Are you adrift?

[otw_staff]

Are you a one-fandom person? Or have you found that your interests and efforts are subject to 'fannish drift,' moving between fandoms or to entirely new ones fairly easily? Is there a show/movie/game or other fandom that came along just in time to ease the pain of one of your most beloved franchises going away?

I've spent more than a few minutes this week googling the name of a TV show that's on the bubble. I'm awaiting and dreading a headline stating it's been cancelled. I'll have mixed feelings when it comes - and I do think it will, because the silence about its future has been deafening and it's darn close to mid-May. I only say mixed feelings because, in all honesty, the quality of the show has sunk so much that it's almost a trial to watch. And yet... cancellation means the end of all hope. Hope that it can go out with a bang; with well-written episodes, gracefully completed character arcs, and another year of fan fiction to be written.

It's also hard because this was a show that was an unexpected cushion for me when my first fandom love (LOST) ended and the fan artists and writers who loved it quickly dispersed. The speed with which that happened took me by surprise: I'm more used to fandom in a world (the past) where franchises continued to hold their adherents' attention for many years after that last episode aired. Now, it seems to all happen at lightning speed.

I write fic for a few different fandoms now, but I've reached a place where few of them feel like stories that are 'must haves' in my life. That may not be the worst thing, since I've been wanting to put more of my energy into other forms of writing. But I'm still googling my show - and my fingers, I'll admit, are still crossed.

Tell us about how fandom ebbs and flows for you, and share your favorite fannish meta or fan studies that discuss this topic. (Don't hesitate to self-rec!) Maybe in this season of series finales and cancellations, your words will inspire others to hope for more happy, fannish days ahead.

Fanlore: Fanish Drift

“Migratory Slash Fandom” or “Random Militant Slashers.”

The end of an era: Thoughts on leaving kpop fandom

When is a fandom dead?

Comments

[sevilemar]

I'm probably what you would call a loyal drifter. I started online fandom with Harry Potter in my early twenties, and stayed there for years. Then Sherlock came along, and I drifted over for a short but intense time. I drifted again into Avengers when I was disappointed with Sherlock's second season, and Avengers/MCU is still my main fandom today, at least for fanfic.

At the same time, I've been active in Hannibal fandom for a while now; funnily enough not with fanfic, but with everything else, like screenshots and crafts, campaigning, meta, etc. It's like MCU fulfills my fanfic/podfic needs, and Hannibal every other fannish need I have.

I read/listen to fanfic/podfic in other fandoms, mostly when they are recced somewhere, or they are crossover or fusion fic with MCU. Interestingly, the few fics I've written myself are either for Harry Potter, or for other fandoms like Torchwood, Black Swan, or Lie to Me. They are usually oneshots or drabbles written for a prompt, which might be an explanation.

[otw_staff]

Ah, I wish I could write mostly oneshots. I get myself bogged down in long form far too often.

Did you like Sherlock S3? I really did.

I'm glad to find I can drift in and out of some fandoms, and also find that some inspire fic from me and others just don't. I've been loving Halt and Catch Fire, but feel zero need to write for it. I kind of have an idea or two for Sense8. I've never done podfic, but used to love making videos to songs -lots of work, but lots of fun.

Then there are fandoms that are forever for me - like HP for you, i'm guessing.

[sevilemar]

I wish I could write more than prologues, first chapters, and short moments in time (ie oneshots, drabbles, etc.)^^ I have a fanfic in the makings atm, a reply to a norsekink prompt, and I am pretty proud that it has two chapters already, and probably will have a third when finished.

I am just really struggling with plots. For the life of me, I cant seem to come up with a good one, though I really love to read long, plotty stories. There is so much to think about in a plotty story, so much to balance (plot arcs, character arcs, relationships, conflicts, resolutions, action and reflection, etc), so much research to do. It is so much work! I really don't know how people do it.

Oneshots and drabbles are so much easier for me. It's just one situation, one idea. No arcs, no plot, just a short moment in time. One facet of a character or a relationship, one detail of a bigger picture that stays in the shadows of imagination.

I stopped watching anything made by Moffat after he declared asexual characters not intereting enough for stories. That meant no Sherlock season three, and no more Dr. Who, either.

I am so glad Sense8 got a new season, because it's awesome! They deserve it, and what kind of ending was that, anyway? I mean, it made sense, narratively speaking, but emotionally? I was all over the place! Nothing is resolved, and I have no idea how they will get out of it.

Halt and Catch Fire is great, too. Is the second season out already? I haven't seen much about it on tumblr.

Yeah, it is good to know that we can drift to other fandoms when we get inspired by the canon. Things change all the time, and it's good to know that we can still be fangirls even if our fandom (and maybe the way we engage with the community, the canon, etc.) changes.

[otw_staff]

I'm so with you re: Sense8 - sooo happy it'll be back. And yes, such a different take on a season-ender/cliffhanger. I think the web streaming model allows more flexibility to be less formulaic and that's a good thing. Now, it's just a wait for S2 which gives me time to re-watch S1. :)

Yes, Halt and Catch Fire S2 is out and I think it's also finished its season. It hasn't held me the way S1 did - I think they really changed too much too fast, and the mood/vibe of it really changed. It was also more polished/less raw somehow. You know how a show that was lightly produced suddenly is very highly produced - lots of music, flashier look etc? But I will watch it, still - just not as intently.