Outing myself
Mar. 23rd, 2015 10:44 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
stgulikOne thing I have never had the nerve to do is confide to my extended family about my love of fanfic. But all that changed yesterday at my mother's birthday party, and the results were absolutely not what I expected.
During the course of several conversations - or one, long, funny, rambling conversation, I guess - it came to light that (a) I have an encyclopedic knowledge of HP trivia; (b) I am blog friends with another HP fan named![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
teddyradiator, whom my brother began following on FB out of curiosity; (c) Teddy writes original fiction, and I am her beta; (d) the two of us met through a shared love of HP fanfic; and (e) now I write HP fanfic, too.
You would have to have been there. That last piece, (e), was a monster of a thing to come out and say. These people can be utterly ruthless, while claiming to jest, if they sense any kind of weakness in you. However, (a) through (d) went over alright, so I took a big chance.
And you know what? Everybody was just plain interested. My brother said, "Oh, are you a SHIPPER?" I said I was. He was pretty impressed with himself for using the word correctly--so impressed, he yelled the word several more times and completely forgot to ask what my ships are, which means I didn't have to decline to state. That would have been a step too far. I mean, HGSS is a tough enough concept for a lot of people; Snupin would have invited disaster.
My 16-year-old nephew remarked, "Please tell me you at least stick to canon." Nope! It's AU all the way, baby! And then he said, "Okay, at least tell me you don't mix different fictions together, like ... like crossing the stories with each other ..." Crossover? Yep, I have! They all pretended to be disgusted at that, but disgusted in a geeky fan way, which made me laugh.
I'm so relieved. We would never have had this conversation five years ago, when I first began. Fanfiction has come a long way, hasn't it?
During the course of several conversations - or one, long, funny, rambling conversation, I guess - it came to light that (a) I have an encyclopedic knowledge of HP trivia; (b) I am blog friends with another HP fan named
teddyradiator, whom my brother began following on FB out of curiosity; (c) Teddy writes original fiction, and I am her beta; (d) the two of us met through a shared love of HP fanfic; and (e) now I write HP fanfic, too.You would have to have been there. That last piece, (e), was a monster of a thing to come out and say. These people can be utterly ruthless, while claiming to jest, if they sense any kind of weakness in you. However, (a) through (d) went over alright, so I took a big chance.
And you know what? Everybody was just plain interested. My brother said, "Oh, are you a SHIPPER?" I said I was. He was pretty impressed with himself for using the word correctly--so impressed, he yelled the word several more times and completely forgot to ask what my ships are, which means I didn't have to decline to state. That would have been a step too far. I mean, HGSS is a tough enough concept for a lot of people; Snupin would have invited disaster.
My 16-year-old nephew remarked, "Please tell me you at least stick to canon." Nope! It's AU all the way, baby! And then he said, "Okay, at least tell me you don't mix different fictions together, like ... like crossing the stories with each other ..." Crossover? Yep, I have! They all pretended to be disgusted at that, but disgusted in a geeky fan way, which made me laugh.
I'm so relieved. We would never have had this conversation five years ago, when I first began. Fanfiction has come a long way, hasn't it?
