Tenebrous. That's The Word.

Richard and Lego Thorin 

What a mystery this world. One day you love them and the next day you want to kill them a thousand times over…

Since the writers are out with our begging bowls pleading for interaction again (hi!), to mangle what the dude said about planting trees: while the best time to add a minute or two to the time you spend consuming someone’s work to leave a comment—work that they’ve created in their spare time to appeal to your specific interests and have made freely available to you forever—was yesterday, there’s always today. We make and share stories and art and music because we’re participating in the fan culture just like you, and every single one of us is wishing and hoping and praying this time it turns out to be a two-way street.

In my experience, both personal and talking with/listening to other creators, nobody’s grubbing for compliments (even though everyone agrees compliments are very nice). Personally, it’s more like having a realization about how far the shift in how the writer-reader relationship works has pushed the dynamic of fandom and fanfiction in particular—collaborative and reciprocal to a place that’s much more reflective of starkly passive consumption, at least over the 25 years I’ve participated as a creator in fandom culture. And it’s not just my fandom, or your fandom. It’s systemic.

I’m sure people have their reasons and explanations and justifications for not letting creators know the ways their work has benefited or impacted them, but at the end of the day, I only know you value what I’ve added to our little shared universe if you tell me. I’m glad people are consistent readers, and the ones who reach out are the ones I’m writing for, but it’s hard to pretend the other 97% of you aren’t there too, lurking in the shadows, watching and forming silent opinions. It makes me second-guess myself, and my writing, and whether or not it’s a waste of my time like it is yours (this is what my self-criticism and imposter syndrome lick into my ears, not necessarily what those people who click on every chapter to the bitter end are thinking)(I hope). It makes me feel like a faceless content creator, and not a person who makes things and shares them freely out of love and excitement. It makes me feel like I’m not a welcome participant in my fandom, sometimes.

Anyway. I’m so deeply curious as to why there seems to be such a weird, insurmountable gulf between writers and readers; the readers are the only ones with the boats to get across it, and I really really really wish you would. Nobody’s going to be mad or icked that you let them know you like something they spent time on. We will develop gnawing neuroses and self-doubt and decide maybe it’s just not worth it any more after enough silence, though. Which is such a bummer, and it really, really, really doesn’t have to be.

Support the care and feeding of your fellow fans (and the health of your fandom overall): leave a comment on AO3 (or wherever your writers are found) today.

Random Edit - 244~245/?

The spooky & beautiful Mr.Dastmalchian as photographed by the great camera slinger J. Konrad Schmidt on Instagram.