schemingreader

Happy Birthday, cordelia_v!

I meant for this to go up on your birthday. I thought I had another 50 minutes! here is some meta for you:


Winning at Fandom: How do people become BNFs, are you one, and what skills can you take away for your real life?

Awesomeness points
My husband is really into a video blogger named Ze Frank, whose blog is called The Show. He likes it so much that we have a regular weeknight date to eat Tofutti Cuties and watch it together. It's only three minutes long, but it's fun. Ze is an amazingly clever guy and he has a lot of fans. He decided to test out some social software, called The Org, to basically hook up his fans and get them to share their creativity. My husband was one of 3,000 fans who signed up to be beta-testers.

One aspect of the social software that I thought was really interesting was "awesomeness points." Participants seem to be earning points for three things:

1. Being among the first to sign up for The Org—early adopters
2. Making some cool art or writing for The Org
3. Or, making something cool that promotes relationships on The Org

(The Org software also tracks subscribers (or friends, as we would call them on LJ) and people who have recently hit your site. )

I immediately thought "Oh, that's just how I think fandom works. I have this idea about how people become BNFs." A BNF is a "big name fan." People in fandom mock BNFs all the time. I think understanding how people get to be BNFs and also, how people get to win at fandom has some interesting lessons.

Who is a BNF?

Obviously, a BNF is well-known. But who, typically, gets to be a BNF?

1. Fandom oldsters. Fandom has hierarchies of tenure. If you are one of the first people in a fandom, then everyone knows you. The longer people are in fandom, the more relationships they can have.

2. People who do all the organizing. Oldsters are often responsible for creating the first archives for fan fic, news site collecting information on a book or movie, or even starting fan clubs for specific actors or writers. But you don't have to be among the first in a fandom to do tons of work. If you organize a fic fest, a pairing community, or an archive that collects a specific kind of writing, people know you. You also necessarily develop relationships.

3. People who create great fan work Now, you can create great stuff and not get to be a BNF, if you don't have any relationships with anyone. But there are some people doing all the work who have their eyes open for new writers and artists, and if you make beautiful stories and art, they could decide to pimp you. You can find a niche.

4. People who understand the social codes of fandom. There are a lot of ways that people in fandom do relationship building. One way is to leave positive comments on other people's fan work. Another is to respond to positive comments in a friendly way. You can beta-read other people's fan fiction if you have editing skills. You can even make a name for yourself writing meta! Then there are role playing games, conventions, and chat. All of these are opportunities to encourage other people to create fanwork you want to see, and to build friendships with people who share your interests.

Are you a BNF? Should you want to be one?

Well….let's ask the question this way. Are you winning at fandom? How can you tell?

• Have you made a lot of new friends?
• Do they encourage you to write or make other art?
• Do you feel connection with a lot of other people over shared interests?

Then you are winning at fandom.

If you are also:

• Responsible for a large chunk of uncompensated work
• Making it possible for a lot of other people to connect, through a community, an archive, a convention or another project
• Amassing a very large audience of people who want to see what you'll write or draw next

Then you are a BNF. If people criticize you behind your back, then you are FOR SURE a BNF!

What can you take away for the rest of life?

Do you ever feel like your childhood has shaped your ability to have social interactions just a little too much? Yeah. Me too. It just kills your confidence when you didn't get it right at the critical stage.

But I have learned, in my real life and here on the net, that there are modes of relating that are conventional. They might be annoying, but they do help you to make genuine connections with other people. I think it's a little easier on the web for me than in person, because on the web it's all writing. I will never be supersuave cocktail party flirty person, but I am learning neat stuff.

Sharing interests with people is a way of making friends. Building relationships is the way to make things happen. At your paid work, at your political activism, at your church, synagogue, mosque or coven, in your charitable volunteer work, in your community orchestra, choir or punk band, at your block party: making friends makes every activity worthwhile, and you make friends by doing things together. Having those warm working relationships makes every activity possible.

As always, you learn by playing, and what you learn is to play nice and to win at life.