daily december-->january - fandom and me!

[topaz119]

Last week was just a zoo, y'all, but maybe this one won't be quite as bonkers. Going back to the rest of the December posting meme topics, this next one is:

How did I first happen upon fandom life and do I remember my first impression of it? (for verdande_mi)

okay, I... think I have to blame the fandom stuff on rogoblue. Not the part about being fannish, mind. That I did all on my own, watching Han Solo blast Darth Vader into deep space in the summer of 1977, when I was 14, and then going and finding the sci-fi magazines that were out there back in the day so I could find out as much as I could about the movie and the characters. I already was hopelessly addicted to the X-Men, too, but I could just go read the next issue there. So I had the part where something was taking up residence in my brain, but no greater group to share it with, at least not until ro somehow got her hands on 'zines, actual paper, stapled-together, mailed-through-the-post-office 'zines, full of fic and artwork, and voila: a lifetime hobby was born.

And then I was working in software when the internet blew up (oh, people, I remember Mosaic like it was yesterday) so I had reliably fast internet (though, god, how slow was it, really?) and could follow along as theforce.net got started, and theonering.net tracked all the details and rumors from New Zealand and the LOTR movies as they were filming. gossamer started archiving thousands of XF fics and the Bronze kept me fit for public interaction (because 30-something mothers were not supposed to be dying to talk about Tuesday's episode of Buffy, but how could I not, especially through the second half of the second season. I could at least to online and read and post and gasp and squee and get it out of my system so I could at least carry on normal conversations in public.)

LOTR rpf led me to lj and popslash, and then the Winchesters moved into my brain and I started writing more and longer fic, which made me super-happy when AO3 came around, because wow, so much easier than coding HTML by hand (and I don't want to talk about the posting interface at fanfiction.net, because that thing was a horror, though I hear it's gotten better now.)

I don't really remember what I thought originally, except that it was something along the lines of omg, MY PEOPLE, which I still feel every year when DragonCon gets going and I'm drifting along with the fannish energy. Plus, my icon. :D

...and y'know, so it goes: 'zines to yahoo groups and assorted posting boards to livejournal and twitter and tumblr and whatever comes next, because I don't think the fandom thing is going anywhere.

Comments

[lilacsigil]

I came in slightly later than you, just as the internet got going, but it was so amazing!

[topaz119]

Back when there seemed to be a new study everyday telling everyone about how isolating the internet was, I couldn't help thinking they were missing the part about how much easier and more fun it was to find people who shared specific interests.

[sperrywink]

Wow, you got in early. :-)

[topaz119]

I Am Old. :D

[selenay]

OMG, the Bronze! My very first experience of online fannishness :-) I found it towards the end of season two and it was like finally finding my tribe, my people, who felt just as invested in all this glorious fannish stuff as I was :-)

[topaz119]

ohhhh, I remember crashing the posting board after Angelus killed Jenny because we were all so emotionally compromised and were clinging to each other through that white-on-black posting interface. I have a couple of people on my flist/circle who came from the Bronze -- I am super-happy to add you to that mental list!

[withdiamonds.livejournal.com]

I coded all 82,000 words, all 25 chapters, of the Lambs Epic by hand, and that sucker switched in and out of italics depending on the time frame.

Man. Those were the days.

(this is the only Lambs icon I have anymore)

[topaz119.livejournal.com]

I know! I can't believe we did all that--at least 4? 5? years of Big Bangs in SPN, all in their little chained-together lj posts. Something So Right! I still haven't written anything that long and I hand-coded the whole blasted thing for my web page. With colors! and graphics, omg.

It is positively luxurious to have all the chapters link up just by checking a ticky box in the AO3 posting interface.

(I have no Lambs icon but I'm going with the NickC in honor of SSR.)

[verdande-mi.livejournal.com]

Sorry I'm late replying!

Thanks for sharing your story - I always find people's way into fandom facinating.

I found myself here via popslash (Backstreet Boys), then followed the LOTR crazy and then I believe Stargate Atlantis :D I too loved finding a community of people I felt connected with!

[topaz119.livejournal.com]

I didn't realize you were a popslasher! Small world! I was definitely more on the NSYNC side of the fence, but the longest thing I've ever written (still) featured Nick Carter, so I'm a little into the BSB.

[verdande-mi.livejournal.com]

I had two friends who wrote BSB fanfiction, but I was never as invested or interested in writing myself, but I really, really loved BSB. Anyhow, one day one of those friends mentioned slash fiction and that she thought that was strange and very unlikey (as if writing yourself into the story was more likely...) and I rememeber being curious right away and going online to check it out when I got home. And I never looked back :D