Fandom Snowflake Challenge - Day 2

Day 2

In your own space, create a list of at least three fannish things you'd love to receive, something you've wanted but were afraid to ask for - a fannish wish-list of sorts. Leave a comment in this post saying you did it. Include a link to your wish-list if you feel comfortable doing so. Maybe someone will grant a wish. Check out other people's posts. Maybe you will grant a wish. If any wishes are granted, we'd love it if you link them to this post.


1) I would love it if someone dropped a little something in my Fandom Stocking! (I have low expectations-- I don't know anyone writing in this fandom, and my requests are weirdly specific!)

2) I am as guilty of it as the next person, but I wish more people would leave feedback after reading.  It is the currency of the realm, so to speak.  This is especially true of GIFT FICS.  I have recently had an extensive discussion with fandom friends about people who have been shafted in gift exchanges when their recipients never left a comment.  As a moderator for the Slashy Santa/My Slashy Valentine/Ardor in August exchanges, we have made leaving feedback for your gift a REQUIREMENT of participation-- and even so, we still get a couple of folks in every exchange who can't be bothered to leave feedback. It's gutting! Recipients ought to at least reward the effort, even if the result is not what they had hoped for-- and if your desires are so very specific, WRITE IT YOURSELF! Don't expect your gift-writer to be a mind-reader, too! As we say in the Slashy Santa Rules & Regs:
"Manners are mandatory!! Be kind to your readers, be kind to your writer, be kind to your overworked admin. . . Even if you *hate* the story you are given common courtesy dictates that you should at least say "Thank you for writing this for me." If you cannot gracefully thank the author who wrote for you, you may be asked to sit out the next round and contemplate the meaning of the word "Courtesy."

3) If I had one wish...I think it would be to just put a kibosh on the hating.  I see more of this on Tumblr than on LJ, Dreamwidth, or elsewhere, and perhaps it's the one-to-many platform that facilitates this sort of thing, but I have come across more intolerance for other peoples' fanon/"headcanon"/interpretation of various fandoms-- and yes, ok, the Silmarillion fandom seems to be particularly virulent-- on Tumblr in the last year than I have in over a decade of LJ.  EVERYONE is entitled to their interpretation of a fictional universe. And EVERYONE'S interpretation is the right one for them. It doesn't mean it has to be mine, or that I need to like it or even agree with it.  I have recently been challenged by an old fic by someone who, sadly, isn't involved in fandom anymore, and I really dislike their interpretation of a particular character in one of their works-- and yet, I am so engrossed by the beauty of the writing that I'm willing to accept that their rendering of this character as utterly, profoundly different than my own, and I'm enjoying it on its own terms.  And that just makes it different, not better or worse... and certainly not RIGHT or WRONG! (This doesn't mean we can't debate endlessly, or that we aren't free to like or dislike what we instinctively...well, like or dislike!...but "Meh, I don't buy it" and "Hmmm...not my thing" are a far cry from "OMG YOU'RE WRONG AND YOU SHOULD FEEL BAD.")

So my big wishlist item for 2016 is that we all step back and consider tht one of the things that makes Fandom as a concept worthy of a big capital letter is that we are, each of us, interpreting someone elses' universe through our own unique lens(es), and that there are no wrong answers, no bad 'ships, no implausible scenarios, and no indisputably correct interpretation of canon. If a certain fic ain't your cuppa... MOVE ALONG. Life is too short for negativity.