Fuck That Shit I'm Out, Tumblr Edition

[rynling]

I'm leaving Tumblr for a few weeks because almost none of my mutuals left "likes" on my fic for the Zelgan Big Bang. I know this is a classic fan tantrum scenario, but bear with me.

It's like, Remember those ten months you spent getting to know people, exchanging asks and reblogs with them, leaving tons of likes and kudos and comments on their work, supporting them in their personal lives and responding to their rambling headcanons via long chains of private messages... And then they wouldn't even touch their fingers to the screens of their phones for a fraction of section to "like" a novella you wrote that was almost tailor-made to their interests?

I'm generally not a bitter person, and I tend to get over things quickly, but I very much want to remember the way I'm feeling right now – the sheer sense of incredulous "what the fuck, guys." I had big dreams about doing cool things with the people I met through fandom, so it's important to remind myself that they're not real friends, and that I would be better served by directing my creative energy elsewhere. Basically, I need to re-establish a sense of perspective.

In the meantime, I've been having some really good experiences with commissioning artists. When gift economies fail, there is always capitalism to fall back on.

Comments

[rynling]

At MAGFest this past weekend, I sat down with three writer/editor friends, one of whom is male and two of whom are female. Somehow the topic of fanfic came up, and the dude, who vastly outranks all of us and has (probably) never written fic in his life, was like, "I think fan fiction is a great way for young female creative types to find a supportive community." Us three ladies just sort of looked at each other and shook our heads.

Personally, I feel that getting paid for your work is hugely important. Even if no one reads it, you still got paid, and you can still use the publishing credit as leverage. I also think the experience of working with a professional editor is invaluable, even if that editor sucks at their job.

It seems that a lot of people (especially in academia? for some reason??) tend to write about fandom communities as if they're some sort of beautiful and transformative cultural force, but to my knowledge no one has really written about why so many people "grow out" of fandom. Thank you for all your comments and reflections on Tumblr fandom - it's good to know that I'm not alone.