The Heirachy of the Fan Community: From Lurking to Creating

   **Note: This blog post is representative of the author's experiences in the Once Upon a Time and The 100 fandoms on the following websites: Tumblr, Fanfiction.net, and AO3. This represents a very small sampling of the vast experiences and fannish activities available online.** 

     Sometimes, everything falls into place for a lesser known fanfiction writer: they get promoted or their work ends up on a recommendation list. Before they know it, their readership has doubled and they develop a following. But for most lesser known fanfiction writers, promoting their work takes much more effort.

    So, how does a writer become more accessible? They interact with their community. There are many ways to assert yourself as a creator and writer within a fandom:

     1. If at first you are uncomfortable with creating, you can assert yourself by interacting with other writers about their writing. In other words, lurk. 

This type of interaction can be accomplished in numerous ways. A reader might read and comment on fanfiction, PM an author about their fics (which can even be done anonymously on Tumblr), send requests for writers to fulfill writing prompts, etc..

     2. Engage with the fandom's community (including readers and potential readers) on social media sites like Tumblr.

A user can participate in asks, fulfill writing prompts and creation requests, hold fanfiction themed writing raffles where the winner wins a fanfiction of their choice written by the user, and participate in themed weeks/ months where writers write to a certain theme. I have also seen users post "get to know me" type questions that followers can interact with and "follower celebration" posts after they get to a certain number of followers.

Source

     3. After posting a story to a fanfiction site, a writer can interact with readers.

This can be accomplished by responding to reader comments and questions in the comment section of your fic and by posting author's notes on your fics. Author's often use AN to engage with their readership about their writing process and encourage interaction and response from readers.

   Writers encourage readers to "like" and interact with their fics because, on sites like AO3 and fanfiction.net, users can choose to sort by kudos, bookmarks, number of comments, favorites, and follows. The number of readers that interact with a fic affects it's visibility.

     4. Lastly, writers can promote their fics and themselves as writers on social media sites and within their fandom.

Many writers reblog praise that they receive from readers and rec lists that they end up on. This serves to thank their followers as well as promote their writing to attract new readers.

The Art of Remix

     Fan communities on Tumblr are wonderful examples of how communities of peers can provide support and encouragement to writers. Yet, these blogs often go beyond the realm of fanfiction; bloggers blog and re-blog gifs, original artwork, video productions, etc..

tumblr.com (Source blogs listed below images)

    There are many examples of gif and image sets that are used to demonstrate parallels found between different characters, relationships, or episodes/ scenes within the fandom's source material, display character development (see below), draw attention to plot inconsistencies, and emphasize favorite moments. These creations illustrate a "close reading" and deep understanding of the source material, and they are examples of the type of online literacy activities that community members engage in. In certain cases, text will accompany these fan creations, either contributed by the original poster or in the form of discussion that occurs in the comments, which further promotes and emphasizes analysis and discussion (See under gif set).

Source: http://waldenblake.tumblr.com/

     At times, one blogger will borrow material from another blogger and remix straight text by applying the text to images/gifs. For example, this text:

became this gif set. The gif creator gave credit to the original poster by providing a link to their work.

     Fan videos are another form of remix that demonstrates engagement with source material. The amount of editing that goes into creating this type of work shows dedication, talent, and passion. These videos are created for many reasons: some highlight favorite moments, character development throughout a season or seasons of a TV show, demonstrate parallels, or show support to a favorite fictional couple. See:

https://youtu.be/OOVEE_147fU

https://youtu.be/53uWeT8mQrw

     For many more wonderful examples of fan art and remix, check out my thesis Tumblr blog here.





   

Fans of Fic: Writer Promotion and Support

**Note: This blog post is representative of the author's experiences in the Once Upon a Time and The 100 fandoms on the following websites: Tumblr, Fanfiction.net, and AO3. This represents a very small sampling of the vast experiences and fannish activities available online.**

     The act of writing can be intimidating; the act of writing publicly for a potentially large online audience can be downright terrifying. Writers of published fanfiction are afforded  many  opportunities: the ability to hone their craft while writing about a subject that they are passionate about, access to a reader base that shares that passion, feedback from readers, etc.. Yet writing online also presents opportunities to face harsh criticism which can lead to self-doubt.

   AO3 and fanfiction.net provide writers with a place to freely publish their work and access readers, social media sites like Tumblr provide the communities in which the writer can gain a sense of belonging.

 This is why having a community that celebrates writers and writing, offers support and advice, and promotes interaction within the community is important to writers of fanfiction. While archival type fanfiction websites like

     Tumblr provides the fan the ability to blog original content, re-blog content from another's blog, communicate with other bloggers, and archive material with hashtags. Blogged material is organized, accessible, and interactive. This aspect of the site lays the foundation for the ability for community formation to take place.

     Through my own experiences in fan communities on Tumblr, I have taken note of several forms of writer promotion and support, including "asks" for fanfiction recommendations, awards and contests, writing prompts, gift fics, "asks" for assistance is locating specific fics, author recs, and posts addressing general writing advice. In addition to members of fan communities posting or re-posting these types of messages, there are blogs created in order to specifically promote fanfiction and fic writers.

     Personally, I have come across @bellarkefanfictions, which responds to search and recommendation requests and re-blogs fanfiction regularly, and @csficpromotion, which promotes fanfiction, fic authors, challenges and collaborative projects. The page has recently blogged many times in order to promote @captainswanbigbang, a collaborative project that involves both fanfiction writers and artists. Writers sign up to write fanfiction, and they are paired with artists who submit artwork to correspond with the author's story. This is a great example of how fanfiction communities not only support and promote writers but also encourage collaboration and involvement.

    Some exploration of fan community themed blogs on Tumblr demonstrates that support and encouragement, as well as comradery, is prevalent. Encouragement can be something as simple as re-blogging someone's work or commenting on their writing. Yet, more complex examples of support can be seen here as well. Blogs are created with the sole purpose of promoting lesser known fanfiction writers; these blogs are sometimes complex operations that require the recruitment of volunteers in order to fulfil asks, prompts, and recs.

   Next, we will explore the politics of accessibility: how bloggers and fanfiction writers become more accessible to their readers.

Until then...