i’ve seen a lot of posts rightfully criticizing things that suck about writing for the 1d fandom sometimes (and posts about that are important because only by talking about it we can try to change it!), but sometimes things happen that remind me why it’s also great to write for the 1d fandom, so here is a very subjective list of
✨ things i like about the one direction fic community: ✨
it’s still a pretty big fandom and there’s still a lot of potential readership! i know people don’t get the number of hits on fics that were common during the height of 1d’s fame, but that doesn’t mean there aren’t still a lot of people reading!! which is great, because let’s face it, when you’ve spent a lot of time on a fic, you want as many people as possible to read it (and hopefully like it enough to engage with it!)
fic posts on tumblr: you may think this is a useless point, but i’ve noticed that there are really a lot of fandoms that don’t do fic posts, or if they do, they just post the ao3 link to tumblr. i LOVE that we’ve established a culture of doing fic posts with moodboards or sometimes fanart and reblogging them to support each other and promote our fics; i love that they are a tiny piece of art by itself!
fic fests!! i’ve been in fandoms since i was eleven and i’ve never seen a fandom where there was such dedication to fic fests and exchanges! big bangs are a common thing in a lot of fandoms, but the amount and variety of fic fests that are the norm in this fandom always blow my mind. the people who spend so much time and work organizing them honestly deserve a medal!
engaging in dialogue over fic via tumblr ask box: this isn’t specific to the 1d fandom, but i know it’s definitely a thing people do here: i love talking about fic on tumblr, both as a reader and a writer! as a reader you have endless opportunities to discuss your favourite characters, read snippets, look for tiny fic updates and as a writer you sometimes get people just wanting to talk about your writing with you some more and being sweet in your ask box without expecting anything in return
fic rec posts: i know they are a thing in almost every fandom (i should know, because i google for fic rec posts every time i try to read a new pairing), but there are a lot of people here making regular fic rec posts, willing to answer asks about specific fics or even make entire podcasts reccing fic! the amount of fic rec posts also means that a greater number of fics get recced, not always the same few ones
the way the writing community supports each other: whether it’s by tagging each other in last line challenges, reblogging each other’s fic posts, rolling their eyes and calling out when someone receives a mean comment or gets their fic stolen, i love that the writing community very much has each other’s back!
fanfic is a present and important part of the fandom: this last point may seem obvious to you, but, believe it or not, reading and writing fic isn’t such a big part of everyone’s fandom experience! with 1d and especially larry, i’ve always felt like fanfic is such a big staple in our shared experience, almost everyone values it and you rarely get people in fandom who haven’t at least read a few fics!