#please keep making art

[adorkastock]

"Art is about intent, Yumi. A rainbow isn’t art, beautiful though it might be. Art is about creation. Human creation. A machine can lift way more than Tojin can—doesn’t make it less impressive when he lifts more than almost any human being.” He smiled at her. “I don’t care how well a machine piles rocks. The fact that you do it is what matters to me."

— from Yumi and the Nightmare Painter, A Cosmere Novel by Brandon Sanderson

[spindlethief]

A message to my Fan-Fic Authors

There’s this trend in the community I’ve seen ever since I was a wee baby fan online for the first time, reading peoples fanfics and taking in all the beautiful fanart that exists in this vast online world. Authors and artists of fan work almost always have this attitude of not being a “real” author or artist. The way we intake this media is a huge part of the problem for sure, but holy shit guys I wish you could take a real step back and look at what you’ve created objectively.  I’ve seen finely crafted works of writing that blow my favorite “”””””real”””” authors out of the water. I’ve seen meticulous fan art and theories and comics that are arguably better than the source material. Friends, I wish you could perceive your talent. I wish you could see what I see when I look at what you’ve made.  The effort and talent that goes into even the most basic AU fic mesmerizes me. Honestly the number of fic’s I’ve read that could be published books is incredible. I want you all to know that I see the effort, I see your talent and I don’t just appreciate it- I treasure it. You’re creating something purely original. Sure your characters and settings may be borrowed, but the content is all you. And I challenge you to find any “real” artist or author that doesn’t borrow from other media, their friends, family and their lives. The same way you all do. How many of our historically renown painters only ever depicted scenes from the bible? Hell, even Shakespeare’s plays are based off other stories. I wish some of you could see that if you wanted to publish your fic as a book, all you’d have to do is change some names. Just like dear ol’ Shakespeare. And hey, even that is, in my opinion, an optional step.

It breaks my heart to see you all sell yourselves short when you’re doing something incredible. There are a few people in particular that I hope get this message and though I’m hesitant to tag them (I can never know if my words are seen as encouraging so I’d rather not risk it) I hope they see this and find something positive in it.