#vanity fandom

[trying-to-get-somewhere-real]

Shout out to @justusandlove for basically single-handedly keeping this fandom alive for us on tumblr. Her dedication and creativity is unparalleled, and I appreciate it so much!

[jmflowers]

hi same anon from earlier thank you so much for being so nice and awesome!! I hate seeing other peoples work being reposted and I just wasn’t sure what to do because I’m so new to this fandom didn’t think it was my place to say anything? Anyway u are awesome and I see it’s now been removed

Welcome to the fandom, anon! Every community needs people like you, who are willing to speak up when something feels wrong to help protect the rights of content creators.

I am so glad to see that the fic has now been removed. I’m going to leave my original message to you on my page so that others in the community who were enjoying the fic in question can seek out the original author’s work on Amazon. I think all of us fanfic writers dream of one day taking this passion and turning it into something professional.

Thank you so much for reaching out to me! It’s an honour to know you trusted me to be able to make a difference and I’m so glad that I could.

[jmflowers]

It’s Fanfic Writer’s Appreciation Day! (August 21, 2019)

I wanna take this day to send a big, loud THANK YOU out into this little fandom of ours. Of all the characters I’ve lost my mind over through the years, the community around these two is truly the kindest, most supportive group of people. You lot have brought so much joy to my evenings spent laying in bed reading, inspired me, made me laugh, and ultimately challenged me to be a better writer.

I never quite know what to say when I finish a fic that’s really touched me, so I tend to hoard them away on my browser until the words miraculously arrive. They usually don’t and instead I find myself re-reading until the stories are burned into my head. But I want every single one of you to know today that you are appreciated, loved, cherished, and YOUR STORIES have made so many of us happier. (Or deeply affected us with Hurt.)

Thank you to some of the authors whose stories I have loved (in no particular order whatsoever)...

@tigerlo | tumblr + AO3

@piratekane | tumblr + AO3

@thegirl20 | tumblr + AO3 

@authorette44 | tumblr + AO3

@dinglefields | tumblr + AO3

buttercupvanity | AO3

@elenaafisher | tumblr + AO3

tauhou | AO3

@wonkots42 | tumblr + AO3

requin | AO3

@knightinrainbowarmour | tumblr + AO3

exquisitelymorose | AO3

humanjukebox | AO3

firetoflame | AO3

ciprus | AO3

ramblingsofagaysian | AO3

lou87 | AO3

muddlingalong | AO3

vandergaard | AO3

concreteskies | AO3

There is 100% no way I have managed to tag all of the incredible fanfic writers (this is only 20) in this fandom, so please... feel free to reblog and add on. We are all so, so grateful for every single one of you creating content! 

xoxo J.M. Flowers

[jmflowers]

It appears someone got deeply invested in the fic reposting debacle I shared here this week, and they’ve taken to attacking the user rather aggressively within the comment section of another of their stories.

I really, really hope my own discoveries aren’t what spurred you on because this fandom has never been and should never be about trying to hurt each other. Anger is understandable - I totally get it and feel it, too - but the behaviours occurring with that emotion aren’t cool. Bullying in any form, no matter the act taken that you feel deserves some justice, shouldn’t have a place in fandom.

Threatening someone with an action is bullying and it solves no problems. If you feel reporting them is the way to go, then just do it, but don’t threaten them with it. AO3 offers the ability to report things and keeps you anonymous because that is your right as a reader to question things that seem wrong and alert the trusted community that runs the site to investigate the issue.

[jmflowers]

sorry to just message you but are u still active in the calzona fandom/know any vanity fans who are? I really think someone needs to do something about the calzona story that has been taken by someone who didn’t write it and which is being reposted in ao3 but don’t even know where to start contacting the actual author.

Hey anon, 

I am not active in the Calzona fandom and haven’t been for quite some time. 

I assume you are referring to this fic, so I looked into things a bit further. The original story is written by a user called gauzepaws. They are no longer accessible on any platform, as far as I can tell, and all of their fanfiction work was removed from various hosting sites before 2015.

I am so proud to inform you that this creator went onto becoming a published author and their work is available for purchase on Amazon. This particular story is here (and there are a bunch more books, too!). Their moniker now is H.P. Munro. 

I have personally commented on the reposted fic in question with this message:

So you are aware, this original story is no longer simply fanfiction that you are plagiarizing. Gauzepaws removed all of their fanfiction work from various hosting sites before 2015 as they were beginning the journey of becoming a published novelist. A quick google search of the username will bring you to a livejournal post of someone looking for specific fic and gauzepaws themself pointedly asking them not to seek out the work on any of the archived hosting lists.

Gauzepaws now writes under the moniker H.P. Munro and four books from this series - including this one - are available for purchase on Amazon. Stars Collide was a Finalist in 2015 for GCLS Traditional Contemporary Romance. Supporting lesbian fiction authors should be a cornerstone of any wlw writing community and I implore everyone who’s enjoyed the concept of this story to access the content from the original source.

Reposting this work, even with the very minor credit to gauzepaws in your disclaimer, isn’t a flattering act like you may think. As a writer yourself, I’m sure you’re aware of the hours upon hours of time that go into creating any piece, never mind the months on end of commitment and discipline. But above all that, you’re now infringing on copyright laws.

I’d recommend removing this work from the site and keeping future rewrites of fics you’ve enjoyed from past fandoms to yourself.

There are creators in this Vanity fandom, too, who have removed their work from hosting sites so that they may publish in the future. Missing a writer’s words is one thing, but infringing on their rights as the creator of that content so that you may continue to enjoy their work for free isn’t cool.

Hopefully a bit of light shined on this will help to remedy the situation in the best possible way. Thank you for messaging me about it. 

Edit: I mistakenly said that the other novels available are from this series. I was incorrect. This book is a standalone, there are two from the Grace Falls series, and one historical romance novel on their author page on Amazon. 

[jmflowers]

There is some extremely rampant leaking of spoilers lately and I’m getting really, really tired of it. Mostly, I’m tired of people feeling it’s okay to share these spoilers without giving people ample notice so that they can back away and choose not to consume them.

Half the joy of watching a show is seeing things unfold onscreen the way the show runners intended. Tag your spoilers. Respect that some people don’t want to know. Understand that people who do know some don’t want to know all.