Last Night I Was Hanging Out With Some People And The Fact That Ao3 Won A Hugo Came Up And There Was

Last night I was hanging out with some people and the fact that ao3 won a Hugo came up and there was a mild sense of eye-rolling. No one said anything outright, and one person said they had “softened on fanfiction” lately, so all I said was “I’m very proud of my fanfiction archive and our Hugo award, thank you very much” and the conversation moved on. But in that moment, it occurred to me just how goddamn passionate I am about fanfiction. I felt myself rallying my arguments, girding my loins, ready to go into battle for fanfiction. Because, look, not everyone who paints wants to sell their paintings. Some people just want to paint along with Bob Ross or splatter something abstract on a canvass just to express their creative urges, to *make something.* Not everyone who starts a garage band is going to be the next Jimi Hendrix. The most “success” they may have is playing their cousin’s wedding for the price of free food, but they can still find fulfillment in wailing on their guitars or whatever it is the kids play these days (melodica?), having fun together and *creating something.* It’s not about success and fame and fortune. It’s about community and creativity. But, look, writing is a lonely hobby. You might be lucky enough to find a writing group that is healthy and stable, bit you know how many of those I have seen in two decades of hobby writing? One. Singular. One. And the people weren’t my types. I didn’t have much in common with them. But in fandom, hoo boy. You already have something in common with these people, you like the same dumb show and the same two idiots falling in love over and over. So it gives you a starting point. A built-in audience. And yeah, it can be hard to find a toehold, especially in a big fandom like destiel, but there is always *somebody* who will read your work. That’s not always true of original fiction. It’s a much harder sell.

People have been telling stories about their favorite characters since the dawn of civilization. Why do you think we have such a plethora of tales about the Greek gods and heros? These were our campfire tales. Before literacy, before the printing press, *everybody* was a storyteller. It’s about connection and expression.

There’s this toxic idea that if we’re good at something, we should try to make money off it. I don’t want to make money off my writing. I don’t want that kind of pressure on it. Writing is my joy and my escape from this capitalist rat wheel, and if I can do it for a group of wonderful friends who share in that joy, then by gods I’m going to.

Long live Ao3. Long live fanfiction.