All About Fandom

direct orders of "you really really need to kill this guy" ignored: 1

Chloé Zhao, who just won an Oscar for best director, writes fanfiction.

me, an elder fandom veteran, suddenly having anne rice flashbacks:

no.

NO.

starting to rock back and fourth.

you do not understand.

you were born into an age of peace. i was there Gandalf. i was there three thousand years ago. i remember the cease and desists. i remember authors hunting fanfic writers for sport. i remember when every fic opened with a disclaimer because we genuinely thought it might protect us.

we do not charge money for the copyrighted gay wizard stories.

do not tempt fate youngling.

step away from the paywall.

that is how you summon the ancient evils.

as a fanfic writer, no, I do not write for you. I write for me. I just post my stuff online for people to read, but that's an act of kindness, it's not "me trying to please you". if you like what I write and if you support me and are kind to me, then I appreciate you. from the bottom of my heart.

but if you don't like what I write, that is fine too. that just means my works are not for you (well, they are for me, the writer. I write for my own enjoyment first and foremost), you can quietly leave, find something else to read. or, better yet, write what you want to read yourself.

you are not fanfic writers' "customers". you read their works for free because they're kind enough to share their works for free. you're reading someone else's hobby. if you keep being rude and entitled to fanfic writers, one day you'll end up with no fics to read, and you'll have no one to blame but yourself.

also fanfic writers write whatever they want to read for themselves first and foremost. they didn’t write to please you, random stranger on the internet.

fanfic writers didn’t force you to read their works. they’re kind enough to let you in their house for free if you want to. if you don’t like how they decorate their own house, quietly leave instead of telling them things you want them to change about their own house to better suit your personal preferences and calling it “constructive criticism”.

if they specifically ask for one, then sure. give them that. but if they didn’t ask and if you don’t have anything nice to say, quietly leave.

“college is absolutely nothing like this” “why are we writing four people on the team scoring a hat trick in one game” “so tech work is nothing like this, hope that helps!”