Being "in a fandom."

[amanuensis1]

gmth has a post about the difficulties of losing interest in a fandom and the inability to just "make" oneself obsessed with a new one. You can't court the thunderbolt.

It's hard to sustain fannishness for just one thing. And yet, we're only as deeply fannish as we can be when it is for just one thing.

That's how it's been for me with HP. (More specifically HP slash, but let's allow the source material to stand for the smaller focus.) For the most part, I still eat, sleep, and breathe it, but it's a different eat/sleep/breathe than it was at the beginning. At first I was devoted to writing fic, reading fic, viewing art, commenting on fic/art, meta and responding to meta. Over the years it's become something else: reading fic, viewing art, commenting on fic/art, interacting with the friends I've made through HP (and with whom HP is still a large part of our discussions), reacting to disillusionment over the canon, and thinking about writing fic more than the actual writing of it. ^_^

You'd look at that evolution of my obsession and you might say that a lot of that is not HP; surfing livejournal is not merely HP; sympathising with someone over their grandmother's illness is not at all HP; discussing the 300 trailer is not at all HP. But I'd respond, I would not have a livejournal if not for HP. Not just that HP brought me to livejournal; I mean that if HP were not in my life I would be unlikely to want to sustain the journal. When I talk to someone about Torchwood or Pet Shop of Horrors or their cat, there's still this sense of connection that we became interactive friends because we share or once shared that fondness for HP. There's this bit from an old French TV show where Sherlock Holmes's character quotes something, and then says, "Shakespeare." Watson says, wait, that's not Shakespeare, that's Dickens. Holmes quips, "Tout est Shakespeare. Même Dickens," (Everything's Shakespeare. Even Dickens). (ETA: Or is that "Tout sont Shakespeare"? Here I admit my monolingualness, despite all that study.)

All through that, yes, I have had other interests. You might even call them fannish; you might even call them fandoms. I'm not sure I would, because I think fandom implies major dedicated interest. Yes, even as I adore HP fandom, I do watch television, see movies, read books. Stories, in prose and in audio and in visual media, are my life. I do not ever want to have children because that would cut into all of that and I'd effing resent that. I've never missed an episode of 24, never missed one of the new Doctor Who. I have even scribbled a ficlet for each of those sources, and have read a bit of fanfiction for them. Am I in their fandom? I don't really feel I am. I'm a fan, yes. But there needs to be more, needs to be a sense of, "I love this thing, I am really dedicated to thinking about these characters/situations, am highly needy to know more about their off-screen lives and how they'd be in situations that I dream up. I want to see pictures of that and read stories about that and you know what, I have the stories in my head I want to see and I know no one will write them precisely the way I want to see them written so I gotta do it, in fact I can hardly wait to do it, where's my Microsoft Word icon, new document, yes, yes, yes..."

No, I don't think that "in fandom" must equal "fanfiction writer/fanartist" for everyone. Some people have no need to create in that way, and so can't be held to those criteria. But I think you have to want more than the canon, have to think about what's beyond the canon a lot, be needy about it. If you don't die of squee a bit when you discover that someone has drawn a picture of your OTP from the canon, I don't think you really have a deep enough devotion to be "in" the fandom. For me, that latter's a really good criterion; my heart pulses faster when I see the words Harry/Lucius, Harry/Draco, Harry/Sirius on a link in hp_art_daily. To this day it does, oh yeah.

Some of that is because I really, really, really, really don't want another fandom than HP--I'm spoiled by its vastness. I read Lois McMaster Bujold's The Sharing Knife some months back, freakin' loved it, searched the 'net for any fansites devoted to it. I really wanted me some fanart of the characters. There isn't s**t out there for it. So I squelched my disappointment and thanked my lucky stars again for having been thunderbolted into HP, the fandom which has entire communities devoted to skirtporn and SnapeSlash. Am I eager to stay in this fandom, to actively resist being sucked into another? Hell, yes. Will that matter, will my character be any less if it does happen one day? Hey, you try hiding from a determined thunderbolt.

Comments

[scribbulus-ink.livejournal.com]

That's pretty much my take on it too. Although I read and watch a lot of different things, there's very little that actually sparks me enough to want to write about it or to want more than just canon. I was actively involved in only 2 online fandoms prior to HP, meaning I wrote and read fanfiction, sought out fan art, participated on lists, and was generally "visible" in the fandom.

I've dabbled in other fandoms, but mostly in the form of drabbles written on request. The only thing that I've written anything longer than a ficlet for of my own volition was the new Battlestar Galactica, and that didn't last long. I wrote 2 ficlets, and that was all I was compelled to write, and then I stopped watching the show.

I've been a passive consumer in a handful of other fandoms: Highlander, Farscape, Angel: The Series, among others. But I was never sparked to write, and my interest in reading waned after a while.

I love Supernatural, House, and a few other fandoms that I've seen all over my flist, but I'm not sparked to read or write in them. Canon is enough. HP is the last thing that really, really sparked me to create and participate, and I'm content to remain here until something - if anything - sparks me anew. I need the spark, and if it happens, great; if not, that's fine too. I'm still interested and involved in HP, and while I'm apprehensive about what will happen in book 7, I'm not ready to preemptively bail.

[amanuensis1.livejournal.com]

I know that if certain characters die in DH, there's a chance that I will not want to read/write about those characters much any longer--there can be a sense of "I'm pathetically flailing here, aren't I," with resurrection fic. That did happen to me years ago after the conclusion of the Xena series; I wasn't in the fandom and had not even read any fanfiction for it, but the end of the series left me heartbroken, and I went to the 'net to see if people were writing fanfiction that could soothe my heart. I found fic, and it didn't help. It felt, as I say, like flailing against reality, like foolish denial. And yet. Yet I'm still perfectly happy to embrace "Sirius never died" AU for the sake of a character I really loved and felt it made no narrative sense to kill. So who knows?

[delfeus.livejournal.com]

I love HP because it really has everything. It's such a big fandom, with various pairings and kinks, that when I decide that I want to try, say, Bloody Baron/Harry, I'm sure that I can find someone who has written it. That's really what I like best about HP.

Some other fandoms, on the other hand... Well, PSOH fandom = Leon/D, with perhaps a little Papa D or Grandpa D or Tetsu thrown in. If you're lucky. And it's pretty much the same with other anime fandoms.

For instance, probably 4/5 (or more!) of anything Death Note you find is L/Raito or Raito/L, and the remaining amount has some variation, but not much. And there's practically no Mikami/Raito or Raito/Mikami, despite the fact that Mikami considers Raito to be a god and would do anything he asked. Noo... of course everyone and their dog go for the rival slash in L/R. :P

In Eyeshield 21 you can pair pretty much anyone/anything and it becomes almost-canon sooner or later, but the pairings in fic, art & doujinshi are still very limited. I mean, Eyeshield has more potential than HP! A good example of this is how some doujinshikas started randomly shipping Juumonji and Sena, which felt like a bit of a WTF pairing at that point, although I could see where they were coming from. Well, a few feeks later, there came a certain manga chapter... Sena was out of the field (they play American football), but his somewhat psychotic opponent (who is OTP with chains - they literally keep him in chains because he goes a bit psycho at times) was still heading for him, and Sena was all OMG because he's so small and he'd get crushed... and then Juumonji suddenly shows up in between them and stops Ikari all "hands off my uke" like. XD The über!OTP for the series is Hiruma(icon)/anyone-he-wants, though... and Hiruma/guns. But yeah, both fics and doujinshi in the fandom are rather limited, although there seems to be a bit more variation nowadays.

[delfeus.livejournal.com]

...you can see some Eyeshield 21 pics here:
http://www.student.oulu.fi/~miasaikk/eye/

I made a post about Banba/Harao and one about Hiruma/Agon on LJ ages ago. They are just two of the many pairings there... and I know one person who's written Banba/Harao, and I've seen one fic with Hiruma/Agon.

[josanpq.livejournal.com]

If you decide to play in McMaster's pool, beware. Her fans are very book oriented.

If you liked TSK, try her Vorkosigan series. I found them better written. There is some fanfic in that fandom, but not that much.

[amanuensis1.livejournal.com]

I've read everything Bujold's written, the minute it comes out! ^_^ But it was The Sharing Knife that made me say, I want to see fans' visual interpretations of these characters.

[melpemone.livejournal.com]

Thanks for this post - you've addressed a subject I've been thinking about for a while; that being the definition of 'belonging' to a fandom. I'd never considered myself capable of being multifannish until I recently found myself with one main fandom and several minor fandoms, and I've recently come to the conclusion that I was right all along, I'm not cut out for that at all: my 'minor' fandoms are media I enjoy the hell out of and consider fic for and talk about, but simply don't eat my brain the way my 'main' fandom does. For my other interests I don't read meta, and I skip clicking cuts, and I don't force my way through awful fic just because it features my pairing. And trying to be multifannish has done nothing more than split my concentration and screw with my ability to write fic. So. Epiphany. :-)

[amanuensis1.livejournal.com]

I've been really stubborn about it, too--if anyone said to me (hypothetically; no one has to date), "Oh, you're in the Battlestar Galactica fandom now," I'd be defensive about it, I would. I'd say, no, I've never read a piece of fanfiction, never gone looking for fanart. I just watch the show and maybe speculate with others here and there on what's coming; that's not enough for me to be "in" the fandom. Not by my own definitions, anyway. ^_^

[incapricious.livejournal.com]

I think, for me, the only reason I'm actually "in" the HP fandom as much as I am is because it is so big. I mean, I doubt I would have fallen into it like I did were it not for the initial sense I got of having tripped over a stone and found it was actually the tip of a rock that extended all the way to the center of the earth. I didn't want to read or write HP fanfiction until I had already read a whole bunch of it... I guess since that made me see what a wide variety of things were possible. Or something.

Not just that HP brought me to livejournal; I mean that if HP were not in my life I would be unlikely to want to sustain the journal.

Yes, exactly! I feel the same way.

[amanuensis1.livejournal.com]

I don't think it would happen that I would, you know, decide I don't like HP anymore and abandon my livejournal altogether. But when I don't have anything to say about HP, I don't just start posting random stuff to fill up the days. I'll post non-HP things but generally I want it to be something my fandom/slash/etc.-oriented flist will find at least peripherally entertaining.

[mtnjoy.livejournal.com]

This is a very interesting post, and I agree with it completely.

*has nothing further to say*

So, uh. Yeah.

*wanders off in search of coffee*

[amanuensis1.livejournal.com]

I'm glad you came by! If I had coffee I would give you some. ^_^

[silverhielm.livejournal.com]

Great post. I love the joy you communicate, it's catching!

I used to be a fan of HP slash. Nowadays I am a fan of HP slash fandom. This is the only difference.
And I'm so jealous of my fandom, I could never have another one O_O

[amanuensis1.livejournal.com]

Nowadays I am a fan of HP slash fandom.

Such an interesting distinction! Yes, when I look at my flist and see the long-term people on there, and think about who's not posting much fic any more, and who's wandered away from HP altogether, I remind myself, "That is only MY flist. We are long-termers and the quantity of fic/art we're bringing to the fandom is less, but look at all these new names all over comment pages, all over the communities! It's still going strong." ^_^

[belleamant.livejournal.com]

Thank you. This is absolutely the right words. I started out in fandom because of GundamW when I was a freshman in high school, and I spent all of my spare time looking up facts and art and fic and talking to my friends about it. Then, as the years passed, I vaguely shifted into Weiss Kreuz (which is another anime), but it just wasn't the same. I found Harry Potter (after brief ficlets here and there throughout high school) summer after my senior year, and I was hooked. I don't write much (on this journal or my other), but I'm certainly in the fandom, talking about it and reading and commenting, and I am actively trying to stay in the fandom, though there are times when I want to read Avatar slash (of which there isn't much), Harry Potter is still my fandom at this point, and I hope it stays that way for a while, though I know that my mood will probably switch at some point. -Belle

[amanuensis1.livejournal.com]

Staying "active" in the fandom can be tricky to define, isn't it? It implies interaction, but to some it implies more, actual productivity. It's like Hollywood, where yer only as good as yer last film. ^_^

[ladysorka]

As a non-creator, I don't tend to consider myself "in" a fandom until I've been interested in reading the fiction and the meta for longer than a week or two. If I maintain interest after I've read through the main fic archive, then I'm in the fandom. If I start randomly adding lj users because they write good fic or say interesting things about the source, then I'm really in the fandom.

I qualify it that way because I tend to get bored and randomly read fic for shows that I've never even seen, let alone been fannish about. I am multi-fannish, and often have 2-3 "main" fandoms at once, usually with 5-6 "minor" fandoms underneath - I tend to consider a fandom "minor" for me when it's a fandom that would be main, except for the fact that it's a really, really tiny fandom.

But within any given week, I've probably read fic in 15-20 fandoms. And I'm sure as hell not in all of them.

[amanuensis1.livejournal.com]

Your criterion of duration makes sense! If you can read everything around for a week or two, and still want to seek out more...yeah, then you're probably hooked. ^_^

[eibbil-libbie.livejournal.com]

I think I must now shower you with love and cookies...in that order. Must be a groupthink thing going on, because I've been debating the very same things lately and looks like loads of others as well. HP fandom's been a very big, very REAL part of my life going on...dear God...over five years now. This journal just had it's fourth birthday. And while my role and interaction within it have shifted from active posting, fic writing/reading/reccing/reviewing to mainly roleplaying and meta discussions...and while the lunatic fringes of the fandom have had me throwing up my hands in disgust more times than I can count in those five years...I'm still here. And have no plans to leave.

So rather than restate, I will link to this if it's all right. Because you said what I'm thinking FAR better than I ever could.

*aforementioned love and cookies*

[amanuensis1.livejournal.com]

Link away! Oooh, cookies, thank you so much! *hugs* And happy birthday to your journal. ^_^

[gmth.livejournal.com]

You can't court the thunderbolt.

Oh how I wish I'd thought of this phrase myself. It would have made a perfect title for that post. :-)

I like the way you talk about the shift in your fannish activities here, especially the shift toward more interaction with friends and more thinking about fic than writing it. That's pretty much where I am, although even my thinking about writing fic has dropped off pretty precipitously in the past few months. My problem is I really, really don't want to lose touch with the friends I've made in fandom. You all are the most important thing I've gained from my time in HP, and for that reason alone I doubt I will ever leave 100%. There will always be that common ground, you know? It's the other stuff I am shedding more and more as time goes on.

Anyway, great post. :-)

[amanuensis1.livejournal.com]

I know exactly what you mean--there are friends I've made through this whom I'll never let go even when HP hardly enters our conversations. I know this because I have proof of it; I already have those friends. And it doesn't matter one whit!

How could we ever let it go completely. How could I ever let YOU go! *cuddles*

[emmagrant01.livejournal.com]

Oh, yes, all of this -- yes. I've felt myself floating a bit about writing fanfic lately and just haven't felt the desire or the drive to write anything, but yet, I enjoy being here so much. I love reading my flist and talking about fandom stuff and working on Slahcast, and there's an extent to which that's been my fannish activity for a couple of months now. I haven't read a fic since the holiday exchanges, and I've struggled to write one -- it's like I'm just not interested in it right now.

There's something about the multi-fandom nature of LJ that's really appealing to me, and while HP is a huge part of that, it's not the only part, you know?

[amanuensis1.livejournal.com]

Because LJ and HP are so wrapped together in my mind, when I'm doing "LJ things" I think, "I'm doing fandom things," even if those fandom things aren't HP! I suppose most of my LJ time still falls under the category of "fannish behavior"; that's why.

[nyxxxxx.livejournal.com]

Well, even if i've never had the luck to talk to you... it'd be sad if you weren't in the fandom. Because there are never enough people like you, who are so "in" the fandom, who make you want to live for it, for just a moment. XD
Thanks
Nyx
ps: it's "Tout est Shakespeare" ^_^ oh and sorry if i made mistakes, my english still needs to be tamed.

[amanuensis1.livejournal.com]

Oh, thank you so much for the grammar correction, I thought it was but I blanked! I guess I could get rid of the ETA now, hee.

*hugs you*

[maddiec24.livejournal.com]

Coincidentally, my husband and I were discussing this last night. I was saying how X Files, specifically Skinner/Krycek, was my first fandom in which I read and wrote fic, and while I still love it and read fic in it, I'm not as excited about it as I once was. Same with Oz and Beecher/Keller, my other main fandom. I used to write it, and now I still read it, but I'm just not as into it as before.

But HP... oh my. I'm still very excited about it, possibly because it is so vast, and because I have so many different pairings that I love. I've never felt the desire to write in it(too intimidated by all the wonderful writers here, I think!). I do feel sad thinking there might come a day when I'm *not* excited about HP.

I have other things I like, and consider minor fandoms of mine - - Buffy/Angel/Firefly, Smallville, Torchwood, Life on Mars, PotC. Then there are the ones I like, but don't consider consider them fandoms of mine, as I've never sought out fic or art in them.

Just rambling now, but excellent topic for discussion!

[amanuensis1.livejournal.com]

Then there are the ones I like, but don't consider consider them fandoms of mine, as I've never sought out fic or art in them.

Yeah, I really think that's it--do you want to go beyond the canon, with your interest? If so, you're "in the fandom;" if not, you're more of a fan. A little strictly defined, and I'm sure not everyone would agree, but I like having categories to work with.

[ziasudra-fic.livejournal.com]

It's funny how I simultaneously feel less and more "in" the HP fandom nowadays. I haven't been doing as much reading/writing/commenting/etc. as I used to, but a large part of the waning LJ interaction is because a lot of my HP friendships have moved into RL (the advantage of living in a big city). So... I hang out with people I wouldn't have met otherwise if not for HP, and we talk HP when we meet, just not 100% of the time. But is meeting a fellow HP fan for dinner fannish/an "in fandom" activity? It's hard to say, and more and more I'm leaning toward no, at least for the fandom friends I've come to see IRL on a regular basis.

That said, I'm still slaving away on my Snarry Games fic...

[amanuensis1.livejournal.com]

a large part of the waning LJ interaction is because a lot of my HP friendships have moved into RL

And some of us might say, well, there y'go, then! You are actually living the dream, yay! ^_^ (I wish I lived in the same city as you. You're so much fun!)

[cluegirl.livejournal.com]

O.O

Amy, did my extra braincell just wander over your way for the weekend or something? Because everything you've said, (Switching Criminal Minds for 24, and CSINY for Doctor Who,) is exactly as I'd say it.

I have books I love far more than the HP series, but I am not driven to write in them. I have movies I've adored, and felt no tickle of an urge to go find fansites. I've dipped my toe into Firefly, and Crossing Jordan, and BtVS/A, but they've not really GRABBED me like Potterfandom did.

And they haven't given me friends like you. Friends who, I might add, are now more than 75% of the reason I'm STILL in fandom at all. For that alone, HP fandom will always have a special glow around it.

*Snoodles you!*

[amanuensis1.livejournal.com]

Aha, I HAVE TEH BRAINCELL!!1!1eleventy-one!1!

There's no question--I still have the urge to produce fic, even if more sporadically now, partly because there remains an appreciative audience, many of which are friends like YOU, whom I really want to please with one of our common interests, y'know?

And of those fantastic friends like you--we could lose HP discussions altogether and we'd STILL adore each other, we totally would. *loves to pieces*

[glockgal.livejournal.com]

Seriously, just yes almost all of this. To being fannish, to wanting more from canon, so not having to be a fanartist/fanficcer to be fannish, to be spoiled by the vastness that is HP.

That more than anything. There are so many books or movies or whatev that I find and I LOVE and I want to share with others and squee and read and see more - but it simply doesn't exist. And then I realize that this is what it's like for the rest of the world who isn't in a fandom - they read or see, they enjoy, they chat with a couple friends and then they move on.

HP has so spoiled me. I feel there should be a fandom for everything - and when I realize there's not, it only makes me that much more grateful that I happened upon HP.

Yes!!! *snuggles you like MAD*

[amanuensis1.livejournal.com]

And then I realize that this is what it's like for the rest of the world who isn't in a fandom

Isn't it TERRIFYING? That sad little world out there! It's why I do spend so much time online, have wrist and back problems from bein' at this computer so much--because the people I interact with daily at work etc. aren't going to mind-meld with me about the things I love so well. I remember being in school, before internet, and having to, you know, groom friends to watch the things I watched, read the things I read, hoping they might become half as big a fan as me so I'd have someone to speak with about the stories I loved. Rarely worked. Thank goodness my S.O. became as big an MST3K fan as me, or I don't know what I would have done!

*tackleglomps you*

[seraphtrevs.livejournal.com]

You'd look at that evolution of my obsession and you might say that a lot of that is not HP; surfing livejournal is not merely HP; sympathising with someone over their grandmother's illness is not at all HP; discussing the 300 trailer is not at all HP. But I'd respond, I would not have a livejournal if not for HP. Not just that HP brought me to livejournal; I mean that if HP were not in my life I would be unlikely to want to sustain the journal.

fkjaes;fakdj;fs O_O YES! I feel the exact same way! The vast majority of my flist is made up of people I met through hogwarts_elite, but...none of us really talk about HP any more. At the same time though, HP is the foundation upon which my lj was built.

I've actually been trying to find another fandom - not that I would ever, ever leave HP, but the conclusion of the series is making me nervous. I completely understand what you're saying about being a fan of something but not being in the fandom - I follow a lot of TV shows, read a lot of books, and see a lot of movies, but I've been only vaguely interested in reading fic for, say, House. There's no "squee" factor for me - I mean, I'm thrilled when new episodes are on, etc., but I'm not excited enough to NEED MOAR!!! outside the source material.

I also think that HP fandom has a unique mix of characteristics that make for an unusually satisfying fan experience. (Er, this meta is really, really old, and written when I was a n00b, so be forewarned. : P) So I'm kind of thinking that HP might be a once-in-a-lifetime kind of deal - I'm not sure if anything will ever be able to satisfy me in the same way. *sigh*

[amanuensis1.livejournal.com]

Oh, I like that meta of yours a lot! I think I did read it at one point, or at least I've heard you say some of those things in other contexts. And, yeah, won't it be sad if it really is a once-in-a-lifetime deal. I can't imagine never feeling, again, like I've felt for the past few years!

[willayork.livejournal.com]

hey. i found you a fic. maybe you're already reading it (its a WIP) but maybe not, and i thought of you as soon as i found it!
its "blind truth" at
http://slashpervert.livejournal.com/tag/blind+beauty

its got your harry/lucuis non-con and lucuis/draco non-con and sorta-kinda non-con/BDSM harry/draco when harry gets caught by DEs. its not done but i think it's youll like it!

[willayork.livejournal.com]

hmm... yes, i know this had nothing todo w/ yr entry... but oh well!
:-) *winkwink* enjoy

[amanuensis1.livejournal.com]

I'm so wary of unfinished fic, I almost never go after it! But looking at this, it looks like it IS finished, just being posted in pieces. So I'll give it a look, thank you! ^_^

[orange-bastard.livejournal.com]

You always inspire me with your (seemingly) endless enthusiasm for HP! ♥

I keep hoping I'll get my enthusiasm back, and soon. I remember I couldn't wait to do the next drawing...now it's all I can do to muster the energy to do anything. Maybe it's just simple burnout...who knows. I'll be at Prophecy regardless though :)

[amanuensis1.livejournal.com]

Exhaustion huuuuurts. When it's work and not fun, all you want to do is relive that glorious enthusiasm, and you can't get it so you wander about unhappily asking yourself where that enthusiasm went!

It doesn't matter--I'll see you at Prophecy and we'll talk about past glories, hee! *hugs*

[angiepen.livejournal.com]

Agreed. [nod] There are other fandoms where I read fic occasionally, usually when someone on my Flist recs it (isiscolo usually) but I don't actively go looking for it. I've read a few Due South stories, a few Smallville stories (and I even friended mahaliem because I really love her stuff) and a few more Stargate Atlantis stories, but I've never felt the urge to go join a community or actually search out stories, and I've never seen the shows (except for the SGA pilot episode).

I hadn't thought about it before, but yeah, there's a difference between being a fan and being in a fandom. [nod] That's a useful distinction, definitely.

Angie

[amanuensis1.livejournal.com]

I like having distinctions--I think it's the same way I like making lists of favorites. It's like I want to give things their due: "You are my very favorite, you are on my list but not my VERY favorite..." ^_^

[exbentley]

Sometimes I think that fandom thinks too much.

HP fandom will always permeate my life, but you know guys - it's okay to be more concerned with the lives of friends you've made through fandom than new meta, and it's okay to like other texts.


I consider myself a fan of everything I love, even if I'm not thinking or talking about it constantly - but I don't feel the need to define "Fandom" to make myself feel better about my shallow, casual interest.

I agree with a lot of what you say here - sometimes I'm amazed that it's been five years and I'm still swapping favourite plotlines with my friends. I have a tendency to get nostalgic - I was talking about witchfics.org and my Snape/Hermione stage just last night, in fact.

And j-fandom or anime or Heroes or whatever don't have that same single-minded obsession HP fandom had for me, but that's because the fandom isn't as big, or as clever, or as filled with meta and sociology and deeper meanings and abstract fic and AUs.

I love HP fandom because it's different, and maybe one day that lightening bolt will strike again but until then, I'll just be over here squealing mindlessly over whatever's taken my fancy lately and enjoying having such a variety of things to love.

[delfeus.livejournal.com]

Word for the meta. I mean, sure it's good that people think about things, but sometimes it gets a bit ridiculous in HP how everything is combed through and combed through again... and not just canon, but fan stuff, too, like the RPG nocturne_alley. There were actually long analyzes about the game and I was a bit WTF.

[ariadneelda.livejournal.com]

Thank you for this. I've been feeling very melancholic about fandom lately because so many people seem to be drifting away and your post made me feel better two days ago (I just didn't have the time to comment). Today this melancholic mood struck me again for the same reasons, so I came back here to reread your post and it really helped. I could say a lot of things in response but I can't seem to be able to put my thoughts in some order right now, so I'll just say YES to everything you said. And I'm so very glad your love for HP may have changed but is still strong. I'd be incredibly sad if you, too, had started losing interest.

[amanuensis1.livejournal.com]

Though my productivity isn't what it was, it's still those same HP pairings that make my pulse pound. ^_^ Even after Book 7, I anticipate I'll be around for whatever remains of fandom, for a decent amount o' time! *smooches*

[minavox.livejournal.com]

Wow. How can you write what I feel before I have even sorted out that I feel like that??? Amazing!

Great post! You're so right. There is a difference between fandom and the things you're also a fan of. I'm one of those HP fans who don't write or draw or even compose long meta essays, but still HP sort of sets the tone for every other interaction concerning fannish things. It's like I can be assured that there is a general understanding cause we share the Potter love... Great thing, that!

[amanuensis1.livejournal.com]

Yeah, the sense of "this is why we got together in the first place" is there, and it's not just the feeling of HP, it's also the feeling of "we are the sorts of people who get crazy over something like this," and that's also very binding/bonding, I think! :D