The Myth of the Dying Fandom

[icarus]

The 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.

Comments

[ladyaelfwynn.livejournal.com]

Here through Hogwarts Today...

I'm a archival cataloguer by trade and I find the definition of "fandom" that seems to be espoused by numerous of the above posters curious. Many seem to equate fandom with the writing of fan fiction.

Having been active in greater fandom* for pushing 25 years (I got my D&D sets when I was 13 ;-) ) and an active fan (attending conventions) for 20, I've never seen fanfic writing as the sole meter for whether a fandom is strong or not. It's been a rather small part of a whole continuum of activities. Other activities include filking (making up songs for your fandom, kind of like Weird Al, though the songs don't have to be funny), costuming, and general discussion of the core material (Which Star Trek capt. is better, how the dragons on Pern could be engineered, which faster than light travel is the most realistic, etc.).

The Harry Potter fandom is alive and well; just check out the registration page for Lumos 2006. A day doesn't go by when I at least check to see what's going on in Hogwarts Today. Most days I click through to at least something, be it art, a story, news, or an LJ post. At least once a week I comment on something.

I very much see the HP fandom as being alive and well for years to come. It may not always be the hot thing in LJ but there will always be someone working on an HP costume or thinking about the original text and writing papers on them just as people still write about Charles Dickens and Jules Verne.

Worry about fandom dying when people stop posting to communities and they go away. Worry about it when you can't find a story archive anywhere. Just because your f-list isn't all HP, all the time doesn't mean that the fandom is dead.

*Greater fandom - I have found that there are quite a lot of people with scarily overlapping interests. These include the SCA (Society for Creative Anachronism), attending Sci-fi conventions, playing role playing games, and enjoying numerous science fiction and fantasy books, shows, and movies, of which the HP series is one. It is rare that I have met someone with only one fandom; most have multiple, interlocking fandoms. To make it easier to discuss I decided to call it "Greater fandom" for lack of anything more original. ;-)

Ah, sorry, I didn't see that you'd deleted and updated your comment.

[icarusancalion.livejournal.com]

I'm a archival cataloguer by trade and I find the definition of "fandom" that seems to be espoused by numerous of the above posters curious. Many seem to equate fandom with the writing of fan fiction.

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

Re: Ah, sorry, I didn't see that you'd deleted and updated your comment.

[ladyaelfwynn.livejournal.com]

You make a very good point. Fandom had exploded with the growth of the Internet. Anyone anywhere with a connection can participate, which is a very good thing. It brings a diversity that was lacking and makes fandom far more accessible, especially to women.

I never bought any of those early fanzines for just the reasons you cite: too expensive and bad quality. The Internet certainly has been a boon to fanfic writers.

I'm going to a non-HP Sci-fi/fantasy con the end of this month and it'll be interesting to see what the current popular fandoms are. I hope HP will be represented by more than my daughter and I (my hubby and I are geeking her out early ;-) ) because I could see it and other Sci-fi/fantasy conventions becoming a haven for HP fans when the current furor wanes.