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A big part of me would die too.
I know that sounds really melodramatic, or possibly as if I have no life--but it's true. There is this big fear in me that one day fandom will cease to be as brilliant and bright as it was when I first arrived (as a lurker) at fourteen. That's been ten years, loves, TEN YEARS of my life finding meaning in words people, like me, had written.
The more I write the more I lose sight of the bigger picture and so I've decided after these fests I am taking a break from writing and I am going to go full on cheerleader/reader/occasional gift writer. I want more people to get their voices out there I want to witness the birth of new fandom stars and prolific writers. And, more than that I want to witness the quiet brilliance of some almost unheard voices.
There is brilliance in you all and I am just waiting for you to show it to me. :)
Pink Elephant in the Fandom Living Room? This is what brought it about and Fray says it so much better than I ever could (because come on it's FRAY ;D)
So I wanna know, what can we do to keep fandom alive and strong? I don't want it to become some closed circle of cliques where lurkers or people just getting into HP feel as if they will never belong. Fuck, it took me a good two years to actually get more than three fandom friends and even those I was wary of bothering too much because I felt like an outsider.
And I know you can't like everyone. God knows I don't but I try and some people I mesh with more than others. BUT welcoming the newbies in isn't about meshing right away, right? It's about letting them know they are not alone and about stepping out of our cotton pants and slipping into lacy danger panties ;) Let's try something new. And the whole "OMG THIS SUCKS" attitude that comes from writers (and I am guilt of thinking this just like probably every one of you are) is something we need to dust off. Some people take a little longer to find their talent than others that doesn't mean they deserve comments any less, if anything they need them more (or PMs preferably as publicly humiliating someone is never a nice thing IMO) to help them hone their craft. I know I'd be complete shite without Curi and Annie and Rike.
Anyways, you guys are probably like LOOK KISS IS HERE, WASN'T SHE GOING ON HIATUS? Yeah, yeah--it's partial hiatus and this was just something I felt I had to say, though my thoughts are always so sporadic I am not sure what the main point was anymore other than PLEASE NO TO BE DISBANDING AND LEAVING ME TO PLAY IN THIS BOX ALONE I'd cry an ocean :(
I know that sounds really melodramatic, or possibly as if I have no life--but it's true. There is this big fear in me that one day fandom will cease to be as brilliant and bright as it was when I first arrived (as a lurker) at fourteen. That's been ten years, loves, TEN YEARS of my life finding meaning in words people, like me, had written.
The more I write the more I lose sight of the bigger picture and so I've decided after these fests I am taking a break from writing and I am going to go full on cheerleader/reader/occasional gift writer. I want more people to get their voices out there I want to witness the birth of new fandom stars and prolific writers. And, more than that I want to witness the quiet brilliance of some almost unheard voices.
There is brilliance in you all and I am just waiting for you to show it to me. :)
Pink Elephant in the Fandom Living Room? This is what brought it about and Fray says it so much better than I ever could (because come on it's FRAY ;D)
So I wanna know, what can we do to keep fandom alive and strong? I don't want it to become some closed circle of cliques where lurkers or people just getting into HP feel as if they will never belong. Fuck, it took me a good two years to actually get more than three fandom friends and even those I was wary of bothering too much because I felt like an outsider.
And I know you can't like everyone. God knows I don't but I try and some people I mesh with more than others. BUT welcoming the newbies in isn't about meshing right away, right? It's about letting them know they are not alone and about stepping out of our cotton pants and slipping into lacy danger panties ;) Let's try something new. And the whole "OMG THIS SUCKS" attitude that comes from writers (and I am guilt of thinking this just like probably every one of you are) is something we need to dust off. Some people take a little longer to find their talent than others that doesn't mean they deserve comments any less, if anything they need them more (or PMs preferably as publicly humiliating someone is never a nice thing IMO) to help them hone their craft. I know I'd be complete shite without Curi and Annie and Rike.
Anyways, you guys are probably like LOOK KISS IS HERE, WASN'T SHE GOING ON HIATUS? Yeah, yeah--it's partial hiatus and this was just something I felt I had to say, though my thoughts are always so sporadic I am not sure what the main point was anymore other than PLEASE NO TO BE DISBANDING AND LEAVING ME TO PLAY IN THIS BOX ALONE I'd cry an ocean :(
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no subject
Date: 2012-05-19 06:17 am (UTC)From:no subject
Date: 2012-05-19 01:01 pm (UTC)From:Is it bad I am excited for this big long fic? Should I really encourage shorter *cackles and loves on*
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Date: 2012-05-19 01:17 pm (UTC)From:no subject
Date: 2012-05-19 01:27 pm (UTC)From:no subject
Date: 2012-05-19 01:33 pm (UTC)From:I'm planning my "How to Big Bang" series, and I was thinking of using the wizsprogs fic as my example, but I've changed my mind. I think I'm going to use my last HDBB instead. Don't want to give away the whole wizsprogs story.
Man, I need to get some sleep.
*hugs tight and runs for bed*
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Date: 2012-05-19 11:24 pm (UTC)From:no subject
Date: 2012-05-19 09:04 am (UTC)From:I left a ridiculously long comment on her post, because feck it all, I Feel unloved. Not by you, my dear, never by you.
We talked about this before and I already told you that I read and lurk a LOT in Merlin and Thor fandom and now Avengers, especially Merlin I read as a sort of palate cleanser after spending hours on writing, just to read something that doesn't make me feel like I'm working. A problem I see with fandom and writing is that a LOT of the fics are stories that have been told before. Reading them doesn't inspire me 99% of the time. I feel like I'm stagnating in my outside input to make me think and use my head and that's why I read less as well. When I do read, I leave comments and love and I'm trying to be better with the shorter stuff, because I know quantity doesn't equal quality.
A friend of mine recs some wonderful Merlin fic and I love reading it, what I do when I read them and then feel like commenting is check whether the authors got back to their commenters recently, if not, I won't be bothered to reply unless the fic REALLY got to me, because I always think appreciation should go both ways. I won't spend time to leave love for someone who won't get back to me with even a simple generic copy pasted "thank you", you know? It's just rude.
I guess something that also plays into it for me is that if I read someone and I realise I don't like their style or their approach to characters, I'll give them maybe one or two more chances and then I'll never read their stuff again. It sounds like I'm not giving them a chance, but if for whatever reason their writing just doesn't connect with me, I tend to avoid it. Then there's writers like
I'm wary of unhappy endings, because if I suffer through all the angst and pain I want a cookie at the end, which is why I usually wait for other people to read fic and then read it afterwards. I have enough shit going on in RL to deal with depressing stuff in fic as well.
Anyway, you know all my thoughts on these matters and I love you. I'll probably move on to original fic before long, because writing HP characters like Harry or Draco just isn't doing it for me anymore. I like writing Millicent, because she's so unknown, that you can basically do anything with her, but writing the others I find they are actually pretty limited in the range of what I personally can make them do. Since it's never been about fandom for me anyway (I'm friends with SO many people from fandoms I don't follow) you definitely know that I'll stick around either way.
♥
no subject
Date: 2012-05-19 01:10 pm (UTC)From:I know quantity doesn't equal quality Personally I think this is one of the problems. So many people are convinced you can't tell a story in as little as a thousand words. I've seen ficlets of 700 that have blown me away, and personally I envy people who can be so selective and make every single word count. That's fucking hard. I remember the twelve sentences essays I had to write for psychology. They had to be exactly twelve, no more and no less. OMG FUCK ALL THAT those were the hardest five essays of my life.
And yes. You are one of those people I was round about mentioning to Fray because you are wonderful and you write these deep, well rounded pieces and then you don't get lots of feedback so it's a waste of time. Which sucks cause you have very intricate plot and things. *squishes*
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Date: 2012-05-19 09:26 am (UTC)From:This give me a sense dejavu, I mean, there is Naruto fandom, which has shriveled to nothing but two authors in my heart. Famous authors like Fray in this fandom, left fandom because the readers suck just like what Fray had written ;___;
Oh there is this old fandom, Gundam Wing, as old as HP (it was aired originally in 1995), but it has been diminishing. I am glad an author (yes, ONE active) still writes damn good GW fics without demanding feedback, since there are so few people in GW fandom....
Damn, this is depressing. Yes people, don't leave me, I am newbie and you want to leave already, I haven't had a change to write any English HP fanfic ;A;
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Date: 2012-05-19 01:15 pm (UTC)From:Also GW FTW!!!!!!!!!!
Yeah it's all about wanting to keep it going I guess. Luring new people in. Perhaps it's just the H/D side of things because fandom is a big percentage of H/D saturation. BUT COME ON PEOPLE TEDDY LUPIN, HE R TO BE NEEDING ALL THE FICS ;)
I don't think it will really die, I think we just need as many readers as we have writers because the readers are what keep this fandom running.
Like you for me. Every time I see a comment from you I flail because it makes me want to keep writing. To keep pulling emotions from you and things. If that makes sense and doesn't make me seem like a big fucking creeper >.>
*squishes*
no subject
Date: 2012-05-19 01:47 pm (UTC)From:And I do write, the thing is I write fanfic in Indonesian these days. I dunno, I lost my self-confidence in writing English fic two years ago :/
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Date: 2012-05-19 11:24 pm (UTC)From:no subject
Date: 2012-05-19 11:24 am (UTC)From:no subject
Date: 2012-05-19 01:16 pm (UTC)From:no subject
Date: 2012-05-19 01:17 pm (UTC)From:lol
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Date: 2012-05-19 01:26 pm (UTC)From:no subject
Date: 2012-05-19 01:27 pm (UTC)From:no subject
Date: 2012-05-19 11:25 pm (UTC)From:My comment just for you...
Date: 2012-05-19 11:56 am (UTC)From:Anyway, what I said over there... which is stuff I've been thinking because of places where I see tons of comments, vs. places I see very few... And I'm hitting it from the fest perspective because I don't think I've read nearly as many non-fest fics, solely due to time. But the upshot is, there is so much, we're all spread out, and it's like... if there are ten fics, and 100 times to read, that's ten comments per fic. But if there are 100 fics and 100 times to read, that's 1 comment per fic. I think it's harder and harder as fandom grows older, because there are so many more demands on our time. When I was in college, I had time to read things. Now I'm skittering here and there (two tournaments this weekend, one an hour and a half away, and I'm taking a day off from work just to do LAUNDRY because otherwise it won't get done) and squeezing in reading somewhere around the edges (not to mention writing!).
On the other hand... while I love the immediacy of feedback when I write for fandom, that's not WHY I write. I write because there are people in my head who want to be let out, and I love prompts and ideas, and I love to put words on paper. I write because it's like breathing... I have to do it. If I don't put the words on paper, they just rattle around in my head and drive me insane (as if I'm not already there). I will still write as fandom wanders off to new shiny things, and I'll still be here when they wander back because there is a comfort in what's known and they want to see what's come out new. Because HP is comfort food, and folks WILL be back. IMO anyway.
And for your reference, the comment I left Fray
Date: 2012-05-19 11:56 am (UTC)From:Hey there... I'm "new" to fandom, for a value of new that involves bouncing into the fic etc. side of fandom (and out of RP) just over a year ago (March was the anniversary of me posting my first fic to a comm, and June I think will be the anniversary of my first fest).
I'd heard quite a bit about fandom being dead, as people drifted away to other shiny new fandoms (Inception was last year's darling, wasn't it? And Avengers now...). But I've seen that things have been steady, if not huge, in HP fandom. It's not as booming as it was, but I still laugh when I realize that people I've known for 20 years know other people I've know for 20 years and through entirely different means than I've known either of them. (I grew up in SF and gaming fandom, so while HP fandom and writing fics in general is new to me, I've been bouncing around Fandom as a whole for um... 30+ years).
I try to hawk fests on my journal, especially when I see very comments coming through. I was in one fest recently that had some amazingly wonderful pieces, all chewy and gooey and fun, and there was not a lot of readership. I find myself usually mentioning fests several times while in the writing phase, then at the beginning of posting, somewhere in the middle, and just before reveals. And I agree, if folks write for a fest, they should be reading for it, although I'm never fully caught up. I try really hard (I'm in shock that I think I'm actually all caught up on harrydracompreg but it's still super early in that fest.
I think part of the problem is that fandom is getting very spread out. There are a lot of fests going on at any one time (I know I don't know anywhere near all of them, and I participate or read maybe a tenth of what I see posted on some of the weekly roundups). Some fests have a lot of excitement among the participants, but very little knowledge elsewhere (or they are specialized maybe, so folks don't go check them out?). And it's not for lack of advertising... I think it might just be that folks are in niches, they have a lot on their plates already, and they don't branch out.
But as a newer member, I'm still finding my niches (addiction to mpreg is definitely one of them). So I'm around more places, maybe, and peeking in on things, where some folks may be already set and overloaded with what they are watching/reading/writing for.
I hope HP fandom isn't slipping away. I like it a lot, and I wish I could get to Ascendio and meet people for real (I know a few folks face to face, some because I knew them before, some because I've been lucky enough to meet them during travels).
What I do know is that I've been welcomed here. I haven't found it cliquish, and in fact, that was a relief coming over from the RPG world. Or maybe I just fell into a clique easily? I don't know... but I know that people commented, people spoke to me, I've friended folks and had them friend back (or vice versa) randomly or after fests. I was pulled into chat rooms and found yet another new home (and one I suspect has helped me more than I can say with my writing productivity). This is like a family, and yes, it has its moments of squabbling, but overall, it's very welcoming to me. And I hope I can pay that forward to other new folks.
Re: And for your reference, the comment I left Fray
Date: 2012-05-19 01:12 pm (UTC)From:Re: And for your reference, the comment I left Fray
Date: 2012-05-19 01:25 pm (UTC)From:Re: And for your reference, the comment I left Fray
Date: 2012-05-19 01:25 pm (UTC)From:Re: My comment just for you...
Date: 2012-05-19 01:22 pm (UTC)From:And I am very excited for you being here! You write and flail and dove right in and HELL YES TO THAT! We need more people to dive right in and read and flail and things. Because it's like I told someone before you I think we need as many active readers as we have writers. Because some writers are discouraged when their work receives no praise. And in my years here, in this fandom, I have found some wonderful gems that no one had even seen. Then I'd get all "OMG YOU NEED TO GO READ THIS RTFN!"
Anyways yes HP is comfort food and people drift in and out. I used to so I can attest to that. It's just frightening to think that some of them never come back. Only death is keeping me away from you guys and he ain't been a knockin' yet. XD