for and we can try to connect a search query that gets you most, of not all, of the way there.
In your own space, tell us about 3 creative/fannish resources, spaces, or communities you use or enjoy. (One or two is fine, especially if you're in a smaller fandom or like many people at the moment, fannishly adrift right now.)
Fandom is a fantastic place, and something that brought many of us together. Fandom is also a huge place made up of amazing and creative people doing incredible things. Anything goes, writing, podficcing, artwork, beta reading, commenting, general squee and so much more. It all combines to help make fandom the brilliant thing that it is.
The problem is, sometimes it's hard to find the places which enable you to indulge your passions. Hopefully, this challenge will help that. So, for example, tell us about a stock image place you enjoy, or a favourite archive. Is there a rec list you keep going back to, an online space where you enjoy a chat or a podcast series that always makes your day?
And of course, these places can be beyond fandom, that recipe site that's your go-to. The step-by-step instructions you saved to make your own cheese. Do you garden and have a favourite blog that's taught you how to grow amazing tomatoes?
Wikis, websites, videos, software, games, books, people, communities... anything! Share those places that you love, and hopefully others will love them too.
One of my most consulted resources from when I talk about fandom, even if I don't use it all that much when I'm creating transformative works, is TVTropes, the all-consuming pop culture wiki. Learning and using trope language helps build a shared dialect around pop culture things and makes things a little more understandable if you have something to build from. There are arguments that trope language is reductive and can be used to flatten or prune the uniqueness of each work or implementation or that understanding true language takes some of the mystery out of the experience, but I haven't found that to be the case, and being able to link things through trope language allows me to make connections between things that seem very distant.
Second, while I don't use them specifically, I have heard very good things about tools like Written? Kitten! to keep someone focused on putting down words and revising them later. If you're somewhere with a spotty internet connection, or you would rather write offline, dice can be effective word count helpers as well. A pair of d6 can cover up to 3600 words of writing if each pip is worth 100 words, and if you have the d10 and the percentage die, that covers 10k of words, probably more than most people would write in a single day. And, so long as the dice aren't disturbed, you'll know how much more you have to get to for your big bang total.
Third, while Great Old Ones like me crack wise about how the back button on a browser is by far the most useful thing in any fen's tool belt, especially when encountering a work that is not to your own taste, I wanted to point out, because it seemed to come up a lot in the Challenge #3 screams, that AO3 offers suggestions on how to use both browsing and searching effectively in the archive and a list of additional, "hidden" search operators that someone can use to further refine what they are looking for. When combined with a primer on how Boolean search operators work, it makes it possible to be your own algorithm, rather than assuming that AO3 has one for the millions of works already present in the archive. On the assumption, of course, that everyone tags well or well enough and there aren't curious synning decisions that get in the way.
In search and browse, you can tell some of the underlying decisions that got made in setting up the structure of the archive, and one of them that comes out strongly is that the Archive is intended to be a place where the power searcher feels at home. For the web as it was, before it became the kind of place with a lot of natural language processing and algorithms behind the scenes manipulating the results on best guesses, ad buys, and large data sets, knowing your way around the Boolean logic and the search operators of your chosen database was part of knowing how to use it. (Which is not to say the improvements in language processing are bad, just that they can sometimes be hlep.) Nobody has to learn the ins and outs of AO3 search and browse to find good works, but I suspect that many of the people who are frustrated at not finding what they want would benefit from learning a little more about browse and search to more effectively ask AO3 for what they want in the language of AO3.
And if none of that makes any sense, then I can try and explain it more, or you can ask for what you're looking for and we can try to connect a search query that gets you most, of not all, of the way there.
no subject
Date: 2023-01-10 12:19 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2023-01-10 06:15 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2023-01-10 01:04 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2023-01-10 06:15 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2023-01-10 04:20 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2023-01-10 06:15 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2023-01-11 12:08 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2023-01-11 01:10 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2023-01-11 02:11 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2023-01-10 11:07 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2023-01-10 04:10 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2023-01-13 05:30 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2023-01-13 06:08 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2023-01-14 04:30 am (UTC)