Talkin' Fanfic: poetdameron react, Ego, and the ”Citizen Writer”

Podcast Episode
Talkin' Fanfic
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Episode Title:	poetdameron react, Ego, and the ”Citizen Writer”
Length:	30:29
Featured:	Storyshark2005
Date:	July 11, 2020
Focus:	Fandom and writing
Fandom:	Cobra Kai
External Links:	Episode at Podbean
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Talkin' Fanfic: poetdameron react, Ego, and the ”Citizen Writer” is a podcast episode by Storyshark2005, where she discusses her reactions to a fanfic by poetdameron on AO3; introspection and self-reflection on ego, self-esteem, and confidence as a writer, and what it means to be a part of a fandom and how people can contribute to a growing fandom.

Sara explains how blown away she was by poetdameron's "for the small weird loves." and realizes she's not nearly as good as she thought she was, and explains her shattered writer's ego resulting from this lovely work. She also talks about something she calls, "the Citizen Writer."

For others in the series, see Talkin' Fanfic.

Introduction

Honestly, I'm recording right now just because I feel like I want to talk and kind of need to exercise some feelings. This is going to be just me quickly talking about a fanfic that I read last night that kind of knocked me over if you're a Lawrusso fan you probably know which one I'm talking about.

Links

• Episode: 1: Intro and ”Defiantly Amateur”
• Promotional post on Tumblr
• Fanwork discussed: "for the small weird loves." by poetdameron

Topics Discussed

• poetdameron's fanwork, "for the small weird loves" and Sara's reaction to it and the impact it had on her.
• The growing Cobra Kai fandom and how fans can support the growing fanbase and support each other.

Excerpts

Storyshark2005: Also, just if you're not a Lawrusso fan, I apologise, this podcast is going to be a lot heavier on the relationship between Daniel and Johnny... Which the show is, too, but Lawrusso is obviously the romantic relationship between Daniel and Johnny. So, if you're not into that, this might not be the the podcast for you, honestly, but I hope you can get some other things out of it.

But anyway, that's what this fic is. It's a 40,000 word one shot. I know that Kira had kind of put up a survey on Twitter and she was worried that it was going to be too long for a one shot or that people wouldn't read it. And she does actually kind of split this up into sections, but I'm really glad she left it in one because I think it's meant to be left in one.

So, basically, I saw that she posted yesterday, during the afternoon on a Friday and I thought 'I'll just take my lunch break and check it out'. And I just basically was glued to my chair for the next four hours just totally sucked in and entranced.

Storyshark2005: She's worked so hard to make this unifying effect, which is that these memories keep coming in throughout the story and you don't understand them until they actually are recounted later.

But the overall effect is, like, I mean, your memory for most of us is like, you know, the way that you experience life is not totally linear. You're always remembering regrets, or people that you've lost, or happier times or whatever and all these memories. It's like you're going straight forward through life but your head is not always with you chronologically.

It's always just a mess up there and you're always going back and forth, and back and forth, and back and forth. The story is really beautiful and the content and the form work together to give you this disoriented, messy, gorgeous piece of art. The beginning of the end of the end of the beginning and it's just really beautiful.

Storyshark2005: There's some authors that are wonderful, that... Every time I leave a comment on lostmagician's stuff, she replies and it's just nice, you know? It's just polite. It's like talking to your neighbours. It's just nice. It feels neighbourly.

Otherwise, you're just going around like leaving flowers on people's doorsteps and nobody says thank you and I don't... I know you shouldn't, in a way I feel like you shouldn't feel obligated to, but you know, it doesn't take any time. And it just builds relationships. It makes people feel good.

You know, someone took the time to read your work. And yes, you put the time into write it. So, they're sort of thanking you for writing it. They not only read it, they took the time to write down what they liked. And that's... that's really something and it's important to you and it makes you feel good. So, why not reply? If you're an author out there and you're not typically replying to comments, I highly encourage you to and if you're a writer out there, that's not making any comments on anyone else's work. I really encourage you to do that.