musings: part of the solution, or part of the precipitate?

[tielan]

How do other people view their involvement in fandom?

Is it just a hobby, something that they putter away at with no thought for what they're producing or what purpose it's going to serve?

Do other people write stories, draw pictures, enter discussions with a focus in mind? Or is fandom 'just' an ocean liner on the sea - it surrounds you, but you're separate to it and the sea has no involvement in your cruise?

I write the fic that I want to write. But I also try to write the fic that needs to be written. Particularly in Atlantis fandom, I try to give voice to those who have none. Teyla-fic. John/Teyla. Team-fic that goes beyond just John-and-Rodney or The Boys. Elizabeth-as-not-a-Mary-Sue. I don't imagine I do a very good job of it since my Teyla and John/Teyla fic are among the least-read but the most numerous of my stories and my teamfic doesn't tend to get much response either.

I like to raise discussions about possibility - which is what fanfic is to me. What could be done with the characters, what roads yet untravelled might be undertaken? Are we likely to see it in canon? Why not write it in fanfic?

Complaining is a release point. I like a good vent session, same as most people. But leaving it there is doing nothing to find a solution to the problem. I write because I have to write - I'd go insane if I didn't and start chewing my computer cord. But I consider my choice of subject important and strategic, too. I write what I write because nobody else seems to be writing it. Hence, my near-obsession with both Teyla and John/Teyla. One the least-liked character in fandom, the other the most-hated pairing.

Maybe it's not my responsibility to do something about it. Maybe I can't change minds that are set in stone - and most people in this fandom seem about as close-minded about Teyla and John/Teyla as Dubya is about gay marriage in the US. Maybe I shouldn't have believed the people who read my Liz/Ronon stories and suggested I'd converted them to the pairing. Maybe I should believe the people - even people I consider friends -who keep telling me that Teyla's a useless character, uninteresting, boring, and only worth reading if she's paired up with Ronon.

I just figure that if I can change a couple of not-so-close-minds, then isn't that worth it? If you're pro-gay marriage, would you consider it worth holding a discussion with someone whose mindset is against gay marriage if it opened their mind just a crack? You might not convince them today, but if nobody ever presents them with a possible alternative that's more fitted to their mindset, they'll never change.

Yes, it's aggravating to write and write and have it ignored and ignored and dismissed. Yes, it's annoying to know that most of the people reading this would rather cut off their thumb than read or write anything I'm writing that doesn't match their preferences. Yes, it's painful and tiring and exhausting to keep pushing people to discuss things on group communities or to persuade even one reader who says, "Oh, you write everything so well," to try reading a pairing they mightn't normally read. Yes, it's frustrating to keep finding people who don't want to involve themselves in working on a solution.

But I'd rather try than die. And I'd rather be part of the solution than part of the precipitate.

Like Ronon, I'm not good at sitting quietly and doing nothing.

Comments

[pixiesio.livejournal.com]

These days I'm much more of a putterer. I can't be bothered with the excessive amounts of dwama that keep popping up between people for no good reason.