Snowflake Challenge - Day 12

[wyntir_knight]

Day 12

In your own space, talk about what you bring to fandom. It can be something tangible, or not. Leave a comment in this post saying you did it. Include a link to your post if you feel comfortable doing so.

What do I bring to the fandom ... this is a very hard question because my gut reaction is to say "not a lot". I look at the other responses on Dreamwidth and I see people who devote their time to writing for charity, to answering people's fic requests, to running communities and challenges ... These are the people who bring something to the fandom, because these are the people who are bringing the fans together and helping us find each other.

So it'd be really easy to respond that I just write the occasional fanfic that a handful of people read and leave it at that, but that's not true and that's not fair, and that's the road to depression. I mean, yes, I'm not really that prolific but people seem to like the dark little stories that I write and if these stories bring entertainment to those readers? Then that's a good thing that I'm bringing to the fandom.

I am also trying to force myself to write responses to other people's works. I leave kudoes on AO3, but I know that responses are what people want to see (certainly I know that that's what I love getting). I just tend to feel a little awkward giving the standard: "This was good" and "I liked this" responses, but at the same time, sometimes I just can't quite put into words why I liked a story so I put off providing that response until I can think of something right to say. ... but those responses are coming. So I also bring that to the fandom.

Comments

[akamine_chan]

Part of purpose of these kinds of challenges is for people to examine their responses to praise, or self-promotion...

I have legitimately left comments like "eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee" or "*flails*" - it's not what you say, it's the fact that you're saying something. Some people can elaborate on why they like something, some can't. It's not a requirement.

[wyntir-knight.livejournal.com]

Call me gun-shy. While I would love to receive comments like that, I tend not to give them, and I get why others tend not to as well. It only takes one or two writers biting your head off to make you stop reviewing all together. I'm in the process of getting over that shyness and nervousness.