Fandom problems
I've been reading fanfic for a lot of years, ad I mean a LOT of years! I have moved from one fandom to another, sometimes because of my interests and sometimes because I followed a favourite author in. I love fanfic so very much.
A couple of years ago I followed some writers to Tumblr and now to Livejournal and sometimes when I am talking to real-life friends I find these weird gaps in our experience because they don't have that fandom mentality and because they use the internet in completely different ways to me. I have only recently tried using these mediums to reach out to people though. Not too much yet, even on the internet I'm pretty introverted but I'm trying and it makes me proud of myself. I made a oath to myself that I would be better at reaching out and every small effort is a valued one.
So back to my fandom problem: I've read everything in my fandoms! I mean obviously that can't be true but I've read all the ones I wanted to, and I've caught up with all my authors, who have lives of their own and can't be updating every day for me (though if I ever win the £90million lottery jackpot I am totally willing to subsidise a writing group of fic authors for this purpose). I have been revisiting my old favourites from fandoms I haven't read in a while and it is wonderful! Like meeting a friend you haven't seen in a while and finding out you still love them. Of course trying to find the old fics can be hard as the pre-AO3 fics were all scattered across sites and some of the old archives have closed but thankfully the Wayback Machine is my hero. There is so much talent out there and the internet helps me find it, I love it!
A couple of years ago I followed some writers to Tumblr and now to Livejournal and sometimes when I am talking to real-life friends I find these weird gaps in our experience because they don't have that fandom mentality and because they use the internet in completely different ways to me. I have only recently tried using these mediums to reach out to people though. Not too much yet, even on the internet I'm pretty introverted but I'm trying and it makes me proud of myself. I made a oath to myself that I would be better at reaching out and every small effort is a valued one.
So back to my fandom problem: I've read everything in my fandoms! I mean obviously that can't be true but I've read all the ones I wanted to, and I've caught up with all my authors, who have lives of their own and can't be updating every day for me (though if I ever win the £90million lottery jackpot I am totally willing to subsidise a writing group of fic authors for this purpose). I have been revisiting my old favourites from fandoms I haven't read in a while and it is wonderful! Like meeting a friend you haven't seen in a while and finding out you still love them. Of course trying to find the old fics can be hard as the pre-AO3 fics were all scattered across sites and some of the old archives have closed but thankfully the Wayback Machine is my hero. There is so much talent out there and the internet helps me find it, I love it!