Zoe324 Writes

like— think for a second about how mind-bogglingly incredible it is that we know who osiris is? that somebody just made him up one day, and told stories about him to their kids, and literally thousands and thousands of years later we are still able to go “there was a god whose brother cut him into pieces”, it’s so arbitrary, it’s so incredible

that in talking about scheherazade and her husband, you are doing something that someone in every single generation has done since it was written— you are telling stories that have lasted an impossible amount of time 

can you conceive of telling a story, and then traveling into the future and hearing that same story told— with alterations, and through media that you could not possibly conceive of, but your story— in the year 3214?

the fact that we! as a species! have been telling the same damn stories for so long— the fact that we’ve seen homer’s troy and chaucer’s troy and shakespeare’s troy and troy with fucking brad pitt because we never fucking stop telling stories! never ever ever!

we never stop caring about stories, or returning to the same stories, or putting our own spins on stories. we never stop talking about the characters as if they were real, or asking what happened next, or asking to hear it again.

Star Trek fandom basically created the idea of fan fiction, but Sherlock fandom nagged the writer to bring Sherlock back from the dead so the series didn’t end.

Star Trek is generally considered the first western tv/film fandom. (The Man from UNCLE had a fandom slightly before then, but it didn’t persist or make a huge splash like Star Trek did).

Sherlock Holmes is generally considered the first western modern fandom in the sense that it’s the first piece of media to have a fandom amidst modern ideas of copyright. (There are other fandoms that came a bit earlier, especially with the serialized publication of novels, but, again, they didn’t persist or make a huge splash like Sherlock Holmes did.)

As many other people have pointed out in response to this post, fandom (aka participatory culture) has been a thing basically forever, both in terms of writing fanfiction (though it wasn’t called that) and in terms of having Feels and Opinions about stories and sharing them with the creators.

Modern notions of fandom are generally characterized by our concept of intellectual property ownership and the methods of media distribution, both of which create a divide between producers and fans that makes each identity more discrete.

But those posts never talk about what you, as a reader, get out of it. So here are my entirely selfish reasons that you should engage with fanfic (writers) that you love:

1. Free, quality content on your blog in the time it takes to smash reblog.

2. It’s good for you: people who “practice gratitude consistently report” higher levels of happiness, lower blood pressure, feel less lonely and other good shit.(x)

3. It’s not just writers who read those comments and reviews, you might find yourself a flail buddy. It just feels good to say “this is the BEST” and have someone else say, “I know, right?!”

4. The actual author might respond to your comments, follow you, start chatting to you or publicly thank you for encouraging them to write more.

5. If you start putting out fic rec lists, people might come to you asking for more recommendations. Who doesn’t like to feel like their thoughts and opinions matter?

6. Get so inspired you have to make art for a fic? Writers looove that - you could find they say thanks, share your art, use it as their header (on their blog or fic - seeing your picset at the top of a fic you love is just jandjdjbdudndj) or write you a fic.

7. And, of course, you’ll make a writer happy. And happy writers write more fic. Even if they never, ever engage with you, just knowing you’re there reading and caring means you get more fic to read.

8. All the ways we have of showing writers some love makes you a part of something. Fandom can be weird and wonderful, and at times utterly mental. But being in the club feels pretty damn great.

Star Trek fandom basically created the idea of fan fiction, but Sherlock fandom nagged the writer to bring Sherlock back from the dead so the series didn’t end.

Star Trek is generally considered the first western tv/film fandom. (The Man from UNCLE had a fandom slightly before then, but it didn’t persist or make a huge splash like Star Trek did).

Sherlock Holmes is generally considered the first western modern fandom in the sense that it’s the first piece of media to have a fandom amidst modern ideas of copyright. (There are other fandoms that came a bit earlier, especially with the serialized publication of novels, but, again, they didn’t persist or make a huge splash like Sherlock Holmes did.)

As many other people have pointed out in response to this post, fandom (aka participatory culture) has been a thing basically forever, both in terms of writing fanfiction (though it wasn’t called that) and in terms of having Feels and Opinions about stories and sharing them with the creators.

Modern notions of fandom are generally characterized by our concept of intellectual property ownership and the methods of media distribution, both of which create a divide between producers and fans that makes each identity more discrete.

Is when you think you’ve written 1,500 words of garbage.

and then you go back a few days later and realize it’s actually some pretty presentable garbage. 

Mixing tenses

Losing focus

Doubting myself as a writer and a human being