Snowflake Challenge 2025 - Day 2

[gothikmaus]

Challenge #2
In your own space, talk about your fannish origin story.

I think I've already written about this, but it's always nice to take a stroll down memory lane.

I stumbled upon fandom (more specifically fanfiction) in my first year of university. I was browsing through random fansites about The Cure, when I found a site that hosted "slash". I had never heard about it before and wanted to know more, so I clicked on the link... And my life has never been the same. I'm not even exaggerating: I found dozens of websites about fanfiction, joined mailing lists, met people from all over the world who shared the same passion for writing. After a while, I started writing too. Of course my first fics were awful (and not just because English isn't my native language), but I improved over time. I also started drawing again and realised I still loved it, even if I wasn't as talented as I would've liked.

I've been in many fandoms since then, and there were years when I wasn't active at all, I was merely reading fics or looking at fanart, but I really couldn't imagine how my life would have been had I decided not to click on that fateful link.

Comments

[flo_nelja]

Yeah! So your first fandom was The Cure RPF, or did you switch?

[gothikmaus]

My very first fandom was The Cure RPF. After a while (a couple of years maybe?) I got into another fandom, and I've been in many fandoms after that, but it all started with The Cure.

[gingicat]

Speaking as someone who is only intermittently creative, I think that reading and otherwise appreciating others' creations is absolutely being active. I love that Ao3 and Tumblr have Kudos and Like buttons and that Tumblr makes it easy to bring others' creations to more eyeballs.

As far as expressing yourself when the mood strikes, many pros have said to not let things like inexperience get in the way of the inspiration to create; it's better to create "bad" art and share it with others than to not create at all. And art practiced often improves.

[gothikmaus]

Creativity, at least for me, is very unpredictable. I had years when I barely wrote a couple of drabbles, and years when I was writing and/or drawing constantly. But as long as I'm having fun and find joy in what I do, that's all that matters.

[gingicat]

Joy is what keeps fannish involvement going, at least for me.

[silveradept]

A nice origin story, with an entire world opened up from being curious.

Reading and looking is activity, even if people want to think of creating as the activity of importance.

Hooray for picking up drawing again and enjoying it. Talent helps get you places in creative endeavors, but practice ends up making a lot of the difference. (There's a clip around on the Internet of Ira Glass, the radio program host, talking about the differences between our skill and our taste, and how basically nothing but practice and creation gets us to the point where our skills match our tastes.) So long as you keep enjoying what you're doing, it's going to be good.

[gothikmaus]

I used to draw all the time when I was a child and up to secondary school, but at some point I just stopped. I'm glad fandom made me pick up the pencil again. I'll probably never be as good as I'd like, but, like you wrote, only through practice can we improve, and I must admit there has been some improvement. I should remember this the next time I get frustrated because a drawing didn't come out exactly like it was in my head.

[silveradept]

Yeah, that's exactly the situation that Ira's talking about, the frustration that it didn't come out like you had it in your head. But it does get better, and eventually, it looks like what you had in your head, and that's the fruits of practice.

You'll get there! (Eventually.)

[musyc]

Reading and looking totally count! You're the person the authors and artists are making their creations for, after all!

[gothikmaus]

And that's the reason why I always leave feedback when I like a fic or art, so the author knows someone has appreciated their work!

[gingicat]

Yay!