I get the sense that people who listen to podfic (and, on a related note, audiobooks) frequently do approach the subject differently. I wish we got more feedback from listeners who are neither authors nor podficcers, but I don't think they bother much with meta. I can't speak as an unbiased listener because I create podfic myself (it appeals to my dramatic streak and has provided the means for me to make a lot of great friends), but I listen to podfic for a lot of reasons:
I lack the time to sit down and read the story myself
Staring at a computer screen or even an ereader for two long can be a strain on my eyes
I grow bored easily, so having the story read aloud to me actually prevents me from skipping significant portions of a story to "get to the good bits"
I can be a nervous reader--listening prevents me from skipping to the end to make sure things end well, thus spoiling myself
Podfic takes a lot of work, so it's almost guaranteed that any story that is podficced will be worth the time to listen; I've been introduced to a lot of stories I would have never bothered with this way
Podficcers have become familiar voices, so listening is like listening to a friend read me a story
I like to analyze a performance and compare how the reader approaches the story to how I would have approached the story--usually I'm taken by surprise by how much another person's interpretation improves upon my own.
I tend to walk away with more of the details of the story after listening vs. when I read it myself. My focus is stronger, you know? I find myself spending more time analyzing the words. I suspect this relates to how some people are better audio learners than visual and vice versa?
There are a lot of perfectly reasonable explanations for why some people are "squicked" by (or simply uninterested in) podfic just as there are lots of reasons why some people might prefer it over reading on paper or on their screen. It's all very subjective. I think sometimes it's hard for people who view the experience so differently to really grasp other perspectives, which is when wank happens.
In an ideal world, fanworks of fanworks would never lead to hurt feelings, misunderstandings, or anxiety, but we don't live in that world and the best we can do is try to be courteous of other people's passions while being aware of (and protecting) our own personal boundaries.
Wow, how did I get to be so wordy? I rarely ever speak up in podfic discussions.
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timeasmymeasure
no subject
Date: 2013-09-02 02:57 am (UTC)I tend to walk away with more of the details of the story after listening vs. when I read it myself. My focus is stronger, you know? I find myself spending more time analyzing the words. I suspect this relates to how some people are better audio learners than visual and vice versa?
There are a lot of perfectly reasonable explanations for why some people are "squicked" by (or simply uninterested in) podfic just as there are lots of reasons why some people might prefer it over reading on paper or on their screen. It's all very subjective. I think sometimes it's hard for people who view the experience so differently to really grasp other perspectives, which is when wank happens.
In an ideal world, fanworks of fanworks would never lead to hurt feelings, misunderstandings, or anxiety, but we don't live in that world and the best we can do is try to be courteous of other people's passions while being aware of (and protecting) our own personal boundaries.
Wow, how did I get to be so wordy? I rarely ever speak up in podfic discussions.