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I've done several of the Fandom Snowflakes and can do the rest to round out the challenge so far, so I'm documenting them here.
#5. Share 3 creative/fannish resources, spaces, or communities.
So! If you don't know, I run a blog on Tumblr called Tolkien Fandom History. I started it years ago, fell off on updating it, and am now trying to get it restarted again. I reblogged a post from Fanlore about the history of fanfiction, adding three Tolkien-specific fanfiction history resources. Here they are here as well to save y'all a click:
This is also a plea that, if you're on Tumblr and would be interested in reblogging fan history content on the Tolkien Fandom History blog, let me know; I'm terrible at social media, so I'm always looking for help. I'm especially looking for people who interact with the Tolkien fandom in areas outside of Tolkien fanfiction; all of the current people working for the blog are heavily oriented towards the fanworks side of the fandom. So if you or someone you know is into gaming or collecting or cosplay or any of the myriad ways Tolkien fans do fandom other than fanworks, I'd love to have the help!
On that note, I'm kind of cheating on #8 ...
#8. Create a quiz or a poll.
For this one, I'm going to point to a survey I already have going for the Silmarillion Writers' Guild. We asked at the end of 2021 what people would like to see us add to the site. In 2022, acting on the feedback we received, I added the ability to post a bunch of different fanwork types. People also showed interest in hosting events/challenges/fests/swaps/etc through the SWG site. This is what I'm working on in 2023, but I need feedback on what people want to see so that I know what direction to head. I have a survey about member-run events here.
#9. A boast.
For this one, the intent is to "celebrate a personal win from the past year." I did have a pretty rad 2022 in terms of fannish wins! And I was in hermit-mode during 2022 and never posted about it here when it happened, so I'll do it now. There was, of course, the aforementioned massive progress on expanding the SWG site to include more fanworks and creators. I've long wanted to transcend the "Writers" part of our name, and we succeeded in doing that. The SWG now accepts not just all types of writing but artwork, audio, link collections, playlists, videos, and multimedia fanworks that combine two or more of the other fanwork types into a single fanwork. We also added the Beyond the Silmarillion section so that members who post frequently with us can archive all of their Tolkien fanworks (not just Silmarillion-based) on the site. I was excited to make these changes happen.
But I also had chapters published in two books last summer, which I was pretty psyched about!
#6. Post the results of your fandom scavenger hunt.
( Read more... )
#5. Share 3 creative/fannish resources, spaces, or communities.
So! If you don't know, I run a blog on Tumblr called Tolkien Fandom History. I started it years ago, fell off on updating it, and am now trying to get it restarted again. I reblogged a post from Fanlore about the history of fanfiction, adding three Tolkien-specific fanfiction history resources. Here they are here as well to save y'all a click:
- Fanlore: Timeline of Tolkien Fandom
- Fanlore: Tolkien Fanfiction
- FellowsHub: A Tolkien Fanzine Project
- eFanzines: Tolkien Fandom Review by Sumner Gary Hunnewell
This is also a plea that, if you're on Tumblr and would be interested in reblogging fan history content on the Tolkien Fandom History blog, let me know; I'm terrible at social media, so I'm always looking for help. I'm especially looking for people who interact with the Tolkien fandom in areas outside of Tolkien fanfiction; all of the current people working for the blog are heavily oriented towards the fanworks side of the fandom. So if you or someone you know is into gaming or collecting or cosplay or any of the myriad ways Tolkien fans do fandom other than fanworks, I'd love to have the help!
On that note, I'm kind of cheating on #8 ...
#8. Create a quiz or a poll.
For this one, I'm going to point to a survey I already have going for the Silmarillion Writers' Guild. We asked at the end of 2021 what people would like to see us add to the site. In 2022, acting on the feedback we received, I added the ability to post a bunch of different fanwork types. People also showed interest in hosting events/challenges/fests/swaps/etc through the SWG site. This is what I'm working on in 2023, but I need feedback on what people want to see so that I know what direction to head. I have a survey about member-run events here.
#9. A boast.
For this one, the intent is to "celebrate a personal win from the past year." I did have a pretty rad 2022 in terms of fannish wins! And I was in hermit-mode during 2022 and never posted about it here when it happened, so I'll do it now. There was, of course, the aforementioned massive progress on expanding the SWG site to include more fanworks and creators. I've long wanted to transcend the "Writers" part of our name, and we succeeded in doing that. The SWG now accepts not just all types of writing but artwork, audio, link collections, playlists, videos, and multimedia fanworks that combine two or more of the other fanwork types into a single fanwork. We also added the Beyond the Silmarillion section so that members who post frequently with us can archive all of their Tolkien fanworks (not just Silmarillion-based) on the site. I was excited to make these changes happen.
But I also had chapters published in two books last summer, which I was pretty psyched about!
- "Roads Go Ever On and On: Fan Fiction and Archival Infrastructures as Markers of the Affirmational-Transformational Continuum in Tolkien Fandom" in Fandom: The Next Generation. This one I collaborated on with Maria K. Alberto. The book focuses on multigenerational fandoms, so Maria and I, of course, focused on the Tolkien fandom, specifically how fan approaches to gender and sexuality in fanfiction changed over time.
- "Cartography of a Character: On (Re)Writing Nerdanel" in Not the Fellowship. Dragons Welcome! This collection focuses on the minor characters in Tolkien's works. My essay was, of course, about Nerdanel and specifically about how she is rewritten: first by Christopher Tolkien in his compilation of the published Silmarillion and then again by countless fanworks creators. I make the point that Christopher reduces her role because he needs the narrative to move outward from Aman, toward Middle-earth, but fanworks creators can remain in place with her and develop her storyline in Aman, often using her story to reflect upon the conflicts they face as women themselves. The collection this essay was in was announced last week as nominated for the British Science Fiction Award for Best Non-Fiction. This essay was written while I was displaced after my house fire, so those of you who were so kind to help me replace my lost Tolkien library know that it was put to good use! This also makes its existence quite the personal triumph.
#6. Post the results of your fandom scavenger hunt.
( Read more... )
