Fanfic and the Social Dynamics of Fandom
Nov. 13th, 2017 10:56 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
rynlingLast week someone posted a beautiful picture of Ganondorf and Link from Breath of the Wild that completely destroyed me. It's a cute picture, but it's really the social dynamics behind it that wrecked my heart.
This illustration was part an art trade between Promsien and S-Kinnaly, two artists known for drawing pictures of shirtless beefcake Ganondorf. S-Kinnaly is a fan of Figmentforms's Zelda comic A Tale of Two Rulers, and she occasionally draws fan art for the fanfic that people write about the comic. Meanwhile, Promsien is a big fan of Wind Waker Ganondorf, and I've commissioned her to draw Calamity Ganondorf as an illustration for one of my own stories, but that was the extent of our interaction. These two artists are now friends with each other, which is awesome, but I also sort of feel left out of the fandom network.
This wouldn't bother me if it were just an isolated occurrence, but it's only the most recent manifestation of a larger pattern. For example, a few weeks ago I noticed that an artist who goes by Gunnslaughter and occasionally draws pictures of sexy Ganondorf has become friends with Dibeediboop, who I commissioned to draw illustrations for The Modern History of Zelda (and who has since deleted her posts of those illustrations from her blog, to my dismay). So again, there are friendships forming around Zelda, but I'm left out of the fandom network.
I'm not criticizing the artists, and I'm not trying to suggest that they owe me something because I commissioned them, but it feels weird to be so totally left out of fandom because I'm a writer instead of an artist.
To give another example, Promsien just posted a picture of Human Bowser and Princess Peach in their wedding outfits from Super Mario Odyssey. Someone sent her a message asking if she had any fic recommendations for Human Bowser and Princess Peach, and she said that she doesn't read fic. This is infinitely frustrating to me, because fic about Human Bowser and Princess Peach is pretty much the one thing that I do, and this artist has worked with me before, and she knows that I exist, and yet...
Again, I'm not yelling at or hating on these artists, who are brilliant people doing fantastic work, but it's awful to feel like the work I do doesn't count. It's not even about whether or not my writing is good; rather, within Tumblr-based fandom communities, fanfic is considered to be so unworthy of attention that it might as well not exist. Essentially, I am garbage, and my writing is garbage, and nothing I do will ever amount to anything more than garbage. Fun times!
I mean, we all know that this is just how things are, but it hurts to be reminded of just how worthless my writing is, you know?
ETA: So like a boss I just asked the Human Bowser artist to reblog a fic summary post, and lo and behold she did. Sweet!
This illustration was part an art trade between Promsien and S-Kinnaly, two artists known for drawing pictures of shirtless beefcake Ganondorf. S-Kinnaly is a fan of Figmentforms's Zelda comic A Tale of Two Rulers, and she occasionally draws fan art for the fanfic that people write about the comic. Meanwhile, Promsien is a big fan of Wind Waker Ganondorf, and I've commissioned her to draw Calamity Ganondorf as an illustration for one of my own stories, but that was the extent of our interaction. These two artists are now friends with each other, which is awesome, but I also sort of feel left out of the fandom network.
This wouldn't bother me if it were just an isolated occurrence, but it's only the most recent manifestation of a larger pattern. For example, a few weeks ago I noticed that an artist who goes by Gunnslaughter and occasionally draws pictures of sexy Ganondorf has become friends with Dibeediboop, who I commissioned to draw illustrations for The Modern History of Zelda (and who has since deleted her posts of those illustrations from her blog, to my dismay). So again, there are friendships forming around Zelda, but I'm left out of the fandom network.
I'm not criticizing the artists, and I'm not trying to suggest that they owe me something because I commissioned them, but it feels weird to be so totally left out of fandom because I'm a writer instead of an artist.
To give another example, Promsien just posted a picture of Human Bowser and Princess Peach in their wedding outfits from Super Mario Odyssey. Someone sent her a message asking if she had any fic recommendations for Human Bowser and Princess Peach, and she said that she doesn't read fic. This is infinitely frustrating to me, because fic about Human Bowser and Princess Peach is pretty much the one thing that I do, and this artist has worked with me before, and she knows that I exist, and yet...
Again, I'm not yelling at or hating on these artists, who are brilliant people doing fantastic work, but it's awful to feel like the work I do doesn't count. It's not even about whether or not my writing is good; rather, within Tumblr-based fandom communities, fanfic is considered to be so unworthy of attention that it might as well not exist. Essentially, I am garbage, and my writing is garbage, and nothing I do will ever amount to anything more than garbage. Fun times!
I mean, we all know that this is just how things are, but it hurts to be reminded of just how worthless my writing is, you know?
ETA: So like a boss I just asked the Human Bowser artist to reblog a fic summary post, and lo and behold she did. Sweet!
