Oh boy, I was thinking about this when I was writing my sticky post - what am I even *in* these days? I've never been a mono-fandom kind of person, and my levels of engagement with stuff have varied over time and across fandoms. I feel like probably my casual "I liked this thing and will reblog/save fanart if I see it" might not make a lot of people's threshold for what counts as being *in* a fandom?
You're right that sometimes there just isn't much to interact with on terms of fandom. There is a book I absolutely adore ("The Devourers", by Indra Das) which I have read about 4 times. My copy has dozens of sticky notes and tabs with my observations and thoughts and reactions. I heard about it from a friend and have gone on to rec it to other people as well. But, there is literally one work for it on Ao3 and it's mine. I've never seen fanart, or meta, or anything -- so is that a fandom? (Sometimes I wonder if maybe I imagined it, but then it occasionally shows up on those "sff books not by white men" lists, so my sanity is preserved). So in cases like that I think it's really nice to adopt your framework of "fandom" being like a happy brain space feeling that doesn't necessarily have to be defined by creating works. It's nebulous and shifting but that's okay!
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timeasmymeasure
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Date: 2023-05-10 06:36 pm (UTC)You're right that sometimes there just isn't much to interact with on terms of fandom. There is a book I absolutely adore ("The Devourers", by Indra Das) which I have read about 4 times. My copy has dozens of sticky notes and tabs with my observations and thoughts and reactions. I heard about it from a friend and have gone on to rec it to other people as well. But, there is literally one work for it on Ao3 and it's mine. I've never seen fanart, or meta, or anything -- so is that a fandom? (Sometimes I wonder if maybe I imagined it, but then it occasionally shows up on those "sff books not by white men" lists, so my sanity is preserved). So in cases like that I think it's really nice to adopt your framework of "fandom" being like a happy brain space feeling that doesn't necessarily have to be defined by creating works. It's nebulous and shifting but that's okay!