pearlofthewoods

[pearlofthewoods]

shes so cute i hope she doesnt get tortured by society and lose her will to live

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the way yall genuinely theorise over whether taylor swift wrote atyd is a massive part of why fanfic authors are seen as these untouchable influencers instead of actual human beings that you can engage with. just, btw.

[pearlofthewoods]

the way yall genuinely theorise over whether taylor swift wrote atyd is a massive part of why fanfic authors are seen as these untouchable influencers instead of actual human beings that you can engage with. just, btw.

[pearlofthewoods]

i hate when spuffy is drawn overly heterosexual.. like i know that they are but like there shouldnt be such sexual dimorphism in a bi4bi vampire4vampireslayer couple fanart..guys please you have bangel to do height difference and size difference with.. spike is not a big man and he wants to be thrown

[pearlofthewoods]

y’know one of the saddest things to me about growing up and getting to university is that not one, not a single one of the clubs in my uni town fills the hole left in my heart by the Bronze.

[pearlofthewoods]

spike thinking buffy should break up with angel in lovers walk is SO funny to me because he didnt even realize he was in love with buffy at the time he was actually just going around like "your boyfriend kind of blows and you could definitely do better. not that i CARE because i dont. in fact, i hope you DIE. in fact, i hope i KILL YOU. in fact, the only thing i want MORE than to kill you is to see you BREAK UP with your loser boyfriend whom i hate and to get back together with my girlfriend who DUMPED ME specifically because i am so entirely OBSESSED with you. this is normal btw"

and buffy thought this was normal, also.

[pearlofthewoods]

At some point "fanfic can be as good as professional writing" became "fanfic should be as good as professional writing" and that's caused major damage to fandom spaces.

[pearlofthewoods]

a doe in trouble

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Spike's Jewelry in Season 6

[pearlofthewoods]

Okay, but the idea that Lily Evans has to be removed from being a wife and mother to be a fully dimensional character is just as misogynistic an idea as reducing her to being solely a wife and mother in the first place. 

Being a mother is an important part of who Lily is, at least with the limited information we have in canon, and that’s okay. That can be true and you can write her fully formed with in-depth motivations, desires, and flaws simultaneously. The idea that she loses that when she’s had Harry is odd and a real ‘gone so progressive you’ve accidentally looped back around’ situation. female characters shouldn’t be reduced to motherhood in place of a personality, but they can still be mothers and have personalities. Now is not the time to be forgetting that, politically speaking.

That doesn’t mean that all fics with Lily have to feature her as a mother, or with James, or straight or anything like that at all. Of course, they don’t, that would be a bizarre thing to mandate and certainly not something I want. I’m a big fan of letting Lily Evans kiss girls. 

But just don’t claim that you’ve removed mother and wife to make her fully formed as though they are mutually exclusive. 

You can do both, it’s personal preference as to whether you do or not. 

[pearlofthewoods]

Spending a frankly unhealthy amount of time on tumblr > spending a frankly unhealthy amount of time on Twitter

[pearlofthewoods]

I also think this ties in well with a lot of my thoughts about the recent discussions of how TikTok interacts with the fanfiction community and recs/ rec lists.

People in fandom (often particularly girls) are used to making content for, and gushing about, media that they love and cherish in a space where they aren't recognised by its creators or marketing teams. They often exist in a space outside of the direct relationship between creator & audience, but still funnel attention and money towards the media that they love. Marketing teams are aware of this now, and are relying more and more on the unpaid labour and love of fan communities to drum up hype for their product. But they often still don't interact directly with the fangirls themselves.

I think now with the fanfic bursting into the mainstream and onto TikTok over the last few years, fans are interacting with fanfic in the same way they are used to with other media. They gush about fics in comment sections, to their friends, and on TikTok without thinking about reaching out directly to the author because, historically, creators haven't taken fans seriously or wanted to engage with them directly. They've just capitalised on their interest. So fangirls go off into their little third space and share their joy with each other, independently.

The reckoning I think we'll need to have is that fanfic is different. It's for us, by us and the traditional hierarchy people expect between fans and creators, doesn't exist. We can put writers in fandom on pedestals all we like, but at the end of the day...

the beauty is; the people whose fics you rec excitedly to your friends online, they're just like you!

They have nothing to gain, no money is being made, they're just doing it for the love. So when you make an edit inspired by a fanfic on TikTok or rec fanfics online, remember the author values you! They value your thoughts, your words and your love and they want to hear what you have to say about it!

Fangirls, fandom is yours. Your sincerity and passion is more influential than you think. Those recs you make on TikTok, people are listening. You have power, even if you don't realise it.

So tell your audience, tell your friends, but also tell the creator of that fic that you love. Remind others to comment on fics directly too. Spread the love. We're all listening to you.

Not my usual fanfic related post, but bear with me. I recently started listening to a gorgeous artist called @erinlecount and stumbled down a rabbit hole. I read her Substack post called ‘fangirls are the backbone of the music industry’ and wanted to share it here so much, because it’s such a lovely post from someone in the music industry recognising (from a past of being a fangirl herself) the power that fangirls hold.

There’s a couple of quotes I wanted to highlight particularly:

and

This is absolutely so true. There are girls who make edits for tv shows and films on tiktok for free that have single-handedly kept me in a fandom, introduced me to new music and gained so much traction it’s a wonder they’re not being paid. They’re doing it out of sheer love and joy of making art for the community.

Today I just wanna pour the love on all fangirls everywhere and also the fanfic authors who create purely for the love. Y’all truly make the world go round.

p.s listen to Erin’s song heaven, it’s absolutely beautiful and it’s about girlhood, god and loving women. I cried.

[pearlofthewoods]

Not my usual fanfic related post, but bear with me. I recently started listening to a gorgeous artist called @erinlecount and stumbled down a rabbit hole. I read her Substack post called ‘fangirls are the backbone of the music industry’ and wanted to share it here so much, because it’s such a lovely post from someone in the music industry recognising (from a past of being a fangirl herself) the power that fangirls hold.

There’s a couple of quotes I wanted to highlight particularly:

and

This is absolutely so true. There are girls who make edits for tv shows and films on tiktok for free that have single-handedly kept me in a fandom, introduced me to new music and gained so much traction it’s a wonder they’re not being paid. They’re doing it out of sheer love and joy of making art for the community.

Today I just wanna pour the love on all fangirls everywhere and also the fanfic authors who create purely for the love. Y’all truly make the world go round.

p.s listen to Erin’s song heaven, it’s absolutely beautiful and it’s about girlhood, god and loving women. I cried.

[pearlofthewoods]

Thinking about doing an engagement fest for the Marauders fandom early next year. Something fun to get people back into the habit of leaving thoughtful comments on fics, engaging with authors, and building community!

It'd be pretty simple, leave as many positive comments as you can during the time period, and then we'll have some way for you to log them/give proof.

@marley1031 and I are also thinking of giving away a hand bound fic of the winners choice to the person who leaves the most comments, to give this some competition! (There will be some limits to where we can send mail, age, and the author of the fic will need to give the ok for their fic to be bound, etc.)

If there's enough interest, it'd be fun to do other giveaways as well, like art or short fics. I 100% believe that readers shouldn't need anything in return to leave comments, but I think this could be a fun way to get people out of their shells and build community.

Would anyone be interested in that?

[pearlofthewoods]

𝒍𝒐𝒗𝒆’𝒔 𝒃𝒊𝒕𝒄𝒉 ⋆˙⟡♡✿ and man enough to admit it

[pearlofthewoods]

[pearlofthewoods]

there’s something so tragic yet poetic about ginny being harry’s last thought before he dies. not ron and hermione, not his parents, not sirius. but ginny. and i think that’s tied to the fact that ginny, as well as making him happier than he could ever remember being, represented something he had never been able to truely consider for himself: a future. in that last second before death, he thinks of her, and the future he now knows he will never. get. to. have. it’s like he’s making peace with this fact, and letting thoughts of her fill his brain one last time, to kiss goodbye the dream of a happy ending. like it breaks my heart, actually.