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Fans stereotyped as non-introverts
Feb. 13th, 2012 06:04 pmOne small passage in the OTW's latest news roundup post finally got me to post a brief reply, born of a more long-standing irritation, and I thought I should take a moment here to post a possibly-cranky somewhat longer reflection on it.
I had joined the OTW a year before (and somehow managed never to hear from them again), but when I renewed my membership and became more active late last year, I found that I was stepping in in the middle of some controversies as various fans were saying that the OTW was failing to perceive and honor their fannish experiences --- anime/manga fans stick in my mind because I am one myself, but it wasn't just them.
Since then, not so cuttingly but persistently, I have also come to feel that the OTW doesn't perceive and honor my fannish experience --- of solitariness. I could go into all the pathetic-sounding stuff about my early fan-creativity against the backdrop of my not-atrocious-but-bad-enough childhood. During my JFW years at the very least, I have been part of a creative community, but for much of my fan-creative career, I've experienced myself as working mostly by myself or with a small circle of supporters who were creative in their own separate spheres --- basically, more like the pros who are disidentified with fanfic in the above-linked post than within a fannish "community." Or at times I may experience my work as something that I do on my own and offer to the community, but still not something that "arises" from the community.
This is not to say that such solitariness is good (I honestly wish I weren't so socially inhibited and just haven't managed a sustained effort to fix it), but it also isn't intrinsically bad, IMO, and it should not be invalidated. Some people have quite understandable reasons to be socially inhibited and to view community collaboration as emotionally and/or creatively risky. Some people get territorial out of the sheer personal power of their visions. Some people just like to work that way.
It's a weakness in the OTW if people like that come to it, wanting to combat their solitariness or find a new level with it or advocate for themselves whether they want a bunch of other people up in their creative work or not, and once they arrive, see themselves casually defined out of their own art form.
I had joined the OTW a year before (and somehow managed never to hear from them again), but when I renewed my membership and became more active late last year, I found that I was stepping in in the middle of some controversies as various fans were saying that the OTW was failing to perceive and honor their fannish experiences --- anime/manga fans stick in my mind because I am one myself, but it wasn't just them.
Since then, not so cuttingly but persistently, I have also come to feel that the OTW doesn't perceive and honor my fannish experience --- of solitariness. I could go into all the pathetic-sounding stuff about my early fan-creativity against the backdrop of my not-atrocious-but-bad-enough childhood. During my JFW years at the very least, I have been part of a creative community, but for much of my fan-creative career, I've experienced myself as working mostly by myself or with a small circle of supporters who were creative in their own separate spheres --- basically, more like the pros who are disidentified with fanfic in the above-linked post than within a fannish "community." Or at times I may experience my work as something that I do on my own and offer to the community, but still not something that "arises" from the community.
This is not to say that such solitariness is good (I honestly wish I weren't so socially inhibited and just haven't managed a sustained effort to fix it), but it also isn't intrinsically bad, IMO, and it should not be invalidated. Some people have quite understandable reasons to be socially inhibited and to view community collaboration as emotionally and/or creatively risky. Some people get territorial out of the sheer personal power of their visions. Some people just like to work that way.
It's a weakness in the OTW if people like that come to it, wanting to combat their solitariness or find a new level with it or advocate for themselves whether they want a bunch of other people up in their creative work or not, and once they arrive, see themselves casually defined out of their own art form.
