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...
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...
