Snowflake Challenge Day 2
Jan. 3rd, 2018 11:50 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
maidenjediDay 2
In your own space, share a favorite memory about fandom: the first time you got into fandom, the last time a fanwork touched your heart, crazy times with fellow fans (whether on-line or off-line), a lovely comment you’ve received or have left for someone.
It seems I beat this drum whenever I'm feeling nostalgic, but I have very fond memories of the Harem.
Being a fanfiction writer, and moreover a fan, during the waning days of a former powerhouse canon, was tricky. It was often disheartening. So much of the community got up and walked away (some permanently), the various camps dug in their heels on long-standing fandom disagreements. The critical backlash against The X-Files in the latter seasons (we're talking 8 & 9) was substantial, and not without foundation. But a lot of us still were fans in the midst of all of it. I had and have a lot of fandom relationships outside that group, and I treasure those, too. It's just that, the Harem was a writing community, and it remains the only one I've ever been a part of.
I had reason to recall some really joyful times, good discussion and feedback, critical and otherwise, during tonight's season premiere of The X-Files. I'll leave my thoughts about the episode for a different post. But there were callbacks, and a certain character, who brought to mind the spark behind a few stories I wrote back then. It was really nice, thinking about the reactions my friends were probably having to those things as well as thinking back on the writing process and what it took to finally eek out "Bleeding Kansas" and "Left Behind." I know those stories would never have come into being without the Harem, but moreover, I don't think much of what came after would have, either, XF or no.
I must also, while I'm thinking back on ye olde XF days, give a fond shoutout to The X-Philes Fan Club on Yahoo, and the various other lists and groups that served as my first experience with internet fandom. The sheer glee that could be found there on Sunday nights was always a boost, and it certainly fueled that early desire to write and post at all.
I don't mourn the death of the lists/groups as much as I used to, because I've recognized for a long time it was the particular fandom itself that created the community, and when our interest waned as canon concluded, well. It was inevitable, and it's ultimately okay, even if I would have given much to have a fully realized community to come kvetch to in the wee hours after that mess tonight. The platforms shifted, and not all of us shifted with it - that's okay, too.
In your own space, share a favorite memory about fandom: the first time you got into fandom, the last time a fanwork touched your heart, crazy times with fellow fans (whether on-line or off-line), a lovely comment you’ve received or have left for someone.
It seems I beat this drum whenever I'm feeling nostalgic, but I have very fond memories of the Harem.
Being a fanfiction writer, and moreover a fan, during the waning days of a former powerhouse canon, was tricky. It was often disheartening. So much of the community got up and walked away (some permanently), the various camps dug in their heels on long-standing fandom disagreements. The critical backlash against The X-Files in the latter seasons (we're talking 8 & 9) was substantial, and not without foundation. But a lot of us still were fans in the midst of all of it. I had and have a lot of fandom relationships outside that group, and I treasure those, too. It's just that, the Harem was a writing community, and it remains the only one I've ever been a part of.
I had reason to recall some really joyful times, good discussion and feedback, critical and otherwise, during tonight's season premiere of The X-Files. I'll leave my thoughts about the episode for a different post. But there were callbacks, and a certain character, who brought to mind the spark behind a few stories I wrote back then. It was really nice, thinking about the reactions my friends were probably having to those things as well as thinking back on the writing process and what it took to finally eek out "Bleeding Kansas" and "Left Behind." I know those stories would never have come into being without the Harem, but moreover, I don't think much of what came after would have, either, XF or no.
I must also, while I'm thinking back on ye olde XF days, give a fond shoutout to The X-Philes Fan Club on Yahoo, and the various other lists and groups that served as my first experience with internet fandom. The sheer glee that could be found there on Sunday nights was always a boost, and it certainly fueled that early desire to write and post at all.
I don't mourn the death of the lists/groups as much as I used to, because I've recognized for a long time it was the particular fandom itself that created the community, and when our interest waned as canon concluded, well. It was inevitable, and it's ultimately okay, even if I would have given much to have a fully realized community to come kvetch to in the wee hours after that mess tonight. The platforms shifted, and not all of us shifted with it - that's okay, too.
