#fandom tips

DO: tag the primary character and pairing (eg. clark kent, clark kent fanfic, clark kent x reader etc.)

DON'T: tag the actor/every other character in the media to boost your fics to people via the tags. people will find your fic if it's tagged properly.

DO: use a read more. there is nothing worse than having to scroll past a 15k post that wasn't put under a read more. here is a handy guide.

DON'T: tag blogs in your fics unless they have asked to be tagged or previously shown enthusiasm in a fic and you're posting a second/third part. even then, only do that if they have expressly shown interest and have asked to be tagged.

DO: use proper trigger warnings (eg. tw pedophile, tw kill, tw ed/tw eating disorder).

Hi anon! I don’t think this is a weird time, I think it’s always a good time to try and reach out or try something new! I love that you want to, this is lovely 🧡🧡🧡

I was a wallflower in various fandoms for a looooong time so I hear you. It is more fun (I think) to interact, though. And I get that it’s scary! New things always are. I think one thing to remember is it’s like anything else - when you’re learning a new thing you don’t hit a 100% success rate. You try stuff, see how it goes, see how it feels for you. I thought up some tips on the train today:

Try a couple different things — I think one nice thing about tumblr’s current silly UI is you do have multiple ways to interact. I feel like commenting under a post is pretty chill and low pressure, but maybe you don’t. So I’d say try a few things and see — comment under a post, reblog with your comments in the tags, reblog with actual comments in the post. I can honestly tell you that I ALWAYS read the comments people leave in tags and I love them so, so much. And yes, try sending DMs or non-anon asks! But check their profile first, they might have a note about DMs or asks there.

But what to say? I hear you. It doesn’t have to be long or intense. Try commenting on a fic or art or moodboard with something simple like LOVED IT or “this was great!” Same thing with the tags and reblog comments. You could send an ask that says the same thing or play along when someone is doing ask games. Even just leaving an emoji as a comment is great (I am an overuser of the eyes 👀 on wip Wednesday posts but I am LOOKING). I often stream of consciousness my fic replies and that works well for me, lol. Oh or just copy and paste a line you loved and then like emojis after or a scream, lol. Or a gif comment! On anything!

Don’t worry about over commenting on fic or art - I’ve seen this worry around tumblr, that people think they’re leaving spam comments? I don’t even know what that would mean, lol. I don’t care if 3 people in a row leave me a keyboard smash comment, I treasure every single one.

Interacting beyond fic and art comments - this is probably the next thing, right? It sounds like you want to have conversations with people! I think just sharing your thoughts is a great way to start. Like if someone shared a wip post, tell them how excited you are and what it makes you think about. Or if someone shares a new gifset or art tell them why you love it. Or for a poll, explain your vote! And for an ask game, ask about an answer or share when you would pick the same thing.

Don’t get discouraged if you don’t get a response every time — this is a hard one, I know. But people aren’t on tumblr all the time, and plenty of other reasons! That’s why I’m suggesting trying more than one thing, and also keep it up! It gets easier with practice and once you start you’ll find new ways to interact, too. But not everyone clicks and that’s just the truth. There are oodles of people in this fandom though, you know?

I totally get that interacting is daunting. But you don’t have to do everything at once. Just try things out and give yourself permission to have feelings about it. Remember you can choose how you respond, too! And putting a bit of info in your own blog header can make it easier to connect, for the people who want to reply to you. (what you’d like to be called, etc.)

I definitely made friends here by just becoming one of their steady commenters, or people who commented a lot on my posts. You get to know each other! Which is very fun.

I hope this gives you some courage! Be kind to yourself! And please feel free to send me more messages, any time. 🧡

https://fanlore.org/wiki/List_of_Rick_Riordan_Challenges

the riordanverse categories and pages are absolutely nowhere near done, i have so many bookmarks, but ive got MOST of the challenges ive found covered at least partly (im missing a few possibly)

You don't have to do ALL the prompts. If you do, great!! If you only do one, that's still great!!! There's no pressure to do every single one of them; do whichever ones you like, or whichever ones you can, or etc.

The prompts are just GUIDELINES, not strict rules. The prompt can have as much or as little to do with your piece as you like. Maybe it's the star of the show; the central element! Or maybe it's like a pinch of salt dusted on top of a delicious meal. It's up to you. The prompts are just there to get your creative juices flowing, they're not there to restrict you.

You can merge prompts if you want. You can take two or three or however many you like, and feature them all in the same piece. They're just inspiration, and if two of them together is what inspires you, then that's fantastic.

There are two main purposes in a fandom event. #1: to inspire a swathe of new fanworks in that fandom. #2: to have fun. Fandoms are a community and fandom events are like street fairs. You're supposed to have a good time. If the fandom event is stressing you out, take a breather, and remember that we're all here to have fun.

Now, I haven't written this for any one specific fandom. But every fandom event I've been involved with has been delighted with every piece of work that every participant made, whether it was big or small, whether they did all the prompts or just one, whether they used the prompt as the primary element of the work or just as loose inspiration, etc.

I've seen several people say things like "oh, I couldn't possibly participate in this event because I don't have time to commit to all the prompts," and I'm here to tell you: you don't have to!!! Don't let yourself miss out on the fun of a fandom event just because you're keeping yourself beholden to rules that don't actually exist. If all you end up creating for the event is a single 100-word drabble, well, that's a little drabble that people got to read and enjoy that they wouldn't have if you hadn't shared it, and people enjoying new famworks is the point of fandom events.

This isn't about any one specific fandom, by the way, or any specific event. And maybe there are fandom events that are more strict about adhering closely to the prompt or completing all of them, or whatever -- but in my experience, if an event has any rules other than "create some fanworks and have a fun time," then they'll tell you that. They'll spell out any rules that are important for you to follow.

And if they don't tell you any specific rules, you can safely assume that you can participate in the event without having to worry about doing every single challenge, or sticking closely to the prompts, or etc.

All fandom events I've ever been in have just been delighted to have your participation at any level in any capacity.

this is a really interesting question that i'm not even sure i can answer properly, but i will try my best! as a disclaimer, i'm most definitely not an authority on this subject, no matter how many source blogs i may run now or have run in the past, but i'll just try to describe my process creating & running a source blog. for reference for which source blogs i currently run, they are: @xmenuniverse, @batfamilycentral, @opla, @falloutprime & @ringsofpowerdaily (it's a lot, i know).

- setting the blog

now when i set the blog up, i always pick a costume theme (you may notice i used the same for several of my blogs bc it's easy & it works well with what i want). i try to personalize it as best as i can with header, icon, etc (same for the mobile theme) + create some standard pages: about, navigation, affiliates.

- launching the blog + intro post

when i'm ready to officially launch a new source blog (& after i make sure my posts will show up in the tags! i always do a little test 1st!), i post a little intro post, where i welcome ppl to the blog, explain what it is about, what tags i will be tracking if ppl want to tag me in their edits, etc. here's a reference. you can tag this post with the general fandom tags, edit tags + potential fandom related source blogs that can give you a boost. this helps introducing the blog to new ppl & gain a few followers hopefully.

- editing + creating a following

honestly this is self explanatory. the best way to gain followers is to post in the tags. for fandom blogs it's best achieved through making edits: gifsets, graphics, etc. be sure to always use the fandom edit tags + search up other source blogs related to the fandom that you may be able to tag.

- taking requests

something that i do often is ask for requests, particularly when starting a blog. it helps to engage with ppl & give you ideas if you are struggling with what to edit. this is, however, 100% optional.

- running the blog: tracked tags

now i create source blogs with one main reason in mind: to help boost the work of other fandom creators + create an archive of their work. this means that i try to reblog as many of ppl's original creations as i possible can & to do this there's always a few tags that i track & check out regularly. this is basically up to you + the free time you have. generally i track at least the blog's tag (tends to be your url or something similar) + edit & fanart tags, but you can also check general fandom tags, tho it's a lot more work. personally i play it by ear, depending on my needs.

- running the blog: setting up a queue

my goal when running a source blog is to be able to keep it updating regularly for as long as possible, so i always send posts to the queue, instead of reblogging them all right away. it also helps with not spamming your followers. something that i do do is try to prioritize edits or art in which my blog is personally tagged. this means i tend to manually go into the queue & send those post to the beginning of it if i can. this is only achievable if i'm only tagged in a few edits once in a while tho, otherwise it gets too overwhelming. for example, i simply can't do this with @ringsofpowerdaily, bc i'm tagged in far too many posts.

- running the blog: fanart

honestly this is ultimately completely optional (as is every tip in this post), but i always try to include fanart as a part of what i reblog if i can. this is not always common place with source blogs, which often tend to prioritize gifs & graphic edits, but like i mentioned, i want to help boost fandom creators to the best of my ability & fanartists are a huge backbone of fandom. tbh some of my blogs run almost exclusively on fanart (@xmenuniverse, @batfamilycentral & @opla during the hiatus) & i wouldn't be able to have them post regularly if it wasn't for it.

the problem with fanart is that it is sometimes hard to track down. ppl are not as conditioned to using a fanart tag as they are an edit tag, so the fandom fanart tags may be pretty bare & it may required you to search through the general fandom tags instead. this is up to you & completely optional & i only do it for certain blogs & depending on necessity.

- getting help

tho i currently run all my blogs alone, it's not uncommon & i've done so in the past, to have multiple members in a source blog. they may be either promoted to admin or just a regular member, but if you need help posting more original edits regularly & setting the queue up, etc, it can be helpful to have more members. you can either ask a friend you can trust or set up an application form for new members. always remember tho that once you upgrade someone to admin, you can no longer make them leave the blog if you want & they have full range to make changes on it, so only do so for ppl you feel you can trust!

- affiliates

this is not terribly important all things considered, but as part of the costume theme i use, there's always a little place for affiliates. this is nothing more than ppl you can link to on your blog & they will do so in theirs, to help promote your blogs to each other's followers. don't be afraid to apply your blog as an affiliate to other source blogs, if they have the option. the max i've got was not getting an answer, which generally means it was not accepted.

- keeping the source blog a neutral place

now this is something i personally consider incredibly important when running my source blogs: i always try to keep my personal opinions off the blog, unless it's something that i consider actually harmful. i won't post if i like or dislike something, i will do my best to reblog edits/fanart of characters, ships or media of all kind, including those i may not be a fan of. it's important to me that my blog is a welcoming place to all members of the fandom.

- tagging system

i think one of the most important things about running a source blog or any blog working as an archive is to have a functioning tagging system. this can be as simple or as detailed as you like. my tagging varies depending on the blog & the fandom. for example: @xmenuniverse & @batfamilycentral are dedictated to comics & its varied adaptations, so not only do i tag by character, post type (#gif, #graphic, #video, #still, #picspam, etc), i also tag the media type (#comic, #tv, #movie, #vg, #animated) & i try to tag each comic, movie, tv series (for example: #c: batman, #m: batman returns, etc).

for blogs like @opla, @falloutprime & @ringsofpowerdaily, since they are only dedictated to a specific tv series, my tagging system is different. i tag characters, by season (#s1, #s2, etc), by episode if possible (#1.01, #1.02), as well as post type & whether it's an edit of the show itself (#tv), the cast (#cast) or fanart (#art).

- self care

last, but most definitely not least, it is important you put yourself 1st when running a blog, ANY blog. source blogs can be a lot of work, & unfortunately sometimes ppl don't value it as much as they should. it's okay if you can't make new edits all the time, it's okay if you can't check the tags today or if you have to take a break or that request is taking too long. ppl will have to understand.

Liking things is vulnerable, you gotta open yourself up or you just seem like a coward who can dish it out but can't take it

If all of your ire comes exclusively from hatereading and hatewatching stuff you know you won't like, it seems like maybe the problem is you