My love is like footprints in the snow

[dolorosa_12]

It's the end of my last day of holiday, and it snowed overnight! This was the absolute perfect end to what's been a delightful twelve days (made better by the fact that I didn't have to leave the house at 7am for a train commute that was likely to have been disrupted by the weather). I went to the pool for a final morning swim, and it was blissfully empty: I had the lane to myself, and swam 1km in twenty minutes. I also went for a little wander around town. All the children had congregated in Ely's sole grass-covered hill, and were tobogganing, having snowball fights, and making snowmen. Everyone was in a great mood. I took a lot of photos.

I skipped the second snowflake_challenge prompt, but I'm back for the third: Write a love letter to fandom. It might be to fandom in general, to a particular fandom, favourite character, anything at all.


I tend to think of love as an action, and when it comes to love of fandom, this can be expressed in various ways, including (but not limited to):

Signing up for exchanges, fests and similar and creating fanworks for other people who share your love of the source material (or, obviously, creating fanworks absent of any overarching exchange etc structure, but that presumably goes without saying)

Enthusing about, analysing, reviewing, recapping, recommending etc the stories, characters, and works by creators that speak to you, and engaging with others who are interested in responding to the same material in similarly fannish ways

Creating, joining, and sustaining communities of people who share your fannish interests

(This is not an opinion shared by all, but it's certainly my opinion) Surround yourself with people whose fannish activities focus more on enthusiasm for things they like, rather than attacking things they hate. This doesn't mean 'no negative reviews ever,' but it does mean that I have very low patience with people whose primary fannish focus seems to be complaining that more people like Canon A as opposed to Canon B, or that there are more fanworks about Pairing Z/Y than Pairing X/W — why aren't they spending their time hyping up Canon B or writing those fanworks about X/W?

In general, I feel that community of some kind is essential to all of the above. The stuff about which I feel fannish is — as most of you probably know — really tiny microfandoms-of-one, so for me a shared canon or shared set of favourite characters is not a requirement, but rather a sort of compatible sensibility. People who want to exist in similar spaces, and engage with others in similar ways, all loving the things we love, in parallel.

Comments

[vriddy]

Beautiful list! I'm going to be chewing on "I tend to think of love as an action" as well, I think that's a very powerful perspective. Thank you for sharing!

[dolorosa_12]

You're welcome! I'm glad you liked it and found it a helpful framing.

[shewhostaples]

It's been so beautiful! I was back at work today, but WFH, and after we'd dropped J at nursery I walked back across town and had a coffee on the way home. Much better than last year's snow, which in any case I couldn't get out to enjoy because I was ill.

It hasn't felt as cold as recent days, either.

[dolorosa_12]

I'm glad you were able to enjoy the snow as well! It was wonderful — and, as you say, much better than last year's, which melted by the afternoon if I remember correctly.

[senmut]

Community is indeed key to fandom love and enthusiasm!

[dolorosa_12]

Isn't it just?

[author_by_night]

Surround yourself with people whose fannish activities focus more on enthusiasm for things they like, rather than attacking things they hate. This doesn't mean 'no negative reviews ever,' but it does mean that I have very low patience with people whose primary fannish focus seems to be complaining that more people like Canon A as opposed to Canon B, or that there are more fanworks about Pairing Z/Y than Pairing X/W — why aren't they spending their time hyping up Canon B or writing those fanworks about X/W?


Agreed. OR what about just accepting how things are in a particular fandom? I actually do understand being frustrated, because generally in the Z/Y fandom, if you write X/W or gen, it might be that hardly anyone'll even read your X/W or gen fic. Thing is... people's tastes are their tastes.

It's kind of like how IRL, people will try to make something more fun or enjoyable by bossing others around or overstepping, or trying to force people to do things. To paraphrase Michael Scott, that makes everything fun... not that way.

The stuff about which I feel fannish is — as most of you probably know — really tiny microfandoms-of-one, so for me a shared canon or shared set of favourite characters is not a requirement, but rather a sort of compatible sensibility. People who want to exist in similar spaces, and engage with others in similar ways, all loving the things we love, in parallel.


I can relate. I went without a large, active fandom for years, and my last one is now a microfandom. Most people I've come across on DW have different fandoms and media interests. So yes, I agree, it's just as much about commonality.

[dolorosa_12]

I actually do understand being frustrated, because generally in the Z/Y fandom, if you write X/W or gen, it might be that hardly anyone'll even read your X/W or gen fic. Thing is... people's tastes are their tastes.

I understand the frustration, but what I don't understand is how turning that frustration into your whole fannish personality, spending the majority of your time berating everyone for not liking what you like and/or complaining about what others prefer is supposed to persuade more people that hanging out with you in the X/W etc fandom is going to be loads of fun! I wonder if such people ever take a step back and think, what am I actually trying to achieve with this behaviour?

[author_by_night]

Oh, for sure. Then it just becomes spiteful and mean, honestly. That's what I mean about trying to force things on people. "Don't ship that, ship this!" Like you said, they need to sit back and think.

[rekishi]

Community is definitely what defines fandom for me! And I'm slowly learning (after being conditioned to the opposite for a long time) to be more positive rather than overly critical.

Thank you for this!

[dolorosa_12]

And I'm slowly learning (after being conditioned to the opposite for a long time) to be more positive rather than overly critical.

Yeah, 2010s Tumblr-era fandom really did a number on a lot of people (me included). I think criticism and negative reviews are fine, but there was a mentality for a long while that a lack of discomfort and negativity reflected poorly on an individual as a person and said something (bad) about their ideological beliefs. It's really messed up, and created an atmosphere in which fannish and shipping preferences were viewed as a kind of activism. I hate it, and the lasting damage it's done to online community.

But — to end this comment on a more positive note — finding the right community, one that encourages enthusiasm and curiosity and creativity is the perfect antidote!

[rekishi]

For me it wasn't tumblr per se (I mean yes, sort of also but less actively but it certainly contributed), but someone I was very close to for a long time. They were super cynical about whatever I was into and even more so when I tried to get them into it. Like whatever it was, it got a lot of negativity. Not directed at me, but really focused on the canon and it was not really recognizable for me what was happening? It's difficult to explain even though I lived it. Like, also a comment always had to have something negative slipped into it. But outside they were super bubbly in a very masking way 'in order to get more material from an author'. And that made me into a sort of person who was actively looking for faults in something, be it a fanwork or a canon.

And at the same time, when I did the same then to something we were both into but me waiting for the other shoe to drop and stuff, then they got mad.

It took distance from the person to recognize it and I'm not like...done with it, it still happens that I do that. But I'm not actively trying to do that anymore and I've learned again to just be happy about a new canon and not discuss the flaws and be cynical about it right away. And it's like breathing easier again.

[dolorosa_12]

Oh wow, that is really messed up and sad. I'm glad you're out the other side of it, and I'm sorry that person treated you that way.

[rekishi]

Thank you ❤️

In hindsight, I learned a lot during that time (it was a long time, too), even if it was painful and even if I still have to work on that. But we live to learn and I'm taking that to hope I won't have to have the same lessons again.

[chestnut_pod]

Aw, such a lovely way to define it! Positive enthusiasm really is the way.

[dolorosa_12]

Absolutely!

(By the way, belated thanks for the postcard, which arrived several weeks ago! What a beautiful place!)