fandom meta, a thread

or, an analysis on fanfic, traditionally published books, and how straight fandom vs queer fandom manifest that

note: this was originally written for a reylo mutual, so it's operating under the assumption that the viewer is familiar with star wars fandom. even if you aren't, i think you can still understand it! it's just an example.

okay so this was inspired by the tweet that said "what other fandom has THREE published authors?"

and on one hand, im like HELL YEAH, but on the other hand, my brain is "uh... lots of fandoms have other published authors too?" hp fandom, lotr fandom, sooo many.

it's just that reylo is the New Generation (kind of like how emily duncan was a s&b fan) and obvs they're your community so you're more aware of them

but then i remembered. awhile back i discussed with a friend how reylo fanfic is structured differently from a lot of other fics

ok duh, it's still fanfic. but fanfic is like a "genre" in itself with its own rules. in a lot of ways, the popular reylo fics resemble trad pubbed books (romance books especially) more than "fanfic".

for trad pub books that REALLY feel like fanfics, i'd say winter's orbit (yes, the one i always yell about), RWRB, carry on. the fact that they're all gay? yes, that is a big part of it and i'll continue later

but even if they were straight, the way they're written -- the trope-iness, the pop culture references, THE KINDS OF TROPES IN THEMSELVES.

i remember one of my fandoms, as early as 2015, had this surge of complaints that so many popular AU fic weren't even fic anymore.

just original novels with the names and faces slapped on. and in a lot of ways... that's what reylo AU fic feels like. it's STILL fic, but if you file off the serial numbers, you have created something else entirely.

and i think this is why it makes reylo fandom more suited for the tradpub sphere. because we already operate in this "writing style", so to speak.

i think a really good parallel is the twilight fandom. i wasn’t a part of it but i've read the history (lol)

and it's basically the same thing. bnf writers who write whole ass novels that, without the names, were unrecognizable as twilight. i mean 50sog is the bad example, but it's that exact system.

another example: cassie clare's shadowhunters series started as hp fanfic. i've heard that you can tell that MC is ginny, and the hot love interest is thinly veiled draco, etc

when a fandom gets big enough, and a series gets inspiring enough that a fan thinks "you know what? i want to make my own stories too!" coupled with fandom's love and sense of community that actually pushes them to succeed... that's how you birth pubbed authors.

however, my next point -- when i say that lots of au reylo fic read like tradpub... what does "reading like fanfic" mean?

i wish i could describe it. but as someone who's been in fandom since she was a preteen (over a decade now, god)... i'm familiar with 2 kinds: the "old fandom" (like, LJ era, tumblr golden age... even though it's not really Old Fandom but we're aging now so LMAO) and m/m fandom

you know that queer fandom made the BACKBONE of what fandom is today. omegaverse was a queer fandom trope. fandom grannies shipped kirk and spock and made the first cons and fanzines. the queer side... is A PILLAR

queer fans went to fandom because a) canon is never kind to us b) they loved something that nobody else understood. for the longest time, you could write your femmeslash and know that it was only for your internet buddies.

you knew that there was no way an actual publisher would want your work because lol. gay. thinking about how hannibal was landmark for its time (i keep forgetting) gay marriage in the USA was still ILLEGAL when it aired. and bryan fuller, a gay man, fought tooth and nail for it

so without outside references, it's natural that fandom becomes its own thing, so to speak. its own genre, its own language. you know how you can tell when a pubbed author was a fic writer? that way we can tell, it's borne out of our "visual/literary dictionary" of what fanfic is

+ many queer fandom staples are asian media-inspired. BL, danmei, GL. u know how asian soaps have their own structures, diff from western ones? well, read enough BL & that seeps into your writing. now your fic is structured differently from someone whose only influence is western

i think this is partially why queer fans turned pro authors usually have fic identity separate from pro author identity. because the queer mode of fanfic never used to sell -- until now, thank fuck. while it's much easier for a straight fan to go from a --> b

also, i'd like to point out a curious thing. many reylos are sw fans only. maybe sw is their first foray into fandom. maybe they ARE into fandom (have been for years) but only star wars. this means that a lot of them are separated from the fandom bubble, what are the conventions

i previously touched upon the mm ships and i wanna say, if you notice, a lot of them are the same people migrating to what's popular over time. kylux fans for example -- there's a higher chance that a kylux fan has been into fandom forever. maybe they were already on 2015 tumblr

drawing ship for their 2015-era mm ship. i haven’t read kylux fic, but judging by the nature of it and its shippers, i wouldn't be surprised if their fanfic reads more like stereotypical fanfic

(obvs i’m not implying that either one is bad. I LOVE FANDOM and i love fanfic

but it’s interesting to see how it’s evolved)

thank you for reading this monstrosity of a thread! this isn't really suited for the brevity of twitter, & i have many more ideas i'd love to expand on. fandom history & cultural analysis is a love of mine.

feel free to discuss!