#reading meta

I’ve been active in fandom for many years and I thought I’d seen it all. But I was wrong. I couldn’t even have conceived of some of the things I’ve seen lately. I had to take a step back and reassess how I wanted to interact with fandom and the Gotham/Nygmob fandom in particular.

I’ve had a few conversations about fandom culture with people in the last few days and it’s reawakened my desire to seek out fandom meta and explore what fandom means to me. I may not post much or create original content at this time but fandom culture, and how I interact with it, is very important to me. It’s given me life long friends and sense of community that are precious to me. But what I see in the Gotham fandom is not the fandom community as I came up in it. But it isn’t just the Gotham fandom. The atmosphere of fandom itself seems to have changed and that's something I need to learn how to reconcile if I plan to continue in fannish activities.

With that in mind, I plan to start posting & reblogging fandom meta with an eye towards what I think are insightful essays and perhaps some humorous Fandom Grandma moments. Mostly as a way to reconnect with the fannish community as a whole and perhaps share in some of my fandom histories. Reminiscing, I pulled up old photos of my friends from previous fandoms, people I'm still friends with today. I would never have met them if not for fandom. I want to talk about them and the experiences we had together that shaped who I am today. Because that's what fandom means to me.

Community. Shared Experience. Friendship.

Yes, I can totally read fanfic while writing - well, not at the same TIME as I’m writing, but you get my meaning. *g*  I’ve never had any problem reading the same fandom or pairings while I’m actively working on a story.  Which is a good thing, because I’m always in the middle of writing on about 4 or 5 different stories, and if I couldn’t read fanfic while writing, I’d never get to read anything.

Now, that being said, there ARE some authors and/or fics that I will bookmark and save to read as a treat for myself when I’m done with a particular fic or scene or for when I have more time to devote to it.  And I also try to pay attention to what I’m reading to make sure that it doesn’t too closely resemble what I’m actively working on.  Like, for instance, when I was All Mixed Up , I didn’t read any Stucky coffeeshop AUs until I was finished and had posted.

ah i think that’s a pretty good response! tho w/how you are usually so vocal about writers as not god and distrust of authors against fanfic, i guess i was surprised to see such mild wording as ‘vaguely problematic’ (but i get being careful, too)

for some reason i was remembering how ursula le guin's hands were tied when they whitewashed her characters for the earthsea movie even after they promised she'd have a lot of executive power, and that they'd listen to her, and then how they didn't?? so in a case like that the audience is wrongfully interacting with the canon in that case and the author should be able to say hey no you don't get to do this, you know?

sometimes i get super vocal and forget about the other side it's something i'm trying to address i guess. 

of course maybe vaguely problematic isn't the way to do it.