Fandom Snowflake Challenge #3
1/5/23 09:52 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
kateOkay, hear me out…
I know Snowflake is sunshine and rainbows and singing from the rooftops all the lovely and brilliant that is being in a fandom. But, let’s be honest. Sometimes--like with other things--there are sucky parts, heartbreak parts and just plain UGH parts. Rather than holding onto those slights and resentments, or burying them and pretending they don’t exist, just to have them slowly and almost imperceptibly seep into the rest of the challenges this month, why don’t we just let it all out?
For those of us who celebrate Festivus for the rest of us, this will be familiar. We call it “Airing of Grievances” and it is actually very satisfying, whether you do it tongue in cheek, get introspective or just literally scream.
In your own space, Scream Into the Void. Get it all out.
Okay, so my first thought with this was my frustration with antis. Then I just. Did not want to even deal with the exhaustion that brings.
So the next bit was my feelings about podfic permission requesting. I push for blanket permission/transformative works statements because it is a bandaid that helps people who really need those BP statements to feel comfortable recording and have some barrier to asking. But it IS just a bandaid.
Listen, I just do not understand how people can make transformative works and then be all precious about other people making transformative works about their transformative works. Like... YOU just did this without asking anybody at all. Why do *I* have to ask permission?
Especially in the case of podfic, because it is also an accessibility aid! You don't listen to podfic? SO WHAT. It's not ABOUT you. It is about a) the podficcer, because they were SO DELIGHTED with your work that it inspired them to create another work about your work (and if you don't think that podfic transforms the original text THEN DON'T EVEN FUCKING TALK TO ME) and b) the people who DO listen to (or NEED) podfic. Would you say no to art because you don't like art? OF COURSE YOU WOULD NOT.
Everyone says "Ooh, I'd love fanart, I don't care if you think it's terrible I want it!" and they're soooooooo flattered someone would want to make fanart. It's a compliment. TREAT PODFIC THE SAME FUCKING WAY, PLEASE. It is a compliment. If someone is inspired, they should just be able to do it. Why is this so hard to understand?
This is an exceptionally frustrating thing for me, that people who make transformative works are not fully supportive of people making transformative works of their stuff. You know what we think of authors who do that? Yeah. That's what I think about fanworks creators that don't allow podfic.
For those who don't like podfic but feel bad because they're not going to listen to it to comment, you do not need to listen to it to say, "this is so awesome my fic inspired something like this! thank you so much for making it!" and calling it a day. Podficcers know that not everyone listens to podfic. They get it. Just say THANK YOU and MOVE ON.
*breathes hard*
*steps off soapbox*
Thank you, and have a nice day.
I know Snowflake is sunshine and rainbows and singing from the rooftops all the lovely and brilliant that is being in a fandom. But, let’s be honest. Sometimes--like with other things--there are sucky parts, heartbreak parts and just plain UGH parts. Rather than holding onto those slights and resentments, or burying them and pretending they don’t exist, just to have them slowly and almost imperceptibly seep into the rest of the challenges this month, why don’t we just let it all out?
For those of us who celebrate Festivus for the rest of us, this will be familiar. We call it “Airing of Grievances” and it is actually very satisfying, whether you do it tongue in cheek, get introspective or just literally scream.
In your own space, Scream Into the Void. Get it all out.
Okay, so my first thought with this was my frustration with antis. Then I just. Did not want to even deal with the exhaustion that brings.
So the next bit was my feelings about podfic permission requesting. I push for blanket permission/transformative works statements because it is a bandaid that helps people who really need those BP statements to feel comfortable recording and have some barrier to asking. But it IS just a bandaid.
Listen, I just do not understand how people can make transformative works and then be all precious about other people making transformative works about their transformative works. Like... YOU just did this without asking anybody at all. Why do *I* have to ask permission?
Especially in the case of podfic, because it is also an accessibility aid! You don't listen to podfic? SO WHAT. It's not ABOUT you. It is about a) the podficcer, because they were SO DELIGHTED with your work that it inspired them to create another work about your work (and if you don't think that podfic transforms the original text THEN DON'T EVEN FUCKING TALK TO ME) and b) the people who DO listen to (or NEED) podfic. Would you say no to art because you don't like art? OF COURSE YOU WOULD NOT.
Everyone says "Ooh, I'd love fanart, I don't care if you think it's terrible I want it!" and they're soooooooo flattered someone would want to make fanart. It's a compliment. TREAT PODFIC THE SAME FUCKING WAY, PLEASE. It is a compliment. If someone is inspired, they should just be able to do it. Why is this so hard to understand?
This is an exceptionally frustrating thing for me, that people who make transformative works are not fully supportive of people making transformative works of their stuff. You know what we think of authors who do that? Yeah. That's what I think about fanworks creators that don't allow podfic.
For those who don't like podfic but feel bad because they're not going to listen to it to comment, you do not need to listen to it to say, "this is so awesome my fic inspired something like this! thank you so much for making it!" and calling it a day. Podficcers know that not everyone listens to podfic. They get it. Just say THANK YOU and MOVE ON.
*breathes hard*
*steps off soapbox*
Thank you, and have a nice day.
For easy organization later:
no subject
on 1/7/23 08:02 pm (UTC)But talking and learning about it now, I'm really interested! I'll have to go and see if there's any podfic for my fandoms and have a listen.
no subject
on 1/7/23 09:41 pm (UTC)Everyone has a learning curve in fandom, and I certainly expect there are plenty of people with no interest in podfic (or translations or whatever, and should they happen across something like this post, all I can hope is that it provides a perspective to think on and maybe learn from.
I'm glad to hear you have enough interest to go looking for podfics! If you don't mind telling me your fandom, I might be able to provide recs?
Also, I will warn that most people don't just sit down and listen to podfic. Most people find it difficult to do that. So typically, podfic tends to work best with things that keep your hands busy enough to allow you to concentrate - chores, crafting, driving, exercising... those sorts of things. I find if the expectation is not for your total attention, that helps with some of the "my brain is wandering off thinking about other things!" problem some folks have with podfic. <3
no subject
on 1/15/23 10:23 pm (UTC)That actually works great for me! I like to cross-stitch and I recently started crochet, I'll normally watch TV while I'm working it's hard to find a balance of interesting enough to keep me entertained while I work but not so interesting I'll stop crafting and start watching.