Everything I Know About Fandom
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| Title: | Everything I Know About Fandom |
| Creator: | andrastewhite |
| Date(s): | February 23, 2005 |
| Medium: | |
| Fandom: | |
| Topic: | |
| External Links: | Everything I Know About Fandom; archive link page 1; archive link page 2; archive link page 3; archive link page 4 |
| Click here for related articles on Fanlore. | |
Everything I Know About Fandom is a 2005 essay by andrastewhite.
It has 213 comments.
Some Topics Discussed
Most of the comments agreed with specific numbered points. Many fans wished that all new fans could be given this essay.
The comments are exceptional mainly because there were no scolding screeds about the advice itself, nor about the concept of addressing "all fans" with a list of do's and don't's.
A similar post in 2015 was An Open Letter to Fanfic Readers.
The Essay
1. The first rule of fandom is: do it yourself. If there's a neglected character, a fic type you wish people would pay more attention to, or an archive you believe should exist? The only way you can be sure this will get fixed is if you fix it.
2. The second rule of fandom is: there's no rule against trying to con friends, acquaintances and total strangers into doing it for you *g*.
3. Lurk for a while. OK, the three years I spent doing that was probably excessive. However, I stand by the conviction that spending some time silently getting to know the ways of fandom so you can avoid accidental rudeness or unnecessarily stupid questions will benefit you in the long run.
4. The good news is, there is an answer to 'why slash?' The bad news is, it's a different answer for every author, and sometimes for every story. If you frame the question expecting a definitive answer (or think you've come up with one yourself) you are sadly doomed to disappointment. This also applies to questions such as 'why fanfiction?' and 'what's up with that Giant Squid, anyway?'
5. The internet provides near-instantaneous communication with people all over the world. That does not mean you have to reply to all communications instantaneously. If an e-mail or comment makes you angry or upset? Don't answer it straight away. Go for a walk. Sleep on it. There's no excuse at all for going off half-cocked when you're communicating in a text medium. So don't do it.
6. The deadline for a ficathon is the day you're meant to finish your story, not the day you should consider starting it. The traditional day for starting the story is, in fact, the day before the deadline. I know it's an easy mistake to make ...
7. Politeness will get you a long way, even when you're in an argument. In fact, especially when you're in an argument. At best, you'll be able to maintain a civil discourse with the other side of the disagreement. At worst, people who are screaming insults at you seem to find scrupulous courtesy frustrating. If the whole thing descends into an ignominious flame war, you'll know it wasn't your fault.
8. Anything - songfic, MPREG, stories where characters who have never met on screen fall in love - can be written well. Some things are harder to write well than others.
9. Learn how to how to turn of the so-called 'smart quotes' in MS Word. Learn how to send e-mail in plain text form. Learn how to make an lj-cut tag. Do all of this before you post anything, so that people will be able to actually see your talking marks instead of total gibberish. (Uh, not that I would know anything about that.) These little technical things will help your presentation a lot, and stop people deleting your mail or ignoring your post out of sheer frustration. Also, it shouldn't need to be said, but the spell-checker? Best invention ever.
10. If you're stuck for a title, taking a perfectly mundane word and looking it up in an impressive foreign language (such as Latin or Ancient Greek) will sometimes solve your problem. And it makes you look
hopelessly pretentiousclever into the bargain.11. Enjoying fiction on a certain subject does not mean condoning it in real life. Be careful whose fanfiction you condemn, for one day you may find yourself squeeing over the incest on your TV screen.
12. Your friends will force new fandoms on you, no matter how much you protest that you don't need any more. The best revenge is returning the favour.
13. Many of the more pointless fannish arguments could be avoided if people checked their details properly. For example, if your argument relies on the way Cally said millions of people would die if Blake destroyed Star One, you need to go and watch the episode again. We'll wait. Then you can get back to debating important things, like the many possible meanings of the word 'many'.
14. As you make your way through fandom, you will meet people who hate your favourite character, think your favourite pairing is ridiculous or that your beloved show is total crap. You may even meet Republicans and people who don't like cats. This is really no reason why you should not get along with these people, or at least remain civil. (Now, if they go out of their way to insult you for loving your character/pairing/show/cat, that you can hold against them. Insulting them for loving their character/pairing/show/dog in return never helps matters, though.)
15. It's probable that at some point in your fannish life you'll feel isolated from the majority. Maybe that will be because of the character or pairing or show you love. Maybe it'll be because of age or gender or sexuality or race or nationality or religion or political affiliation or because you don't like cats. You know what? We've all felt isolated at some point. It can be difficult. However, it's no reason to go stomping around fandom like a drama queen, declaring that nobody understands you and you're LEAVING FANDOM FOREVER OMG!!!
16. There is no reason to stomp around fandom like a drama queen and declare that you're leaving forever. Really.
17. What looks like a clique from the outside probably looks like a group of friends from the inside. It's one of those terrorist/freedom fighter distinctions.
18. If you want more of Fictype X, please, for the love of the Lords of Kobol, just ask for more Fictype X. Don't start your argument in favour of Fictype X by trashing Fictype Y and complaining about how much of it there is. All you'll do is alienate fans of Fictype Y and make them less likely to listen to your impassioned plea in favour of your preferred kind of story.
19. It is possible to love a character and still think that they have flaws and have done many things wrong. Honest. (But Charles Xavier is still not evil.)
20. Fandom is always evolving - I, for one, remember the time before livejournal, when dinosaurs roamed the earth. It's best to just ride the changes and try not to get too nostalgic for the way things used to be done, if you can manage that.
21. Life is too short to waste time being bitter about fandom. (Unless you enjoy being a Bitter Old Fic Queen, in which case, please carry on.)
22. Remember that whatever reputation you acquire in fandom - accidentally or by design - will follow you around. You can be innocently minding your own business, maybe writing the odd snippet of alien sex, and the next thing you know fandom has crowned you Queen of Tentacle Pr0n. It's usually best to just accept this in the spirit in which it was intended.
23. It is a universal law that the character who was demanding that you sit down and write a story about them right now when you were trying to go to sleep and couldn't get out of bed for fear of disturbing your parents/spouse/cat will be nowhere to be found the next day. This is because muses are utter bastards at heart. It is unlikely that throwing things at them will help, since they're figments of your imagination.
24. If you hang around for long enough, it is likely that you will eventually be the experienced fan watching the newbies arrive in your fandom. Maybe they're people who just saw the movie, maybe they followed their friends in from another fandom, maybe they just discovered the internet yesterday. It is both wise and compassionate to show these people kindness and understanding and politely point out the rules (official and unofficial) to them. Some of those strangers may be friends you haven't met.
25. You get out of fandom what you put into it. This I believe.
Excerpts from the Comments
*applause* Here by way of metafandom, and must just say these are not only brilliant and perceptive advice for prospering in fandom, I'd say with very little tweaking they'd apply to oh school, life, work, love, relationships, family, visits to another country, even one's cats! That is, while I hate a sloppy use of the word universal (hey I haven't even gotten off this planet yet!), this distilled wisdom would not lead one amiss in many life situations!
curia_regis: A wonderful, wonderful list. This should so be forcibly read to all newbies in the fandom. :D
calapine: Oh, it is a marvellous thing that should be handed out to all people as they enter the World of Fandom...I know I'd've found it useful, yes, especially as it makes it all seem Slightly Less Scary.
andrastewhite: So, how do you get everyone to sign on with point 7?
Sadly, you don't. One of the things about fandom (and life) is that you can't modify the behaviour of others, only your own.
However, I do think that politeness sometimes encourages politeness in others. Even though trolls will always be with us.