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dolorosa_12For those who've just added me through the friending meme and are a bit confused about what's going on, I post an open thread every Friday, with a prompting question to which anyone can respond.
This week's prompt is inspired by the annual holiday love meme. I've never participated in this before — my own anxiety and awkwardness is such that my immediate fear is that I post a thread to the meme, and no one responds, which would just crush me. But this year I've decided to risk it, and so my prompting questions here are twofold:
1. If you want to participate in the love meme, add your thread, and share it in the comments here. I've added me own thread in the link below.
holiday love meme 2020
my thread here
2. Whether you participate in the love meme or not, what is one thing you love about fandom, Dreamwidth, or your fannish community?
The big thing, for me, was the sense of relief at finding people who interacted with stories — with fiction — in the same way that I did. In other words, people for whom the story didn't end when the last page was turned or the credits started to roll, and who didn't see what we were given on the page or screen as being the entirety of the story. I've always been haunted by stories: if they resonate with me, they get into the space behind my heart, between my bones, and don't let me go. Growing up, with a few rare exceptions, I did not encounter any people who shared these feelings about, and reaction to, fiction. So when I did finally go online, and fall into first His Dark Materials fandom, and later transormative fandom more generally, it was like coming home.
I've not been here for as long as some people — just thirteen years so far — but I'm definitely not going anywhere.
This week's prompt is inspired by the annual holiday love meme. I've never participated in this before — my own anxiety and awkwardness is such that my immediate fear is that I post a thread to the meme, and no one responds, which would just crush me. But this year I've decided to risk it, and so my prompting questions here are twofold:
1. If you want to participate in the love meme, add your thread, and share it in the comments here. I've added me own thread in the link below.
my thread here
2. Whether you participate in the love meme or not, what is one thing you love about fandom, Dreamwidth, or your fannish community?
The big thing, for me, was the sense of relief at finding people who interacted with stories — with fiction — in the same way that I did. In other words, people for whom the story didn't end when the last page was turned or the credits started to roll, and who didn't see what we were given on the page or screen as being the entirety of the story. I've always been haunted by stories: if they resonate with me, they get into the space behind my heart, between my bones, and don't let me go. Growing up, with a few rare exceptions, I did not encounter any people who shared these feelings about, and reaction to, fiction. So when I did finally go online, and fall into first His Dark Materials fandom, and later transormative fandom more generally, it was like coming home.
I've not been here for as long as some people — just thirteen years so far — but I'm definitely not going anywhere.
no subject
Date: 2020-11-27 04:03 pm (UTC)The big thing, for me, was the sense of relief at finding people who interacted with stories — with fiction — in the same way that I did. In other words, people for whom the story didn't end when the last page was turned or the credits started to roll, and who didn't see what we were given on the page or screen as being the entirety of the story.
YES! It's so nice to be able to actually talk about media with people. I wish there were more of it these days, but I take what I can get. I'm also glad I'm not the only one who doesn't just walk away from fiction. It stays with me. Even if I hated it. Sometimes that makes me want to discuss it more! :P
I've always been haunted by stories: if they resonate with me, they get into the space behind my heart, between my bones, and don't let me go.
I love the way you put it here.
I've always written fanfic, so I also liked finding transformative fandom. Even though I don't really write fanfic anymore, I'm still the first to insist that transformative works have a lot of value. I'm glad that the world is becoming more accepting of it.
I'm thankful for the fan community. I know there can be a lot of drama, but there's also a lot of goodness and a lot of things you learn from other people.
no subject
Date: 2020-11-29 11:36 am (UTC)It's still going on, it just takes a bit more effort to find, I think. I also think that as fandom has become bigger, there's just more discussion going on — but of a much wider range of things, so it's harder to find conversation about specific media. Maybe it's easier if you're into the megafandom of the moment, but that's basically never happened for me.
I'm thankful for the fan community. I know there can be a lot of drama, but there's also a lot of goodness and a lot of things you learn from other people.
Absolutely! And as to the drama, I'm grateful that it mostly takes place on Twitter and Tumblr, rather than Dreamwidth, so I can avoid it for the most part.