daily december - fandom and me

[topaz119]

What is it that allows a fandom to get its hooks into me? Why *this* fandom and not *that* fandom? What grabs me? (for pensnest)

You know, I wish I knew! I mean, I'll be innocently reading/watching something and wham! Something about it will make my heart sing and I'm gone. For example, Star Trek--I've watched all iterations of Trek over the years, but I've never really counted it as one of my fandoms until the 2009 reboot and I suddenly found myself wanting desperately to write it in it. And I really only wrote one story there, and then the second movie jossed it, but I still want to go back and write more in the world I made.

I like Once Upon A Time (it's one of the few TV shows I make time to watch) but I don't really have a driving need to write fic in it. I can't manage to keep up with Arrow, but I am dying to write Felicity and Oliver (if I can ever manage to slot into canon. Possibly I might try for it this summer.)

Popslash was so much fun, but Bandom never quite hit that happy place in my brain. I was writing Supernatural and Hawaii Five-0 within a couple of weeks of seeing my first show. On the other hand, I went and watched Mission Impossible 4 and enjoyed it, but it wasn't until I stumbled across some awesome prompts on ghotocol_kink that I suddenly found myself writing thousands and thousands of words. (And then everything else we blame on Renner.)

I never got into X-Men fandom, despite having seriously loved them as a teenager, possibly because I was less sure of my writing skills at that point and there was a lot of friction between comics- and movie-verse, something that the Marvel fandom as a whole seems to be more easy about (which is good, as I merge canons with reckless glee.)

I think it's maybe a combination of liking the source material a lot (I really don't have time to devote to something I don't enjoy), plus knowing I'm not going to get the stories my head wants to tell from canon (which sort of explains OUaT, as I'm in it for the Emma/Killian and until they fuck that up, I don't feel the need to go there), plus a fun, welcoming fannish community. (And that last part has eased in the past years as I feel more sure of my writing/story-telling--I'm less needy, for lack of a better word.)

All that sounds fairly calculating, when really, it's more like, 'oooooo, SHINY' and off I go. :D

Comments

[pensnest]

It is a strange thing, that some fandoms just grab us at once, and others take their time, while other shows/fannish things never do hook us in. I wish I knew why mine work for me!

[sperrywink]

Yes, falling into fandom is not a logical process.

[kaelie.livejournal.com]

And then everything else we blame on Renner.

Because, yes!

really, it's more like, 'oooooo, SHINY' and off I go

And this made me giggle. :) Way to go, Missy!

[kellifer-fic.livejournal.com]

I think for me it's if I like the source material enough but I'm not getting *quite* the emotional payoff that I yearn for. I think Teen Wolf is very easy to write in because lots of storylines are left up in the air or unexplored and there's a lot of canon not filled in so you have a lot of area to fill up. Same for Avengers - the movies are so frenetic that the stories I enjoy for those are the downtimes. I can't tell you how much I'm looking forward to A2 and them all sitting around a living room drinking beer - that is actually more exciting for me than all the fight scenes.

Then there's stuff like Justified where I'm not fannish because I get enough of an emotional payoff from the show itself. (I will read a good Tim story if there is one though, mostly because he's my fave and they underuse him terribly). Shameless is the same. I don't feel like there is any space that needs to be filled with stories because the show is heartwrenching and emotionally traumatic enough! :D