snowflake challenge #4: fannish goals

[necessarian]

ducking in and out of the snowflake challenge this year, but i really wanted to do this one. the specifications say any goals, but since this is a fandom space for me, i'm making these specifically fandom goals for 2020. over the past few years i've really changed the way i interact with fandom. i've gone from being a fairly prolific author to about as much of a lurker as you can be while still posting fic. this is for a number of reasons: 1) the media i love keeps hurting me, cf the magicians fucking up, jkr continuing to be antisemitic and transphobic, making me less inclined to want to celebrate this media in fic, 2) i was finishing my phd and ostensibly had less time to write, and 3) i didn't actually end up writing any less overall because i started focusing on original fiction in a big way. and now that i've got a few indie & self-made publications under my belt, i'm feeling a lot happier hanging around original fiction spaces.

but what about fandom? i could never leave entirely - no matter how much my favourite media turns out to be made by cranks, i'll still be here, obsessing, writing canon divergence and fix-it and all that fun stuff. plus, fic is still a lot of fun for me to write. so here are my goals for making it even more fun in 2020, and making fandom a space i'm more comfortable in:

1) write whatever the fuck i want to. in the past i've been hung up on kudos and comments and readership, which i've used to direct the kinds of things i write. look, i'm still hung up on all that stuff. i'm constantly desperate for feedback - it's a huge part of the fandom experience for me, being able to share my work and get people telling me what they liked about it. it helps me improve, and it's a valuable source of social connection in my life. but i was really getting bogged down in sentiments like "i have to finish this before i can start that" and "i have to update this in X days/weeks" and "people won't want to read this so i won't focus on it." well in 2020 i'm saying fuck all of that! you'll get my fic whenever the hell i post it, in whichever order i desire. and some of it may be weird and niche and largely unapproachable, and that's fine! i'll be having fun, and that's the point of fandom.

2) minimise my participation in events. as part of writing whatever the fuck i want, i need to avoid deadlines. as much as i love doing fannish events - such as exchanges, prompt fests, etc - i need to stop writing rushed fics at deadlines just to fulfill some responsibility. there are some fests that i'll always do, such as the wolfstar big bang, and yuletide. i might even have another crack at the wolfstar games, if it runs this year, since i had to drop out last time due to my phd. i'll of course keep an open mind about any fest that crops up, but i'll try to only sign up for new fests if i don't already have one hanging over me. like right now i'm on the look out for a fest to join, because i don't have one on the go and i wouldn't mind an excuse to write something brand new! but yeah. in general, fewer fests.

3) read, comment, rec. reccing is something i started doing more seriously a couple years back, but i want to really commit to it this year. i want to start posting regular recs on this journal, as well as kicking off potterwatch again. i want to read more fic in general, too. maybe 2020 will be the year that i finally clean out my years-old marked for later list! (which i keep adding to, because i have no self control.) but in general, i think fandom at its best is when it's about sharing other people's works, not just your own. i want to fully commit to that as part of my fannish practise this year, to give as i would like to receive, so to speak. while i recognise that the rest of my goals may not be ones that work for other people, this one does, i think, and i want to urge people to join me in it. 2020 year of reccing, anyone?

Comments

[quietmoon]

Good to see you around! A belated happy new year to you and yours. ♡

well in 2020 i'm saying fuck all of that! you'll get my fic whenever the hell i post it, in whichever order i desire. and some of it may be weird and niche and largely unapproachable, and that's fine! i'll be having fun, and that's the point of fandom.

Hell yeah!! I really relate to this. I'm committed this year to letting myself - kind of forcing myself - to write whatever they hell I want to, and go about it in a way that makes me happy. The social aspect of fandom is definitely important to me, but over the past few years it's accidentally gotten all tied up in my writing habits in the most toxic way. .__. I get so scared that people will be disappointed by something I post - especially if they liked something I posted earlier - that it'll stop me from writing or posting anything at all, or giving up on 'lesser' projects before I even start them. Anyway, as of 2020 this shall be no more! Or at least, that's what I'll work towards. Good luck to both of us <3

ah, the event one I also feel! I'm absolutely terrible for them, and I've learned to just not sign up for things like exchanges or big bangs because it never goes well for me. I do enjoy things like ship weeks when it's for something I'm really feeling at the moment, but having arbitrary deadlines messes with my writing process hardcore because my writing tends to get longer and more complicated than I ever anticipate, and then I either have to give up on it, put a pause on it so I can stress over writing something else shorter (and often, in my opinion, not very good), or rush it out without doing any of the ideas justice. tldr: deadlines and me =/= happy marriage.

fandom events are great fun, but there's definitely a risk of burning oneself out. also - what exactly is a prompt fest??

i look forward to seeing the recs you come up with over the year! this is something I would love to do more of, too, but I always feel self-conscious that I'm leaving something out or not saying enough about it. I gotta figure out a system that works for me, gah. Maybe doing some sort of regular 'things I read recently' alongside 'here are long-time faves' rec lists... /rubs chin. 'cause you're right, fandom is at its best when it's celebrating and sharing fanworks beyond one's own.

[necessarian]

happy new year to you too!! hope it's a good one!

i also feel like i'm forcing myself to write whatever i want. i wonder what that says about the state of fandom these days, that we feel like we have to go out of our ways to start having fun again. i definitely feel the same insecurities. thankfully, if there's one thing fandom has shown me, there's always at least one other person out there who will appreciate your weird niche content. best of luck!

i'm often very proud of my deadline fics, unfortunately, which only encourages me to keep doing them. but the stress isn't worth it!!

a prompt fest is basically one where either the mods put out a list of prompts, or people submit them, and you claim one (or sometimes more!) that you want to write. they're really fun, because there's no pressure of giving a gift to someone in particular, but you still get a provided framework for your fic.

i think in terms of recs, mixing up old and new faves would be a good way to do it! i often feel bad too, because i don't necessarily want to rec every fic i comment on; a rec is like an extra special layer for me. i think the trick to making it feel good is making it personal. if it's like, this is why *i* loved it, it won't make other people feel left out? at least that's the principle of it haha