Snowflake Challenge 2020 - Day 2

Challenge #2

In your own space, talk about your fannish history. Leave a comment in this post saying you did it. Include a link to your post if you feel comfortable doing so.

This is quite appropriate, as just yesterday I realised that in 2020 it will be 20 years (TWENTY YEARS) since I discovered fanfiction. *DRAMATIC GASP*

It all started in the spring of the year 2000, I had just fallen head over heels in love with The Cure and was reading all I could about them online. One day I stumbled on a fan website on Geocities that had slash stories. I had no idea what fanfiction or slash was, but I started reading... And I never stopped. Shortly afterwards I started writing my own stories (which were awful, of course) and joined a Yahoo group, where I met other fans who enjoyed writing stories about our favourite band getting "friendly" with each other. At the same time I tried drawing a portrait of Simon, the bass player, and realised that, damn, I can actually draw if I make a bit of an effort!

After that I was in quite a few fandoms (see my previous Snowflake Challenge post for a list of the main ones), sometimes just for a few months, sometimes for years. Sometimes I only read fics and looked and fanart, sometimes I wrote and drew and made friends with people I'm still in contact with, even if we live in different countries (or different continents!).

I've said it before and I'll say it again: fandom changed my life. Not only it made me discover a whole world full of extremely talented people who often create true masterpieces; it also made me realise I could write (in a language that's not even my native one) and draw, and while I'm perfectly aware I'll never be Shakespeare or Michelangelo, it's something I enjoy and that I never thought I could do before.

So yeah, that's pretty much my fannish history. So far. :)