Things

[secretsolitaire]

Question: When you feel yourself starting to lose your love for a particular fandom (or ship), what do you do? Reread your favorite fics? Go back to the source material to try to rekindle the flame? Give yourself a break for a bit and then go back to it? Let yourself drift to something new, because no obsession lasts forever

Comments

[rhiannonhero]

If I feel the love waning, I tend to let it wane for awhile. If I want to feel it again, I'll watch the source, 'cause nothing beats source, baby!! ;)

[secretsolitaire]

Sounds like a good plan. I think I need a little break, but the love will always be there, even if the fannish obsession is gone.

[alasse]

Hmm, that sounds really interesting! I might sign up, too.

As for your question... re-reading favorites is good, or going right back to the source - watching the show, reading the book - it could spark the love again. I don't think forcing it is all that necessary, but don't let it go completely. Maybe try and remember what made you fall for the fandom, recapture it?
Actually, maybe taking a break and getting back to it is also a really good idea...

[secretsolitaire]

Ooh, yes, you should sign up and play along with me. :-)

I've been mostly taking a break lately, burying myself in election stuff and enjoying the shiny-ness of a few new fandoms, but the love isn't completely gone. This happened to me with Harry Potter too...the obsessive fannishness went away, but I still love the books and the movies, and I still read fic from my favorite authors. I figure I'll eventually settle into that with QaF too.

[mindabbles]

Well, I certainly hope that you are not leaving us! Sure, I suppose no obsession lasts forever. I suppose. I haven't been around that long, but I have branched out to reading and writing different ships. Not so much fandoms, although I've peeked at a couple others. (thanks in part to your qaf recs). After a writing break, I do find that coming back to (for me) r/s is just relaxing.

I'll definitely look at 14valentines, sounds great.

[secretsolitaire]

Nah, I'm not going anywhere any time soon! I'm just having a shift in my fannish feelings, specifically for QaF. I went through this with HP too -- I started as an obsessive R/S shipper, then branched out into H/D and other pairings, and now I actually enjoy rare pairs more than anything else. (There's only so many times you can read the same R/S or H/D scenarios, you know?) I am not as rabid about HP as I once was, but I still enjoy stuff by my favorite authors and occasionally find the spark flaring up again when a new movie comes out or I read a particularly wonderful fic.

I think it's sort of like a new relationship -- you have the honeymoon phase, and then you settle into boring married life, where you love your fandom but don't usually feel all the sparks and excitement. Or something. :-P

Yes, take a peek at 14valentines. I'm actually really excited about it. I wish it were happening sooner than February -- I have ideas NOW! :-D

[justinlovesart]

Let yourself drift to something new, because no obsession lasts forever?

Just let it go. You'll always have the memories :)

[secretsolitaire]

I just need to muster up enough love to finish my character pic spam series! I know that no one on my flist is sitting around thinking "Now when is she going to do Emmett?" or whatever, but I just want to finish it for me, you know? It feels like a WiP hanging over my head.

[justinlovesart]

I know exactly how you feel. I need to finish two stories, because I want to have closure. Then I think I've more or less said everything I want to say, explored what I've wanted to explore and reached a pretty unshakable view about the B/J relationship and QAF, at this point, both in meta and fiction.

It's clear I'm going to follow Randy's career and that's more or less the extent of my involvement for me, from now on.

BUT I'm really looking forward to your picspams! And I hope you'll share your next fandom loves, because I'm going to stalk you :)

[secretsolitaire]

I haven't been in the fandom as long as you have, but I'm starting to reach that point too -- I've read so much fic and participated in so many discussions that I feel like I've gotten what I want to get out of the show. Not that there are no new insights to be had, but I don't have as much energy to wade through all the other fannish debris, you know? Like the 800 millionth discussion of whether 214 was the first-ever instance of toppy!Justin, or the question of what happens after 513.

I am sort of flitting among a bunch of fandom loves and obsessions at the moment -- my German boys, of course, as well as RPS (*facepalm*) about two tennis players, Rafa Nadal and Roger Federer; plus I'm spending hours reading about the election and watching old Jon Stewart clips online. His show is probably my biggest obsession lately...I have become a major fangirl of his.

I will stalk you too, never fear. ♥

[kata_ny]

hm.interesting question.
i don't know the answers though.
just see how you feel and don't beat yourself up about it.
things change.
but sometimes there will be new sparks that will bring you back to rekindle obsession from time to time.in the meantime just enjoy anything new.

[secretsolitaire]

Sometimes I feel myself trying to force myself to do something fannish (like watching an episode or working on a pic spam) when I'm not in the mood, and then I stop myself because fandom is supposed to be fun, you know? God knows you can't force love. So I'm just gonna chill for a bit and let the love come back when it will. :-)