#i'll be on the lookout for cool fictionkin (and fictionfolk in general) to follow methinks...

[e1ectrostatic]

30 Day Fictionkind Challenge Day 21

Q: What's something about the fictionkind community that you wish was different?

A: There are a few things. Listing them all would make me sound like a naive idealist, but I'll do it anyway because I enjoy rambling.

For one, I wish it was bigger! At least, the community that knows the actual definition of fictionkin and doesn't define it as something that doesn't include identifying as your fictotype. Twitter is especially bad with this and I don't enjoy the culture there. From what I've seen, Tumblr gets it, but the fictionkin population is definitely smaller. It's hard to look for fictionkin (or fictionfolk in general)-specific community, but that may just be because I'm not looking hard enough. I'm primarily looking for sourcemates though, and that's definitely been a challenge. ID/V has little to no fandom presence on Tumblr unfortunately, and fictionfolk from that source are even harder to come by.

Piggybacking off of my first point about wanting more community that knows the actual definition of ficitonkin, I wish there wasn't so much misinformation. Maybe this doesn't count in the way I'm thinking of because that's technically outside of the community, but still. I often lament about how many incorrect definitions of "fictionkin" are out there, in the public consciousness. It's caused people to water fictionkinity down into things like "relating to the character", "connecting to the character", or "being a really big fan of the character".

I often see people pathologizing fictionkinity and treating it as if it were inherently a delusion. This can be the case, and is deserving of respect. It's not like that for everyone, though, and to assume so is incredibly presumptuous at best, and invasive and harmful at worst. As a result of this, I've seen people feel the need to reinvent fictionkinity by saying "It's not kin and it's not a D/A, it's just me." That is what 'kin is, or what it's supposed to mean.

You don't have to adopt any labels you don't want to, but I wish people would at least do some research and examine why they're averse to this label. If you walk away from it still not comfortable with it, that's all well and good; at least you're informed now. But if you do end up liking it, you have a community waiting for you with open arms. I guess I can't fully blame them, because the misinfo is so rampant, but it still bums me out sometimes.

Piggybacking x2, I wish there wasn't so much infighting and fakeclaiming. The psychological vs spiritual dichotomy for example is strange to me. All experiences within that binary, inbetween, and outside of it are equally deserving of acknowledgement and respect.

Doubles exist, and you retain the right to feel uncomfortable or not want to interact with them, but to call them all fake is extremely rude. Their identities are just as real and don't compromise your own. Just block and move on.

Someone with "unusual" or "too many" or "cringy/weird" or "problematic" fictotypes is still valid and deserving of dignity and decency. Again, if you're uncomfortable with someone, you don't have to interact with them. If they're not bringing material harm to themselves or others, it's no one's business. They're real people with feelings and struggles of their own, I'm sure rude comments about their fictotype(s) is the last thing they need. You don't know nor are you entitled to their personal information or relationship to their source(s). Either be courteous or leave them alone.

Basically, I just wish people would realize there's no strict rulebook to being fictionkind. As long as you earnestly, involuntarily identify as your fictotype, you're golden. As for voluntary cases, they're perfectly valid fictionfolk too, this is just a fictionkind-specific post :]. But copinglinkers and other voluntary alterfictional identities, I'm waving and wish you all the best.

There might be other stuff, but this is all I can think of for now. Let me know if I'm talking out of my ass for any of this. I guess I just want people to be kinder and more open to what this community actually is. It's a genuine identity with a rich community history that encompasses many different kinds of experiences, and that's so cool.