The Problem With Being a Fan Writer/Artist in a Big Fandom
So as many of you know, yesterday there was a LOT of drama here on the blog. I was thinking about deleting all of the posts, and just leaving things alone, but I feel this is actually a good opportunity to discuss a major problem that I’ve seen happen almost consistently. And not only have I seen it occur in this fandom, but in every fandom I’ve ever been in.
The common issue that I see seems to stem from the (usually minority) of the fandom that feels as though they have the right to tell creators of fan made things such as fanart and fanfics, what to do with their own works.
So, I wanted to deliver the following important message as a writer in the YOI fandom:
CONTENT CREATORS DO NOT OWE YOU, THE READER, THE FOLLOWER, ANYTHING.
This sense of entitlement that I’ve seen spreading around fandoms has become quite toxic. People have little to no respect for others and seem to think they’re doing artists and writers favors by sending them PMs or anonymous messages trying to dictate or censor or make demands of their work.
Telling a creator something like:
“You shouldn’t write ____ plot because I don’t like it.” or “____ character isn’t gay/straight/bi/poly how DARE you depict them in a way that isn’t canon!” or “This is a shitty ship/pairing/AU I don’t like it and neither should you!”
This is the definition of entitlement. You aren’t owed anything by us. We write, draw, create because these are things that we love to do. We decide to share our thoughts and ideas and worlds that we want to create with all of you. And (most of the time) were doing this for free! Unless you’re commissioning someone for artwork or a story? You have no right to tell someone what to do with their own works.
If you don’t like something within the fandom, learn to ignore it. Scroll past it. Use the blacklist to block triggering terms or tags or blogs or things you just generally aren’t into. I’ve done it, many other have done it. It isn’t difficult to do.
And if you follow someone because you like something they write or make, then realize they also make something you don’t? Either learn to block the tags they use for the posts you don’t like - or just unfollow them.
There’s no need to make a show out of it. There’s no need to make a huge deal out of it. There’s no need to personally message us or send passive aggressive anon asks explaining the reasons why you no longer want to follow someone.
Just hit that unfollow button and keep moving.
Remember, we’re all fans of the same thing here. And the beautiful thing about being part of large fandoms is the immense amount of diversity within them. We have people interacting from all over the world. We have people creating things and drawing from experiences in all walks of life.
The issue here is that there’s no respect for anyone outside of these people’s bubble. The moment they see something they don’t agree with, they feel this impulsive need to comment on it. People feel as though they’re owed something just because they like/reblog writing and art and follow someone’s blog. Remember that we’re all fans here. Remember that we’re all human beings here. Remember that there is a person behind the screen. Learn to respect when someone is different than you.
And I’ve had people message me privately and respectfully before, asking that I tag certain things or put a TW/CW on certain types of posts so that they CAN continue to follow my work and just block whatever it is that they don’t like. It’s all about how you approach us. Many of us aren’t bothered about being told these things. But you need to learn to ask and not just be like
“Oh i don’t like ____ so I’m unfollowing you.”
The only person you’re hurting by doing this isn’t us, it’s yourself. Creators aren’t going to want to write or work with someone who can’t communicate properly with them.
So please, PLEASE respect your fanartists. Respect your fanfic authors, respect your roleplayers. All we want is to create more wonderful things in this beautiful fandom for people to share and enjoy. And we can’t do that if we’re constantly treated like shit.
That said, I’m going to continue to write the things that I enjoy and love. I only hope something like this doesn’t happen on my blog ever again.
