i've come to talk of many things

[seren_ccd]

redbrunja asked about being poly-fannish versus mono-fannish and sticking with one fandom.

Honestly, for me it comes down to two things: time and, to a lesser extent, Tumblr.

I actually have very limited time to be fannish. I had a job a few years back where I was the only person in the office and there wasn’t a big demand on my time and so I had buckets of time to write and read and participate. The last three years or so? Not so much. And what time I do have, I’m attempting to write something original or am only able to focus on one story at a time. *eyes several WIPs*

Therefore, when I do fall into a fandom, it’s pretty fast and furious and brief. I also think I somehow end up shipping the small, random pairings and hardly ever the main characters, which also limits my participation. I just dip my toe in and out and read what I can and write (if I have the time). For me to be involved and invested in a fandom, it helps if I can find what I like to read quickly and easily.

Which leads me to Tumblr. The way people interact with fandom has changed, as it always does, I’d like to point out! During the release of the Star Trek Reboot, there were dozens of LJ/DW comms dotted about for every kind of pairing and they were active! Remember the Ship War comm? Holy crap, that was so cool! It was cheerful and friendly and people were producing SO much stuff. You could find anything you wanted. We had our lovely McCoy/Chapel corner and oh, the fic. The lovely, lovely fic. It felt like there was more of an opportunity to interact with people and to easily consume the works being produced.

Not so much anymore. This is not to say that there aren’t still active comms (McCoy/Chapel Exchange 2014, woo!), but the majority of people have migrated to Tumblr and it’s harder to interact and share over there. As kasuchi put it, Tumblr is like being at a party and whispering while everyone else is talking. It doesn’t appeal to me. Tumblr doesn’t inspire me to create. It doesn’t even inspire me to consume. It makes me scroll. That’s the action it makes me do. The format of the site is just not conducive to reading and replying. (For me! This format works really well for others, this is just me talking.)

Now, I have my OTPs that I will always read (McCoy/Chapel, Darcy/Clint, Molly/Lestrade, 11/Amy, Mulder/Scully), but I find I’m not quite as fannish as I used to be, just because it’s hard to find things today. And due to my limited time, I’m not able to participate as much as I did and since I have such a lock on my days, I tend to skip from one fandom to the other.

I’m a busy butterfly is what I’m saying. :D

Comments

[boosette.livejournal.com]

I'd hazard that the tumblr format doesn't actually work, period, for any medium that isn't visual. We've gone from a fic-writing culture, to a gifset-making culture, and that makes me sad.

[aj.livejournal.com]

^^^^^

I keep trying to write a thing and it just. It's SO BAD. But practice helps but I'm still... bleh. The visual is so present and then just gone and I miss having records and history and INTERACTION.

*hugs you both*

[seren-ccd.livejournal.com]

WRITE! WRITE LIKE THE WIND! It gets...easier(?) the more you do it? *HUGS*

[seren-ccd.livejournal.com]

It really does seem that way. I'm sure fic is getting written, but if it's posted on tumblr? Forget about it.

[boosette.livejournal.com]

it's impossible to find and retain anything even in the tags, even with masterlists, etc -- everyone just blurs together into a neverending sea of cat memes. (Wow.)

[wendelah1]

It's very hard to interact over there.

You should sign up for a day at xf_is_love. We still have three open days. And rewatch some season two. Interact and discuss!

[seren-ccd.livejournal.com]

VERY hard!

I'm checking the comm out today! :D

[hiddencait.livejournal.com]

I have never been a fan of tumblr. I keep being told I should do one for the author persona, but damned if I wanna bother lol

[seren-ccd.livejournal.com]

I can see the appeal (check out Victoria Dahl's tumblr, it's quite nice) of the image posting, but trying to have a conversation is an exercise in futility.

[lullabymoon]

WORD. :)

*waves*

[seren-ccd.livejournal.com]

I know, right?! *waves back* :D

[kasuchi]

I have come to FORCE Tumblr to do my bidding, but it has taken a lot of effort on my part. A lot of brute-force hacking using browser extensions, etc.

Which, frankly, is stupid and ridiculous and we shouldn't live like this. But we do. One day, I'll figure out how to Dreamwidth properly and have it look the way I want it to -- both my personal DW as well as my brooklyn99 community.