Addled Mongoose

The opening chapter of The Miracle is live. Quoting its end note:

fanfic writers deserve to be able to do things that will land them on the news without any consequences at least once a month, because imagine being kind enough to let people read your works—that you write for yourself and your own enjoyment—for free (also see my em dash that I refuse to let ai take from me?) and then some entitled asshole thinks they can just say whatever they want.

nobody “talks like chatgpt”. chatgpt talks like human, because it was trained on how human talked and it was trained to mimic how human wrote.

public bookmarks are public. I am begging more people to realize and remember this. anybody, including the writers, can see the comments you leave on your public bookmarks.

Fey: Very well. When you return home tonight, your mother will be in pristine health again. It will be like she never fell ill at all. Even the memory of her suffering will fade…

Human: Thank you so much. She means everything to me.

Fey: I know, I know. Let’s hope the price wasn’t too much for you after all… Only time will tell.

Human: So, when do we start?

Fey: …If I may ask you to elaborate?

Human: You said you wanted my firstborn.

Fey: Yes? And you agreed?

Human: Yeah, so, when do we start?

Fey:

oooh very interesting. i do have a lot of thoughts on this!

first of all, spite is a great motivator to start creating. in fact, it’s how i myself got started in fandom, after bbc sherlock s4 aired, and i went from mostly lurker to very active blog and creator. (just when the fandom was on fire, yes)

and just like the sherlock fandom, the good omens fandom is way older than the tv show. this will not become a ghost town, ever.

i won’t lie to you, though: the fandom will change, inevitably, and in fact, it already has. after good omens s1 the fandom was massive, the biggest fics from those days have more than 40k kudos. post s2 there was controversy, and a fandom split, less engagement on posts and fics. after the neil gaiman allegations came out, a lot of people got angry, disappointed, moved on, etc. now after s3 it will again change: people will move elsewhere, others will double down, some people will join anew.

in truth: your fic will not get as much attention as a s1 or probably even a s2 era fic might have received. i will say in favour of the good omens fandom that it has an excellent commenting culture: readers tend to leave comments more than in other fandoms, which is absolutely lovely.

as a beginner in fandom though, this will likely be an uphill battle, it’s something that will need to grow, though i do know some people are desperately refreshing ao3 for good omens 3 fixits every day. and if you make a blog and write your fic, feel free to tag me in your post about it (for example in the comments) and i’ll give it a reblog.

now here we arrive at the core of it: fandom as a catalyst for creative self expression. you feel that urge to write, to seek justice for your blorbos, to become active in fandom. if nothing else, giving in to that urge will lift you up, inspire you, and help you grow in so many unexpected ways.

when i think back on my bbc sherlock days and look at where i am now, my life has forever changed. i know that if i hadn’t made that jump, there are so many crucial people i would not have met, so many skills i would not have developed or acquired (writing, amv making), big life events that wouldn’t have happened, community i would not have felt,… i would not be who i am, be where i was, if it weren’t for fandom.

In 2021, Swarovski (the company that makes the very sparkly crystals you see in certain jewelry, on figure-skaters' twinkliest outfits, on red carpet dresses), decided they didn't want the grubby fingers of small-time jewelers, clothing designers and costumers and crafters on their shiny beads and rhinestones anymore. They decided to limit their sales to "luxury" and couture creators, not girls who sell stuff on Etsy. The tenor of their press release on the subject was snide and insulting. Resellers (like your favorite bead shop) would no longer be allowed to carry their product; the average Jane on the street would not be able to purchase them. You could only get them if you had an authorized business agreement that bound you to very strict brand behavior. And those of us who still had good stock of the crystals would no longer be "permitted" to use the brand's name in our listings for sale.

Every bead shop and craft supply place and many, many small clothing makers--wedding shops, prom and dancing dress suppliers, the sort of salt of the Earth mom and pop time machines of shops that are the backbone of the field--scrambled to find something that could replace them. The last of the stock dwindled quickly, all of us grabbing what we could get while there was any chance of it, and then it was gone and we no longer had any access.

I was Big Pissed about it at the time. It was just so goddamn stuck-up, when wholesalers and indie jewelers had made them so much money, when some people I knew--when *I!*--had been brand-loyal for decades. But with no recourse, everyone pivoted fairly quickly, most of us to Preciosa Crystals. Those are Czech, quite sparkly, and considerably less expensive than Swarovski. The faceting method they use is different, but not worse; any differences are hardly noticeable when you're seeing them as a hundred pinpoints of light.

Well, out of nowhere, Swarovski just dropped this: https://www.harmanbeads.com/swarovski-brand-policy-update

"Effective June 1, 2026, Swarovski updated the distribution and brand usage policies introduced in 2021. Businesses may now purchase Swarovski Crystals without signing a Brand Control Agreement, and Authorized Distribution Partners may once again sell Swarovski Crystals to resellers, including bead stores and online retailers. Businesses may also use the Swarovski brand name when following Swarovski’s Proper Use Guidelines. Designers, manufacturers, artists, brands, retailers, and resellers are now eligible to purchase Swarovski Crystals through authorized distribution channels."

They want us back. A lot of the companies who could have kept a brand relationship with them also have swapped to Preciosa, over the last half-decade, in solidarity with indie creators and out of a sour awareness that it could be them, next. And it doesn't hurt that Preciosa was able to expand their line quite a bit now that everyone who wanted sparkle had no choice but to go to them.

And I'm not seeing nearly anyone who intends to return. The feeling is, "Y'all told us to fuck off! Off we fucked! And now, that's what you can do, too!" I'm seeing a lot of "How many of us did you stab in the back?" comments from the people whose money they're hoping to attract.

Because that's the devil talking and you'll fall in love with it and all its wonderful details all over again and want to put it into a shoebox and nurse it back to life like some kind of baby bird with a broken wing.

(this came out of a conversation in the comments on a previous post about an author threatening to stop updating a fic because of lack of engagement)

So there’s this idea that fic writers should write for themselves and not care too much about stats or engagement,

and i totally get the sentiment behind that. if writing becomes entirely about stats and external validation, something important does get lost - creative freedom and joy, conviction in your own writing

but i also think:

“i write for myself, but i post for others.”

because posting fic is not only self-expression. it’s social. ao3 is called an archive, but emotionally it often functions as a community space.

people post for connection, for participation, for others to bear witness to their pain and trauma and grief,

and i don’t think most people are asking to be admired so much as acknowledged. there’s something deeply human about wanting another person to encounter something that mattered to you and go:

“ok, yeah, I see what you were trying to say. I see you.”

especially because fanfic is often people processing very real feelings through fictional characters at a safe distance, one step removed,

and then uploading that deeply personal thing into a shared archive and hoping somebody else might connect with it.

And i think that’s why it hurts so much when you summon up the courage and post a fic into the void and you get nothing back,

and then it’s like,

Anti-blackness in the indie scene is a serious issue and we should always call it out even if it seems like a "nothing-burger," but at the same time you should always uplift and support black indie creators regardless. Solely bringing them up when some popular indie creator gets called out for racism will only lead them to being forgotten when the controversy dims down and everyone moves on to something else.