#yes you can reblog this if you think ppl following you might want to join in

[scoriarose]

Psst, other snake caretakers

I have an idea for April Fools-

who wants in? Private message me for deets.

[sassybluee]

I was tagged by @prolestari! Thank you!

1. why did you choose your url?

I had a blog in college where I frequently changed the url to match my current obsession. It was always "sassyblue[character name]". I went thru many variations lol. I decided to keep the sassyblue part and leave out the character so I could be more multifandom. On AO3, there was already a sassyblue and sassy_blue, so I added an extra e to the end.

2. any sideblogs? if you have them name them and why you have them.

I have a couple for clj events! @cljprompts (which is an ongoing event!) and @clj-fanweek (which happened last year, but you're welcome to use the prompts and post in the collection still)

3. how long have you been on tumblr?

I joined w my first acct in 2011, then deleted the blog in 2018 or so. This current blog was made in 2021 when I got into writing fic and fandom in general.

4. do you have a queue tag?

I don't bother queuing much lol. If I do queue I just let ppl assume I'm online lmao.

5. why did you start your blog in the first place?

To look at pretty gifsets and art and just talk about my shows haha.

6. why did you choose your icon/pfp?

I made it for the lols because DFQC is such a cat man to me. Then I liked the pic so much I made it my pfp.

7. why did you choose your header?

To keep the DFQC theme, I found a screenshot of him that matched my blog's colour scheme.

8. what’s your post with the most notes?

I think it's probably my "alternate opening credits for clj" video

9. how many mutuals do you have?

I'm not sure really? maybe like 20-30?

10. how many followers do you have?

722, which surprised me tbh! I feel I miss most "follow" notifs lol

11. how many people do you follow?

I follow 228 people, I try to keep the # low-ish so I can keep track of who's who lol.

12. have you ever made a shitpost?

Yes lol. So many.

13. how often do you use tumblr each day?

I check notifs in the morning and the occasional scroll on mobile during work. I do most of my scrolling after work in the evening.

14. did you have a fight/argument with another blog once?

yep... never again lol

15. how do you feel about ‘you need to reblog this’ posts

I tend to ignore them, I don't want to stress people out, even if I think the info is useful.

16. do you like tag games?

I like them!

17. do you like ask games?

I do but I don't always get asks so it makes me hesitant to participate

18. which of your mutuals do you think is tumblr famous?

I feel @harocat might be tumblr famous thanks to yoi lol

19. do you have a crush on a mutual?

not really!

20. tags?

I'll tag a few people, but anyone can feel free to participate! @uhhhhmanda @timetoboldlygo @rubberduckieassassin @autisthottygoth @gusucloud

[countryroads]

check in tag game! thank you emily for tagging me 😁😁 @rosefinchs

tagging any mutual or follower who wants to do it and if you do please please tag me, because i am very nosy 😄

no pressure to do it as i’m not tagging anyone specific but PLEASE if you are like “she didn’t tag me i can’t do this” please know you absolutely can and i want you to

why did you choose your url?

- me and emily made this blog together and we had been obsessed with the song and even made a little playlist for it that mostly ended up just being our favorite driving through the country songs. anyways we were like YES let’s see if it’s open and it WAS so we snatched it. she’s moved to another blog now but i still love the url!

any side blogs? if you have them: name them and why you have them

-nope! i get really scared about posting to the wrong blog so i just don’t have sideblogs. i also would be making them for like specific fandoms or whatever but bc my hyperfixations change so frequently i don’t wanna bother with it lol

how long you’ve been on tumblr?

- i joined in uhhhhhhh. 2013 i think BUT i made a new blog in 2016 and then i made this one in 2018

do you have a queue tag?

- yes lol my entire blog is a queue basically. it’s q because i hate typing out category tags and it’s the fastest lmao

why did you start your blog in the first place?

- me and em were into the cottage core thing a bunch when it first came out and thus made a blog for it but i have tried to move away from it as a blog theme

why did you choose your icon?

- felt cute in the photo and didn’t know what else to make it lol

why did you choose your header?

-blog name is countryroads and that was a photo i took of some country roads

what’s your post with the most notes?

-i think it’s uhhhhhhh. i think it’s my “have you ever laid with cat sleeping in the sun?” post or smth. idk it was a few years ago

how many mutuals do you have?

-idk exactly how many but i love making mutuals ! i have quite a few i believe

how many followers do you have?

- last i checked it was 15,904 i think but it may have changed!

how many people do you follow?

- 114. i like being able to go through my whole dashboard so i unfollow blogs every once in a while

have you ever made a shitpost?

- of course lol

how often do you use tumblr each day?

- often lmao. i like checking my friends blogs and stuff and getting through the dash. i haven’t this past week as i’ve been camping but i’m back at it

did you have a fight/argument with another blog once? who won?

- no lol this is a thing ppl do?

how do you feel about “you need to reblog this” posts?

-spite and anger. if i was going to reblog a post and then a bunch of people spam that i will see if i can delete the addition and if i can’t i won’t reblog it.

do you like tag games?

yesssss i LOVE tag games please tag me in themmmmmm even if we don’t know each other

do you like ask games?

- yes although i haven’t done one in a while. i might soon though lol

which of your mutuals do you think is tumblr famous?

- charlie doebt for SURE is tumblr famous. they are my tumblr famous bestie.

do i have a crush on a mutual?

i used to but i don’t anymore! i currently have a little friend crush on a mutual but no actual crushes

tysm for tagging me em <3<3<3

[theunconcernedembalmer]

Toko! I was thinking of creating an ask the character blog for IDV or Genshin Impact and wanted a few tips on how to start off. Anything you can share?

ey yo my dude!! thank you so much for this question, now im lowkey tempted (again) to make a genshin ask blog sjadhlkshgkahshglsaj anyway my 1.5 cents is under the cut, yall know how much i talk here HAHAHAHAH

uhhhhhh so i guess we start with picking a character u really Vibe with tm? I KNOW THIS SOUNDS LIKE COMMON SENSE BUT LIKE ive been considering making a genshin ask blog for a while now but i never really got to it cos i couldnt really decide on a character (plus the fact that their outfits are. so intricate. is also a hmm since i try to follow details to a t) (at first i wanted to do zhongli, but i feel like to be able to muse him well u need to know the lore super super well, which i dont n im too lazy to research on that aha. n u know how much i respect characterizations, especially for such a complex character like him. i also considered xiangling for a period of time mostly for guoba but also like i have 2+1 blogs here n having one more might not be a very good idea aha) (as for aesop he was my Hyperfixation Character tm also cos i looked at his kit n went Yep i could work with this. probably)

so assuming ur not a dumbass like me n u kinda know who u wanna pick, id actually say to snoop around here for other ask blogs n kinda get a feel of the... scene? is that the word? or like u know, other blogs that u can potentially vibe with. ive run a couple of ask blogs before this current one (both that have died for different reasons) n from my experience interacting with other blogs (if theyre okay with it, i think most should be) is pretty fun. it also kinda helps get ur blog around to other ppl on other blogs so they can go Oh whats this cool shit n check u out, n its also a reason why we kinda reblog promo posts for other blogs (also cos we’re always excited when someone new comes on, its really the more the merrier. we see all :eyes:). interacting with other blogs is also an option when ur inbox is looking real roomy too

another reason why i havent exactly done a genshin blog is that idk i cant actually seem to find genshin ask blogs around (i have seen rp blogs, or those that answer asks with mostly text instead of art, but thats. not my thing since i hate my own writing aha) (i did find one aether blog some time ago, but for some reason i hardly see them around anymore??? idk man i might be wrong). its not like im trying super hard to find them ask blogs, so im sure they exist out there (hopefully?? im not sure but im being optimistic). i mean theres nothing wrong with just starting an ask blog without others around, but for me i do find a difference when i interact with other ask blogs n when i dont, n i prefer when theres others to have fun with (unfortunately i couldnt find any ask blogs to interact with in my previous fandom. i tried, but the blogs i approached seemed to go inactive shortly afterwards...) plus u get to meet friends that way too :D (i made a lot of friends via idv askblogs n its really been a joy vibing with others)

as for the idv scene. gestures around me. unfortunately there are a lot of ask blogs that arent that active anymore, but theres still some of us who are alive n kicking empty inboxes, n im sure everyone would love to see a new face around. winks at u. also there seems to be a lot more blogs popping up lately, which is really heartening to see.

then u kinda just. make ur blog? n a starting introduction post so ppl can reblog it n spread the word XD n yay u have a blog i guess??? XD

i gotta say tho. dont expect ur blog to take off immediately (especially for smaller fandoms like idv, tvbh i didnt think my blog would even get half this far when i started cos of how non existent idv tumblr seemed to be) n ur inbox will probably be looking pretty empty a lot of the time (or at least filled with some that u havent quite thought of how to reply to yet aha) (but also like empty inboxes happen pretty often, im sure most of us here have experienced this problem)

in the case of the first ask blog i ever started, it never really took off at all. ngl it was kind of demoralizing n depressing but to be fair i had picked one of the more obscure characters in the series, so obscure that many ppl in the fandom would have never heard of this character before. if u wanted to know, i took a character that only appeared in the 2nd musical of the series, who also made a very brief cameo in the manga to acknowledge his existence within that universe. thats how obscure my character was, but i went with him purely because he was my favourite character. i will say though i did enjoy it while it lasted n i learnt a lot from the experience, n i think thats whats important really.

i guess this kinda leads on (not really but let me digress) to the whole uhhhh thing where if u choose a more popular character, u get more attention. which is fine i guess? if u really vibe with the character, i mean theyre popular for a reason. n choosing a more popular fandom (like genshin) would objectively also get u more viewers n numbers. but like honestly i believe that ask blogs are meant for u to have fun with, n like trying to get popular gets tiring pretty fast (this shouldnt be like a main goal, but u know sometimes u subconsciously also want that gucci follower count n bomb ass notes or something. i used to be guilty of this until i realized it isnt worth it) especially if ur not enjoying yourself in the process. (case in point: my previous fandom was considerably larger n my blog got about 700 followers within a year or so, but it got very tiring n stressful to maintain after my interest in it died, n no one was really interacting with the blog even though i tried which kinda made it even more depressing despite the so called success n popularity of the blog)

anyway on a less serious note, theres a lot of fun stuff u can do with the ask blog, like some ask blogs have really fancy tags that i really like n try to do but also like not really HAHAHAHA. i kinda just channel what i want to see in an ask blog into my own ask blogs (good art is one, i try very hard for it to be good :,DD another is characterization, n others is just extra miscellaneous arts n stuffs like au ideas or memes. these are also somethings u could work on during ask box downtimes perhaps)

uhhh another side thing is like a posting schedule i guess? like ppl would be more likely to interact (i think) if ur blog is relatively active, n this is usually determined by the last post u made (i think XD). but like generally for blog maintenence id say try to kinda find a frequency that ur comfortable with?? cos i know my once a day posting is kinda insane if i wasnt so hyperfixated on all of this n fight the urge to dump all ur replies when u finish them XD (though ive seen some blogs do that n they do it pretty frequently so its pretty nice to know once u see their post u can spend some time going through the latest batch of posts XD) the queue function is pretty useful here even though i truthfully have never really used it, i kinda just post from my drafts really but it also helps to space out ur content to seem somewhat active especially when u dont have the time to be working on replies sometimes. i hope u know what im trying to say here aha

ANYWAY that was like my 1.5 cents cos i dont even think its worth 2 cents HAHAHAHAH these are just my thoughts from running all my blogs up till now, some that are still running n the others that have just died a natural death. i wouldnt actually delete them (theyre still around actually XD) cos theyre kinda like archives n i can look back at what i did last time. cos ngl i made some high quality stuff back then, n i dont even know how i managed to do that aldhflhdsgk. also ppl do look at archive blogs every now n then for the content thats there yknow

BUT YES anyway if u do decide to join the idv ask blogs hmu, ill be sure to give u a lil shoutout here. winks

[lesbiancarat]

Book anon here to say today is a happy day because it is dk and vernon day ^0^ the fact they share bdays makes my heart so big like djakdnaks that's the best thing really! (I say this as I don't like celebrating my own birthday lol but that shiz makes me soft) like how can it not get better than sharing a birthday with your fellow bandmate who is also your buddy :'))

Back on topic, I am happy that in the fandoms I'm in, update blogs or accounts are well loved so no drama there but I agree on cc peeps, my gosh the decline of them is obvious for the past 2 years =/ I remember 2018 the carat fandom here was HUGE with creators and lots of notes but now...its hard to see more than 200 for some and while numbers don't matter because you should ALWAYS be doing this for fun, its so shocking to see the interaction go so low and its more likes. I do have a theory as to why this is the case and it might be due to nowadays, people on Tumblr find reblogging alot to be "too much" akaspamming. I would know because some told me I do this and I'm like ??? I am simply reblogging content I like and if it means hitting the rbelog limit so be it djajdjw. Legit idk why its seen as bad nowadays when everyone used to reblog alot and no one complained so maybe this could be why? Again a theory but it would make sense and its a shame if this is the case :c I admit I like stuff because I sometimes do reblog it for a color theme but mostly I hit the reblog limit so I want to reblog it later xD

But let's not get into people that take others work as their own -.- now I get giving credit for say icons (I do this for icons and headers I use because its the least I can do. I would link it but idk how to do it on Tumblr lol) but taking someone's say gif and just posting it on twitter to share is like ??? You do know there is a share button that SHARES THE ORIGINAL LINK BACK RIGHT? Smh i can't with people. That's why I try to make sure for icons at least I know its not a repost and try to stay away from pintrest as best as I can (also svt on pintrest? Are they making moodboards or smth? I leave Tumblr for a bit and this is what I come back to lol)

Oof I wrote too much again sjamdna I'm living up to my emoji huh? XD but yes my tooth is better! It hurt again last night but today we are good!

I'm late answering this but yeah the fact that dk and vernon share a Birthday is super sweet! it's fun that they get to do their birthday live together as well ^^

but yeah i joined carat tumblr around late 2017/early 2018 (i made this side blog during oh my era but I'd been reblogging svt stuff on main before then) and I'm p sure most if not all the cc's i originally followed are inactive now :( obviously like you said content creators should make content for fun and bc they want to and not for the notes, but it's understandably disheartening when less people are interacting with it and even the people who do still see your content are (at least seemingly) less enthusiastic about it (ie liking but not reblogging it, less ppl writing things in the tags or replies, etc.)

but that's so wild to me? I've never heard anyone say someone is reblogging too many things like... how do you expect to see posts if people don't reblog stuff?? id welcome that extra content on my dash dhfjfh. i guess you can go in specific tags but like. idk reblogging is the main function of tumblr i don't know why there are people sort of against it/not as willing to use it (i mean... i suspect at least one factor is other social media platforms relying more on algorithms and likes to show people new content and ppl are just more used to that maybe?)

i feel like to some extent people feel entitled to have every or any gif or fanart or fan content on their platform of choice, but like if an artist posts something on tumblr but not on twt or instagram it doesn't HAVE to be on twt or insta. people can make a tumblr (or whatever platform) account if that's the only place a creator is active and they really want to see their content. and if people want to share something cool to another platform it is not hard to just post a link to the original post and tell people to check it out. like i do that every once in a while if there's a translation that doesn't allow reposts, but i still want ppl to know that trans exists if they wouldn't normally. and yeah!! you're gonna get less engagement that way!! but that's when you need to question whether your intention is really to share something cool w people who wouldn't normally see it or if you just want clout from this cool thing for yourself

and obviously not everyone who reposts things wo credit or permission has such innocent intentions as "i want to share this cool thing" but i think in a lot of cases it is something similar to that where ppl see something and they want to use it or share it for whatever reason and they just forget that it's something an actual person took the time to create and chose to share it. fan creations, unless otherwise specified, are not like memes in that they're intended to be shared and edited and copied to hell and back

but yeah pinterest is the worst in terms of reposts. like very little if any of the content on there (at least that's fandom related) is original content. the vast majority is reposts from other platforms without credit. a few weeks ago i saw someone on twt post like an old SVT photo or something and someone asked where it was from and they were like 'idk i saw it on pinterest' and when i tell u my blood boiled dhfkfj like!! ok!! so you're reposting a repost and u have no idea what the original source is... great

but yeah i have no idea what SVT is gonna do with pinterest... guessing it's just gonna be pledis posting official/behind photos that they also post on twt anyway. it really looks like it's something bh made them create given other bhl artists also have pinterests they're all following each other. also pledis didn't even officially announce the new account opening anywhere as far as I've seen so like. i think they really don't care dhfkfj

i really don't know what bh thinks they're gonna gain though like. ik there are active fandom pinterest users but i think most of them also have other social media like twt or insta. like they're not cracking open a huge new market, and LITERALLY NO ONE expects any musician or celeb to have an official Pinterest so. it's just so unnecessary dhfkgj

I'm glad your tooth is feeling better!!!

[rosesutherlandwrites]

Art Meme Thingy

i was tagged by the AMAZING @thecandlesticksfromlesmis which is delightful as I didn’t realise i was really on your radar and I think you’re hella cool? And yes, I did draw my avatar. I am really amused to get tagged in on art things because...I draw so seldom, and until my recent tumblr rumblings, hadn’t done since I did an art class in high school. So--I am very flattered! 

1. one insecurity Is anything I do interesting/original enough that anyone even wants to see it?

2. Two fears - my work is never quite what I WANT it to be -that people will make fun of my stuff or tell me it’s crap (which has happened but I was a CHILD and you’d think by now I might have moved past that a little? it’s ridiculous)

3. Three (Art) Turn-Ons

-LIGHT I LOVE LIGHT -when one person in a scene is looking right at you as if they are totally aware they are in a work of art and are being looked at, while around them everyone else is just doing their thing. -feeling like i am looking into a real life.

4. Four Life Fandom/Art Goals - become someone who creates things more regularly and not just now and then when i hammer out a few minutes because I really should try and remind people i have creative interests - Actually make some progress on my original non-fandom work, because I am in love with it as an idea but “real life” has been derailing me badly. - find a fantastic group of people like my tumblr pals who are actually closer to me so that i can occasionally geek out freely in the flesh and not just online. - finally do a play or musical again, because my back to school/multiple moves in a short time/total career change has kept me from that and I miss it BADLY (going from someone who works in theatre/film and did multiple projects in a year to not being involved in anything for three years straight is painful to my soul)

5. Five Things I Like Drawing?? - People. ALWAYS PEOPLE

-people surrounded by things that tell me stuff about who they are - Fantasy creatures. not as much now, but I used to adore this--elves, fairies, centaurs. - interesting expressions and movements--although I am very bad at getting them to be accurate

- pretty details--things like halos, or the hems of dresses.

6. Six Weaknesses

- i’m a fucking perfectionist and it stresses me out LET THINGS BE WHAT THEY ARE (I’m keeping this because UGH ME TOOO_ - i put too much value into what other people think of my work, like if it makes me happy that should be enough (are we the same person? really) - I want things to be good right away and have hard time making myself practice things I am not already good at. - I have such a hard time settling down and focusing to work on stuff.

(if ppl are assholes i refuse to work with them, and i feel like in this industry that’s a weakness? even if they are super super good at what they do I just can’t tolerate dickheads and i rarely ever give them a second chance which is unfair--an aside: GOOD FOR YOU! I would rather work with a director like that any day of the week and if more people were like that the entire performing arts industry would be way less full of toxic disgusting bullshit PLEASE NEVER CHANGE)

- I have too many interests and i am one of those people who is blessed/cursed with being at least okay at a lot of different kinds of artistic things, but it makes me slightly--I obsess about dance for a year, and then singing for six months, and then spend two weeks drawing every damn day, and then i take a class in stage combat and get nutty about that, and then I write all night for three weeks straight, and so on and so on.And then i decide i need to make a perfect croissant. It’s interesting, but it isn’t necessarily great for following through an anything. -i hate having to try and make any sort of a profit off of my creative stuff? because it makes me super anxious and totally blocks me. it’s why i stopped acting professionally. so i am trying to learn to just have hobbies and it turns out i am bad at not taking everything painfully seriously

7. Seven things I love

(this is less about my specific work and more about content in general) -COLLABORATION (i love i love i love) -people that reblog my shit and write in the tags talking specifically to me knowing that i’m creeping on the reblogs   -seeing peoples work that is in styles I could never hope to replicate and would never have come up with -Cosplay Cosplay Cosplay why do i have no money or sewing skills or other friends closely with whom I can Cosplay!!!

-everyone’s different interpretations of characters. even if it doesn’t match my own imaginings i still think it’s cool and interesting and so much fun -wild aus and crazily spiralling fandom jokes. -finding new things to love based on the things my mutuals are doing and loving that I haven’t heard of (like I just finished reading The Cruel Prince because of @montparnassee and @petalproufaerie did a wicked cosplay for it? And I’m pretty sure the idea for my current WIP wouldn’t exist if it weren’t for @mysunfreckle’s fairytale aus, and @adorablecrab‘s art that references some of it. - aesthetic posts that have nothing to do with my fandoms but fill me with so much joy

8. Tag Eight people

I don’t really tag people in this stuff? because I would love to see what anyone who has the time and wants to do this has to say, but i hate feeling like I’m maybe leaving people out. So if you want to join, join! Please! and tag me so i see it and get to know you better!

[convenientalias]

F, I, Z for the fandom asks?

F - What’s the longest you’ve ever been in a fandom

Well, it depends on what you mean by being in a fandom. Probably five years is the best estimate…I joined fanfiction.net in 2013, which was when I first got involved in fandom really (apart from a little on Quizilla with Harry Potter and Naruto in 2011-2012), and I’m still in some of my 2013 fandoms (most notably Avatar the Last Airbender) so.

I - Has tumblr caused you to stop liking any fandoms, if so, which and why

It’s never caused me to actually stop liking a fandom but it has sometimes stopped me from really engaging, bc sometimes a fandom’s style is not so much mine. My style of fandom engagement is basically “reblog a lot, sometimes drop a fanfic, maybe an occasional meta”, and there are some fandoms that are either way more hardcore about their metas, or mostly about shitposts or edits or some form of content that I admire but am not great at creating and can really only like or reblog. So sometimes a tumblr fandom has made me retreat into a corner, but never actually stop liking the source material.

I’ve been pretty lucky about my fandoms tbh.

Z - Just ramble about something fan-related, go go go

Shit fuck ummmm

I originally had a ramble here about my sadness over my small fandoms and rarepairs but I have backspaced it bc I’m sure you and the world already know about that. So instead I’m gonna say…I’ve been following a blog on The Dynamic lately, which apparently is a type of ship where one person is an absolute nightmare and the other is a sweaterboy a la Sherlock Holmes/John Watson archetype. I think it’s an interesting dynamic but it’s also making me think about how much about how I view characters can change based on what relationship of theirs I’m looking at. Bc some ppl I think of as very stable consistently but others, when I ship them with some ppl I’m like “yes, Character A is very stable and will give strength and support to Character B” but then I might ship them with someone else like “Character A is actually very insecure and needs help from Character C.” But that makes sense, I guess, bc ppl seek out different things from different relationships.

I tend to ship based on contrast more than on similarity. Sometimes similarities will make me think characters should be together or be friends, but contrasts and the potential to be foils usually seems more interesting to me. For example, in Marco Polo, there’s Khutulun/Marco and Kokachin/Marco, which seemed to be the two possible ships for Marco in Season One. Kokachin and Marco are similar bc they’re both out of place in Kublai’s court, so a ship is built off that, but I would have been way more into Khutulun/Marco bc Khutulun has a strong sense of place and belonging in Mongol culture and also a very forceful personality, while Marco is obviously a very lost boy.

(Then there’s Jingim/Marco which was also very strong but forget that.)

You know what, I still want Khutulun/Kokachin fic. I know I never actually get around to writing it but. The contrast there is so strong. I love that scene where Kokachin hears Khutulun’s in town and she’s like “Oh, that wrestling whore?” and you’re like DAMN KOKACHIN, what did Khutulun do to YOU? But they’re such different women and they clearly annoy the hell out of each other and I just think they should fuck.

…I really liked the idea of Nergui/Original-Kokachin in Season One but Season Two kind of soured it for me…

Well this ramble has been very incoherent but just imo that’s what the word “ramble” means so I hope you enjoyed, thank you for the quality asks!

[i-want-my-iwtv]

Is it just me, or are most people in the VC fandom women? (Not saying I mind, I'm just legit curious if and why.)

(Reminder: I am/was not a gender studies major, nor a student of fandom. This is just an entertainment blog and all that follows is my opinion only.)

This is a highly sensitive topic that people study academically for many fandoms, and I will hardly do it justice here. But I felt it was important to share what I can, anyway. Some links are under the cut for further reading about this topic, even though they do not apply to VC fandom specifically.

The short answer is that, from my experience, yes, most ppl in the VC fandom seem to be women. This is based on the past 20 years of AR’s booksignings I’ve attended, online communities, interviews/articles over the years, AR’s FB (her own posts + comments from her People of the Page), and AR’s Twitter. However, I would add that she absolutely does have fans who are men, NB, agender, genderqueer, transgender, etc. It would be difficult to do a thorough demographic study of all of her fans (current/past/specific time period(s)/etc.), so I wouldn’t know what portion of the fanbase is made up of women.

Let’s take a brief look at our superfan from movie!IWTV:

^What is superfan thinking? Does she think Santiago is a REAL VAMPIRE? Does she want to die? … or, is she simply a groupie of that media and enjoying it as a fantasy situation? We don’t get her backstory in the movie, so we may never know.

^Santiago has had to deal with hecklers and admirers for years so he’s not really fazed by her disrupting his show, and when he shuts her offer down, it draws a laugh from the audience. Laugh at the fan who confessed her love for the fantasy of it all and offered herself as tribute. 

Before we specify why women are in VC fandom, one thing to consider is What is fandom? In my opinion, it’s a group of people who are drawn to a shared space bc of a shared interest in specific media. Within that, you still have to reach out to individuals in order to become friends. You don’t necessarily have to agree on every aspect of the media you each enjoy, but having chemistry certainly helps. Participating in fandom can also mean creating/consuming fanworks without having any personal connection with other fans. Sometimes it’s just in posting fic and/or leaving kudos. Some join a skype chat group so that they focus primarily on their personal connections with other fans. It’s a wide spectrum and there are different ways to engage with other fans within a fandom.

Why VC fandom? We all have our reasons for being in VC fandom. I would prefer not to speak for other fans as to their reasons, but everyone is welcome to respond in the comments/reblogs of this post, or message me on/off anon, and I might gather up those responses and add them to this post. 

Why I was drawn to VC: Personally, I’m a woman, and I’m in this fandom bc the canon/fanon is intellectually stimulating to me. I’ve made some of my best friends here. We share a love for these characters and we discuss them at length. This does not mean we 100% support everything the characters do in canon. We enjoy them as fictional characters, not necessarily as role models.

Secondly… I had posted a personal account about my reasons for being into VC canon, but later deleted that post bc I was informed that my reasons weren’t acceptable. That VC was not for straight women. I’ve given it a lot of thought and I’ll briefly tell you my reasons for being attached to VC, under the cut. 

Brief historical context:

These books are/were written by a straight white woman, and she’s always advised her fans to “write the book you want to read.” She currently writes for herself, presumably, as she does not use an editor in the traditional sense. She began VC in the early 1970s with the short story, “The Master of Rampling Gate” (which eventually became the full novel IWTV). The short story was published in Redbook magazine at the time, which is/was a magazine for women, and the short story was written in the vein (pun intended!) of the older gothic romance novels that were extremely popular in the ‘60s. 

^In fact, this edition of IWTV is straight-baiting, as the only female love interest that Louis might have gotten into that physical position with would be Babette, and that… definitely doesn’t happen.

IWTV is a dissection of Louis’ feelings, and Louis was a stand-in for Anne herself. VC in general has a lot of emotion, both in the dialogue, and the introspection woven into the narrative itself. The fact that these books are mostly written from the 1st person perspective is a very intimate means of communication to the reader, and makes the novels that much more emotionally rich. Some might say that such emotional writing tends to appeal to women.

The books are intimate. There is a constant thread of intimacy throughout which seems to appeal to women of all sexual orientations, in my opinion. I started the series with IWTV when I was 11 yrs old and I’ve heard from other fans of other genders that they also started VC when they were young, even around the age that I did. Being right before puberty, maybe that adds some extra addictive quality to it, that it explores a kind of intimacy when we’re in the phase of life where we’re just becoming interested in sexuality. I remember mooning over pics of Brad Pitt in my table group at lunch, and we would talk about him, but I doubt any of us would have wanted to actually kiss him at the time, we just wanted to speculate about dating and romance!

After the first book, the intimacy continues with TVL, where we get Lestat’s backstory, and as the series progresses, it just keeps going. Whichever book new VC fans enter the series, they’re going to hit that vein, more or less. It’s not as strong in the most current books, but it’s still there. I would say that AR found that the way she wrote the first 2 books was so well-received that she felt validated in her style of writing, that it was appealing to her readers, and continued to produce it.

There’s also quite a lot of wealthporn, where the characters describe their expensive clothes, jewelry, or lavish surroundings, none of them have to hold a dayjob or anything menial like that. Since many of us do not currently enjoy such luxuries of material goods and/or freedom of leisure time, it’s another element that might make it appealing to certain demographics. There’s a ton of wish fulfillment in the books. 

Hit the jump for a little more.

My reasons for being into VC

Basically, I was bullied when I was 11 (for having a bad fashion sense and bad teeth), which is right around the time that someone gave me a copy of IWTV. I had always loved horror novels and scary stories as a way to study monsters and see if I could unpack them and better understand them. I drew inspiration from the way the VC characters handled their own obstacles, I loved getting Lestat’s backstory, he was not just a colorful antagonist, he had his own reasons for acting the way he did. Reasons are not EXCUSES, but in understanding monstrous behavior, we can equip ourselves to weather it when we see it in real life. Eventually, I got braces, grew out of my 90′s grunge phase, and while the bullies changed form over time, I learned how to deal with them. 

Could I have drawn inspiration from other books/movies/music? Yes! And I did. But VC, for the intimacy of the stories, for the vibrancy of the characters, for so many reasons that I can’t go into on a post I’m trying to keep brief… this is a piece of media that I’ve held onto over the years. Not the only one, but certainly the main one, for me.

A few good posts to check out re: women in fandom:

And I don’t mean to attack you, Anon, but these posts are written with a tone because there is so much criticism of what women in fandom are not allowed to enjoy. Please read at your own risk, but they have some very good points about why women might be into certain things in fandom.

a comprehensive guide to mlm shipping habits in transformative fandom

THE DEPTHS OF MISOGYNY THIS PLACE PLUMBS

villain-relatable marginalization 

[sophygurl]

Woot! Tagged by my new we-finished-a-series-at-the-same-time-and-desperately-need-to-talk-about-it book buddy @blackandwhitemotley​! (I seem to collect these - hi @wingedsaboteur​)

1) Name/Nickname: Rosemary is my name. Soph or sophy tends to be a nickname to anyone who met me on the internets first for obvious reasons. I will accept the shortening of my name - Rose - only if I can tell by the way you said it that you know the full name is Rosemary (I can tell okay). I only accept Rosie if my inner child is out because that’s HER name though I accept Rosy , from one friend who asked permission a long time ago (hey @ladynorbert​). I let any and all kids call me me Aunt Rose, not just my nieces and nephew (who is too young yet to call me anything), and my oldest niece still loves to call me by her baby name for me - AuRoo. This was probably a longer thesis on names than the question is meant to be, but that’s me!

2) Gender: Cis genderqueer woman is the best descriptor for my gender and sex. 

3) Star sign: Leo - rawr.

4) Height: 5′3′‘ - just short enough to have short people problems but not quite short enough to be seen as short.

5) Hogwarts House: I’ve had long conversations about this with one of my closest friends @c-l-ford, and we really can’t come up with a true consensus. I think I’m a combo of all four, but I realize that’s a cop-out. 

6) Favourite animal: Felines of any sort, though I’m an all around animal lover (bugs don’t count).

7) Hours of sleep: 8-12, though closer to 8 these days since the Lyrica is helping me to sleep more normally.

8) Dogs or Cats: Cats obvi, but I do love dogs. 

9) Number of blankets: Like, I know this is asking the number of blankets you sleep with on your bed, but the phrasing makes me wanna go around and count all the blankets I own. But okay - I sleep with a light blanket during warmer months, and throw a big comforter over the top during the colder ones. 

10) Dream trip: I’d love to take a cruise through the Mediterranean, taking stops in Sicily, Italy, Greece, Egypt, Turkey, Israel, Morocco, etc. 

11) Dream job: At this point, I’d really just love to be working again in any capacity. I miss it so much. I miss feeling like I had a purpose, and knowing I was doing a good job, and working harder the next day, and thinking about getting promoted, and just generally - yea - being my workaholic self. Which makes being too disabled to work for over 15 years now kind of a bummer. 

12) Time: 1:12 pm

13) Birthday: July 29

14) Favourite Bands: I’m never up on new music, so I’m gonna go with some of my classic faves here - Areosmith, Cheap Trick, The Doors, The Indigo Girls, Journey, The Monkees, R.E.M., Queen

15) Favourite Solo Artists: Ani DiFranco, Blondie, Dar Williams, Janis Joplin, Joan Jett, k.d. lang, P!nk, Tori Amos (and yes I added an s to make this one plural too, no fair asking for multiple bands but only one solo artist)

16) Song Stuck In My Head: Lady, by Styx

17) Last Movie I watched: Hidden Figures, though my stupid body fell asleep at the last third or so of the movie, so I’m gonna have to re-watch. (When I woke up, I turned to my friend and said “I missed the ending, did they ever make it to the moon?”)

18) Last Show I Watched: Madam Secretary (I’m a few eps behind though)

19) When Did I Create My Blog: I wanna say about four years ago??

20) What Do I Post/Reblog: So many. I’m a huge TV nerd, so lots of reblogs of gifsets and meta (and sometimes my own meta or short opinion bit) about lots of shows both past and present. I also dig me a lot of books and some movies, so those show up. Intersectional feminism is a big deal to me, so I signal boost a lot of stuff along those lines. I love memes, puns, cute animal pics, gender queering, and pretty shiny things. I might occasionally post personal stuff. I’m chronically ill and that affects my life to a large degree, so I’m likely to reblog stuff about that if it shows up on my dash. Around May - June, I’m likely to be posting about WisCon, my local feminist SFF con that happens Memorial Weekend each year. And in a couple of days here it’ll be November 1st which is when I let my Christmas nerd out to play, so there’ll be a lot of that then too. 

21) Last Thing I Googled: haha, it was actually the song Lady by Styx because I couldn’t remember who sang it, and because once I realized it was in my head, I wanted to listen to it.

22) Other Blogs: No other tumblrs, though I do (very) occasionally post on my Dreamwidth account - same name as this tumblr. 

23) Do I Get Asks: Not very often, though I love it when I do! I adore interacting with folks, so come at me.

24) Why I Chose My URL: sophy from sophia, the feminine divine aspect of god, and also just wisdom/knowledge in general (I was studying philosophy and religious studies when I came up with the sophygurl handle the first time). Then I added -gurl at the end because it was less likely to conflict with other ppl who wanted to combine sophy and girl together to make a name. lol

25) Following: 267 (this is why I can never catch up even on a good day)

26) Followers: 582 - can that be right? Do I have those reversed? I guess a lot of those are spam accounts. 

27) Lucky Number: 5

28) Favourite instrument: Drums of all kinds.

29) What Am I Wearing: lol a silky nightgown paired with an old comfy sweatshirt over the top and comfy pj pants underneath, and warm socks.

30) Favourite Food: Dark chocolate, broccoli, potatoes, and my family’s recipe spaghetti sauce - which I’m gonna make in a few days for the first time in ages woo!

31) Nationality: USian. 

32) Favourite Song: Imagine, by John Lennon. 

33) Last Book Read: The Root by Na’amen Gobert Tilahun 

34) Top Three Fictional Universes I’d Like To Join: Oh geeze, most of my fave universes to read about/watch are not ones I’d want to personally be involved in, so let me think. Maybe the world in Practical Magic, Starhawk’s The Fifth Sacred Thing but only if I could be part of the Bay Area world and not the LA one, Realm of the Elderlings - preferably in the Rain Wilds over other areas.

Tagging: other than the one who tagged me - if you got tagged in the body of this post for other reasons, consider yourselves tagged to do this! Otherwise - tagging anyone who wants to. Make sure you tag me so I’ll see it when you do it tho! :)

[moonlit-theft]

IN GENERAL:

REAL NAME:  Myona

NICKNAMES: My, God, Weedy, Sweatpants Princess (limited only to my girlfriend, others aren’t allowed to use it~ xD), I like to think that my dog refers to me as ‘Boss Lady’ but that’s probably just me and likely doesn’t count. ‘ - ‘

SEXUALITY: Bi? Pan? idk man, I don’t care about gender??

PREFERRED PRONOUNS: She/her.

ARE YOU A MORNING PERSON?: ... Uh. I tend to go to bed around like? 5-8AM, so idk what that makes me ‘ - ‘

WHEN SWIMMING, DO YOU PREFER TO DO IT IN THE OCEAN, OR IN A LAKE?:  A pool?? Mm, I guess the ocean? Though it’s been YEARS

ON TUMBLR:

ANYONE YOU WOULD LIKE TO MEET IN REAL LIFE?: Pleeeenty of ppl, tbh  ( @remedialmelody | @kytemagia | @bite-x-the-x-bullet | @silvercrossblade | @princessbarb21rpblog | @reginae-noctis - just to name a few. I want to meet all my online friends, man. Someone win the lottery and throw me money so I can visit everyone x.x )

ANYONE YOU HAVE MET IN REAL LIFE?:  No one on here, but I met people from other platforms.

WHEN DID YOU FIRST JOIN? Like? Little over a year ago?

YOUR CURRENT ACCOUNT?:  This account is a few months old

ANY PEEVES?: I... literally have a tag for them. Right here

UNPOPULAR OPINION:  I have several :’D

FEELINGS:

DO YOU EASILY GET JEALOUS?:  Nah

DO YOU EASILY GET ANGRY?:   Nah

ARE YOU EASY TO CHEER UP?:  Uhh... idk, not by others, but I’ll be fine if left alone??

ARE YOU GOOD AT HIDING YOUR EMOTIONS?:  Yep~

WHAT’S THE VERY BEST WAY TO CHEER YOU UP?:  Leaving me alone :’D

RELATIONSHIPS:

ARE YOU CURRENTLY IN A RELATIONSHIP?:  Yes~~ My lovely girlfriend * w *

DO YOU CURRENTLY HAVE A CRUSH ON SOMEONE: I... most certainly hope so, or I’d have things to explain to her???

IF YES, MIGHT THAT SOMEONE BE READING THIS?  Nah. She doesn’t really RP, so I warned her not to follow my RP blog or she’d face needless spam.

DO YOU KISS ON THE FIRST DATE?: Well, since I don’t date people I’m not with, y ea h.

DO YOU PREFER GOING OUT, OR STAYING HOME, WHEN IT COMES TO DATES?: Home. Always home. ‘ - ‘ . I mean, I’ll take someone out here and there, but I prefer to just be left home :’D

THINGS:

FAVORITE DRINK:  Energy Drink

FAVORITE FOOD:  Hawaiian Pizza

Repost :: DO Not Reblog

TAGGED BY :  ... Like 4 ppl, so I decided to get off my ass and do it :’D

TAGGING: Anyone who sees this, and wants to do it. I’ve now tagged you.