The Myth of the Dying Fandom
May. 3rd, 2006 10:31 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
icarusThe Myth of a Dying Fandom
There've been quite a few posts in the Harry Potter fandom lately about how it's dying, or declarations isn't dying, or that it needs to be revitalized, etc., etc. I think a lot of people have set the dying fandom myth to rest, but to add my two cents...
I receive several reviews a week on Harry Potter stories I wrote upwards of three years ago. Beg Me For It is being translated into Russian for Fanrus, a site that features Huge numbers of Harry Potter Russian translations. I was recently sent several gorgeous pieces of fanart. Given the last full-length HP fic I wrote was The Metronome in January, and I haven't been stirring the cauldron posting stories everywhere, that sounds like a pretty lively fandom to me.
When a group of authors discussed fanfiction on Making Light, most of the fanfiction writers who turned up wrote Harry Potter.
Now I have noticed that the HP authors I've followed for years haven't been posting a lot of fic. There seems to be a multi-fandom fad going around. I'm no different. Right now I don't have any HP stories burbling on the stove. I did burn out after 130 HP stories, and I was counting on Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince to restart my engines.
Instead, I find I'm holding my breath.
The book was a cliffhanger and I'm not one of those people who like to fill in what I think the ending's going to be. I don't shake my Christmas presents either. I like to be surprised. I've always been canon-centric in Lord of the Rings and Harry Potter (we'll not mention what I do to canon in Stargate Atlantis). So instead of filling in the ready-made holes of canon, I find myself faced with a story that's... incomplete. I don't want to tie up the loose ends or finish anything off for JKR. I want to see what she does.
This is not a dying fandom. This is a fandom on the edge of a cliff, silently breathless, waiting for the fireworks to begin.
I predict an explosion of fanfiction after JKR's final book.
There've been quite a few posts in the Harry Potter fandom lately about how it's dying, or declarations isn't dying, or that it needs to be revitalized, etc., etc. I think a lot of people have set the dying fandom myth to rest, but to add my two cents...
I receive several reviews a week on Harry Potter stories I wrote upwards of three years ago. Beg Me For It is being translated into Russian for Fanrus, a site that features Huge numbers of Harry Potter Russian translations. I was recently sent several gorgeous pieces of fanart. Given the last full-length HP fic I wrote was The Metronome in January, and I haven't been stirring the cauldron posting stories everywhere, that sounds like a pretty lively fandom to me.
When a group of authors discussed fanfiction on Making Light, most of the fanfiction writers who turned up wrote Harry Potter.
Now I have noticed that the HP authors I've followed for years haven't been posting a lot of fic. There seems to be a multi-fandom fad going around. I'm no different. Right now I don't have any HP stories burbling on the stove. I did burn out after 130 HP stories, and I was counting on Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince to restart my engines.
Instead, I find I'm holding my breath.
The book was a cliffhanger and I'm not one of those people who like to fill in what I think the ending's going to be. I don't shake my Christmas presents either. I like to be surprised. I've always been canon-centric in Lord of the Rings and Harry Potter (we'll not mention what I do to canon in Stargate Atlantis). So instead of filling in the ready-made holes of canon, I find myself faced with a story that's... incomplete. I don't want to tie up the loose ends or finish anything off for JKR. I want to see what she does.
This is not a dying fandom. This is a fandom on the edge of a cliff, silently breathless, waiting for the fireworks to begin.
I predict an explosion of fanfiction after JKR's final book.
no subject
Date: 2006-05-05 07:39 pm (UTC)That's a good point. Much of what goes on in our LJs is by necessity fanfiction, Meta, and fanart (which I believe is the trio everyone is referring to). For some of us the bulk of our fandom experience is online -- due to location, introverted natures, or the fact that we're skinflints and want our fandom for free -- but there is a larger fandom world.
I would argue that fanfiction is no longer a small part of the fandom, however, for the very reasons that it is a) free, b) available in very remote locations and any hour of the day.
It once was very tiny because it comprised Zines hawked at conventions. You had to be part of the con crowd just to be there, and then a subset of that group who was willing to shell out a few bucks to read badfiction -- er, I mean fanfiction.
Now it's an entirely different animal, extending the borders of fandom. You no longer have to commit to pay for crappy stories -- you can hit the Back button. There are reviews and recommendations that steer you towards the top shelf stories. And, through ease of online publication, the quality of the top shelf has gone up (and the quality of bottom shelf has gone down).
How far does fanfiction extend the borders of fandom now? The hits on my stories tell me just how broad that reach is. Within the last four days I have:
2580 hits from France
1253 Canada
887 Australia
990 Sweden
987 UK
986 Singapore
487 Netherlands
511 Finland
475 Cyprus
426 Denmark
226 Italy
477 Norway
197 Germany
269 Russian Fed.
131 Yugoslavia
238 Belgium
88 India
164 South Africa
96 Brazil
174 Isreal
92 Iceland
60 Hong Kong
92 Japan
16 Argentina
4675 Unknown
3276 US Educational
20466 US Commercial
In just four days. This is just one author's individual fanfiction site, and there's nothing else on it. I haven't even published much Harry Potter fanfiction lately. How many people from Belgium are registered for Lumos?
Fanfiction is huge now, it's not what it used to be. Since it is such a large component of the fandom it probably does act as a good barometer.
That said, I think people are misreading the 'fandom drift' on their friendslists. You're absolutely right that we need to look at the strengths of the communities to see the state of fandom.
Icarus