summercomfort (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
summercomfort) wrote2018-12-09 11:16 am
summercomfort) wrote2018-12-09 11:16 am
Creative communities and moving forward
So I've had a good long think about community and art and my participation thereof since my angst the other day (thank you for all who replied). It's rare that a confluence of events really push you to think about internet presence, community participation, and creative endeavors, and the last few weeks has really been that.
The tl;dr of what crystallized the other day for me while I was driving to work*: I want to tell stories that matter to me, and I want to be part of communities centered around creating things. I should work towards those two things.
And now for the "Too long" part where I expound on some of the above:
Telling stories that matter to me
For the past few years, I've always experienced this tension between creating my own stuff versus participating in fandom -- on the one hand, my fandom creations gave me lots of internet points. On the other hand, it's not Original Work (tm), and Cap fandom doesn't really allow for stories about Chinese immigration, or strong ladies in History. Every time I drew something for fandom, I felt guilty that I wasn't doing some of my own stuff.
But that dichotomy is false. It's not fandom vs. original work. It's really as simple as -- telling the stories that matter to me. Cap fandom has let me tell stories about devotional friendship and re-humanization and sacrifice and alienation. That's great! And it's even better that there is a receptive audience there. And when I want to tell stories about immigration and communities that support women -- that's when I should do my own stuff. Or find a role-playing group that lets me tell those stories. Sure, the audience is smaller, but that's fine.** The core point here is to let my creative motive drive what I do, and not divide it into "fandom" vs. "original". I shouldn't feel guilty if I'm not drawing original stuff, and I shouldn't pander to some larger fandom needs, either.
The name of my canceled comics class is "Storytelling through Comics", and that's what I want to do: tell stories. Pinups and posters and stickers are what sells, and I'll inevitably have to do those, but that's not my main "brand", and given that I like my job and my job pays me money, I can afford to be picky. Sometimes when I go to anime conventions and go to the Artist Alley, I see the wall of shiny poster pinups and it's like ... I have zero interest in this.
Be part of communities centered around creating things
I was chatting with my Thursday night comics group, and I was like "why is this so much easier and more fun? Why don't I feel that sense of alienation here that I feel in so many other places?" And I think the answer is that I feel most comfortable talking about the stuff that we're making. I think that's why I miss role-playing so much, and why board games and knitting don't fill the same *need*. It's probably also why I get so overwhelmed when I go into a chat group and people are talking about recipes, or babies, or the view outside their window, or their pets, or whatever. It's not that I don't want to know those things from people that I care about -- I do! But that comes second, *after* I get to know you as a creator. If there's a concept of "demisexual" but for friendships, that would be me. Seeing people make cool things and being able to be part of the process and give and receive feedback is The Absolute Best. I mean, I also what to know about your family and your life and your artist self-doubt and your pets and recipes, but First The Other Thing.
Is this not the usual way people do it? Sure. But whatever. I can socialize the other way if I want to, but it takes effort. It's hard. It's what causes that sense of alienation.*** Plus, if I'm more direct about how it works for me, maybe I can ask others do accommodate. Ask them to tell me about their creative projects instead of putzing around in the small talk zone. (Once I realized that my auditory processing functions very differently from my visual processing, it's been much easier for me to just say "Reading to me doesn't work, I need to see the words.")
So right now, I have my Thursday night comics group, I have a club at school, and I have the HTP slack. I can help create more fan spaces that do that. (I mean create both in the sense of modding and contributing to.)
And so the question is -- what is the best platform for that? I want a place that is NSFW-friendly, because it's dumb to exclude that part of ourselves.**** For the time being, that seems like DW. Systems can have work-arounds. Tumblr isn't useable without x-kit. My frustrations with DW can have work-arounds, too. The key is that I do my part in helping create fan spaces around creating things.
So -- what next?
- I'm going to spend some time today setting up my fandom accounts and communities on DW
- I'm going to be more explicit in communicating what I'm interested in as I interact
- Once those things are set up, I'm going to do more creating! I'm tired of all this angst and dislocation.
Tumblr had a lot of creative exuberance, often masquerading as shitposts and memes. I think that's the thing I'm going to miss the most. I'm wondering if tumblr can continue serving as that space, even as fandom moves elsewhere. (There's really no good option there -- at the moment, it looks to be either twitter or tumblr.) ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
-------------------
* it was the Bush 41 memorial, so I'd turned off NPR -- I have a lot of respect for the dude, but very little tolerance for pomp and circumstance
** Also: I can *find* my audience. Sometimes I forget that I'm pretty firmly in the "adult" category now tat I'm 34. Surely I can muster enough adulting spoons to communicate with other adults.
*** Come to think of it, that's probably why I find it so much easier to talk to colleagues at work about lesson planning than about their spouses.
**** I hate it when people frame it like it's some other part of fandom that it's happening to. It is your friend with the secret sideblog. It is you, having either a pants-based or aesthetic-based response as you scroll through your dash.
The tl;dr of what crystallized the other day for me while I was driving to work*: I want to tell stories that matter to me, and I want to be part of communities centered around creating things. I should work towards those two things.
And now for the "Too long" part where I expound on some of the above:
Telling stories that matter to me
For the past few years, I've always experienced this tension between creating my own stuff versus participating in fandom -- on the one hand, my fandom creations gave me lots of internet points. On the other hand, it's not Original Work (tm), and Cap fandom doesn't really allow for stories about Chinese immigration, or strong ladies in History. Every time I drew something for fandom, I felt guilty that I wasn't doing some of my own stuff.
But that dichotomy is false. It's not fandom vs. original work. It's really as simple as -- telling the stories that matter to me. Cap fandom has let me tell stories about devotional friendship and re-humanization and sacrifice and alienation. That's great! And it's even better that there is a receptive audience there. And when I want to tell stories about immigration and communities that support women -- that's when I should do my own stuff. Or find a role-playing group that lets me tell those stories. Sure, the audience is smaller, but that's fine.** The core point here is to let my creative motive drive what I do, and not divide it into "fandom" vs. "original". I shouldn't feel guilty if I'm not drawing original stuff, and I shouldn't pander to some larger fandom needs, either.
The name of my canceled comics class is "Storytelling through Comics", and that's what I want to do: tell stories. Pinups and posters and stickers are what sells, and I'll inevitably have to do those, but that's not my main "brand", and given that I like my job and my job pays me money, I can afford to be picky. Sometimes when I go to anime conventions and go to the Artist Alley, I see the wall of shiny poster pinups and it's like ... I have zero interest in this.
Be part of communities centered around creating things
I was chatting with my Thursday night comics group, and I was like "why is this so much easier and more fun? Why don't I feel that sense of alienation here that I feel in so many other places?" And I think the answer is that I feel most comfortable talking about the stuff that we're making. I think that's why I miss role-playing so much, and why board games and knitting don't fill the same *need*. It's probably also why I get so overwhelmed when I go into a chat group and people are talking about recipes, or babies, or the view outside their window, or their pets, or whatever. It's not that I don't want to know those things from people that I care about -- I do! But that comes second, *after* I get to know you as a creator. If there's a concept of "demisexual" but for friendships, that would be me. Seeing people make cool things and being able to be part of the process and give and receive feedback is The Absolute Best. I mean, I also what to know about your family and your life and your artist self-doubt and your pets and recipes, but First The Other Thing.
Is this not the usual way people do it? Sure. But whatever. I can socialize the other way if I want to, but it takes effort. It's hard. It's what causes that sense of alienation.*** Plus, if I'm more direct about how it works for me, maybe I can ask others do accommodate. Ask them to tell me about their creative projects instead of putzing around in the small talk zone. (Once I realized that my auditory processing functions very differently from my visual processing, it's been much easier for me to just say "Reading to me doesn't work, I need to see the words.")
So right now, I have my Thursday night comics group, I have a club at school, and I have the HTP slack. I can help create more fan spaces that do that. (I mean create both in the sense of modding and contributing to.)
And so the question is -- what is the best platform for that? I want a place that is NSFW-friendly, because it's dumb to exclude that part of ourselves.**** For the time being, that seems like DW. Systems can have work-arounds. Tumblr isn't useable without x-kit. My frustrations with DW can have work-arounds, too. The key is that I do my part in helping create fan spaces around creating things.
So -- what next?
- I'm going to spend some time today setting up my fandom accounts and communities on DW
- I'm going to be more explicit in communicating what I'm interested in as I interact
- Once those things are set up, I'm going to do more creating! I'm tired of all this angst and dislocation.
Tumblr had a lot of creative exuberance, often masquerading as shitposts and memes. I think that's the thing I'm going to miss the most. I'm wondering if tumblr can continue serving as that space, even as fandom moves elsewhere. (There's really no good option there -- at the moment, it looks to be either twitter or tumblr.) ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
-------------------
* it was the Bush 41 memorial, so I'd turned off NPR -- I have a lot of respect for the dude, but very little tolerance for pomp and circumstance
** Also: I can *find* my audience. Sometimes I forget that I'm pretty firmly in the "adult" category now tat I'm 34. Surely I can muster enough adulting spoons to communicate with other adults.
*** Come to think of it, that's probably why I find it so much easier to talk to colleagues at work about lesson planning than about their spouses.
**** I hate it when people frame it like it's some other part of fandom that it's happening to. It is your friend with the secret sideblog. It is you, having either a pants-based or aesthetic-based response as you scroll through your dash.