meme

capitu is doing a self-pimp meme where you pimp the fic that is most popular by you, and then your favorite fic by you. The banner says HP, but capitu says you can use any fandom you want. Go comment!

marguerite_26 used to host this meme; I always thought it was awesome, but I never participated, mostly because I felt like I didn't really have very popular stories. I feel differently now, but it's still a really interesting meme. I put:

Fandom: Harry Potter
Pairing (s): Harry/Draco
Most Popular: definitely The Boy Who Only Lived Twice
Warnings: sex? spies? idk
Personal Favourite: by far The Pure and Simple Truth
Pairing (s): Harry/Draco
Warnings: none; it's mostly gen

I guess the reason I find this meme so interesting is that our favorite fics are so different than the ones that are really popular. I think my favorite is so, so much better than the really popular one, and even though I'm grateful for all the attention the popular one got, I always want to say, "But read thiiiiiiiiis one, it's so much better!"

What's really interesting is that even just reading the comments on the post, I usually keep wanting to click on the ones denoted "popular". I can't figure out whether they appeal to me more because their titles are grabbier--that may be one reason they're popular in the first place; they have grabby titles. The popular ones also seem more tropey--but how do I know? Because of the titles? The warnings? There are no summaries in these comments. And are they more popular because they're tropey?

Or maybe it's the fact that they're popular that's attractive. I try not to base my stories based on hits, kudos, or number of comments. I do go by recs, but self-recs are different; they're so idiosyncratic. Your favorite story may have nothing to do with your best story; it might have to do with achieving a goal or the place you were in when you wrote it or a challenge you set yourself. The popular story makes it feel like a bunch of people have weighed in, and while I'm interested in why one story or another is an author's personal favorite, I'm not always more interested in their favorite story for itself . . .

Anyway the short version is that I like this meme and you should go participate.