Squee it Loud and Proud?

[otw-staff.livejournal.com]

Who do you squee with? Do you share your fan art, fic and thoughts with family? Friends? Absolutely everyone, or only in certain forums? How, in other words, do you live your fandom - and why?

Being a fan has always been a big part of my life - movies, books, bands, sports teams, you name it! I remember feeling, as a teenager, like the whole world around me had changed because I'd found a particular little world or group of characters. I read everything Tolkien wrote, and then read it again. I watched Star Wars with my happy heart in my throat, fell in and out of love with singers and bands and found the Church of Baseball.

Still, I never gave fandom life much deeper thought until I started writing fan fiction again.

I say again, because technically I wrote it in junior high school. It was, um.... before the age of electronic publishing; my stories got passed hand to hand in five subject notebooks. I still have a few that have survived and wow: I didn't know what a Mary Sue fic was at the time but I sure knew how to write one.

Then, five years ago, I was inspired to write my first fan fiction as an adult: A fill-in fic for LOST spanning the time from "The End" through when each of the survivors passed on months, years or decades later. It was a lot of fun, and it was satisfying to tell a story again. It also filled the little ache I had in my heart for the show and introduced me to the world of modern fan fiction.

I find it amazing on a lot of levels - rich in many ways, with some wonderful, thoughtful writers. Yes, there's a lot of chaff to winnow out, but it's not that hard to do, really. It's often as good or better than some of the professionally crafted writing and TV shows I consume, and through the writing comm I'm in it's brought me a sense of community with other fan writers.

Still, I don't share my fan writing and reading habits with everyone. I've mentioned it to my sister, who has mentioned it proudly to others (she's a fellow Lostie and would read my fic if she were into reading, but sadly she is simply not). I've sent some of my FRINGE fics to a guy friend, but have never linked him to or discussed with him my slash fics - not because he would judge but because they simply wouldn't be his thing.

I also mentioned my hobby to a longtime female friend over dinner while we were on vacation together in Vegas and she nearly inhaled her soup. She listened with some interest, though, to my stories of AO3 and FF.net and the many, many stories and fandoms found on them. In the end she seemed intrigued at the way it might democratize the consumption of fiction, all of us having a place share our stories.

And that's really it- beyond that, I keep my writing to the fan sites and my group of writing comrades. I don't squee about it anywhere else. And why should that be? We talk sports at work. We talk hobbies like computing and gadget collecting. If we love to go to the theater or if we write and produce plays (as some of my co-workers do) we don't hesitate to gush or promote them to anyone who'll listen. But somehow, certain kinds of fandom feel - to me at least - more personal. Something I'd only share with those I open up to more fully.

That's me, though, and I'm that way about most other matters that I hold dear, too. I don't feel the need to talk about them with just anyone.

Here are some articles about fandom and sharing it. I'd love to hear your thoughts on them, and about other resources you may know about re: fandom life! Do you think this age of greater sharing and wider ability to publish will lead to more open, happy, squee-it-loud-and-proud fans in years to come?

“This is Why I Treat Fandom Like It’s Important (Because It Is),” by saathi1013

"Fandom and Ew, Girls" by UrbanHymnal

10 things to learn if you wanna be a fangirl

Editorial policies, "public domain," and acafandom

Fanlore.org: Anonymity

Fanlore.org: Pseudonym