question about "being a fan"

[hairy-flower.livejournal.com]

I don´t know if it´s okay to ask such a general question here. If anyone find it improper, feel free to let me know ;)
I was just wondering: what do your friends/family say about you "being a fan"? I mean especialy if you´re reading or writing fanfictions?
I was writing fictions long before I had the PC, long before I knew something as "fanfictions" exist. Then I discovered the fanfiction.net and the and whole new world with it. Though I wasn´t able to tell it anyone until like... six months ago.
What about you?
In the society I live in the fanfiction and its writers are something like exotic animals. People think they are weird and it´s something everyone laughs at. If you´re a writer, you usualy don´t talk about it, we usualy don´t know about each other(u should see my surprise when I discovered my former schoolmate reads fanfictions too! :D).
I was wondering about your experience. What about your parents, friends, partners?



(Lately I realised I became something I call ,,hidden slasher". I was always avoiding slash and I am still pretending I do, but... I don´t. In fact I am big H/R shipper! And there is only one person from my surrounding who knows about this! Being a fanfiction-writer is like ,,Uh... she´s a weirdo, don´t touch her.", but being a slasher is ,,OMG! DON´T LOOK AT HER OR SHE´LL BURN YOUR RETINAE!")

Comments

[arkadelos.livejournal.com]

You are a fan if you enjoy watching a show and miss watching the show. Discussing the series, writing fanfictions, etc., is fandom participation. There is a difference between simply being a fan and participating in the fandom. Overall, fandom is a entirely new social experience. Fandoms did not exist like they do today in our parents' or grandparents' time growing up.

[hairy-flower.livejournal.com]

Thanx. That´s exactly what I meant.
English is not my native language(as you surely noticed from that text), I didn´t even know that word... That "fandom participation" is what I had on my mind :)

[arkadelos.livejournal.com]

Actually, your English is really good! You're very fluent at it. ^_^

[bookgodess15.livejournal.com]

Lots of people are "fans". Some of them just watch the show, some of them just stalk MGG, some of them lurk on LJ and shake their heads at all the silly obsessed people, and some of them devote hours and hours and hours of their life to contributing to the fandom.

Fandoms are not a new thing, but the way they exist today is something that has been brought on by the internet, and they are--in my opinion--slowing becoming more mainstream. It used to be that fandom was something for really, really weird people (ie, Trekkies), and there were things called FanZines that would be full of fanfiction, and you had to subscribe... Now, with the internet, it's becoming less freakish. Most people that I know (I'm eighteen, granted, so I'm limited to people of my own age) have heard of it and think it's anywhere from "cool" to "kinda creepy". Much as it pains me say this, the anime and Twilight crazes have helped bring a lot of people into fandom. I know of lots of writers who are out of the proverbial closet, and people think it's neat.

I, personally, am in the closet. I got into fandom when I was eleven, and I was open about it then, but by the time I was thirteen was calling it my "weird phase" and insisting that I was "more normal, now". Then I got into slash when I was fourteen, and in my area, homosexuality is not something that exists. It just doesn't. Period. So there was no way I was coming out.

I always thought that fanfiction was something I would grow out of, like a phase, but I haven't. I'm in college, now, and I don't participate as much I did in high school (the amount of free time that I had during high school was absolutely ridiculous, but I still keep up with it. It's my indulgence.

Anyway. This probably belongs more on my journal more than it does on this thread, but... *shrug* You know what? Be ballsier than I am. Be a slasher, be proud of it.

[breathefor-me.livejournal.com]

I don't personally write fanficion but I do read it and only one other person (my best friend) knows that I do. She too is on livejournal and reads/writes it herself.
I feel that I would never tell anyone who isn't themselves part of a fandom. Where I live I'm not sure many people know about it so I think that they wouldn't understand the appeal/point of fanfiction.
I especially wouldn't mention that I love to read slash because I feel that most of the people I know would find it weird/creepy. A lot of people think that fanfiction (especially slash) is just weird, obsessive people writing porn.

[bookgodess15.livejournal.com]

weird, obsessive people writing porn

I think this is truer than any of us are willing to admit. *g*

[breathefor-me.livejournal.com]

lol too true..

[hairy-flower.livejournal.com]

"I always thought that fanfiction was something I would grow out of, like a phase."

Yeah! That´s exactly what I thought! :D Now I doubt I´ll ever grow out of it... :D

[silver_sun]

Some people know I'm a fan, in the watch the shows, talk about the latest episode sense. A few I'll talk more about it with, spoilers, plot continuity, how certain sci-fi concepts work - including my brother.

There are only a couple of people that I know in real life who know that I read and write fanfic though. I've not written in the CM fandom yet, although I do read CM fic. I probably wouldn't tell anybody what I write as I can't see them being very accepting of it - I mainly write slash, which varies from plotty long fics with very little sex to shorter D/s and kink fics.

[nostalgia788.livejournal.com]

Most of my friends think I'm just an obsessive freak that likes to write porn but they never actually take the time to read my fic, so they don't really know. It doesn't really bother me much, though. They're all just uncultured peasants.

[hairy-flower.livejournal.com]

I think it´s a pity so many people thinks that!
I remember me sitting with my new shoolmates in the pub. It was on the beggining of the semester, we got to new college where the writting is an important part and we were talking about our works, probbing each other carefully... and the guy beside me asked me what I am writting, what kind of texts. I told him that I am writting a lot of genres and he said: ,,My friend is writting these strange things... Like Harry Potter porn. You know? She takes two characters from the book and write a sex scene or something like that." and I was staring at him like ,,uh, that´s... interesting." For a moment I was realy conviced to say to him ,,I know, I am writting that too. Minus the sex." But then I changed my mind.
Why everyone thinks it´s only about sex?
There is a lot of talented writers among the fanfiction authors! Sometimes the fanmade texts are much better than original. I feel so sad when I read some realy realy good story and I´d love to share it with my friends and I know they would appreciate the formal side of it, but I can´t... Because I would have to admit it... :(

[midgetnazgul.livejournal.com]

I must admit, I find your confession jarring. Most of my friends are part of one fandom or another, so we all accept each others' weirdness when our fandoms don't cross over. I really enjoy reading fanfiction and sometimes write (but I often feel it isn't good enough so I don't post it), but it's considered a very normal thing to do amongst the people I spend the most time with.

That must be really hard to not be able to open up like that to anyone else. I mean, I'm sure other people find me and what I do to be strange (parents for example), but since I have a bunch of equally strange people for friends, I don't really think much about it.

If nothing else, we here can certainly provide your fandom fix! <3

[asatomuraki.livejournal.com]

Fandom is a new social phenomenon. My sister was writing fanfic when she was twelve, and there was no internet. For reals - it didn't *exist* when big sis started doing it. The internet just made it much easier for obsessed fans to find each other.

However, transformative works are not a new thing - it's been going on since proto humans first grunted out stories of their adventures hunting. I would not, however, advertise to my contemporaries in the PTA that I like reading (or occasionally writing) stories full of m/m kissyface. When I sold my first for-pay erotica (to an anthology of abduction/captivity stories), I couldn't tell anybody besides a few close friends in RL (and lots of fandom/internet friends). I lived in suburban Atlanta until a few months ago, a place where I have no doubt I'd have been fired as a reading mentor/tutor if it became known.

I could be selling them short, but I suspect if my avocation had become known, people would fear that I'd somehow manage to tell wee ones about sexual power exchange while coaching them through and American Girls novel.

So, yeah. There are definitely places where it's better for everyone if you don't broadcast that you write or read a socially unacceptable form of porn and/or fanfiction (romance novels (and sometimes urban fantasy) don't count). Some people don't get it.

I pity them, but I do it quietly. *smirk*

[enmuse.livejournal.com]

Didn't know about fanfiction (well, the non-published kind because I count the Star Wars, Star Trek, etc. novels as fanfic even though the authors are making money off of it) - wait, lost my track of thought. I didn't know about fanfic until roughly a decade ago.

Before that? I had written a lot (kind of funny considering I entered fandom on the web at age 12) - Redwall, Star Wars, and Tamora Pierce's Song of the LIoness series. I never got singled out there because if kids are going to make up stories and games, it's more often than now based on familiar characters and settings. =)

Even after I started writing fanfic, I shared it with people in my life. Hell, I shared my earliest fics with some of my teachers! I let my mom read things for years, actually. She was weirded out about me getting into slash, at first, and honestly I'm not quite sure why. Later on when I got into reading/writing The West Wing fic, I can understand - my fav pairing is Josh/Sam yet of course they are not a canon/official pairing of the show.

I continue to write fanfic and most of the people in my life know that. I talked about it much less to people in general while an undergrad since I worked at our school's Writing Center and as a creative writing major myself, it seemed odd to many people why I'd do that.

The only time I get negative reactions, really, is because of the bad rep ff.net has and the tween fanatics. (Example, the craze of Twilight fans puts people in a negative frame of mind regarding fans participating in fandom in general.)

Recently my mom was apparently thinking about Numb3rs while driving home from work (we'd been speeding through old seasons since we'd never watched before) and actually wondered aobut some "what ifs?" I laughed a little and told her that's exactly the motivation for fic writers. She agreed that it's definitely appealing in that sense.

Overall my family and friends are just happy for me because writing and hanging out in fandom makes me happy. I enjoy the feeling of accomplishment, of finding people who share my interest. And heck, the woman who was sort of like a second mother to me has long been involved in Star Trek fandom and actually is an editor of one of the major Spock/Kirk zines.

So, I've got support around. The slash aspect I'm much more quiet about. (For some reason the idea of me writing about fictional characters in homosexual characters makes some people more uncomfortable than me talking about my own sexuality, lol - this always amuses me.)

Wow. I rambled!

[hairy-flower.livejournal.com]

I was always thinking about ,,what if..." when I was watching movies or TV shows... and sometimes I took the paper and wrote it down. I told no one about it, I just felt I should do that. Then I got the PC when I went to high school and I discovered ff.net and found out that there are a lot of people doing the same thing.
Everyone knows about the parodies and novels and no one thinks it´s something strange. Why is it so hard to understand people who are writing fanfictions?

btw: I am a beginner when it comes to slash. I doubt I´ll ever got higher than PG-13. I have never got higher in het-fic eighter. I am not looking for "the action" but I like everything else around it. And with slash it´s like whole new scale of emotions. And that´s exactly what I am looking for in fictions: emotions ;)

(I am rambling too... :D)


P.S.: Funny thing is that my english improved like... 1000% after I started read the fictions. One school year I was A looser on the tail of the list of students and then I came back after the holidays and I was one of the bests. And everyone was like: ,,How did you do that?" and I: ,,Reading a lot...?" :D )
P.P.S.: I started at Matrix, then I went through a lot of fandom(mostly anime) and I have to say that Criminal Minds fandom is definitely the most friendly(love you, guys! :-*).

[curseangel.livejournal.com]

Actually, my family and friends are really cool about it - and most of them are fans of the show, too! I'm both a slasher and fic-writer, and while my family has never read my fic (god, I would never let them!), they do know I write it, and my 'shipping has been delicately mentioned, though I never say outright what my ships are to them.

My best friend is, well, my RP partner and co-writer for everything, and we both write and plot a lot for Criminal Minds - obviously there's no conflict there. :P

My aunt is the one who got me into Criminal Minds. She watches it all the time, and we love to discuss it. :D We share most of the same opinions. I still find it hilarious that, while I was worried about outright saying I think Reid could be gay or bi, she mentioned it to me! And when I suggested Hotch/Reid, she agreed with it! (Though we both agree that we don't want to see Reid in any pairing on screen at all, lol.) The only thing we really disagree with is that she isn't a fan of Prentiss, whereas I completely love her. It's completely awesome, and will be even moreso after the hiatus - I'm actually moving in with her around the same time the show comes back in January!

My mum only just got into the show, and she loves it so far (she's only seen s1 and part of s4). She even knows that I write for the show, and that I write primarily for Reid. Talking to her about the show can be seriously frustrating, though - she always gets hung up on technicalities, and we end up arguing... but that's true of everything, so... :P

...then again, my family has had to deal with my fandoms and fanfiction-writing and general squeeing fangirl tendencies since I was about ten years old, and I turn 23 in March, so I think they come to expect this sort of thing from me. xD

[http://users.livejournal.com/_nextboldmove_/]

I told my father about it last year (because he's a "real" writer) and he thinks its silly. Then I told him I read slash (even though I write it too). He still thinks I'm wasting my time. I haven't told anyone else I know IRL that I write. However, I was uploading on LJ one day when a friend came over and I pretended that I found the site...now she's an avid reader of my series and doesn't even know it's me ;)

[greenxwingedfae.livejournal.com]

Well, I don't talk about it with others since I don't like people to see what I write. I'm an English major so it's not strange if I'm writing stuff since that's kinda what we do. :)

As for the fanfiction side of it, I've told my family and they are cool with it-- as in they don't tell me to stop writing fics-- but I know they don't really understand it for the most part, for any fandoms I've been in.

As for me, I'm not a big slasher. I have my fave ships but I'm mostly het. But I don't judge tho. :)

[dragonladyk.livejournal.com]

Fandom is like Fight Club, IMO -- if they're not part of it they probably won't get it or won't approve, so it's best not to talk about it.

DragonLady